Cheapo Replacement LED SA Highbeams

[dougnlina]

So I got tired of the old Halogen Small-format highbeam bulbs on the inner lights for the South African grill on my van. I have replaced these twice now because they start to corrode and the lens gets milky. There are some alternate retrofit LED replacements, but they are usually fairly expensive High/Low/Parking combinations, and most of them need you to cut away some of the SA grill to fit a larger format bulb. With my latest halogens clouding up and looking like crap, I went looking for an alternative.
I found these bulbs on Amazon,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DSKS1JL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
They are under $40 for the pair and send out a bright narrow beam.

To mount them I
1. Smashed the lens of the halogen bulb with a hammer, cleaned out the glass from the old reflector, and took a 3" disc sander to the reflector to remove any corrosion, glue or loose reflective coating. I also threw it in the sand blaster to roughen up the surface for better bonding
2. Measured the shell and made an "adapter" in Fusion to adopt the new bulbs to the old reflector.
3. I 3D printed out two rings to clamshell around the new LED bulb. I printed these out using Black PLA, There are some other filament options that would probably be a better choice but I used what I had. These files are available to download for awhile here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pn45bL2gNlhnnPR-2SL4zpQ7c48m0KDv/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15bQ_nljUSSYeijxa-zTiVjytcvEZrdaI/view?usp=sharing
4. The wire connections are somewhat difficult to get to once the bulb is encased in the clamshell+reflector so I Added some pigtails to the connectors on the back of the bulb.
5. Roughed up the bonding surfaces and used a black high temp silicone to glue everything together.
6. Masked off the bulb and then painted black with some plastic paint I had left over. Then painted with a clear UV protective paint.

Hooked everything up and drove it around it in the dark, the high beams are WAY better than the previous lights, they are really bright! Couldn't be happier with my sub $50 dollar cheapo high beams!

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"Grover" a '87 Syncro Poptop 1.8T
"Olive" a '60 Ragtop Beetle (retired)

[4Gears4Tires]

Excellent execution. That's exactly the idea I'm kicking around for my square lights. Smash the lens, get an LED light that is close, and 3D print an adapter. I'm glad to see this idea works well.

The only downside I see is that there are no cheap square headlights to use to smash.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition