2002 Honda VFR800i LED (replacement) Headlights Not Fitting Into Housing...

[jman995x2]

Hello All,

 

I have a 2002 Honda VFR800i ABS.

One of my Low Beam (H4) bulbs burned out, so I decided to replace the older/yellow Low Beam Bulbs with LEDs...which I was able to do (with a slight trimming down of the dust boot collar, do that it wasn't so tall, and thus was no longer preventing the LED from seating into the retention collar in the light housing).

 

Once the Low Beams were installed, I didn't like the yellowish (older) High Beam Bulbs compared to the new "Cool White" 6000K LED Low Beams.

 

So, having said that, I've tried multiple times to install multiple H7 LED High Beam Bulbs....to much frustration, and no avail.

 

The OEM Spring/Latch that clips the Bulb Retention Ring into the light housing (thus allowing you to twist the bulb into said ring to affix the bulb to the bike), protrudes up off the retention ring so much that the bulb (barely) can/'t be twisted into the ring, because the fan housing on the LEDs (seemingly, regardless of the manufacturer), is too close to the retention ring, and thus prevents the retention screws on the shaft of the LED bulb from being able to slide all the way through Bulb Retention Ring, and then be twisted to lock the LED bulb into the ring.

In other words, the depth of the crimp in the pre-bent spring is greater than the distance between the LED Barrel Locking Screws and the LED Fan Shroud Housing, making seating the LED Bulb inside the retention ring impossible because the LED Fan Housing hits the retention spring before being able to be seated.

 

The first attempt (with the Anodized Red LEDs), you can see that the splines on the fan housing are catching on the retention spring tang (and vice versa), making it VERY hard to twist the LED into final position because the tang slips in between the fan housing splines with each little twist (notice the edges of the splines in the upper left of the picture...the red anodized coating has been rubbed off where it rubbed against the tang during twisting the LED into the retention ring).

Not only does the retention spring tang slip in between the splines of the fan shroud, but the retention spring latches into a "tower" of sorts (see brass plate/silver screw next to where retention spring tang is wedged in between fan shroud splines),....said tower also protrudes even further behind the opening the LED is supposed to slip through. Because of this, although I was able to finally seat this first set of LEDs, the aforementioned tower (at about the 4 o'clock position), protrudes so much behind the retention ring, that it pivots the LED/shaft towards 3 o'clock, making the LED not sit correctly, nor the light properly reflected by the mirrored housing. So, not only is it a PITA to twist these first set of LEDs into their retention rings, doing so shifts the LED off center, towards 3pm, which makes this set of LED essentially useless.

 

Subsequent attached pictures show the depth of the retention spring (notice the smaller crimp is about 9/16ths (approximately)).

Also, wrt the second set of LEDs (Black Body), notice that the measurement between the between the fan shroud and the retention ring is about 10/16ths...

 

And of course, because these LEDs barely do/don't fit, there is obviously not room whatsoever to fit the dust boot on, which is a whole other issue.

 

So, having said ALL of that....has anybody successfully installed H4 High Beam LEDs in their 2002 Honda VFR800i ABS?

If so, what brand did you use and/or did you need to make any modifications?

 

Any and all help/suggestions welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

J.

 

[jman995x2]

Have finally come to the conclusion that most/all of the fan-backed LED H7's will not fit on this model/year bike.

Finally found/went with: "CAFOPAR H7 Mini LED Headlight Bulb, LED Headlights High and Low Beam and Fog Light Fanless H7 LED Headlight Bulb 6000K 55W 6000LM White Replacement Halogen Lights" (from Amazon).

Installed quickly/easily, and do the trick.