Does anyone know anywhere I could find a set of european headlights? I have an '87 and I would really like to swap out of the quad headlight config. I have looked all over the internet and I can only find the plastic ones for the facelift cars. I need glass ones I think. Has anyone found a source for these? I'm going to England in August maybe I can find some there.

Thanks

 

SNG Barratt - USA | Jaguar & Daimler classic parts, spares & accessories

 

Thanks Vee!

 

The SNG sets of the quad lights have plastic bezels, although it would be hard to tell from just looking at them from a few feet away. Don't know if the euros are the same way. Were the original quad bezels on XJS's made of plastic?

 

my 83 has chromed white metal bezels.

 

All the quad headlight bezels I have seen for these cars are plastic. The euro style may of been metal.

 

Plenty of owners want to convert their lights the other way, from Euro to quads because they like the way they look. Advertise for an even trade. You may be without lights during the swap, but would save you the cost of replacements.

 

I did the swap.

I ended up buying them from SNG Barratt...yes I know, they are quite expensive but at the time eBay never seemed to have everything I needed all at one time, parts were of questionable condition, and I just wanted something simple.

That being said, they look fantastic. The bezels were surprisingly plastic, but you couldn't tell by looking at it.

I still have the original lights, in case I decided to switch back, but I doubt I will. The plastic is pretty foggy on the original lights, luckily this upgrade has glass, so there'll be no haziness setting in.

 

Vee, how are the quality of the actual headlamps/bulbs in the SNG kit? Have you converted to HID?

 

idk where to get them, but just for reference my jag with euro lights came with Glass lenses and plastic bezels. The bezels are just like the front grill. The plating is coming off on the bottom of the inside of my lights, but they are still really great, especially my brights.

Idk what the American lights are like but i have no complaints about mine.

 

theyll be way cheaper in england btw. even if u need to go onto ebay uk. Ive looked once and the cost of a 1 bezel here is almost the same as a full set of used lights there.

 

The bezel or the lens?

I don't think you'd want to a UK lens in the USA. The fluting will almost certainly be different and point the beam in the wrong direction!

Cheers
DD

 

I have not converted to HID, I think most kits are illegal.

As for the quality? They are glass Cibie housings. The light quality is great. At least as good as the previous headlights that came with the car.

 

thats why they make headlights adjustable.


which you are gonna have to do when u put in new lights anyway.
btw mine are cibies, which i think is oem.i haven't looked at the actual bulbs but the outside glass says they are H4s

 

I think I get what Doug is saying. My current headlights only have one axis of adjustment. As you bring the left side beam to the left, it also starts pointing up, and vise versa. Same with the right side lights. Because your headlights can't blind people in the oncoming lane. (I don't think I am making much sense here). Anyway, do you think that if I got the facelift version oval headlights with plastic lenses, would the glass lenses have the same mounting points as the plastic ones so I could simply swap the lenses if I found them later? Really confusing sorry.

 

It's beyond adjustment.

The lens is designed to disperse the light in a different (opposite) pattern. That's why you can go to any Jaguar parts catalog and see different part numbers for headlamps depending on left hand driver or right hand drive.

Cheers
DD

 

thats weird... mine can be adjusted on the left side, right side, and down (or effectively up if you let it out)

it has 3 bracket things with springs the headlight pushes back into. the brackets have screws on them to let the headlights adjust. idk if this is the same as the newer plastic ones. im not actually gonna throw them out of adjustment to prove a point but mine are about in the middle and if i wanted i could make the lights point completely into the other lane or completely onto the side of the road instead of centered.

went and snapped a pic in case you wanna reference them compared to the newer plastic ones. no idea if they are different. i did it just now..sorry about the lighting lol

 

Thanks sidescrollin! Do you remember what the connectors were like?

 

where at?? when i pulled the light out a bullet connector came undone i put back togoether, didn't notice if the others were any different.
if you mean directly plugging into the light i can go take a picture of that or whatever it is you need, just let me know.

the bullet was on like a single wire below the main bulb i think. its that red one by itself to the right.

ill probably just take pics of all the wires and post them when i get on later.

 

well here is where the h4 plugs in. All of these wires look like they are part of the adapter and don't simply unplug from it. They connect to the harness at a 3 point bullet adapter



the lower light i was talking about looks to be a driving light which i don't have bulb for on either side oddly.... but they plug into a spade (grnd) and then a bullet going into the harness.


there is one female unused bullet connection on the harness end and then another adapter (dunno the name) like the ones that plug into the fog lights that is unused.

you can kinda see on the left side there is a hole in the bucket to let you unclip the lens. The right side is easily accessed with the bezel off and a flat blade screwdriver reachs the bottom clip.




note to self...clean headlight bucket area next wash.