Thread: How To: VW Golf Projector Headlights

Nice work. Paint looks great, very thorough job.

First pic in this thread makes me go "oh, no!" - I'd never cut a chunk out of the radiator support on both top sides, that's a huge structural member holding together much of the front of the car. I just removed and replaced one, and cutting it w/o reinforcement is just a bad idea - when you pull one you really get a sense of its role keeping the front of the car straight.

Results looked good first post from the outside, but I'd never just cut the metal out like that - asking for serious trouble unless it's just a show car.

Its not as bad as it seems, i know alot of people who hack them alot more than i have for intercoolers and such. The top part doesnt do a whole lot anyway. The only real structural part is the bar that bolts onto the hood latch and ties in the lower radiator support. The lower radiator support is where the frame structure/support is.

Also, almost anyone that has done this mod has cut in the same areas and some have cut more than i have to make the headlights fit. Ask someone to take some pics without the gti headlights in and you will see how much needs to be trimmed and or cut to make them fit. I also have like 10x the welds for the radiator support as the factory. Which they more or less just tack it in place. Most spots on my car are welded completely and also plug welded, which adds more strength.

Also alot of people remove the bumper support bar to fit a front mount intercooler in. This is where 70-90% of the strength comes from in the front end. My car isnt really meant to be a show car i do more racing than anything, when its running that is :o. It is set up for auto-x and roadrace. I got into an accident with it last year around this time and finally got around to fixing it and decided if i am gonna have to put a whole new radiator support on, get a new front bumper headlights, fender etc., and have the frame straightened, i should just go ahead and repaint the whole car, fix the rust and make it look nice.

Just my .02

Well, you did some nice work. I agree the spot welds factory side are pretty sparse, replacing one (rust in the lower spar front bolt area, that is like you say pretty important!) will give you some perspective on that, as you already know. I can't believe Nissan didn't design in more drainage and paint the lower part better, it's a salt & sand trap w/o any easy way to clean it out. My replacement on my U13 ('95) has much better rust-proofing and priming than the OEM (it didn't come that way, but I wasn't up to doing that job 2x anytime soon).

I know what you mean about removing the front bumper - I have neither front or rear, not with the Sunny Bumpers. Strong triangulated bracing F&R, lower LCA chassis brace and STB's make the car plenty stiff, but w/o those it would be a lot more flexible.

I can see increasing the surface area for spot welds, what is it about the plug that makes it stronger? (pardon my ignorance please, I'm not a great welder)

The lights look great, and more important, I bet they throw a serious pattern - nice work!!!

Autocross is big fun, sometimes I think more so that track days...well, except for the sheer speed thrills

weird, edit for double post, sorry

Yeah one of the auto cross instructors up here puts it best when he says. Autocrossing is the most fun you can have in a car legally, with your clothes on.

Yeah i also have all the suspension bars/braces and a cage. the plug welding or stitch welding as some call it is when you have two seams that meet or two pieces of metal that meet and you drill a holt through both pices and weld through the newly drilled hole so the two pieces have weld on either side of them. Its a heck of alot stronger than just welding or spot welding. Alot of the drift cars, rally cars and road race cars do it all along the chassis points where its possible to get at. Which takes a long time but stiffens the chassis up a ton. I have a few other seams welded like this that i know are weak points on my nx.

So Ordered that plug for the VW head lights that I posted earlier.


Then I looked at the factory plug and the adapter plug



I can't say for sure if it works or not because I don't have a battery in my car at the moment.

Is it possible to fit these lights without chopping into the radiator support?

I'm asuming the reason why they're chopped is so that light can be placed facing upwards for better light on road coverage.

What if the reinforcement wasn't cut, the lights faced more down, but the beams were adjusted to be higher?

The reason you need too is because they are bigger than the stock lights.

You pretty much have to chop some of the support. thats prob. the only negative about using them. I dont really call it a negative, that part of the support is pretty flimsy, and doesnt do much besides give you a place to mount the radiator and headlights to, and hood latch. The bottom part is where the actual support comes from as that ties in more with the frame rails. I think there are a few people on here running around with the whole middle part cut out, so they can tilt the radiator forward.

How much does this all cost. We have a company that will vacuum form new front plastic covers, then we can offer a retrofit dual projector kit.

I would rather have this then to hack up my car??

Just a suggestion