Front End Conversion Kits and ADR Lighting Compliance

Fit a facelift front end to your 70 Series and you change every forward-facing lamp you have. New headlights, new front indicators, and often daytime running lamps that weren't there before. Once the conversion is on, your external lighting still has to meet the applicable standards. So you're checking headlamp type and aim, indicator colour and flash rate, how the daytime running lamps are wired, where each lamp sits and pairs, and the certification question that comes with a significant body modification.

What a front end conversion changes

Do a facelift or front end conversion and you swap out your original front sheet metal, grille, bumper and lighting for a later or different model front end. On the 70 Series that usually means an early square-headlight front becomes the later facelift look. The front lighting cluster goes with it, so every lamp facing forward is affected.

You have four things to verify: the headlamps, the front indicators, the front position lamps, and any daytime running lamps the new front end brings. The wiring behind those lamps changes too. Check the function, colour and flash rate of each lamp once the conversion is fitted. Don't assume the donor parts carry their compliance across.

ADR 13/00 and vehicle lighting

ADR 13/00 (Installation of Lighting and Light-Signalling Devices) governs how lighting and light-signalling devices are installed on a vehicle. It sets out which lamps you must carry, where they sit, what colour each one emits, and how the signalling lamps have to behave. Change the front lighting and the finished result still has to satisfy ADR 13/00 and your state roadworthy requirements.

Four things matter for a front end conversion. Headlamp type and aim. Indicator colour and flash rate. Correct fitment and wiring of any daytime running lamps. Positioning and pairing of every front lamp.

Check your headlamps

• The headlamp assemblies are an approved type and carry the correct approval marking.
• The light source matches the housing design, so the beam pattern and cut-off are maintained.
• Low beam and high beam both work on each side, with the high beam telltale operating on the dash.
• The headlamps emit white light. Coloured or tinted output isn't permitted for the main driving beam.
• The headlamps are aimed using the correct equipment after the conversion is fitted.

Headlamps fitted in a conversion have to be an approved type, aimed correctly, and emit white light. An approved headlamp carries the relevant approval marking and produces a low beam with a defined cut-off, so it lights the road without dazzling oncoming traffic. Trouble shows up with unmarked replica headlamps, or when you put an LED or HID light source into a housing built for a halogen globe. A mismatched light source frequently scatters and glares, and fails the beam pattern requirement even though the lamp looks like it's working.

Check your front indicators

• The front indicators emit amber light, in the lens and in the light source.
• The flash rate sits between 60 and 120 flashes per minute on both sides.
• The indicator function pairs left and right and works with the hazard function.
• The indicator tell-tale operates correctly on the dash after the conversion.

Your front direction indicators have to emit amber light and flash at 60 to 120 flashes per minute. That flash rate is a specific requirement, and a front end conversion commonly disturbs it because the indicator load changes. Swap the indicator globes, or put LED indicators in place of filament globes, and the reduced electrical load can drive the flasher too fast, which is hyperflashing, or in some cases too slow. Anything outside the 60 to 120 per minute range is non-compliant. The fix is normally the correct flasher relay, or a load resistor matched to the new globes, fitted so the flash rate sits back in range.

Check your daytime running lamps

• The daytime running lamps emit white light.
• They're wired to operate automatically and to dim or go out when the headlamps come on.
• They sit as a matched pair at the correct height and spacing across the front of the vehicle.
• They don't obscure the front indicators or interfere with their visibility.

A lot of facelift front ends carry daytime running lamps, either as a dedicated lamp or built into the headlamp assembly. Where your conversion adds them, they have to be fitted and wired so they behave the way the standard for vehicle lighting intends. Daytime running lamps emit white light. They're meant to come on automatically with the engine running and switch off, or dim, when you turn the headlamps on. One that stays at full brightness with the headlamps on, emits a colour other than white, or sits in the wrong position doesn't comply.

Lamp positioning and pairing

Type and colour are only part of it. The applicable ADRs for vehicle lighting also require your front lamps to be positioned and paired correctly. Lamps required in pairs, headlamps, front indicators, front position lamps and daytime running lamps, mount symmetrically at the same height on each side. If your conversion sits one side higher than the other, or leaves a required lamp off altogether, it won't meet the standard.

Every front lighting component a conversion touches, with the requirement on it and the check that proves it.

Roadworthy and beam pattern

Headlight aim and beam pattern get checked at roadworthy inspection. Your converted front end can look finished and have every light working, then fail because the headlamps are aimed too high, the beam pattern scatters, an indicator hyperflashes, or a daytime running lamp emits the wrong colour. None of that is visible from your seat. That's why it's commonly missed until the inspection.

Fit the conversion. Confirm the colour and function of every front lamp, correct the indicator flash rate if it's changed, then have the headlamps aimed by a workshop with beam-setting equipment before you present the vehicle. Doing that first saves you a fail and the cost of a re-inspection.

Certification and significant body modification

A front end conversion is a significant body modification, not a lighting change. It alters the front structure of your vehicle, the mounting of the lighting, and in many cases the bumper and crash structure. Certification may be required in some states before the modified vehicle can be registered or presented with a roadworthy certificate.

What you have to do, and how you go about it, differs by state. Certification of a body modification like this may fall under NSW VSCCS, Victoria VASS, or the Queensland Approved Person Scheme administered by TMR. If you're in South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory, refer to the relevant state or territory scheme. Thresholds and rules vary, so confirm what applies to your conversion with a licensed automotive engineer in your state before the work is presented for inspection.

Read State and Territory Certification Requirements for detail on each scheme. To find a licensed engineer who can assess your conversion, go to Find an Automotive Engineer. For background on how the Australian Design Rules apply to vehicle modifications generally, see What are Australian Design Rules?.

Front end conversion kits

PVS Automotive supplies a front end conversion kit matched to the 70 Series. The facelift conversion kit to suit Toyota LandCruiser 2008 to 2023 updates the front of your LandCruiser to the later facelift appearance. Like any front end conversion, you check the lighting on the finished vehicle against the points on this page, and have the headlamps aimed, before you present it for a roadworthy inspection.

The kit is matched to the specific vehicle, so the lighting components are intended to fit the platform without modification. You stay responsible for confirming that every front lamp emits the correct colour, that the indicators flash within the 60 to 120 per minute range, that any daytime running lamps operate correctly, and that the headlamps are aimed. Where your state requires certification for a body modification of this kind, confirm the process with a licensed automotive engineer before fitting. See the facelift conversion kit, supplied for the 2008 to 2023 build range.

Insurance and disclosure

A front end conversion is a material change to your vehicle's specification, so tell your insurer. Fit it correctly, with compliant lighting and any required certification in place, and you have a documentable modification you can disclose with confidence. Non-compliant lighting, or a conversion that should have been certified and wasn't, is a non-disclosed material change that can put a claim at risk.

Confirm the requirements that apply to your conversion with a licensed automotive engineer and your insurer. Requirements differ between states, and confirming compliance rests with you as the owner of the vehicle.