A little autocross action with the lowpros popped up.
The state of Miata headlights
First generation Miatas (NAs) are blessed in the headlight department. First and foremost, we get spiffy,
sexy popup headlights which are far superior to the soulless, exposed things on modern cars today. But
that's a can of worms for another site. We're talking about NA headlights and the various options here. Under
the popup "barndoors" live 7" round headlights. Now, those might not be the coolest or hippest thing ever, but
it does give a large amount of space with which to do other things. Sure, you can replace the sealed beams
with some Cibie E-codes, or some 7" HIDs for the H1 HUMMER (they actually fit, seriously), but they don't
look as stylish as the low profile offering from Moss. And they put out less light. Think of that for a moment before
you continue: The 7" headlight options put out less light than the 90mm Hella units in the Moss kit.
So why are the Moss lights are so good? The answer lies in the lumens.
- Aftermarket E-code (like Cibies) lights use H4 bulbs. Moss's lowpro kit uses H9 bulbs.
- Cibie have two bulbs total. There are four bulbs in the Moss kit.
- An H4 bulb puts out 1650-1895 lumens in high-beam mode and 1000-1200 lumens in low-beam mode at 13.5 volts
(the standard measured voltage for H4 bulbs) for a total possible light output of 3790 lumens.
- The industry standard H9 bulb puts out 1870 lumens at 12.7 volts. H9 bulbs have only one filament, so there's no
high/low rating.
- Powering all four H9 bulbs at once in high beam mode gives a total output of 7480 lumens. That's at only 12.7
volts. Many cars can achieve this from battery power alone. When the car is running and the alternator
is charging, you're more likely to see around 14.2 volts at the bulbs if you have nice, beefy wiring installed.
- A final benefit of the Moss kit over any 7" kit: no shakes. I had Cibies installed for over a year. I loved
their output. But I could never quite get them to not shake over bumps. The Moss kit comes with some really nice
bracing, which totally eliminates shaky lights (at least it did for me).
Those bullets are my not-so-humble opinion of why the Moss/Hella kit works so well for the Miata. Before
this goes too far and starts sounding like an ad for Moss, I'll continue on to the pictures. Seriously, I just
like the lights. Moss isn't paying me.
The 2003 upgrade
In 2003, Moss upgraded their lowpro kit. The original kit put the low-beams to the inside and the high-beams
to the outside. This goes against DOT regulations, and subsequently they couldn't achieve DOT compliance. The upgrade
put the low-beam projectors in the correct place on the outside and the high beams on the inside. Better bracing
was also added to the kit to combat shaky lights.
Passenger-side uninstalled UPDATED low-pro
Sorry if this picture is less than helpful. The little arm on the right side is how Moss now
braces the light in the up position. The little bumpstop bolts on there and it touches the frame.
You can also see the larger projector on the top and the smaller profile reflector (high beam) on the
bottom.
Same light, arrow pointing at new "upper" brace
This is the same light. You can see the "blind eye" low-beam projector on the outside (left). The lower
arrow is pointing at the previously mentioned brace, that hits the frame to stop the light from moving upward.
Upgraded original Moss buckets
This pic comes from kwrightmtnmiata. I haven't asked for permission to use it, so I hope he doesn't
mind. This is how the bucket used to look. The bare metal shows this individual's
fix to the apparent shakiness of the bucket and the weird angle of the pivot arm. The lower arrow
points to the original upper bumpstop. Note how different this looks from the new buckets.
My kit installed. Arrows show the pivot arm and the bumpstop
You can see how the pivot arm connects to the new bucket (top arrow). I was slightly worried about
the angle at first, since the arm is perfectly straight in stock configuration, but I've not had
any binding over the past 3 years. The lower arrow (and my pasty hand) point to the bumpstop making
contact with the frame.
Arrows show the empty area where the stock upper brace used to live
The Moss kit requires you to cut away a stock brace. You can see the discolored paint where
a piece of metal used to live. This is/was the stock version of the lower bumpstop brace that Moss put
in contact with the frame. The stock brace didn't allow the larger projector housing to live in the
correct spot on the outside.
Original buckets showing weird pivot arm connection and upper brace
Again, this pic comes from kwrightmtnmiata. It shows the weird diagonal angle the
pivot arm used to deal with. There's also the factory upper bump-stop brace in the shot.
This is a shot before he upgraded the buckets with the brackets as seen above.
In 2003 when originally installed: Sexy lights.
I love the upgrade. Hopefully, these shots begin to show the beauty of this kit.
You really need to see them in person. At night, the light is truly unbelievable. With all four lights
lit, it's like a beam of sunshine coming from the front of your car. Can you tell I'm impressed?
Again with the sexy lights.
I need to update these pictures to get rid of the old, stock 14" wheels. But they are nice shots. The
Moss lights make the front end of the NA Miata look "right". I never was a big fan of the stock
pizzabox lights.
Update (8/11/04): After living with these lights for over a year, I'm still loving them. They're one of
the most useful things I've added to Sharka in the 4 years of ownership. And to think, I originally considered
them a "ricer" mod, and I wouldn't have purchased them without that nice tax refund from Uncle Sam. If I suddenly
had to start over with an NA Miata, these lights would be near the top of the list.
return to the Miata Interior/Exterior Mods index
