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Headlight upgrade suggestion for VFR750F


HumanBean

Question

Hello,

Just bought an 89 VFR750F, took it out for an evening ride though the woods and discovered that I couldn't go more than 40mph, because the light are scary bad.

Could anyone recommend a straightforward upgrade? Preferably LED. Many thanks.

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On 2/5/2021 at 5:30 PM, adkfinn said:

 

x2 - my sentiments exactly.

 

@DannoXYZ if you buy & try these please share your experience and gratuitous pics with us!

 

I am getting ready to buy parts for my projector retrofit on my 5th Gen, these little projector 'bulbs' would save a lot of time and fuss if they actually perform. 

They should be here mid-March or so. I've got bike & cars with H4 lights with fluted lens as well as clear lens. Would be interesting to see how they work with both kinds. Vendor says they output 2000-lumens on low and 2200-lumens on high-beam. Time to dig out light-metre.

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Here's my 5th gen xenon project:

 

P1000976x.jpg.df16b568ed6d04331fbf97884fe60432.jpg

 

A bit old school--those are Infiniti G35 OEM projectors mounted to aluminum plates which attach to the OEM adjusters.  I was surprised they fit, too!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

 

 

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49 minutes ago, JZH said:

Here's my 5th gen xenon project:

 

P1000976x.jpg.df16b568ed6d04331fbf97884fe60432.jpg

 

A bit old school--those are Infiniti G35 OEM projectors mounted to aluminum plates which attach to the OEM adjusters.  I was surprised they fit, too!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

 

 

 

Very nice JZH. Poor sad faced fella needs a home. Ya not building the R2D2 version VFR are you?

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That's awesome!  Very well done!  

 

BTW - you happen to know thickness of that front lens/cover?

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14 hours ago, JZH said:

Here's my 5th gen xenon project:

 

P1000976x.jpg.df16b568ed6d04331fbf97884fe60432.jpg

 

A bit old school--those are Infiniti G35 OEM projectors mounted to aluminum plates which attach to the OEM adjusters.  I was surprised they fit, too!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

 

 

This is exactly where I am headed. Looks great! Let's see some output shots.

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18 hours ago, DannoXYZ said:

That's awesome!  Very well done!  

 

BTW - you happen to know thickness of that front lens/cover?

That's a (damaged) regular 5th gen headlamp unit I was using to prototype the retrofit--not a lens cover at all.  I just split it and cut down the reflectors.

 

Here's some pics from when I was making it:

P1020798x.jpg.3c9a1fb63fbc780ca1f34d72d0d11e3a.jpg

Some scrap alloy sheet the same thickness as the OEM adjuster arms (I don't recall what it was--1.6mm?) so the plastic adjuster nuts would slot right into it.

 

P1020800x.jpg.958a91c66c6d5128d3063ca1513cd304.jpg

Dremel diamond wheel, drill press, flat surface.  The cut was at the level of the bosses in the back of the reflector.

 

P1020803x.jpg.36fda28223c85d434830a4603da3e7a9.jpg

Screwed the cut-down reflector to the mounting plate.

Trimmed the G35 a bit so I could fit 4x mounting posts:

P1000942x.jpg.646c4dda2e3fa8967040c8f752d7c157.jpg

 

P1000948x.jpg.c1ed5d2367d5ccb41a0e14ca19107e84.jpg

Trimmed the reflector around the posts.

 

P1000952y.thumb.jpg.a8c6890811733baacf088eae9ddf546f.jpg

You can never have enough WD-40...

 

P1000950x.jpg.93aac189419d2b75e4fccc805a1e133d.jpg

 

P1000973xx.jpg.619cd656885ab7907d0fd61b5eb7ed86.jpg

The damned things actually fit!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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thank you for this it was interesting. hopefully there is enough space between the unit and the lens heat won't be an issue . 

 

I have accidentally stumbled on a headlamp improvement with my vfr750fp. was using it for commuting and has shoe string budget. one of the h4 bulbs worked intermittently misbehaving . anyway settled on some LED h4 as (they were cheeper than one bulb didn't expect them to be any good )replacements from flea-bay. fitting them was easy as changing bulbs + cleaning the connector which was the real fault. ANYWAY - there brighter whiter light the real noticeable difference even on low/dip beam all the reflective roadsigns reflect better.

used them for over 18months no issues .  

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On 2/13/2021 at 12:36 AM, JZH said:

That's a (damaged) regular 5th gen headlamp unit I was using to prototype the retrofit--not a lens cover at all.  I just split it and cut down the reflectors.

 

P1000973xx.jpg.619cd656885ab7907d0fd61b5eb7ed86.jpg

 

 

I was thinking of this very front piece of factory headlight assembly that covers the projectors. I would make something similar to cover hole in fairing. Edges would be Z-shape to fit behind edge of opening in fairing. I think 1.5mm polycarbonate would work. Might make some out of plexiglass to test first.

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On 2/13/2021 at 3:36 AM, JZH said:

That's a (damaged) regular 5th gen headlamp unit I was using to prototype the retrofit--not a lens cover at all.  I just split it and cut down the reflectors.

 

Here's some pics from when I was making it:

P1020798x.jpg.3c9a1fb63fbc780ca1f34d72d0d11e3a.jpg

Some scrap alloy sheet the same thickness as the OEM adjuster arms (I don't recall what it was--1.6mm?) so the plastic adjuster nuts would slot right into it.

 

P1020800x.jpg.958a91c66c6d5128d3063ca1513cd304.jpg

Dremel diamond wheel, drill press, flat surface.  The cut was at the level of the bosses in the back of the reflector.

 

P1020803x.jpg.36fda28223c85d434830a4603da3e7a9.jpg

Screwed the cut-down reflector to the mounting plate.

Trimmed the G35 a bit so I could fit 4x mounting posts:

P1000942x.jpg.646c4dda2e3fa8967040c8f752d7c157.jpg

 

P1000948x.jpg.c1ed5d2367d5ccb41a0e14ca19107e84.jpg

Trimmed the reflector around the posts.

 

P1000952y.thumb.jpg.a8c6890811733baacf088eae9ddf546f.jpg

You can never have enough WD-40...

 

P1000950x.jpg.93aac189419d2b75e4fccc805a1e133d.jpg

 

P1000973xx.jpg.619cd656885ab7907d0fd61b5eb7ed86.jpg

The damned things actually fit!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

Lots of cantilever there good Sir.... Usually oem mounting plate is sandwiched b/w parabolic mirror and lens holder, somewhere on cg plane. 

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7 hours ago, Magneto said:

 

Lots of cantilever there good Sir.... Usually oem mounting plate is sandwiched b/w parabolic mirror and lens holder, somewhere on cg plane. 

 

P1000955x.jpg.ff2739e838dd56c733ce41ebe182656c.jpg

 

Quite true.  My plates used exactly the same mounting bosses as the OEM metal arms they replaced, but despite locating the G35s as rearward as possible (given the space limitations to the back of the headlight unit), of course the CG location has changed (as well as the amount of weight being supported).  TBH, I was more concerned about the adjuster screws pulling through the plastic bushings, but this was just a prototype.  A stainless plate would eliminate any risk of the posts distorting the alloy as a result of suspension impact, but at the cost of adding even more weight!

 

Btw, the work in those pics was done in December 2008, when it was still easy to buy used OEM projectors from places like The Retrofit Source in the USA.  I've recently been working on modifying my JDM Toyota Hiace van, part of which involves a xenon retrofit (LED is for kids) and I've found the only way to get proper OEM projectors is to scour eBay for damaged OEM headlight assemblies and harvest them myself.  (And if anyone absolutely must have OEM projectors with fully switchable proper LHD/RHD cutoff profiles (i.e., _____/----- to -----\_____), I know exactly which BMW headlights you need...)

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

 

 

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II myself used to play with hid conversions back in mid 2000s. I loved the light output but reliability just wasn’t there and I was messing with it constantly. I do not know how the bulbs are now, but back then proper Philips costed fortune to replace...

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