VW Trends August 1991

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ROUND
PEG
IN
A
SQUARE
HOLE
HELLA/APS GOLF/JETTA II ROUND LIGHT CONVERSION
By Timothy N. Gavern
I
rell_lember when all cars had
round headlamps. It was simple. Two bigs or four smalls.
Then around 1976, square headlamps came out it and it was really
big news. Now, every shape and size
headlamp is being produced and
people don't even blink. Well, what
comes around, goes around and its
cool to have round headlamps
again . Just ask Volkswagen of
America.
For '91, Volkswagen has finally
put round headlamps on the
amerispec GTI 8V and the GTI 16V.
(Original release of the round headlamps in the U.S. was on the 19901/2 Wolfsburg Limited Edition GTI
8V and GTI 16V). The factory has
been putting these round headlamps on Golf GTis since their
introduction in Europe, but the pub-
lie relations department figured
that the U .S. Golf II GTis needed
"aerodynamic" rectangular headlamps to sell them. Maybe they did,
Virtually everything that
you need to install the
Hella European headlamp conversion down
to correct head/amp
plug, terminals and rivets is included in the
Neuspeed kit. Make
sure if purchasing this
kit from other distributors than Neuspeed
that everything needed
is included in their kit.
86
30
Contro l
current in
Power c urrent in
44
VW TRENDS/AUGUST 1991
85
87
Power
current out
Control current out
but most people wanted the
Eurospec version since the first
time they saw them in the Euro
magazines shortly after their introduction in 1985. Only now do we get
them here though.
The "aerodynamic" rectangular
headlamps on the late GTis did
come with replaceable halogen
bulbs (dual filiment #9004 45 watt
low beam/65 watt high beam) but,
there is no higher wattage replacement bulb (such as a 80/100 etc.)
available. These headlamps do work
well though and have an excellent
7. At this time remove and discard the plastic
shroud on the passenger side of the radiator
(see arrow) and replace the top screw, then
transfer the rubber hood bump stops and hood
rod clip to the new cross frame.
Continued on page 82
1,2. Carefully remove factory grill by pushing
down tabs with screwdriver blade, unplug the
head/amp connectors and pull out grille.
5,6. Unbolt the two radiator mounting brackets, then remove the nine bolts holding on the
cross frame and unclip the hood release cable.
Next remove the cross frame.
VW TRENDS/AUGUST 1991 45
ROUND PEG IN A SQUARE H O L E - - - - - - - - - - - - ·
ROUND PEG IN A
. SQUARE HOLE
Continued from page 45
Continued from page 83
10, 11. Drill out pop rivets that hold the hood
latch on the old cross frame and remove it.
Install the hood latch in the new cross frame
with the supplied rivets. (Note: on 16V cars, it
is necessary to measure the right side of the
old cross frame and drill the holes for the air
box inlet shroud.}
18. After. The completed installation says it all.
There is 510 watts available here to turn darkness into daylight.
12, 13. Cut off the factory headlight plug and
connect the new plug with the terminals supplied. Make sure that you match the colorcoded wires exactly as listed in the instructions
as there are many different color combinations.
: (Note: If you wish to hook up the 4 watt "city
light" bulb to your parking lights, you must
splice them into the gray and brown blinker
wires at this time. Run one w ire of each color to
the terminals).
light pattern for a factory h eadlamp. The new round headlamp system that '91 Unite d States GT i s
come equipped with have sealed
beam hea dl amps w h ile t h eir
E u ropean counterparts still come
· with replaceable h a logen bulbs. To
get t h e cool h alogen versions , you
still m ust replace each entire round
16. Aaron Neumann of APS is shown here
adjusting the head/amps after installation with
a killer Hella European head/amp aiming
machine.
head l amp as s embly wit h the
European v e rsion . The driving
l am p s in both the U.S . and
European versions come with 55
watt H-3 replaceable halogen bulbs.
(These driving lights are hooked
into t he high beam switch and turn
on and off only with the high beams
Con t in u ed on p age 90
~~U.S . GTls).
If yo u own an '85 or later
Golf/Jetta II and you would like to
have the E u ropean version rou nd
headlamp conversion complete with
the H -4 h alogen bulbed headlamps,
the complete kit is available from
Neu speed . Th e kit uses the same
factory 7" H-4 Rella halogen headlamp units and 5-3/4" H-3 driving
lamps as the European version s . As
is usual with Neuspeed produ cts,
virtually everything but the electrical wire and a few connectors is
included, including new headlamp
connectors that are wired correctly
for the European h eadlamps.
AUTOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS, INC.
3300 Corte Malposo • Camar111o. CA 93012
805.388.717 1 tel .- 805.388.0030 fox • info@neuspeed.com
WMN.NEUSPEED.COM