Sleeper Headlights for 90 toyota celica (how do you do it)

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90'Celica_GT

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i have a 1990 toyota celica and was wondering if anyone knows a way i can make the head lights look sleepy i was online searching all day and i found something but its $125 i just wanna do it myself if theres a way
 
there is a parts that the light door motor winds up to and as it hits, stops the motor at that point, which you can adjust lower. but you still need different bulbs otherwise you'll just be lighting up the inside of your bumper!
 
I'd suggest that the 1990 Toyota Celica Owners' Club would be a really good start.
 
and...

1990 Toyota Celica Owners' Club
If you're trying to make the lights of your Celica look sleepy, you ought to be banned from having a Toyota forever.
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Really popular mod on the 240SX boards... always thought it was kinda silly, though...
 
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Fixed headlights > Flippy "Sleepers"
 
Duke
All stupid.
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Tom Servo
and...
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Harsh.

I remember my friends and I tried this with an '89 Celica, though we didn't do the permanent solution. We just played with the knobs under the hood that could manually move the lights, so if the lights were turned on/off it would just return them to the right place.

There's really no reason to do this permanently, so I can sympathize with Duke and the owner's club, but unless it's rigged so the headlights can't be raised fully, it's just a subjective cosmetic effect, like so many other things with cars. It doesn't even carry any undeserved connotations of "performance."
 
Around the head light area. Though why you'd do this, I don't know. Looks terrible, increases drag, and so on.
 
Azuremen
Around the head light area. Though why you'd do this, I don't know. Looks terrible, increases drag, and so on.
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But it also increases airflow to the motor through the gaps in between the lights and the bonnet. I used to have a PIVOT RHU-M (Retractable half unit) which you wire in the the car and you can control the lights 'angle' using a knob on the unit. Try looking up PIVOT RHU, they are a cool wee device
 
You have to crank the little knob from under the bumper, it's a real pain. I don't think it looks very good on the 5th gen celicas, the front bumper and head lights are too rounded, but that's just my opinion.
 
Toronado
I doubt that makes any difference.
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Will if you have a hot turbo setup, which I doubt this does since the OP can't find the knob to adjust the headlight... not seeing it running some beastly 3S setup.
 
Toronado
I doubt that makes any difference.
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My thoughts exactly. The comment on drag by Azure comes up as a truth as well. Its just plain silly, and I think the car looks pretty good with the "eyelids" closed anyway.
 
Azuremen
Will if you have a hot turbo setup, which I doubt this does since the OP can't find the knob to adjust the headlight... not seeing it running some beastly 3S setup.
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ANY cold air is good air, especially in a turbo engine. Think about it, having a steady flow of cold air entering the front of the engine bay and exiting out the back of the engine bay (by the windscreen wipers). Absolute no brain-er, DEFINITELY is a cost effective modification
 
DriifterX
ANY cold air is good air, especially in a turbo engine. Think about it, having a steady flow of cold air entering the front of the engine bay and exiting out the back of the engine bay (by the windscreen wipers). Absolute no brain-er, DEFINITELY is a cost effective modification
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Again, most factory setups run cool enough as it is, and there are plenty of other ways to induce more cold air into the engine bay.
 
Azuremen
Again, most factory setups run cool enough as it is, and there are plenty of other ways to induce more cold air into the engine bay.
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Ok you've missed the boat on the point here, but anyway, I cant be bothered arguing with you so your a winner mate
 
DriifterX
Ok you've missed the boat on the point here, but anyway, I cant be bothered arguing with you so your a winner mate
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Umm, how did I miss the point?

Yes, you are getting more cold air. Yes, cold air does help a bit. Are their better ways.

On a bone stock 3S-GE or 5S-FE or whatever may be in there is going to get no benefit from this. That was the point I was going for.
 
@DrifterX: Niiiice comeback.

A turbocharged engine needs cooling, right? But it doesn't need more cold air coming in... you've got lots of air going past the radiator... it needs the hot air to be vented out.

Poking holes in the front to let cold air in around the radiator merely increases the air pressure in the engine bay behind the radiator, leading to less effective cooling. The air going out past the windshield wipers isn't enough to reduce the under-hood air pressure... there's a pressure build-up in front of the windshield that makes the vents there less effective than they could be elsewhere (like, on the front fenders).

This is the reason many people switch from top-mounted intercoolers to front-mounted intercoolers. Your top-mount intercooler has a front-facing scoop, much like you envision the headlight buckets to be... guess what? At speed, that scoop doesn't suck in more cool air, instead, there is a tiny net outflow... because there isn't enough outlet for the air by the windshield. An online magazine (Autospeed.com, I think) tested this with a pressure gauge, and basically found that front facing intercooler scoops are useless without underbody trays, and even then, the pressure differential isn't all that big... as opposed to an FMIC, which is basically sitting in the airstream blasting into the front of your car.

That's why vented hoods have vents pointing back... venting air out midhood avoids the pressure build-up at the windshield, makes for more air flowing past the radiators and makes infinitely more sense than a sleepy-eye mod if you're looking for performance or reliability gains.

Again, more air in around the radiator =/= cooler.

More air out = more air going through the radiator = definitely cooler.

More here:
http://www.autospeed.com/A_2159/cms/article.html

(BTW, autospeed is awesome... haven't been back to that site for a looong time...)
 
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Not wanting to add more fuel to the fire here, but I'm pretty sure the 1990-1993 Celica GT doesn't have a turbo engine. Unless you've gone and installed it yourself, which from the thread creator's post, I pretty much doubt it, it should just be naturally aspirated... which shouldn't be that dependent on cooler air.

Other than the fact that Toyotas can run on pretty much anything regardless.
 
DriifterX
ANY cold air is good air, especially in a turbo engine. Think about it, having a steady flow of cold air entering the front of the engine bay and exiting out the back of the engine bay (by the windscreen wipers). Absolute no brain-er, DEFINITELY is a cost effective modification
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This is a 130 horse 2.2L. In essence, a Camry engine. I don't think it would have the overheating problems of, say, a Civic Type R.
 
If they only open partway, wouldn't night vision be severely compromised? or do they only close partway in this situation?
 
Tom Servo
Not wanting to add more fuel to the fire here, but I'm pretty sure the 1990-1993 Celica GT doesn't have a turbo engine.
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Only if you had the impossible-to-find All-Trac, and in North America, well... Thats about as rare as it gets. As Toronado pointed out, the Camry-powered Celicas that we had in the ST184 and ST204 breathed just fine, but there wouldn't be much of an advantage at all to this headlight discussion when it comes to cooling. In fact, I think I'd be hard-pressed to find a means by which I would be able to get my Celica to overheat...
 
Jim Prower
If they only open partway, wouldn't night vision be severely compromised? or do they only close partway in this situation?
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i think there are crap ones that do just light up the bumper but better kits make it so they can be closed - half/sleepy - and full open
 
YSSMAN
In fact, I think I'd be hard-pressed to find a means by which I would be able to get my Celica to overheat...
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Agreed, in the six years and nearly 100k miles i've been driving my celica I have never once had a problem with overheating. The needle remains right there in the middle, never more.
 
YSSMAN
Only if you had the impossible-to-find All-Trac, and in North America, well... Thats about as rare as it gets. As Toronado pointed out, the Camry-powered Celicas that we had in the ST184 and ST204 breathed just fine, but there wouldn't be much of an advantage at all to this headlight discussion when it comes to cooling. In fact, I think I'd be hard-pressed to find a means by which I would be able to get my Celica to overheat...
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I used to own a '92 Celica GT in Florida, and it didn't have a turbo.
 

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