Carbon Fibre Headlight Surrounds
Replace your plastic covers with real Carbon Fibre!
Not something that's particularly on show that much and it's normally dark when they are, but these carbon fibre headlight surrounds have a certain charm that makes them something you want on your Esprit. Basically unchanged since the original Esprit, the plastic versions are a little nasty and a little brittle. Replacement are around £35 each, which isn't cheap for what they are. These beautiful carbon fibre version are only £50 each and worth every penny (well in the Esprit world of overprice parts).
They will be available from Esprit Engineering for both Giugiaro and Stevens models and are simple to fit. Not that simple that we haven't done a guide, but easy enough. Once you've fitted them you'll be wanting to flash your lights for no reason just to simply show them off!
The Carbon Fibre Pod Surrounds are available for purchase at the LEW E-Shop, Prices are £100 + £5 p&p.
Installing
This job will take about 30 minutes and isn't particularly difficult, just be careful with the beautiful carbon.
You will need the following parts:
Carbon Fibre Headlight Surrounds kit
You will need the following tools:
Screwdriver
Drill with 3.5mm & 4mm bit
Dust Mask
You'll get two surrounds plus new fittings with your kit. The carbon fibre finish is just at you'd expect.
To stop you getting blinded and burnt by the lights being on while your trying to fit your surrounds, pull the relay for the beam. On our SE it was the closest relay to the drivers side pod. If you're not sure check your users manual. Remember not to pull the pod relay, as you'll have trouble getting the pods up!. Time to take one last look at the old plastic covers before the work begins. Unscrew the six screws holding you surrounds on. Once in each corner and one centre, top and bottom.
Be careful with the bottom corner screws as these can easily drop into the pod. We lost two screws into our pods, which where full of water (well the same screw twice!). Once the surrounds are off, you can check the state of your lights. See here for a guide to replacing your lights. Now time to fit the new surrounds.
As all Esprits are very difference the likelyhood of your holes being in the same place as the moulds are unlikely, so the surrounds come undrilled. Use the old ones as a template and drill the new holes into the carbo fibre using a 3.5 mm bit.
Simple tips for safe working with carbon.. 1. Wear a dust mask. 2. keep the area you are drilling/sanding wet. This prevents dust.
The fittings supplied are plastic, so they'll be no more rusty screws. You can use the old screws if you like, as you can just hold the new surrounds up and screw back in. This is where we lost our screws! taking a few minutes to retreive once we'd drained the blocked pods. You can see the picture at the top of the page has the old screws used. We were supplied the new fittings that will go out with the kit later, which we have now fitted.
To use the plastic fittings, you need to drill a 4mm whole out for the female part. Drilling the top three holes is easy, the bottom three a little more difficult. To get a nice straight hole you'll need to undo the pods so they can be lifted up. We managed without doing this. Pull the fixings apart and push the female bit into the newly drilled hole.
Once you've got all six holes filled, match up the new surround to the lights and push the male part in, holding the surround in place. The fittings do look much nicer that the old rusty screws.
Now your done, clear up and spend some time admiring your new headlight surrounds. We did and took all these pictures to help you get a feel of what it will be like once you have them on yours.
LEW's Verdict
It all depends on how you look at it. Anyone sane would say spending money on a piece that's out of view 99% of the time and you can only see it when it's dark is madness. On the other hand, you've bought an Esprit so you qualify as legally insane, so we can't see a problem.
In our insane opinion, it's a really nice touch to the Esprit. The carbon fibre is of high quality, the fit is as good as the original and it makes us want to flash our lights more often. You'll also save some weight, but probably less than the change in your pocket!. Insane it may be, but it gives us a nice warm glow inside to know we have these under our pods. Get some, you won't regret it!
This mod was performed by LEW on their 1992 SE
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I had some 'Gucci' looking carbon fibre headlight surrounds sent to me from Geoff at 'Esprit Engineering', took me about an hour to drill the holes, align and fit them and they do look quite special. OK they will only be seen when it is dark and I have to put the lights on or if I flash the full beams but they do compliment the car nicely and are a pleasing and simple cosmetic mod to fit.
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