Monte Carlo Headlights Retrofit

[ruida_silva]

Hi all,

 

Retrofitted some Monte Carlo headlights on my Elegance model, I did have a search around before doing it but only downsides I found were light output was poor and nothing else. It wasn't until I fitted them that I thought to search about the full beams and came across a post saying they need to be wired differently (typical). Hopefully I made this title universal enough so that other people find it easily without having to think of trigger words such as "full beam monte carlo" ettc.

 

Currently the driver's side headlight does work somehow and I can hear the shutter activating but the passanger's side headlight doesn't. Is this just a case of comparing both plugs and replicating it on the driver's side or do I have to do something else?

 

Thanks

[DieselMonte]

Does your car have projectors as standard?

[ruida_silva]

It does yes, also, had the wife check and turns out both full beams work as long as the headlights are on, if they're just on sidelights/DRLs then I can't even flash them

[sepulchrave]

Who cares, being able to flash your headlights is over-rated, you can get by easily without it.

[ruida_silva]

True, would just be nice to have haha. I’ll have to figure it out at some point

[J.R.]

There must be something special about Monte Carlo headlights aside from having poor light output and no headlamp flash function for you to have wanted to fit them, are they considered cool or something?

 

Genuine question as your posting does not say why, perhaps it was an accident repair and you are fitting the only S/H lights that were available.

[DieselMonte]

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

There must be something special about Monte Carlo headlights aside from having poor light output and no headlamp flash function for you to have wanted to fit them, are they considered cool or something?

 

Genuine question as your posting does not say why, perhaps it was an accident repair and you are fitting the only S/H lights that were available.

I've seen a monte carlo with normal projectors fitted. Was hit in the front to no ones surprise.

Its mostly because Monte carlos come with black headlight innards. Some vRS had them either as an option, or I *believe* standard for later ones, correct me if i'm wrong on that.

Absolutely just a style choice. They make the Monte Carlo. Imo they look naff with the normal headlights.

[UrbanPanzer]

vehicles with projector headlamps from the factory (like the RS & Monte Carlo) have an additional relay in the system to control the shutters for full beam / flash...........it seems the research around on the net is not quite telling the full story regarding fitting them.

 

You would need to add a relay that is controlled by the "original" 12v feed that is live when you flash / select full beam on the stalk. The output of the relay would then go to the shutters to open them

Edited 10 July, 2021 by UrbanPanzer

[ruida_silva]

10 hours ago, J.R. said:

There must be something special about Monte Carlo headlights aside from having poor light output and no headlamp flash function for you to have wanted to fit them, are they considered cool or something?

 

Genuine question as your posting does not say why, perhaps it was an accident repair and you are fitting the only S/H lights that were available.

Yeah I got them purely for style, prefer the black background 

[ruida_silva]

35 minutes ago, UrbanPanzer said:

vehicles with projector headlamps from the factory (like the RS & Monte Carlo) have an additional relay in the system to control the shutters for full beam / flash...........it seems the research around on the net is not quite telling the full story regarding fitting them.

 

You would need to add a relay that is controlled by the "original" 12v feed that is live when you flash / select full beam on the stalk. The output of the relay would then go to the shutters to open them

There is a very good thread on Team Bhp of someone who did this exact thing but their full beams didn’t work at all. I might have to have another look at their wiring diagrams and figure it out but thought someone else had a straight forward idea on how to make them work. What matters is that the shutters do work when the headlights are on thankfully

[UrbanPanzer]

I gave you the straight forward idea, it's the only way, the shutters need to be controlled by / through a changeover relay.

 

Here is the wiring diagram (factory). Essentially the pinouts at the headlamp connector are the same, its just the shutter control is in place of where the main beam bulb would be (circled) ........ref where the feeds come from and go to fuses etc its just the relay is in the circuit to control the feed and shutter operation.

[KenONeill]

8 hours ago, DieselMonte said:

Imo they look naff with the normal headlights.

And I have the contra view, to the extent that I'd choose a "normal" version over a Monte.

[ruida_silva]

11 minutes ago, UrbanPanzer said:

I gave you the straight forward idea, it's the only way, the shutters need to be controlled by / through a changeover relay.

 

Here is the wiring diagram (factory). Essentially the pinouts at the headlamp connector are the same, its just the shutter control is in place of where the main beam bulb would be (circled) ........ref where the feeds come from and go to fuses etc its just the relay is in the circuit to control the feed and shutter operation.

Thank you for that, I could try doing it myself but if I have all of these diagrams I could always ask someone to sort it for me. Need to sit down and look at the them properly before I begin any work

[J.R.]

Thanks for the explanations.

 

Poor light output from black headlamp reflectors, who ever would have thought that!

[UrbanPanzer]

the black headlamp "reflectors" are technically not reflectors because they are only in projector headlamps and not used for the beam focusing.

[UrbanPanzer]

25 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

And I have the contra view, to the extent that I'd choose a "normal" version over a Monte.

 

If my RS had normal lights, would not bother me, projectors may look better, but the light output is pretty poor hence lots of questions on here regarding bulb upgrades

[DieselMonte]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Poor light output from black headlamp reflectors, who ever would have thought that!

They aren't reflectors. They're projectors.

1 hour ago, KenONeill said:

And I have the contra view, to the extent that I'd choose a "normal" version over a Monte.

I understand its your preference in regards to the car itself, I was saying that a Monte without the black headlights looks naff in my opinion. I have an ad from when the car I mentioned before was put up for sale in Ireland. It was originally a northern car when I first saw it up. Pictures aren't great but its enough to get my point across. 

56 minutes ago, UrbanPanzer said:

 

If my RS had normal lights, would not bother me, projectors may look better, but the light output is pretty poor hence lots of questions on here regarding bulb upgrades

In spite of my liking for the black projectors I would tend to agree with you. I don't really like the look of the twin beam lights of the mk2 but it wouldnt be a deal breaker either. I just think the black projectors go great with the bodykit of a monte carlo like mine.

 

Definately will be getting better bulbs before winter comes though.

[ruida_silva]

I’ll be sorting them out so everything works perfectly and then if I decide I don’t like them I’ll switch them back haha. I’ve not put the standard headlights and fogs for sale just yet

[sepulchrave]

Brilliant, who knew focusing on form over function could be an entire alternative philosophical worldview.

[WillSmithy]

I've wanted to retrofit monte lights to mine but it seemed like too much of a hassle. Would've thought it would just be easier to split your normal headlights open and spray them black.

[ruida_silva]

25 minutes ago, WillSmithy said:

I've wanted to retrofit monte lights to mine but it seemed like too much of a hassle. Would've thought it would just be easier to split your normal headlights open and spray them black.

That wouldn’t really work as the full beam relies on the reflector background to work. If tou spray it all black then it wouldn’t really work and would certainly be an MOT failure if you are bothered 

[DieselMonte]

9 minutes ago, ruida_silva said:

That wouldn’t really work as the full beam relies on the reflector background to work. If tou spray it all black then it wouldn’t really work and would certainly be an MOT failure if you are bothered 

For normal twin beams yeah.

I think 32k of data has blacked out his headlights on his car but its got projectors.

[WillSmithy]

Are these not projectors?

[ruida_silva]

1 minute ago, DieselMonte said:

For normal twin beams yeah.

I think 32k of data has blacked out his headlights on his car but its got projectors.

Mine had projector dipped beam and a reflector full beam, not sure how 32k has done his but if he sprays that reflector black then the full beam won’t really work

Just now, WillSmithy said:

Are these not projectors?

Yeah but can you see where your mouse is? That’s the bit for the full beam

[WillSmithy]

Just my luck then, have you gotten your retrofitted lights to work with flash yet? Thanks