You dont have to change the rear lights, just simply add a rear fog under the bumper and youll be fine

As for the headlights you can adapt your lense deflector thingies to have the right shape beam for driving on the left. so no need to buy new lights either..

If you keep the car off the road and tow it to the track you wouldn't have to worry about any registering issues

 

90% congestion charge discount for residents

I often drive in to EC1 on a Sunday night and come back at the end of the week. Coming home takes 2x as long. I couldn't do it dialy over any big distance.

 

I thought K3Nguru tried this and screwed up a set of headlights in the process so ended up buying another set?

The 'step' that I refer to is actually inside the projector lenses so no matter how much fettling of the reflectors you do it won't change the direction of the step and dipped beam pattern.

Below are UK MOT approved beam patterns showing step direction.

This is a European 'E' approved beam pattern for standard halogen headlights. It steps up to the left.



This is the second example of what a beam looks like, generally found in Xenon or projector lens headlights. This also steps up to the left.



This is generally the beam pattern on most USDM market vehicles ONLY manufactured for The US market...but it's very doubtful the USDM S2000 will have this as its probably fitted with the same components as any other LHD S2000. This is known as a neutral beam pattern. My Navigator has this.



Now imagine the first 2 beam patterns above and then flip them over 180 so the 'step' goes up to the right instead. This is how all LHD cars will be that don't have a neutral beam pattern. That is how the XK8 had its headlights configured for the USDM and that is more than likely how the USDM and EUDM S2000's have their headlights configured. I have only ever seen a neutral beam pattern in an American manufactured USDM ONLY vehicle.

Now on a normal halogen headlight such as on a CRX you can cut the reflectors to manipulate a neutral beam pattern and pass an MOT. On other halogen headlights you can replace the glass section only and achieve the same result. This csn be done very cheaply. However, this cannot be done on a projector lens or Xenon headlight as this stepped beam pattern is actually inside the projector lens itself and is nothing to do with the reflector section. The reflector if cut will only manipulate high beam and not dipped.

To prove this theory, look at a pre-facelift S as the headlight design is simpler to look at and understand. There is NO reflector on the projector lens area just either a black or chromed surround depending on MY and then the clear headlight lens cover with no grooves or beam pattern manipulators. This shows that the surround of the xenon lens and it's colour is for cosmetic purposes only. The only reflector section is for the high beam

Now the only exception to this is some projector/xenon headlights have a switch to reverse the step for driving on the continent. This is very rare though from what I have researched into. Even the XK8 didn't have switchable headlights so it meant that we had to fork out nearly £700 for a new pair and trust me, if there was another, cheaper way to do it I would have found it!

The easiest way for the OP to check the direction of his beam pattern is to park the car facing the garage door or a wall, about 10ft away if possible and you will easily see the beam pattern and whether there is a step or not. I could clearly see this against a wall on my MY04 and my MY00 S when parking up in my driveway against next door's garage wall.

HTH

 

He did try and i don't know why he failed, perhaps he didn't paint the filed off bit so the shiny new exposed metal distorted the beam.

They've been doing this with succes on the continent for years now and just end up with a perfectly flat beam which is mot proof

 

This is all true & the first time I've ever seen a 'factual' post on the matter.

Type 1 beam pattern can annoy drivers in the slow lane, I tend to find!

 

Another extremely helpful Floppy post. Thanks bro!

I can confirm that USDM headlights do indeed have a step, however they resemble the reverse of your second example. I'll take a photo of the step when I arrive home later tonight so you can see the difference.

 

As promised. This is from a distance of about 4-5 feet.

 

DaPhatty, as I suspected it's the same as my second beam pattern picture but flipped 180, which will mean its an MOT failure.

Having done a conversion for the UK roads in the last 6 months I can confirm you will need to source headlights for it.

With reference to your question about keeping a car in the UK unregistered and just using it as a track slag then I wouldn't advise it. The only reason is that insurance companies will only insure the car on the chassis number for a short period of time - say a month while you get it MOT'd and IVA'd for registration. Also without the registration document for proof of the registered keeper with the DVLA (our DMV equivalent) then if the car is stolen it makes it more difficult to trace through different vehicle registration agencies as well as INTERPOL.

The only way you could get around this is put it down as a personal import and if using it in the country for less than 12 months you can legally drive it on your CA plates. I don't know how you go about insuring it on the CA plates though and I don't think this is an option for you if you're planning on a permanent move. Going this route would mean you'd have to ship it elsewhere when the 12 month period is up and I think it is similar regulations to exports from the US in terms of not being able to export it to a land border such as Mexico or Canada...here it will likely be you have to export it outside of the EU but it could be something you can look into as it would be bloody easy to drive to France and do it that way if you can.