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Old 08-23-2000, 10:26 PM   #1
IMPBOY
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Member#: 65
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: San Ramon CA, USA
Question HELLA 500 driving lights mounting Q

I just order the lights. How hard is to make the mounting brackets? Is it simple as cutting a piece of aluminum sheet and bending it into right shape? Can this be done at home with stuff from homedepo or do I need to call Rallispec like I was told to? How did you guys do this?
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Old 08-23-2000, 10:51 PM   #2
chyisan
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Member#: 1083
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Yellow Submarine
Vehicle:
99 Altima
Black

Post

I have also recently purchased a set of Hella 500's for my '95. I am going to build my mount with some Home Depot stuff. All I can say is, you need to sit in front your bumper and think. Think long and hard. The mount needs to be STURDY, really sturdy. I suggest using the metal bumper beam as support for your braket. Do not bolt into plastic. Remember, you car will be moving and things will vibrate. It would suck for it to fall off. If you have an '97-on Imp, it should be pretty easy as you would have that huge space in the air dam. If you have a '99-on RS, it should be really easy, as you already have those two round holes for the factory fogs.
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Old 08-24-2000, 12:16 AM   #3
IMPBOY
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I have my00 and looked at the holes for stock fog lamps. It is just three holes on thin metal plate where the bolts hold the lamps. I'm not sure how the HELLA lights are shaped or how the bolts hold them in place. I was hopeing all I need is a simple bracket in between the lights and holes for stock fog lights.
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Old 08-24-2000, 04:58 AM   #4
Tony
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Member#: 287
Join Date: Sep 1999
Chapter/Region: MAIC
Location: Munich Germany
Vehicle:
2019 Outback
Blue

Post

To mount them into a MY99 or later bumper you need a plate that will bolt to the Hella 500 and then the whole assembly will bolt to the stock foglight mounts. If you use 1/8" or 1/4" it'll be pleanty sturdy. The difficult part is machining the plate. You need the get the mounting hole for the light low enought and also have the three stock mounting points line up too. After a few attempts to make my own I finally gave up and had a friend machine the plates from a template Rallispec leant me. I'd suggest getting the plates made for you unless you're a good machinist. Also you will need to remove your bumper cover totally from the car. This can be a PITA too. Once you have every light/blinker/signal pulled and every one of those damn plastic clips off the cover will come off (don't forget the two hidden ones underneath, they confused the hell outta me). Once the bumper is off you will have to trim the bumper cover and the foglight mounting plate behind it to make room for the bolt and nut that attach the light to the plate you made.

At this point its a good time to do all the wiring. Use the kit that came with the lights. Do NOT use the factory foglight wiring harness! And as always with "off-road" driving lights wire the switch so that they will only come on with the highbeams (this is how they show you in the Hella wiring diagram). That will allow you to flip them on and off quickly and not blind unsuspecting traffic/rally checkpoint/etc. There is a master on/off switch included in the kit that will "arm" the lights, then the highbeams will toggle the driving lights to come on or off. There is a nice little grommet in the drivers-side footwell that can be slit to run your wires through the firewall. I also mounted the Hella relay on the engine side of the firewall using a self tapping screw.

Once you have everything back together go out to some deserted road and aim them (the hella 500's use a 1/2" aiming bolt. Also when you put the lights together make sure the 1/2" aiming bolt is facing the outside of the car, that way you can adjust the lights w/o taking the plate off. You might want to space the light away from the plate you made somehow to make more clearence and not block the periferal light with your bumper. I used about 1/2" worth of washers. I also trimmed the light covers since they are hard to get on or off when they are mounted in the bumper. I trimmed a gap into the top big tab to make two smaller tabs. This'll make it easier to get on or off w/o accidentally mis-aiming the lights.

Well thats about all I can remember. Drop me an email if you have anymore questions. Below is a pic of my car with the 500's mounted.



Tony
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Old 08-24-2000, 03:45 PM   #5
RSJeff
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Post

Thanks for the instructions Tony! I was planning on getting the Hella's but now I'm having second thoughts. It seems like a lot of work. Now the question is will PIAA 80 Pro-XT take less work to mount?

Thanks,
Jeff
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Old 08-24-2000, 04:14 PM   #6
Shaggy
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Location: Ridgefield, WA, USA
Vehicle:
2000 RS
Silverthorn Metallic

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NOPE.

Just as much work. I have them, and am going to be changing them over to a set of 500's here shortly. I have other reasons for changing them over.

My opinion, get Hellas.

adam
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Old 08-24-2000, 04:15 PM   #7
Tony
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Location: Munich Germany
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2019 Outback
Blue

Post

Unless the bolt that holds the light is near the middle of the rear of the light you're going to be doing the same thing. The Pro-XT is a much better light than the 500 but then again if you want to spend that much on a pair of lights you might as well mount them in a better location than the foglight mounts.

The easiest solution and most versitile is to get the Rallispec lightbar which I think is $175



You can bolt this up in five minutes with hand tools and mount any variety of lights you want and more importantly they'll be in a much better location than the fogs.

Tony
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Old 08-24-2000, 04:52 PM   #8
IMPBOY
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Thanks Tony. Do you still have the template from Rallispec? If so, can you send it to me in e mail please?
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Old 08-24-2000, 06:24 PM   #9
Tony
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2019 Outback
Blue

Post

No, I don't still have the template but you don't need it. When you have the bumper cover off you can use the foglight mounting plate (it comes off of the bumper) as a guide. The only tricky part is getting the hole for the Hella low enough. Just make the plate bigger than you need, a basic rounded out triangle plate with some extra at the bottom. Once you have it roughed out use the stock plate to make the holes you'll need and then fit it into the opening and you'll see where you need to trim it off. Just be careful to leave enough "meat" around the Hella mounting hole for a solid mount. The 500 is a tight fit in the RS bumper, take your time.

Also one plate will need a hole through the center of the triangle to pass the wires through since the Hellas have an off center wire passage.

Seriously, unless you have access to a mill, drill press and band saw (and know how to use them well) I'd just leave it to Rallispec or some other qualified machinists who also know Subarus. I tried twice to make plates myself and failed miserably. Only with help from a friend who could build a space shuttle out of his garage did I get it done and it still took a couple of hours between us and that's because I had already done all the wiring ahead of time.

Tony
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Old 08-24-2000, 09:55 PM   #10
Fitz
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848 Evo Race Bike

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If anyone has access to Autocad14 I'd be more than happy to post the dimensions for the "adapter plate." It's honestly not anywhere near as hard as it sounds.

Fitz
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Old 08-25-2000, 05:58 AM   #11
Tony
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Member#: 287
Join Date: Sep 1999
Chapter/Region: MAIC
Location: Munich Germany
Vehicle:
2019 Outback
Blue

Post

Which plate do you have the dimensions for the Hella 500 or the PIAA Pro-XT?

Tony
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Old 08-26-2000, 12:19 AM   #12
IMPBOY
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Location: San Ramon CA, USA
Post

It would be really great if someone can come up with dimensions for the plate so that many memebers who are trying to do the conversion can benefit from it.
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