I have always loved the classic rally look of driving lights on the original Minis and found myself contemplating them for the Clubman, but I've never been a fan of the current OEM or Aftermarket mounting methods. They all seem to mount up and away from the grill and sorta protrude away from the car. I didn't find this to be aesthetically desirable, so I always stayed away. I finally took on a little project I've been meaning to do for years. It's still in a mock up stage and the light housings are still lose in this pic, waiting to be positioned and welded in, but I thought it'd be nice to share with the folks of MA. First one test-fitted: Second one mocked up:
Rally..... Very nice. I was working on something similar but for the lower grill, as it seemed to have more space. I sure spent a lot of time laying on he garage floor taking measurements. I liked the look of the old "Eleanor Mustangs", with the double central driving lights below the bumper. In my case I was concerned about blocking the IC air flow so I abandoned the project. Kudos to you. Yours look like something that should have come from the factory. Very clean looking. Will yours be able to have screw adjustments? I was looking at the VW Mk2 grill module assemblies which are something like 5" diameter but they have the vert and horiz. screw adjustments, which would be convenient. Looking forward to you final pics.:cornut:
Very nice look to 'em... great work so far. I had a similar thought a while back, but didn't have the time/energy/know-how to pull it off. I'll be interested in seeing how you get the right angle on the lights with the rake that already seems to be in the grill so you don't wind up lighting up the treetops on the Dragon.
Yah my main inspiration came from the old mk2's. I loved their grills. I pondered using their housings and may still give them a try if I like how this grill looks once installed. This is really just acting as a cheap prototype to make sure I like the overall style on my car. If it works out, I plan on doing a more complicated setup with adjustments and a chrome slatted grille. They're made by Westin. I believe they're just referred to as their "round lights". They will be angled to account for the grill rake. In all honesty, they're more for aesthetics than additional lighting. I can't imagine ever needing more light than what the second-gen bi-xenons already put out. Those high beam xenons just blow me away. I love them. Worse comes to worst, my suspension rake is constantly adjustable with my switches so I could just aim accordingly :lol:
Killer. I did something similar to my old VW Rabbit back in the late 80's. I always liked driving lights, but didn't like the ones that just hung from the bumper. Cut some holes in the grill and flush mounted... Much nicer. I have an off topic question... How do you keep that stone in your driveway??? It looks like your front air dam is a plow in these pics.
Yah I generally pull most of it out into the street when backing out. I sweep the street on a pretty regular basis to get it all back on the property. :lol:
I always say that I got my '06 MCS driving lights for aesthetic reasons... then I go to the Dragon and I realize how nice it is having the extra light through the dark turns. I think that 99% of the burn time on my driving lights is in TN and NC and I live all the way in Texas!
I have four Hella 500's and use them all the time. I really do not see that well at night and they turn night into day. Easy to see the deer early enough to stop too. Jim
You get allot of annoyed drivers coming from the other direction flashing their brights at you? (not having these lights I do not know if they are just "on" or tied into the circuit that tells the headlights to stay at normal or high beams)
Yah. It's from the not-so-popular factory aerokit on the MCS. They are generally tied into the high beam circuit or flicked on by the driver when you would use your high beams. I imagine most people are considerate enough to only use these on open roads with no on-coming traffic.
Mine are tied to the high beam only. The two center ones come on all the time with high beam and the two outside ones (also tied to high beam) are on a separate switch. I live in a rural area and it gets down right dark at night. I use the normal rules of the road concerning high beams and do not blind my fellow drivers. Well, there was this pick-up truck out spot lighting deer one night. Hit me with the spot and I lighted him right up. :cornut:
The factory driving lights work that way... they are only on when the high-beams are on (if you have the switch turned on for the driving lights). It's very handy and I'd hate to have to go fumbling for a second switch (besides the high-beam switch) to prevent blinding an oncoming driver. Even if you are going to install an aftermarket light set, I strongly recommend the factory wiring harness for the driving lights... it's a great integrated install.
Great looking setup Rally. If you can get the mount solid enough to not have bouncing lights then you have a winner for sure. You have some talent there!
I really like the look of just the one light in those first pics. That would look McQueen Mini-ish with orange film over it.