Re: Hella XL mounting location? (Long)

[Jim Griffin <JGriff@pobox.com>]

At 10:56 AM 01/02/97 PST, you wrote:
>
>Santa Claus was good to me this year.  (S)he gave me a nice set of Hella 
>XL's because s(he) got tired of saying "who turned off the lights everytime 
>s(he) switched from high beams to low beams at night.  That's the good news.

Glad to hear that Santa has treated you well. And I couldn't agree with you
more regarding "who turned out the lights?!!"
After hearing so much talk about poor lighting, and how good the XLs are, I
decided to splurge and buy some for my '92 100.

I installed them a few weeks ago, and they are fantastic. I can't imagine
driving without them. I almost don't need my high beams anymore... when I
flick on the highs, there is no longer a DRASTIC difference. Boy, it is
great to really see what is out there ahead of you!!

>The bad news is I can't figure out where to mount them.  I assumed that I 
>could mount them where I've seen A6's with driving lights, that is, under 
>the front bumper, on either side where the two little grilles can be popped 
>out.  Perfect fit.

Hmmm. Are you sure that they'd be a perfect fit? I have the driving lights,
and  I test-fit the XLs down there, just for sh*ts and giggles, and I don't
believe that the area down there was wide enough. Anyway, it doesn't matter,
because I think that if you mounted them there, you'd lose some of their
effectiveness. I chose not to for that reason mostly. The instructions
recommend that they be put at bumper level, at least 24" off the ground. I'm
glad I heeded their advice.

>But NOOOO.  On the S4, I find I would be blocking air 
>flow to the intake on the right side and air flow to the intercooler on the 
>left.  Has anyone successfully put XL's on an S4/S6?  Any suggestions where 
>they can (gracefully) go?

So, where did I put them? Since we have the same car (well, bumperwise, at
least...), I can tell you that I mounted them on the (black) plastic bumper,
in front of the grille, next to the headlights. They look "okay" in this
position (although I'd rather have put them someplace else, but really there
wasn't any other location...), and in the interest of functionality, it
seemed to be the best spot.

I at first tried using the molly mounting system that they give with the
kit. Don't use the molly mounting bolts. They did not tighten up well
enough, and actually made a bit of a mess of things. The lights were
flopping and bouncing around a lot. Not good at all.

I did not try taking the bumper off (since as you know, there is no Bentley
manual... so I didn't dare...), and from what I found, there was no (easy)
way to put a bolt down and secure it with a nut.

So, I used toggle bolts instead. They worked perfectly.

Bring the mounting bracket to Home Depot (or wherever...), and get some
toggle bolts that will fit. Make sure they are fairly long, at least 3",
since you want them to extend down and attach to the metal part of the
bumper, not just the plastic piece.

Then go over to the drill bit aisle, and buy the 7/16 drill bit (yeah,
that's right, it's a big hole they want you to drill... Ugh!! A bit
painful... but "she" and I survived!!).

Drill the big holes, making sure to go deep, into the metal part of the
bumper. Mount the brackets with the toggle bolts, and snug them up tightly.

As far as the wiring goes, I powered the relay (the red wire) off the
ignition jumper terminal, under the hood. I was fortunate to have some
wiring already loomed through the firewall for an old, broken (by the
previous owner) grille-mounted radar detector, so I used that as the source
leading from inside the car (i.e. for the switch to the relay). The rest of
the wiring (i.e. ground, and wires to the lights) is fairly self-explanatory.

I went to the dealer and bought a factory fog-light switch (for $14.65, with
tax!!), and mounted it along with the others after removing one of the
blanks. I powered the switch by tapping into a switched fuse on the fuse
panel (actually, the same one I used for my CB radio), since I wanted them
to shut off when I turned off the car, just in case I had a brain fart. If
you tap into the low beam wiring (see below), I imagine that you'll just be
reminded by the "lights-on" chime to shut them all off.

If you need to know what the pin-out positions are on the factory switch,
let me know. Joe Yakubik sent me the correct info. It looks and works
beautifully.

The instructions state/recommend that you tap into the low beam wiring, so
that you can only turn on the XLs when you have your low beams on, and more
so, so that you can't have them on when you flick on the highs. That is
obviously your decision, but I didn't. Illegal? I think so... but well,
"ooops... darn....I must have missed that part of the instructions...."  :-)

Overall, I am very happy with how they came out. It is a nice, professional
looking installation (although the molly snafu did mess things up a bit, if
you look closely...), if I do say so myself!! :-)

Also, you'll probably have to play around a bit with the aiming of them. I
found that the bubble aimer was of little use. Instead, I used the garage
wall method, along with just simple visual corrections/aiming adjustments in
a nearby dark parking lot/street. What is important is to make sure that
they are not pointed too high, blinding oncomers, 'cuz these are much
brighter than the OEM lights, that's for sure. As much as it is
inconsiderate and unsafe, it is also a nuisance to be constantly flashed by
others. I know... I went through some of that during the trial-and-error
adjustment period.

Well, hope this helps. Please, feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

Enjoy!! Let me know what you think of them. (I'm sure you'll be very happy,
indeed!!)

And BTW, I just sent in some pictures to be developed, and on that roll, I
took some pictures of my car with the XLs mounted. I hope and plan to put
them up on my web page for others to see. I may have them up there in a week
or so.

Good luck.

                             Jim Griffin
                      JGriff@pobox.com
  http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/4475
                        Maryland, USA
   "Perception is often stronger than reality!"
                               '92 100S
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