terrabytetango

Yes, as long as your H4 socket has not been modified in anyway (which I highly doubt), any bulb with an H4 flange will work.

Thank! I'll be roaming the MAS Fabric Park this weekend, and since I'll be chauffeured I'll have plenty of opportunity to capture the best of the worst :dance3:

You're right, and the manufacturers make up for this loss of light by increasing the wattage a little, or otherwise by simply making bogus claims. If you've noticed (or been silly enough like me to look directly into the lights of oncoming vehicles), you'll see the blue tinted bulbs are every bit as bright, if not more, than the regular ones. I would suggest you go for one of the brand names discussed here, and I would also like to add into the mix the Osram/Sylvania Silverstar Ultra, which comes very close to 4000K.

Mazdas have always been good cars, they're just victims of baseless local dogma. Of course that all miraculously changed when the new 3 and 6 came out. Interplay or not, if you find one in good enough condition, you've got a fairly solid car. Be wary of the autos though, my Dad's company car was a Familia with a slushbox, and 13 years ago it was a fairly new (and current I think) car, but the ride was never smooth due to way the thing always shifted gears.

Ah ok, those aren't proper HID bulbs at all, just blue tinted Halogens to give a whiter light. As for the housing, I'm not familiar with the EK3 in particular but in general I believe its one piece with integrated side indicator. Once you undo the fasteners, the entire assembly should pop out into your hand. However, look under the hood, and if there is clearance behind the head lamps, then you can just twist and pop the bulb out without needing to remove anything else. And this is what a proper HID bulb looks like. Mind, the ballasts are not shown in the picture.

That's 0-60kmph, not mph

And now I would like to take a moment to reflect upon how unfair life really is. The driver was a woman in her 20's, dressed all power-executive, when I pulled up to her she was yakking on her mobile. This doesn't need any introduction, it was parked in front of a restaurant I dine at regularly. Suffice to say it's of the SWB variety. When the light turned green, it screamed. I have a ton more, but I'm too depressed now P.S. This particular post contains no satire, the photos attached were taken by me, in my own car with my own crappy camera phone (which for some reason works better in the US than here, go figure). However, I was riding shotgun in the first photo, as my mate was learning drive "amerikawe istyle".

I thought it was to make fun of people who make silly modifications to their perfectly good automobiles.

You guys do understand that what I posted was a farce, no?

Actually, the first Alto Works was based on the 2 door model of this (CA71 I believe), back in the mid 80s, it came with a 550CC 64bhp turbo. There was a review done on it some years back, and they loved it.

The first Maruti 800 Black Edition spotted on the Baseline Welikada (I think, I've honestly forgotten where I saw this, suffice to say it was today ), now with a Turbo Charged 800 CC engine pushing out a whopping 95bhp and 103ft-lb, enough to propel it from a stand still to 100km/h in under 7 seconds and still return a miserly 15km/litre in fuel efficiency. This is surely the penultimate... nay, ultimate Maruti 800 ever produced. No doubt A*W is keeping this a secret to prevent the masses from thronging around the store and throwing themselves through plate glass windows in an effort to get their greasy mitts on what must surely the most purest, the most practical, the most efficient, marriage of power and economy ever conceived in Sri Lanka. P.S. My mirror is shiny, no?

Thanks for the info guys. I bet P3tc0 would charge extra $$$ just to get it down from SG. My alternative is to ask a mate in the US to bring it down with him, if I can't find one here for a reasonable price.

Any idea where I can find these units in SL, and how much one of the more basic units (i.e. DEH-P500/P600UB) would set me back? Any details you can provide would be most appreciated.

They did, but they were of the 2 door LWB variety, so I have no idea how the fellow managed to fit a longer body on to a shorter chassis. I was under the impression they've done some under handed dealings with the RMV, because once in Matara I came across a 31 sri Landcruiser 80, grey and lifted. Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to snap any photos of it

Yeah, those particular models had some unique trim options, namely cross lace type gold wheels, a rather goofy 3 spoke steering wheel with a Lotus emblem on it, and electronic climate control, although I'm not sure if the climate control was limited to just the Lotus edition or to the pre facelift UBS69, because none of the face lift models I have seen have had the LCD for the climate control. Also, the spare wheel cover has a decal stating "Handling by Lotus", with the Lotus logo. This was during the time when Isuzu (GM) and Lotus (owned by GM at the time), were working together, the results being the Opel/Vauxhall Carltons, the Isuzu Piazzas, also with Lotus suspension tuning (and also Irmscher, which was also an available option for the UBS69 albeit for 2 door models AFAIK, and they're pretty rare), and finally the Lotus Elan powered by a 1.6 Turbo Isuzu engine putting out an impressive 160hp. On a slightly off topic note, it was at the same time GM asked Lotus develop a proper DOHC 32 valve engine for their (original) Corvette ZR-1, which IMO was the only time the corvette had an engine that wasn't a revamp of a design dating back to the 60s. The ZR-1 pushed out the same power as the first Z06, only it did it 9 years prior. So there's a little Isuzu/GM/Lotus trivia for you

Long lost Isuzu UBS69 prototype turns up on the Baseline, probably forgotten by the slant eyed types from the land of the rising sun during climate testing. I apologise for the crappy pictures, my mobile's primary function is not taking pictures . It's apparently got a 3.2 litre V6, according to the decal I've squared. Probably turbocharged as well. Too bad they stuck with the 3.1 4 pot instead, which is not a bad engine at all, if a little noisy. I believe this particular vehicle was registered in the early 80s, probably '82 or '83. It's amazing how Isuzu designed and tested a vehicle nearly 10 years before official release.

You're better of with a Toyota Kijang or Isuzu Panther instead.

There's only one beam inside the bulb, it comes from a pea sized bead in the center of the glass capsule. Most probably the controller unit is unable to detect the lo beam signal. My kit uses one side of the stock harness to detect power and hi/lo beam. However, if your car has a factory fitted HID then it it's probably low beam HID and Halogen hi beam. Edit: I can replicate this by using the flash feature of the headlights.

Nearly all the generic bulbs on ebay are from the same manufacturer, but there may be a slight difference in luminosity. How does the hi/lo beam on your vehicle work; is it the shield which moves or the bulb itself? If it is the former then you might trying squirting a drop of WD40 (using the straw) into the bulb base, it may be something as simple as a stuck actuator. Don't try to move it by hand though, because you'll end up bending the shield. I've experienced a stuck hi/lo actuator when the vehicle has been stationary for about an hour or so with the lights switched on. The right hand side assembly always heats up more than the left for some reason. Once the vehicle is in motion however, and airflow over the lamps resume, the problem goes away.

Do they have a blue lens or are they Xenon filled Halogen bulbs?

Whatever sounds best for you.

Heh, that's so much more practical than getting the emblem re-painted, no machan?

Well compared to the generic chinese 6000k bulbs, I'm sure PIAA is definitely on a higher order so I have no doubt they're just as easy to use. Even the Micro/SSangyong SUVs use 6000Ks with little or no ill effect, and our 121 came with a good set of 6000K Hellas (ballast and all) from Japan. But there are some conversions (notably Land Rover Defenders or 110s) which are 8000K lights, are too painful to look at even for pedestrians. And yeah, projectors would be ideal but the retro conversion is not worth it, especially since I've been able to adjust them so that they're no longer illuminating the oncoming driver's face. But once again, certain people with conversions don't care about this (once again, Land Rover Defender/110s with 8000k conversions) which are focussed in your face.

100/90W bulbs will melt and deform the lamp holder and then the wires themselves, and like the others said the reflective coating will suffer. HIDs run much cooler, I can keep the back of my hand on the lens all day. I've used an infrared thermometer on the front of the lens after driving from point A to B, and the temperature never goes beyond 125F.

All airbrushed by hand.