rich weyand
03-08-2012, 04:24 PM
Hi All:
OK, so I really needed to do something to replace the Wagner halogen 7" rounds on my 78 RCSB. Looked all around, read a lot of posts, bought some stuff, tried it, dumped it, tried some more.
So this post is for somebody who just wants a major upgrade over stock lighting without spending a fortune on HID or machining up custom stuff or major wiring re-work. $140 bucks and half an hour of your time, and no changes to stock wiring.
First I put in a relay kit from autolumination.com. Relay kit was really nicely done, all loomed with heat shrink terminating the looms and ceramic connectors. It looks like they used an OOBS to set the wiring lengths for the universal kit, because they were all the right length. This is one you hook to the battery plus and frame ground, then a connector like the butt-end of a bulb plugs into the existing headlight socket for the relay coil connections. No changes to stock wiring. I just put the relay on the coolant overflow bottle and it sits there, held by the wiring. It went in clean and made even the existing lighting brighter by quite a bit.
Here's the relay kit. H4 9003 P43t, $30. On this page, about a quarter of the way down: http://autolumination.com/headlights.htm (http://autolumination.com/headlights.htm)
I also got a 6024-to-H4 conversion from them. Don't bother. Bulbs and baskets (lenses, whatever) were inferior. Also less expensive, mind, but unacceptable.
Ultimately I settled on a pair of Hella E-codes from Quadratec (HL79562, $40 each x 2), and Philips 9003 XPS2 X-treme Power Headlight Bulb, Pack of 2 from Amazon ($30/pair). These are by most accounts the best baskets and bulbs out there in 55/65 7" rounds. Quadratec also sells HB2 (DOT) conversions if you prefer to do that.
You also need a side-post terminal stud if you don't have one on your battery already. That's just a side-post battery cable retainer bolt that has a stud on the back side for connecting other stuff to the battery positive side.
So that's $140 plus shipping, you can change it all over in about thirty minutes and the lighting is astoundingly better. Also takes all the current load off your headlight switch and dimmer switch and the stock wiring.
Like I say, this is for people who don't want to spend the time and money for HID, but want to do about the best you can short of that for $140 and a half hour of dinking around.
Happy Motoring!
Rich
OK, so I really needed to do something to replace the Wagner halogen 7" rounds on my 78 RCSB. Looked all around, read a lot of posts, bought some stuff, tried it, dumped it, tried some more.
So this post is for somebody who just wants a major upgrade over stock lighting without spending a fortune on HID or machining up custom stuff or major wiring re-work. $140 bucks and half an hour of your time, and no changes to stock wiring.
First I put in a relay kit from autolumination.com. Relay kit was really nicely done, all loomed with heat shrink terminating the looms and ceramic connectors. It looks like they used an OOBS to set the wiring lengths for the universal kit, because they were all the right length. This is one you hook to the battery plus and frame ground, then a connector like the butt-end of a bulb plugs into the existing headlight socket for the relay coil connections. No changes to stock wiring. I just put the relay on the coolant overflow bottle and it sits there, held by the wiring. It went in clean and made even the existing lighting brighter by quite a bit.
Here's the relay kit. H4 9003 P43t, $30. On this page, about a quarter of the way down: http://autolumination.com/headlights.htm (http://autolumination.com/headlights.htm)
I also got a 6024-to-H4 conversion from them. Don't bother. Bulbs and baskets (lenses, whatever) were inferior. Also less expensive, mind, but unacceptable.
Ultimately I settled on a pair of Hella E-codes from Quadratec (HL79562, $40 each x 2), and Philips 9003 XPS2 X-treme Power Headlight Bulb, Pack of 2 from Amazon ($30/pair). These are by most accounts the best baskets and bulbs out there in 55/65 7" rounds. Quadratec also sells HB2 (DOT) conversions if you prefer to do that.
You also need a side-post terminal stud if you don't have one on your battery already. That's just a side-post battery cable retainer bolt that has a stud on the back side for connecting other stuff to the battery positive side.
So that's $140 plus shipping, you can change it all over in about thirty minutes and the lighting is astoundingly better. Also takes all the current load off your headlight switch and dimmer switch and the stock wiring.
Like I say, this is for people who don't want to spend the time and money for HID, but want to do about the best you can short of that for $140 and a half hour of dinking around.
Happy Motoring!
Rich