Threepwood lives!!! - 87 C900 8V

[jskrebs]

Short for:

Guybrush Threepwood Mighty Pirate - from the Monkey Island video Game series

My Kids and I had a lot fun playing the series as they grew up. The Green Land Rover is Elphaba as my wife is the Wicked Witch of Westport

[jskrebs]

Hit Threepwood with some polish and he cleaned up real nice.

Figured we would configure him as a Kayak transport vehicle for the summer.

[Shazam]

It feels so right!

[SmaartAasSaabr]

Yes, it moves the bulb in and out to simulate the two positions of the dipped beam filament and the main beam filament, because the HID light source is permanently illuminated when the lights are on, and it performs both functions. I am not sure of the setup you have in the US but in the UK we have twin filament bulbs which illuminate for the two lighting conditions. The dipped filament which is forward of the main filament has a mask around the lower half of the bulb so that the main beam part of the reflector is shielded. You can see that the accuracy of these two positions is very important for satisfactory operation. Also the shape of the mask is very important for full illuminate on main beam. Now I've modified mine I'm extremely pleased with the setup.

How does it deal with being installed in a "reflector / fresnel" kind of lamp like ours though? People put those things in their Hondas here and they blind everyone

Factory HID cars seem to use the HID for low-beam and a halogen 9005 for brights. The typical halogen setup in the US was a twin-filament single bulb (typically 9004) or two individual bulbs next to each other for low/high, two 9005 iirc A 9003 is an H4 bulb also IIRC

[peva]

How does it deal with being installed in a "reflector / fresnel" kind of lamp like ours though? People put those things in their Hondas here and they blind everyone

Factory HID cars seem to use the HID for low-beam and a halogen 9005 for brights. The typical halogen setup in the US was a twin-filament single bulb (typically 9004) or two individual bulbs next to each other for low/high, two 9005 iirc A 9003 is an H4 bulb also IIRC

It sounds like our Saab 900 UK light units are the same as yours, with a reflector and a directing lens in front. We use an H4 two filament bulb with the forward filament shielded against the lower main beam part of the reflector. As I've said before in this thread; there are good HID units, there are bad ones, and there are absolute crap ones. It also depends on the intelligence and capability of the installer. The positional accuracy of the bulb and it's sliding mechanism is very important. These bulbs, as you have said, can be extremely blinding if not installed and aligned properly. If you do buy some, buy locally, or from a retailer who has a returns policy, so you can send them back if you're not happy. I've tried quite a few. I have 55watt HIDs installed, and I run them on all the time, including day, and I never get flashed by blinding people. They have an extremely sharp cutoff on dip, with a well defined nearside illumination provided by the 15° segment on the front lens. The only thing I might add is that none of the examples I've tried have a suitable bulb shield that allows full use of our funny 900 headlamp units. I've modified mine and now the light output and control on dip and main is outstanding.

[tunnanxwd]

Threepwoods tend to have thick paint. You can compound your ass off and almost never go through to primer.

I did not have a name for my car but it looked just like yours and was the best of any Saab in the mileage department. It got about 30. The other identical cars were in the mid 24/25 range.

[jskrebs]

I noticed that, my 9K also has similar paint with no clear coat. I need to get a better buffer.

It does get good mileage, trying to get my wife to use it more instead of the Land Rover.

I ended up putting a stock 9004 bulb in for now. I am really thinking about the HID's though. Reading a lot about them.

People put those things in their Hondas here and they blind everyone

I think they are putting in projectors which do not need the Fresnel lens.

[peva]

I think they are putting in projectors which do not need the Fresnel lens.

If you put a projector lamp behind a Fresnel lens you will really screw up the light pattern and blind everybody.

[jskrebs]

http://saabworld.net/f5/theepwoods-o...786/#post42048