New headlights for the 94 London Aire UPDATE: w/night pics
This was supposed to be a really simple project....
The original headlights on the LA were really really dim, mostly due to oxidization and other aging. I could have cleaned them, but I thought it'd be cool to go with projector beam headlights that had a newer look to them. After just replacing some lights on my GMC SUV I thought this would be a snap.
Famous last words.
I was right that the headlights on the 94 were Ford F150 lights, and I bought a set of projector beam lights from an ebay seller. It took forever to get the dang lights removed as there is very little clearance in the front and they used these little clips that apparently some sadist at Newmar invented.
With the old lights out it was time to test fit the new ones.
Dang!! They don't fit!
Looks like Newmar did use the Ford lights and retaining ring, but custom modified the top of the retaining ring to match their cutout. Well, we thought about what to do: just get new F150 lights and return these OR..... we could modify them. Yeah, as always we went the hard route. We took the new headlights and I taped off a line on top that was close tot he cutout shape. Then, I used a dremel and a lot of successive passes to cut the headlights down. Also, because of the way Newmar mounted the lights, we had to drill a side hole for attachment.
Well, with hat done all should go smooth, right? Nope.
We soon found that the new lights were deeper in places than the old ones, so we decided that fiberglass bodywork couldn't be that hard, right? We used a multi-tool to cut out portions of the fiberglass until the light fit properly.
After both sides were cut, we hooked up the new lights, which was the only job that was a cinch, and tested them out. All worked well, so we reinstalled the lights and called it a (long) day.
They look nice and they are awesome at night. I'll post some night pictures after I take them. I haven't driven it yet to really see the difference, but they seem brighter by a long shot. Next up is to replace all the marker lights with LED ones and get new fog lights installed.
The original headlights on the LA were really really dim, mostly due to oxidization and other aging. I could have cleaned them, but I thought it'd be cool to go with projector beam headlights that had a newer look to them. After just replacing some lights on my GMC SUV I thought this would be a snap.
Famous last words.
I was right that the headlights on the 94 were Ford F150 lights, and I bought a set of projector beam lights from an ebay seller. It took forever to get the dang lights removed as there is very little clearance in the front and they used these little clips that apparently some sadist at Newmar invented.
With the old lights out it was time to test fit the new ones.
Dang!! They don't fit!
Looks like Newmar did use the Ford lights and retaining ring, but custom modified the top of the retaining ring to match their cutout. Well, we thought about what to do: just get new F150 lights and return these OR..... we could modify them. Yeah, as always we went the hard route. We took the new headlights and I taped off a line on top that was close tot he cutout shape. Then, I used a dremel and a lot of successive passes to cut the headlights down. Also, because of the way Newmar mounted the lights, we had to drill a side hole for attachment.
Well, with hat done all should go smooth, right? Nope.
We soon found that the new lights were deeper in places than the old ones, so we decided that fiberglass bodywork couldn't be that hard, right? We used a multi-tool to cut out portions of the fiberglass until the light fit properly.
After both sides were cut, we hooked up the new lights, which was the only job that was a cinch, and tested them out. All worked well, so we reinstalled the lights and called it a (long) day.
They look nice and they are awesome at night. I'll post some night pictures after I take them. I haven't driven it yet to really see the difference, but they seem brighter by a long shot. Next up is to replace all the marker lights with LED ones and get new fog lights installed.
