996 to 997 headlight conversion

We at Precision Porsche are always trying to do different things and offer the 996 porsche community new products like our c ustom 997 TA side skirts and the TA GT street rear , our turbo bumpers for the 996 nb to a full blown 997 GT street conversion With that said, we are currently in the R&D phase of doing a simple 997 headlight conversion on the 996. I know that some of us prefer the classic porsche oval headlights but don't want to sell our 996's just to get that look so we are trying to see how feasible (price and quality) it is to do this conversion. Our goal is simple... make it as easy as possible to the end user. The plan is that all you will need are the 997 headlights plus a set of our custom fenders (retain stock hood and bumper) and you're done (well, not really...read on ) Three obstacles exist... one is the angle/fitment of the headlights. We will be reusing the stock headlight plug so we want to make sure that the fitment of the headlights and the angle of the projector/headlight beam is good. The second obstacle will be the front blinker as we all know that it is built into our 996 headlights. We are trying to find a simple way of fixing that issue. Right now as we see it, it may be a custom LED set up like I have on my porsche. https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...eds-996tt.html The third obstacle is the oem front bumper and the little cut off it has for the bottom of the headlights. The bad news is that we are pretty sure the 997 headlights will not fit perfectly around that part of the bumper and if that's the case, the end user will need a new bumper. The good news is that if this is the case, we will be making a barage of different front bumpers for this conversion (997 gt2, 997 gt3, 997 TA, etc). Obviously, once we go this route, the price will no longer be kept at a minimum so we need to be ready for that. Btw, we plan also having a option for wider front fenders for all those guys that track their porsches or want to fit wider wheels in the front. This is still in the preliminary test phase. So... with all that said, would YOU do this conversion? Please vote here Edwin

Do you need a car to test this out on?

Why don't you guys come out with an idea that uses the 996 bumper and fenders/hood and incorporates the 997 headlights with some kind of adaptor for the connectors, then, you create just a plastic "paintable to code" part that fills the gap between the 997 light and the hood/fender? Painting kept to a minimum and retaining a lot of OEM parts on your car.

this is what I'm talking bout... original 996 fenders, bumper and hood. 997 headlights and precision porsche filler pieces.

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Quote: Joel, When you say filler peices, do you mean a peice you add onto the oem 996 fender to fill in the space or a whole new fender? That would be a great idea if the angle and fitment of the headlights fit that perfectly on the stock bumper. We dont' want to mess with wiring so we plan on plugging the 997 headlight straight into the 996 harness (we believe this is doable) Edwin

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Quote: This has merit. I like it! If a tuner does it (i.e. Gemballa mixing GTC lights, is ok) I don't see why not. That would be updating the lights, but keeping the 996 /not poser.

yes, edwin, just 2 small triangles with the correct shapes/angles, etc. not 2 fenders. I still think is doable. The fist step would be to buy one or two 997 lights from ebay and see if they fit the opening and connector tray from your 996. The rest would be moulding/fabrication in fiberglass and attachment points for the 2 little triangles.

I honestly believe that if you guys come up with a way to update the lights, without having the change a whole lot, a lot of people would sign up. I know I would. My car is a 99. I do not like the MKI lights, but I do not really like the MKII lights either which is an option if I do a '02 facelift (yes with new fenders and bumper and all). And, I do not want to update to 997 facelift as I am not pretending to "reskin" a 996. Thus, this leaves the option proposed by Joel as "my ideal option".

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Quote: Million dollar idea, sign me up.

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Quote: I like it too, I'm intersted.

This is a great idea!!!!!!!! Re: the bumper, can the front gaps be filled in with some body filler? I know I used an epoxy filler on a urethane panel once and it worked great. I don't see why a similar idea could not be adapted for use in the present application. Also, what material would you make the fender out of? Maybe the existing fender could also have a filler piece epoxied into place and then sanded out to mate up with the hood??

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Quote: Great idea, I just see one problem: Where do the foglights go? With this, you would have to cut a hole in the bumper or somewhere... If theres a way to do this and keep the foglights I'm all for this, love the way it looks.

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Quote: Joel, Great idea... I think that's doable if the 997 lights connect right up to the 996 plug and fits well right into the "oval" shape of the fender and bumper. If that is the case, we can definitely make that little triangle peice but we would make it where the shop would have to mold it onto the fender. I personally don't think a little standalone triangle peice would look very attractive (imo). We still have the question/issue of turn signals... a car won't pass inspection if there are no turn signals in the front. I can see where we can wire it into the side marker but not sure if that will pass. We'll definitely look more into this tohugh Quote: 99% of our products would be made out of fiberglass. it would be alot easier to make that triangle peice and mold it onto the oem fender. Quote: the foglights will be gone as we are talking about replacing the 996 headlights with the 997 completely. Edwin

I would buy it for my mkI and install a Stand-alone amber LED strip for a turn signal in the front bumper> it would be far enough back that it would be out of site until they are lit up to turn. I wouldnt worry about inspection, if done properly, they dont know whats factory installed and whats aftermarket.

I like the idea of using as many EOM parts as possible. It will be interesting to see what is possible. I was quite surprised what the Mk2 lights go for. Here is the path I took.

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Quote: Interesting. How did you do that?

RE: Turn lights Something like this?

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That's what I was envisioning. Looks like a perfect car to me! Quote:

That looks great, but what about those of us that do not have a turbo bumper?

Would have to find solution for the few different bumpers that are out there, and start with one of them. Probably the fill space can be utilized for all of them as all bumpers attach in the same way to the same 996 front. Thus, space to be filled should be same. What front do you have?

Would the filler piece be placed onto our existing OEM bumpers? BTW, I think the above picture is a great final product - simple, clean lines, and attractive. Why couldn't the Porsche designers made it that way in the first place!?

To not need fiberglass floated into the fenders (not easy on the front where the lights meet the hood) I would think the filler piece should be moulded into a new replacement bumper.. you would be paying for the new bumper and lighting conversion only in lieu of hood, fenders, bumper, and lighting. This may sound crazy, but the beatle lights may be an alternative.

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Quote: ummmm .... What?

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Quote: If I understand correctly, the filled triangle will be part of the bumper. If so, the gap between pieces will be placed in an odd place, and the triangle will be separate from the fenders. This does not sound too good aesthetically.

Tarzancoe, I am not trying to be difficult here and certainly not messing with you either but I am not sure I understood your statement. If I have read the previous posts properly, which is open for debate I guess, I believe any mods would be made to the existing fenders AND the bumper. Not sure if anyone even suggested making mods to only one or the other. In such a case, I think if I understand what you have written, then, Yes, the mods would not look good. The only proper Mod is what Joel has photoshoped. Anything else - not worth it. I do have one other question though for Precision. Considering that the 99-01 fenders are only $298 from the dealership, couldn't a metal part be fabricated to fill in the proper gap and then installed by a local body shop with proper sanding and filling with auto body filler? That way, the only mod to the fender is in metal, the mod to the OEM bumper is epoxy fill which I can do in my sleep its so easy, and then the new head lights and harness to install. Would this approach take into account the slope of the head light? I'd like to know more about the slope.

No worries, did not think you were messing with me . Simply trying to visualize your explanation. Hard to do without looking at it. The truth is that this exercise should be done with a 3D model or similar, to effectively visualize tangible results.

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Quote: I follow you. It makes sense.

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Quote: I have the factory 996 C2 front. Looks like this: http://www.ssip.net/upload/porsche-9...ront-1_214.jpg

This is an interesting idea. I would consider buying this kit if works as planned.

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Quote: that bumpers even easier to fit LED strips in. ow can i help with this update product?

Edwin, I am not sure if this is turning in the direction you envisioned, but it seems like there is a general interest in the "997 lights with 996 front" concept. What are your thoughts?

what about the 996 mkI headlights?

seems like the easiest option would be to create a very good quality paintable headlight cover that will just cover up the foglight. Similar to the ones in the link below except without the holes for the foglight /washers. The signal light is retained, but the foglight is lost. You end up with the classic oval shaped headlight though. Thoughts? http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/p...5d79771i87h2f7

Imagine this car without the cutout holes for the foglights, does it look like the 997 lights? http://www.cecwheels.com/images/medi...ght-covers.jpg

Well, yes... and no: The fact is that the covers are not very popular. With exceptions, they generally do not achieve the effect desired. The pic that you linked is pretty good though.

IMHO, that looks like crap. I say, either go with the way Joel presented the idea or forget it. Any other way looks cheap and f'ed up. But, what do I know!?!? I still think there has got to be someone out there who could use sheet metal and attach a seamless add-on to the existing fender so it would look OEM. I know it can be done, it's just a matter of finding the right person.

IMHO, I'd rather see a 996tt presented as a 996tt - not a 996 that wants to be a 997. That has so much potential to come out crappy and make it look like you're trying too hard to play it off like you have a newer car. If you guys really want to make headlights look more round, the best way to do it and still retain the character of the 996 would be to take apart the headlights and have them painted to match the color of your car (outside of the round portion of the headlight you guys want to keep chrome). I still think it's a bad idea, but that's just me. If you have a dark car, why not buy a sheet of tint or vinyl for a couple of bucks and try it out to see if it's something you're actually interested in doing? edit: crap, sorry for bumping the old thread - I clicked the link from this thread: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...sion-idea.html and just read through this and posted. doh!

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Quote: I don't think 15psi ever responded to that ? Please share your approach

Any news on the possibility of an update?

No updates/progress unfornately. We do have the headlight covers that give it the oval look if you are interested Edwin

How expensive would it be to find a company that will redesign the shape of the 996 headlights so that it looks exactly the way it is without the part that contains the fog ligts...it wouldn't be a 997 headlight but it would look similar... so it would still fit in the original tray and all you would need is either a filler which would look ugly or a new fender to fit around the new round headlights... you don't need to replace the bumpers and you will still have the signals in the headlight.....I think it would be cool. Probably too expensive but it's an idea.

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It could be done as a group buy, I think around $700 per pair, similar to the group buy done for aftermarket 997 led lights you can search it. Not a bad idea. Would be done in Taiwan or China, as usual. Quote:

I dont know how much the original 997 headlights cost from dealer but i am sure they would be about 2000 for the pair, if the remade headlights looks good and costs less than 1000 plus the fenders should still be a steal and i think it would have a lot of interest... Also It would be easier to go back to stock since all you have to do is replace the fender and headlight when you want to sell it if the buyer requests it.

I'd make this mod.

I think this 996t looks better than the new 911. 996 character remains. I appreciate Left/Right fenders' lines. Mk2's headlights are fine. With those tinted films, this black 996t is of course 996t.