Hey guys,

I recently bought and imported a Japanese FD. Everything is dandy, it's a fantastic car, but the headlights won't pass inspection. They're not DOT approved.

I was wondering if anyone here has dealt with safetying a JDM FD before, and what they did about the headlights. Are the North American headlights interchangable?

I shouldn't need the bulbs, or the covers or anything, just the glass. I'd like to just verify that they will work before I post a WTB in the classifieds.

What about the Evo-R kits? Are they DOT approved?

Thanks!

-Devan

 

They are not interchangable. The beam patterns are different for a RHD and LHD car (based on which side of the road you drive on. I also remember reading that using pop-ups had a side-effect on helping with regulations because the lights needed to be at a certain height. Im not sure if that regulation is still in effect.

 

Well............ your 1/2 right. The light lens are interchangable. As you stated the beam pattern are the differance.

You can post a request for some U.S. spec DOT lens in the classified section.


On a side note I purchased a set of the superior Euro lens mfg from glass & designed for l/h drive cars.

 

Yes, stock for stock the headlights are interchangeable.

go on bcrotary.com and see if anyone local has a spare set of LHD USDM lights for sale. You need just the bulb housing (the big square thing) on both sides. As long as they say "DOT" on them, you will pass. Then use the adjustment ***** to properly adjust your lights against a flat wall.

Check out Canadian Tire as well for lights. They sell "Sylvania" OEM replacement lights.

Personally, I would stay away from the aftermarket kits. They will have a worse beam pattern than your current RHD lights.

 

He asked if the whole headlight was interchangeable but you are right. Maybe I should have specified.

The Euro lens is great. I was actually going to purchases it myself but went with a cheaper lens with an HID included. Good on you man. I'll probably end up switching to the euro lens anyway. Can you PM me where you got it from? corksport sells it for a good chunk of change. More than I thought it would be.

 

Thanks Aaron!

Yeah, that's all I was looking for was the glass cover. As long as it fits and says DOT on it, I'm happy.

I just want it to pass inspection for now. I'll consider different headlights later.

Do you know of any other issues encountered with registering a JDM FD?

I've already got the 3rd brake light, and the rears are DOT. I'm going the DRLs this afternoon, and it's got the stock cat. As far as I can tell, I should be golden.

-Devan

 

no other issues. I had more problems with my Skyline since they didn't have sidemarkers.

FD's are the easiest to register because all they need are headlights.

 

Sled, how were the euro spec lenses compared to our stockers for lighting quality?

Tim

 

Did a search for previous posts where Sled talked about the euro spec glass lenses. He likes them and they offer better lighting quality and sharper cutoff. I ordered a set from Corksport today since I've tried most everything else for the stock lights.

Tim

 

Tim,

Mazda Motorsports stocks it under Competition Parts for RX7 93-95

FD14-51-040D HEADLAMP, LT $212.25
FD14-51-030D HEADLAMP, RT $212.25

Notes: EURO 3RD GEN


Corksport has very good prices @$452 for the set, so you did well to order from them.

As far as our hoser from the great white north, I'll need to see if they have any DOT markings on them. Might be a moot point if they don't have "the mark"

 

I just got my euro spec headlight lenses in and they don't have the DOT mark on them like the USDM stock headlights.

Here's a couple of pics of both lights, stock on the left and euro on the right. The stock plastic has a more noticable buldge to the lense where the Euro is more flat, as you can tell with the 2nd pic.

Tim

 

u also need to hook up the clutch kill switch. it's there but not hooked up in a jdm fd. daytime running lights, i even had to stick on some ghetto reflectors to pass. otherwise you should be fine.