i think youre talking about the early L1 with the tapered bezel, same as the pic in my signature?
these are actually very easy to mod. the bezel comes apart much easier than more modern surefires. the optic drops right out, and access to the emitter is right there.
the old luxeon is glued down, but is easily torn out. a seoul P4 is a direct swap, but the original optics which i think is a NX03(?) doesnt focus it well.
ive done a couple on my L1s.
i swapped in a nichia 219 into one using a carlco 10003 optic. the other has a high cri seoul P4 using a fraen optic which i had from the sandwich shop.
most 20mm optics fit in the head very well. a little shimming might be needed to focus the beam. i used a shim for the nichia 219 + carlco 10003 optic. but fraen optic readily sits on the SSC P4 creating a beautiful, perfect, throwy beam.
both beams now are quite similar to the stock beam. but with more of the lumens in the center of the beam for more throw. the P4+fraen optic is more narrow, almost like a beam with only hotspot and corona, and no spill. it has become my favorite light.
on my nichia 219 mod, i used a larger 14mm MCPCB which was trimmed in certain areas so it will sit flush inside the housing. this is is due to a couple of solder blobs from the last LED which created an uneven surface. i could of used a 10mm MCPCB, but i dislike how the connection leads are right next to the LED, which makes focusing the optic more difficult, and risk of shorting from an aluminum reflector.
i also have a McR18s orange peel reflector, which fits perfectly without any adjustments, but i prefer the beams from the optics.
the McR18s reflector is the reflector milky has put into many of his ML-1s
i also have other carlco 20mm optics, but found the optics im currently using make for the best narrow beam.
im thinking about putting an XP-G2 into my 3rd L1. but having done so yet.
an XP-E2 with reflector should get you pretty good throw, and im thinking 100+ lumens on high.
but if you want to use an optic, you will have to experiment which gets the best results, fortunately carlco makes 4 or 5 narrow beam 20mm optics for different emitter types you can try. and it doesnt cost much.
i dont have a light meter, so my outputs are only guessimates.
the high cri P4 put out around 70-80 lumens on high, and around 3 lumens on low.
the nichia 219 puts out around 100 lumens on high, and maybe 5-6 lumens on low.
again, these are only estimates when compared to other lights i have that have been measured by reviewers in their spheres.
and although the circuits are the same, my SSC P4 L1 gets better runtimes. ive tested both at the same time, and the nichia219 L1 shut off first. i cant remember the exact numbers.
