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Hella Driving Lights?
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:14 am
by wiscon_mark
What are your comments on the 550 vs 500 series? I'm looking at getting a set of these because subaru headlights suck, even with better bulbs and clearer lenses.
I've heard that the 550 is better for peripheral, and the 500 projects straight ahead better. Is this the case?
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 1:55 am
by magicmike
yes
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 2:51 am
by jamal
I have FF1000s. They're nice. I think subaru_nation_555 has the 500s, as well as a bunch of people on nasioc.
Susquehanna Motorsports sells a bunch of lights and has information about them. I bought my lights from them and they're pretty good. I recently broke the mounting bracket for one of my lights, and the replacement bracket I ordered didn't come with one of the pieces I needed, so when I asked them about it they found the part I needed in the back and sent it to me for free.

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:12 am
by Subaru_Nation555
Yeah these are the 500's. I have been very happy with them so far and for $80 they can't be beat.

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:00 am
by evolutionmovement
I've had both and I like the 500s better. They move people out of the way better. 550s are better cornering lights, but I just aimed my 500s out a little to compensate.
Steve
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:18 pm
by wiscon_mark
what about mounting? what have guys all done for that?
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:55 pm
by subawhatsubawho
Just use some chewing gum...or you could mount thrm like the guys in those pictures do.
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:03 pm
by 206er
some folks mount em to the bumper beam, some to the core support. either way you have to rig up a mounting bracket.
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:11 pm
by wiscon_mark
subawhatsubawho wrote:...or you could mount thrm like the guys in those pictures do.
Yeah, I know they've mounted to the bumper, but I need to know what part inside the bumper as the bumper is just plastic...
front bumper beam...how hard would it be?
I wish I had a welder so I could make a light bar...
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:37 pm
by evolutionmovement
The top cover of the bumper is plastic and there's about a half inch or so of space between it and the bumper beam. If you mount directly through the top of the plastic bumper you will need to get spacers between it and the beam underneath. This is not an easy task and has less than desireable results in terms of rigididty. It will require you to make horizontal stand offs mounted to the grille that will hold the lights out so they don't flap around like a ricer. There has been a few threads on this and I remember seeing some great pictures of much better mounting methods than mine.
Steve
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:12 pm
by wiscon_mark
I like Jamal's Method:
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... t+mounting
I think I could do that easily enough.
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:24 pm
by EJ22_SLO
Would you be interested in used EDM (glass) Legacy I -pre-facelift headlamps, renewed (parabola mirror) by Hella (factory is near my place, they are making headlamps for Enzo); price ~220 $ +- 20 $ + shipping from Europe/slovenia (snail mail)?
Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:29 pm
by wiscon_mark
I have a 2nd gen, unfortuantely

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 11:35 pm
by jamal
Before I put in the STi suspension the vibration was hardly noticable unless I was on a dirt road or something. Now they bother me and I'm going to have to rig something up with a larger section modulus. I didn't really want to go any deeper because it would mean more hacking of the bumper but I don't see a lot else I can do. I don't really want to have to weld anything although I could get a friend of mine to do it at the lab, probably. I think I'm just going to go with thicker steel. I'd kind of like to get a piece of aluminum and mill it into a more effiecient shape that would fit through a smaller hole, but I'm not sure where I could get that done for free/cheap. Plus aluminum isn't as stiff as steel.
Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:54 am
by sammydafish
I put a set on mine, some square ones... they're awesome.... dozens of times brighter than the highbeams
