Now that I have a semi decent paint job, I wanted to try and protect some of the more vulnerable edges from damage, such as where the roof rubs, the zips rattle against the body and general scuff marks from clambering in, I decided to apply a few patches of Clear Detailing film from E-Tech.



This self adhesive film is very similar to the screen protector stuff you get for phones and tablets, except that if you apply it properly (with soapy water) then you do not get all those bubbles underneath.

[My Youtube channel]

is that the same stuff that these guys use?

https://youtu.be/VV7poOAEVKo

If so very impressive stuff!

It seems that every time I look at this Buggy, or take a photo, the colour is completely different.   

Anyway, with the Buggy now 99% complete, I took it over for its MOT, where I am proud to say that it passed. I did have a few issues though, and it still runs like an absolute pig - banging, coughing, spluttering, backfiring, you name it, this does it - but at least I can now test drive it on the road and hopefully cure it soon, because at the moment, its pretty much undriveable.





The observant amongst you will have noticed that the headlight trims have not been fitted. I usually go to the MOT with these removed so that I can give a quick tweak of the alignment with the machine in place - but this time, I hadn`t bothered fitting them as the Buggy is due a visit from the opticians tomorrow to see what can be done with his eyes.

It looks great and well done on the mot just in time for some good weather, guessing you have carb problems again you have a few days until Chad and George arrive.

Looks very nice shinny and smooth.
How will I recognise you 
Looking very nice.
Hope you get running for our trip.

Well, the Buggy had a visit with the opticians today, and now has a fresh pair of eyes.

I have been looking for a replacement set of headlights for a while now, as the Angel Eye conversion I did a while back is starting to deteriorate and discolour with age. I have been looking at full LED conversions, and finally found a set on the Landrover Defender websites that seemed to tick the boxes, and had an added bonus of being both DOT approved and "E" marked.

The full LED conversions do away with conventional bulbs, and high beam and low beam are achieved by a series of High Power Cree LED`s behind some high power projector lens, which give a significantly brighter output even though they are only around 10Watts each - (Good news for those of you running a dynamo for charging). The headlight bowl is of a similar shape with the exception that the rear of the reflector is actually a large metal heatsink. They are sealed units, and the websites claim that they can still operate if fully immersed in water. Connection is made via the same 3 prong H4 style connector and this ensures that they really are a plug and play option.

You do need to be careful when shopping about though. Many of the Chinebay have some very dubious beam patterns, and a lot of the single ones advertised are actually for motorcycles, which mean that they have a flat beam output pattern without that little kick up to the side. There are many website comparison tests to be found, and some have some stunning long range performance, whilst some, like these ones are heavily criticized for not being much better than stock. Like all things you get what you pay for, and whilst these are not the cheapest around, at £180 for the pair, they were pretty close.

In reality (unlike modern daily drivers) our cars do not go fast enough to warrant great big searchlights with mile long beam patterns, and if they performed better than the stock ones, then that was a bonus. What swayed these ones for me was the fact that they had the full "HALO" present, and that with a bit of fiddling, I reckoned that I could get them to do a few other things too.





The white "HALO" on the outside is designed for later vehicles that have them on all the time as Daylight Running Lights (DRL) which is not something I particularly agree with nor wanted to have, so I wired them in as sidelights instead. I once got pulled over in a group of bikes and singled out as I was the only one that had my lights on, whereas the rest of the pack had turned them off. So, whilst I would always ride with lights on, there are occasions where I would like to be able to turn them off.





I did encounter an unforeseen problem though. Whilst the High and low beam are plug and play, the HALO is operated via an external module. The single module served both lights, and because they were designed to be used as DRL`s, it meant that the module would always be powered. This was problematic, because I wanted both lights to be independent of each other. After many hours head scratching, and removing the "sealed resin" inside of the module, I managed to work out what was going on inside. A quick raid of my electronic parts bin for a few components, a redesign of the module, and I now have independent operation.





I bet you are now asking yourself why I would actually want one HALO on and not the other? Well, these particular lights have another little party trick, and that is a Dual Colour HALO, that can double up as an indicator. This function only works out of the box when both HALOs are running, and has been difficult to get an Orange Flash without a DRL appearing the other side due to the communal module. But, I managed to do it in the end. Now, when the indicator is selected, the white HALO fades out, flashes Orange and when finished, the White HALO fades back in again. If the HALOs are switched off, then the light now just flashes as normal.





When I looked into these, there were two colours available, and because I thought that the chrome coated plastic surfaces looked a little cheesy, I decided to go for the Black version instead. It has however, left me with a bit of a dilemma though, as I am not sure whether to keep the outer bezels chrome, or also change them to black to match.





I now have enough shiny bits and black bits on the car that either colour would really suit it - just not sure which I prefer   

I like the chrome, awesome conversion though and really brings the front of your buggy to life

Flash git.. Looks cool 

They look great, just need to get driving it now

Looks fantastic Dave.... keep the chrome bezels as it allows the brightwork to flow from the bumper, lights, to the windowscreen surround and roll bar etc

A top job there and useful you knew somebody who is switched on when it comes to electrickery jiggery pokery stuff. A one off buggy light job

I'd need to see a comparison between the chrome and black to really decide. But as it stands I'd have to agree to chrome on the lamps

Dave,

Great job, unique. Chrome for me .

Paul

They look awesome

They look really cool, do like them