NA6 headlight upgrade

[adelaide_paul]

I've seen many led lamp upgrades on the internet. Any experiences/recommendations/advice?

[Magpie]

Do you care for legality?

[adelaide_paul]

Prefer to be legal

[hks_kansei]

For full legal the easiest is to first of all check if you've still got the old sealed beam lights, or if a previous owner has converted to semi-sealed.

If they haven't changed to semi sealed, do it.

Usual checks would be to make sure the lenses are clean, and that they've aligned correctly so the light is actually shining where it should.

Then you can try new/better bulbs (dont go for higher wattage ones, they'll give much better light, right up until they melt the plug off the back of the bulb)



So far as converting to a new light, the NA uses standard 7inch round inserts, so you can use any 7inch light.

As far as legality, you'll need something that meets ADRs, and also read your state regs to make sure you dont need additional approval etc.

Probably the easiest source is to buy a pair of headlights from a Jeep, since from memory they still use the round 7in inserts, and being OEM, meet the necessary ADR etc.



Just make sure whatever you buy from the web is for RHD cars, otherwise the beam pattern will be wrong and will just blind other drivers.

[adelaide_paul]

Many thanks, especially the advice to ensure that are suitable for RHD, I'd forgotten about that!!!!

[apsilon]

I never looked into it as I rarely drive the MX5 at night and so didn't want to spend that sort of money but VisionX has some 7" lights and they list an ADR model as being available. Don't know if that's ADR as in Australian Design Rules or something else but might be an option if they're legal and within budget. I imagine they'd be fairly good but will cost 7 or so times more than converting to quality H4 bulbs and reflectors.

https://www.visionxusa.com/shop/7-vx-se ... headlight/

[Forgiven]

Here's the reply I got to the legality question from an Australian supplier, Stedi.com.au:

"There are no LED or HID retrofit bulbs on the market that come with inherent ADR approval right out of the box. ADR does not offer any blanket approval for headlight bulb retrofits. Different headlights will respond differently to retrofits, which is why ADR will only consider individual compliance through photometric and colour-metric testing on the specific vehicle.

Please see below the relevant paragraph from a recent ADR bulletin.

IB-132C Vehicle Safety and Standards Information Bulletin (Updated August 2017)

LED headlight replacements globes similar to HID lights, LED lights produce more light to the amount of power they consume. The retrofitting of aftermarket conversions of LED lights and/or light assemblies to the dipped beam (low beam) circuit of a vehicle does not guarantee that they will comply with ADR performance requirements applicable to the vehicle which may make them non-compliant for road use. The fitting of such lights and/or light assemblies is considered altering a vehicle from the manufacturer’s specifications which classifies the vehicle as a modified vehicle. The vehicle is required to be examined to determine if the vehicle meets the requirements under ADR13.

Our LED upgrade does meet the fundamental requirement to achieve a pass through examinations. Things like maximum brightness and CCT conform to the ADR requirements.

I think I'll take the risk.

[93_Clubman]

I think I'll take the risk.

Ted, not sure if you saw a post by LiteIsRite in 'What have you done today' on on the forum on 31 Dec 2019, but he replaced his NA6 original Koito headlights with Raybrig headlights. Might be worth considering if they'll achieve the outcome you're aiming for - see second last post on following page: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=53999&start=3165
Btw, ref headlights, you might have noticed on Ozclubbies that the builders sometimes refer to an 'E' marking on the lens - my understanding is those interpreting the ADRs require that as a minimum. Believe Mr Morlock on here will know more about this if you need more info as believe he was in this area of the industry.

[Forgiven]

Encyclopaedic as usual. Thanks Paul.

[Mr Morlock]

An issue with aftermarket headlamps is whether there is proper control over the light pattern i.e. if there is not a proper cut off ,the person coming the other way may be dazzled. If you fit different inserts or different light sources is very improbable that you are going to be pinged by the authorities. There will be very few photometric labs in Au that can verify and an individual is not going to pay to find out. That co Stedi is likely to be quite right in what they say. We used to sell 7" round inserts for aftermarket which were certified and used H4 'e 'marked bulbs. That's old technology but still a good light- far better than the even older sealed beams. The 7" insert was a good product and far superior to 5.75" or wretched rectangular inserts. I have a vehicle with 7 inserts and H4 60/55W.

I reckon modern LED lights are really good performance in OEM but whether that is the same for aftermarket I am not sure. Hella and Narva will be able to give some advice. Both of the head offices are in Melbourne though Hella no longer make lighting in Aust because of Toyota/ Mitsubishi/ GMH and Ford pulled the plug.

[mx589]

raybrig make a nice direct swap over headlight for na mx5. Have them in my own na way brighter than the standard stuff even on low beam.

Google has plenty of info on em
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... +headlight

[Forgiven]

Gee, not simple is it! Thanks Mr Morlock and 589.

[twr7cx]

A well timed thread.

I recently fitted some Semi Sealed Beams that I believe are from a the later model NA (can’t recall the brand, perhaps Kayo or the like?) to my 89 NA6. The first thing I noticed about them is their face is flat unlike the sealed beams that I removed from the vehicle which have curved glass fronts. I fitted them along with Narva Plus 150 H4 globes < https://www.narva.com.au/products/48382BL2 >. The low beam is just ok, but the high beam really sucks. Strangely the low beam is a more yellow colour and the high beam is rather blue. It’s actually all bad enough that I now avoid driving the MX-5 in the dark and take my Land Rover instead.
I need to check the headlight adjustment though as I didn’t alter it from when the sealed beams were in. I’ll also try swapping in some standard H4 globes to compare the difference.

I’ve read that the Raybrigs semi sealed beams are good.

Part of me thinks it might just be better to update to LED lights but that’s just so many different brands and models now with little information on how to distinguish the differences.

I’ve seen Stedi products over the years in 4WD context. They’ve never impressed me as value for money previously but they’re LED headlights do seem to be well priced compared to other big brand offerings.
Anyone know the difference between the Iris < https://www.stedi.com.au/stedi-7-inch-l ... light.html > and Carbon < https://www.stedi.com.au/stedi-7-inch-c ... light.html > products? They’re the same price but the internal configuration seems to have some differences.

[Mr Morlock]

Well worth checking i.e. voltage drop- auto elect can fix that - often they fit relays as a cheap and effective fix. Standard H4 should be fine- the claims on higher wattage is mostly hype. You should be able to get a good result with a quality 7in insert and H4- Hella amongst other made them and with an e bulb the product was photometrically good- proper cut off etc.

[Calmman]

My two cents here. I was considering the same modification and realised there is ADR approved solution out there from Narva. The Narva part # is 72104 and just a direct swap with no hardware modification.
https://www.narva.com.au/products/72104
The only downside is a costly update.