European Headlight Conversion on the W140

 

Low beam

Low beam + Fog lights

High beam

High Beam + Fog lights

Parking Lights + Fog lights


Comparison photos:

DOT lights on left side of photo (RH side of car) vs European lights on right side

Converting the headlights - the process . . .

This section is under construction

Remove turn signal/parking lamp assembly   03.jpg (27397 bytes)

Turn signal assembly release

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Turn signal assembly mounting points

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Turn signal assembly removed

Remove headlight wiper 12.jpg (37145 bytes) 14.jpg (46850 bytes)    
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
I test fit one of the Euro lights back into the 140 again this evening. Pretty soon I have them mounted with Velcro! Went out a midnight for the test run. The first run the new light was busy looking for Hazen's moles. You'd think the car was wrecked the adjustment was so far off. The advantage to having the garage at the back of the property is that the driveway and garage door make an excellent aiming screen. After setting the new LH light to match the height of the old RH light, we went out again. The difference is day and night. But . . .

What is weird is that the high beam is an entirely separate reflector where the fog light used to be and the fog light is contained in the same section of the assembly as the low beam, although it uses its own special portion of the reflector. In other words, the low beam reflector is like a figure-8 with the low beam using an arc in one half of the reflector while the fog light uses a different arc in the other half of the reflector. So much for ego-tripping like all the SUV drivers that run their fog lights all the time--no one could tell from the outside that the fog lights are on. Except on high beam because then the low beam is extinguished.

 

 

 

Euro Headlights on the W124

[click on thumbnail to enlarge]

This is the left front corner of the 1993 300CE showing the DOT headlamp with fog lamp and wiper.

Also shows this car has original style grill shell

This headlight switch & escutcheon.  The escutcheon is a single piece all the way to the steering column.  Note the DOT does not include vacuum switch but you can see the space where it would fit.

This is the interior shot of the 300CE's console & switch arrangement

The '92 W140 after installation of the Euro headlamp

The W140 does not use an escutcheon to cover the mounting for the vacuum switch.  The entire dash panel is different for DOT vs Euro!! 

 

The W140's console & switches

 

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