Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Dec 2004, N8N wrote:

>
>>I have done both to my Porsche 944 and also added a Transpo adjustable
>>voltage regulator to kick up my system voltage to around 14.1V. I went
>>from 11.5V to 14.1V at the headlights, wow, what a difference! The
>>reflectors that I used were the Cibie E-code units, they're not exactly
>>legal in most states due to the beam pattern,
>
>
> It's not the beam pattern, per se, and they're not exactly not exactly
> legal, per se. Remember, vehicle owners are not regulated under the FMVSS,
> so they may modify their own vehicles however they see fit within the
> bounds of state law. Most state laws do not specify DOT, SAE or ECE
> compliance for headlamps; a few do, and a couple explicitly allow ECE
> headlamps. The OP is in one of the states that explicitly allows ECE
> headlamps.
>

Well, definitions of "legal" and "not legal" notwithstanding, in
Maryland (I know it's not exactly relevant to this discussion) it is a
hassle to pass inspection with E-code low beams as they check the light
output with a light meter. I went through this with my Scirocco, the
guy performing the inspection insisted that I needed to pass his light
meter check at the height specified in his printed table for an '84
Scirocco even though I told him up front that the car was lowered about
1" from stock. I ended up putting back in a pair of sealed beams for
the lows to get through inspection and sure enough the car came back to
me with the headlights aimed way high. (sigh.) In some other states in
which I've lived, you fail if your lights don't have the aiming pips on
them. In every case I've just pulled the E-codes and then put them back
in the next weekend

I didn't notice what state Corky was from, lucky him if he lives in one
of the more enlightened (heh) states.

nate


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