Re: Burning Out Light Sockets?

[AUDIONLY@aol.com]

In a message dated 95-08-23 23:14:08 EDT, firkins@eis.net.au (John Firkins)
writes:

>
>>What's the deal, folks?  One of the posts today implies that the
>>material behind the reflector (and not a bad idea to consider having
>>the reflector improved, if possible...) is plastic.
>
>The reflectors are metal coated with epoxy resin to give a smooth finish
>then plated.
>You need to find a plater who uses  vacuum metalising to plate  plastic
>because if the epoxy is removed to perform a traditional plating process,
>you reflectors will not improved. I've seen some done, they ended up being
>very poor.
>
>The epoxy coating is very heat resistant certainly much better that the
>injection molded wiring plug.
>
>BTW some Ford reflectors are made from plastic & will melt if high wattage
>bulbs are used. Another issue that hasnt been raised is Higher
>wattage=higher temperatures in headlight=shorter bulb life
>
>Hope this helps
>John Firkins
>
>

A question that comes to mind is......How does one get the lens assembly
apart  to do this? Every "Americanized" European lens I've seen has been
sealed tighter than a grand jury investigation. (The only exception I've seen
was early model 85 5kt had the front lens "clipped" on to the reflector assy;
but Hella in their infinite wisdom replaced the clip with super glue
sealant......Guess they figured they couldn't  make 'nough on just the lens)

Of interesting note for you 85-874k, 4kc, & 4kq owners.....I met an inventive
guy who used the headlights out of a 1992 FORD escort to replace the Audi
euro headlights. He used the stock aiming plate and machined some aluminum
adapters to attach to the Ford lens which uses the same style halogen bulb.
For the purist, it wasn't a perfect match, (from 10 ft. you couldn't tell)
but then again he only had $22.00 invested $;-)

Peter 
Audionly