auxilary or driving lights behind grill-gen1

Anybody have a good set-up to put auxilary or driving lights behind the grill in a Gen 1. Will this work well?

I've tried everything short of HID's to get better lighting and nothing really works. I've tried new halogen housings, HIR bulbs, etc. The price of an HID set-up is now about double the value of my car, so forget that. My current second set of Halogen housings are just about useless.

Thanks!
Ken
1993 Mark VIII
243,000 Miles

I had a set of Hella driving lamps mounted behing the grille of my '93 before I got HIDs. They definitely help.



I'm puzzled new halogen housings and HIR bulbs did not impress you. I have HIR bulbs in the high beam of my HID setup and they are amazingly bright. I have heard of HIR knockoffs however that were not up to par.

Here's mine

Driller - When I put the HIR (not knock offs) bulbs in, my housings were older and probably done by that point. They were my second set of housings, but not new any more. They probably had 80,000-100,000 miles on them before I put HIR's in. I don't think HIR's were around when I first replaced the housings. I didn't really want to by another set of housings, especially since they are going up in price compared to what I paid in the past. Did the fog lights behind the grill help?

J - Do those lights help at night? How much more can you see?

Maybe I'll mount some massive driving lights in front of the grill.........that wouldn't look too cheesy, right?

Ken

Do not get fog lights IMHO as the beam is too short. I used driving lights with a long throw of light. Standard 55W halogens from a quality manufacturer(Hella). Aim them so not too blind oncoming traffic.

The shadow from the vertical bars of the grille was somewhat annoying but overall still quite effective and definitely economical.

Fog lights are useless if you're trying to get more light as JP stated. I went through a few sets on my gen 1 before I got the HIDs. Driving lights are your only hope.

OK sounds like driving lights are the way to go. Which should I get? I saw a couple on JC witney that are 55watts? I really can't justify spending $1,000+ on HID's based on my current car's value (a lot less than $1,000)!!

Max - I've got a "2002 Corvette with Mods" too!!!

Ken

JCW does sell good ones but also cheap ones not worth buying. My advice... Hella Model 550 Driving lamps. 55W each with real glass and good quality.

The Hella 550's are HUGE. 7.69" x 4.75". I'll take a look, but they'll probably be too big to fit behing the grill.

I'll look at other smaller Hella models to see if they'd fit.

Or I'll just get some 9" round lamps and mount them on the outside of the grill

Ken

Here are my driving lights.. You can see for yourself how much of a difference they make. They are aimed at the same level as my low beams, and I've never had anyone flash their brights at me.



Headlights:



Headlights and driving lights: