Headlight Buckets - Adjustment Knobs (Am I doing it correct?

[rapandi]

19 minutes ago, Conserv said:

Les,

 

I understand the differences in RHD and LHD lenses. But was the U.S.-style headlight bucket (below) used in any market other than the U.S.? If the answer is “Yes”, were any of those RHD markets? If the answer is “No”, is it possible the U.S.-style bucket was designed with a built-in bias to the right?

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Steve

 

Hmmm.... valid question about the inbuilt bias...I  never really gave that a thought....

[Conserv]

41 minutes ago, rapandi said:

The RHD cars came with the Euro style buckets. Pic below. I do have the original headlight buckets which came with the car. They are much deeper in size and they never came with sealed units in them. They came with a separable reflector (red arrow) which can take a H4 bulb. The reflectors themselves have adjustment knobs on them. 

 

The trouble with these lights is that the reflectors are corroded after several decades of driving. They lose their reflective property. They are not chrome plated but are silver lined. Finding someone who can re-silver these is a bit of a mission in Australia. However even if you did find someone who can do it, the cost of re-silvering them is exuberant (in the hundreds just for one headlight). Even if you did manage to get them re-silvered the light output from them is mediocre at best.

 

Most people I know here just put up with the poor lights. Picture below showing a re-silvered reflector.  

 

The US buckets mount straight on to the the RHD cars no problem and you can get semi sealed units (for RHD cars) which can be attached to these buckets. The US buckets provide a much larger choice of headlights that can be used on the RHD cars with much better light output. 

 

 

Thank you for your response.

 

And yes, there’s at least one firm in the U.K. and at least one in the U.S. that perform the re-slivering. It’s at least $400 - $500 a pair at those places, so usually reserved for very valuable classic lights, e.g., Marchal Amplilux, or irreplaceable antique lights.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[visionaut]

4 hours ago, Conserv said:

the “snugging” of the threaded screw to the plastic thumbwheel is accomplished by a tight “eared” washer, in lieu of a nut.

Cool. That’s what I have & showed. So mine is original...

 

Raj said he couldn’t see any adjustment changes because that nut - as he first showed it - would prevent any significant movement when he turned the knob in. And I’d also not seen the use of a replacement full-size locknut instead of the original washer sandwich design to locate the knob.

 

[rapandi]

Them plastic white nuts were the issue for sure. I went to the hardware store and picked up a thick and cheap angle bracket. I was only after a few cuts from the bracket to make some nuts. Drilled a hole, tapped it to suite and used it on the buckets. Works perfectly now. Changes angle as I would like it too. Pics below. 
 

Thank you all for helping me with this one. 
 

[02Les]

12 hours ago, Conserv said:

Les,

 

I understand and am familiar with the differences in RHD and LHD lenses. But was the U.S.-style headlight bucket (below) used in any market other than the U.S.? If the answer is “Yes”, were any of those RHD markets? If the answer is “No”, is it possible the U.S.-style bucket was designed with a built-in bias to the right?

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

Steve,

I believe only for the US market. The parts Blue Book shows only USA.

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, 02Les said:

 

Steve,

I believe only for the US market. The parts Blue Book shows only USA.

Thank you, Les, for doing the legwork on this.

 

Raj appears to have solved his problem by replacing stripped out plastic nuts with steel nuts. This, in turn, appears to prove that U.S. headlight buckets are adaptable to a RHD setting, regardless of whether BMW’s engineers foresaw this as a possibility. So now we know!

 

Best regards,

 

Steve