Miata Mailing List: June 1997, Message #61
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From: 	Lanny Chambers <lanny@derived.com>

Subject: Re: Large Driving Lights..

Date: 	Mon, 2 Jun 1997 01:49:07 -0500



On 6/1/97 19:59, Eli Troychansky (taa@saturn.superlink.net) wrote:



>Finally scrapped up enough cash to purchase a pair of driving lights, 

>but I am not too fond of small driving/fog lights like the PIAA 1200s.

>While I am sure that they are popular for a reason, I'd like something a

>little more prominent. Ideally, I'd like the lights to be round, about

>4" to 5" inches in diameter, and be at least somewhat functional. :)

>

>Any suggestions as to make/model? Anyone installed something similar in

>their Miata? What's the largest diameter that can neatly fit inside the

>mouth (toward the corners, that is)?



I've paraded my form-follows-function bias on this subject before.  :-)



My Hella headlights finally arrived, after months on backorder. If you're 

interested in serious illumination, this is the only way to go, short of 

mounting some huge mothers on a rollbar, a la monster trucks. Think about 

it: you get 7" reflectors, mounted high enough to actually be useful, 

with bulb options up to the paint-stripping range. I got 55W low 

beam/100W high beam bulbs, and am tickled pink with their performance. 

These things will swamp any auxiliary lamp you can fit in the Miata's 

mouth. Plus, the low beams are excellent foglights, with their sharp 

cutoff. FInally, they won't be stolen, since no one knows they're there 

with the barn doors down.



BTW, don't fool with the silly "Vision Plus" model, get the real European 

jobbies, the ones with the large yellow "THESE ARE NOT LEGAL FOR HIGHWAY 

USE" stickers on them.



OTOH, if all you want is show items, buy anything that looks cool. At 

worst, they'll make decent DRLs. For that, I bought the tiny Blazer 

foglights, $39.95 at Wal-Mart. The reason these little lamps are popular 

on Miatas is that they fit easily, are in scale with the mouth opening, 

and won't block too much intake air. Larger lamps may be rather difficult 

to center vertically without making elaborate custom brackets.



---

Lanny Chambers, St. Louis

'94C. Red, of course.

Team "My other car is a...er...hmmm...gee, I can't remember..."