Surplus parts being sold in the Phils.

*TubbY*

Everyone, I need your opinon... my dad was in an accident where he wrecked the front end of his 96 Sentra SS. He busted his grill, bumper, two headlight lenses. I told him to consider looking at surplus parts as the car is 12 yrs old anyway, it didn't make any sense to buy new parts.

There are surplus parts being sold at Las Pinas and Evengelista St. in Pasay where they sell whole front ends of cars, they provide the bumper, hedlights, clearance lights and the grill in bulk for a fraction of the cost of new parts. My question is, are there any isssues using these parts for our mangled car. I've heard that these front ends being sold come from Japan and that headlight lenses from Japan are different since they use right hand drive vehicles. The headlight beam reflects differently with RHD than with LHD. Is this true? The other thing is that we have been advised that these surplus front ends cost P12,000. Is this a reasonable amount? Any thoughts on this. We don't need anything else other than the specified parts. So if anyone has had any experience with this sort of thing, kindly provide any good advice. Thanks.

jason_10

you're right about the RHD headlight configuration. the headlight beam will be pointing to the oncoming traffic. however you can adjust the beam a bit lower to compensate for the headlight bias. that's what i did with my old accord before when i purchased a set of JDM headlights.

Anyway 12k is a reasonable price for a nose cut as long as it includes extra parts that you might need soon like radiator, fan, condenser, etc.

shun_sakurai

Ditto on what Jason said. It's just a matter of adjusting the headlights; you can research the proper headlight cut-offs for LHD vehicles online (I've seen a few sites from a year ago that talked about this, as the US is rather strict on headlight cut-off).

slamm

You can also consider Taiwan replacement headlights (like the Depo brand) as they are pretty okay and cost even less than the surplus headlights. For peace of mind just add a little silicone sealant.

A surplus Super Touring bumper and grille would look okay.

OTEP R

LHD headlamps are have a 'rise to the right' pattern (to light up streetsigns) while RHD headlamps have a 'rise to the left' pattern because they drive on the 'wrong' side of the road.

Adjusting your headlamps will not change this pattern. As the pattern is built into the optics of the headlamp lens or the headlamp reflector assembly.

Lowering your beam adjustment too much may lower the beam too far. Though barely noticeable in city traffic (with lots of ambient lighting), you might find it difficult to drive at the pace of traffic traffic on unlit highways (e.g. provincial roads) because you cannot see that far ahead anymore. With the lights focused down, the 'hotspot' of your headlamps are nearer to the front of the vehicle. And where the light is, that's where your eyes focus (it's human nature) which could lead you not to notice other vehicles/obstacles that are some distance away thus affecting your decision making process while driving.

The legal way (in most legislated markets) of temporarily using RHD headlamps in LHD territories is via the use of lens blockers (e.g. vinyl or electrical tape). You cut it in the same pattern as the lens element used for the 'rise to the left pattern (the triangular part in the center of most lens type headlamps). This eliminates the rise to the left pattern while still allowing the headlamps to project their beam over their intended range.

But nothing beats getting DOT approved LHD headlamps (even replacements) because the beam pattern is correct.

Just don't forget to mount them correctly also.