Stock '67 headlights are trash, need help.

[corn]

I just picked up a new pair at Napa... H6024

[Stocker]

Cibies are the best, IMO -- if you want lamps that are nearly as good for less $$, get Hella H4 E-Codes. One good outlet is http://www.rallylights.com/ (no affiliation).

Whatever you get, the relay mod is highly recommended.

[The Big Green]

I want lights where I can buy the headlight bulbs, and not the whole light everytime. When I blow a bulb out, I want to go buy the bulb...lol

I think the clear lenses look great.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by The Big Green

I want lights where I can buy the headlight bulbs, and not the whole light everytime. When I blow a bulb out, I want to go buy the bulb...lol

The above mentioned Cibies and Hellas come with replaceable H4 bulbs, as do many other aftermarket headlamps.

[The Big Green]

I like the ones from LMC Truck, but can't remember what the price was. I saw a pic of the lights on another tread on here.

I'm guessing the ones at part stores, and Walmarts are the whole light, and the bulb isn't replaceable. I haven't ever looked, just figured they were.

Thanks guys, I'll look into them all. Atleast I know theres a few out there.

[Green Machine]

Originally Posted by corn

I just picked up a new pair at Napa... H6024

I agree with Corn - Some H6024 halogens are much better than stock and will not over load your wiring, same wattage as stock. We have 3 trucks here with halogens and properly adjusted, they light up the road better than many new cars.

Sticking my neck out here but there is no real good reason to rewire with relays and all the stuff, when a halogen H6024 does the job. Try them, at worst you would only be out less than 20 dollars.

[The Big Green]

Thanks guys, I'll go to Wallyworld, and pick up some. I'm not rewiring the whole truck, when its been rewired already, originally.

[70cst]

Originally Posted by The Big Green

Thanks guys, I'll go to Wallyworld, and pick up some. I'm not rewiring the whole truck, when its been rewired already, originally.

The wiring they are talking about is just a headlight harness that many vendors sell or you can make up one yourself..

[The Big Green]

I just re-wired under the hood, where the harnesses plug in the firewall. My wires started cracking about a year ago maybe, that, and I went to a internal voltage regulator like most probably do. I still have the stock dimmer switch, and fuses, and everything. I just updated a few minor things.

[Stocker]

Even with stock sealed-beam headlamps, you may see visible improvement with relays.

It's easy to read the voltage at the battery, then at the headlamps. The readings should be very close. Before relays, I had ~1.5 volts less at the headlamps. Now it's ~1/10 volt. And that's with stock sealed beams... I'm just driving to work & around town so my Cibies are in storage.

As you can see from the following (from Daniel Stern's website http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html), a small voltage drop equals a very significant reduction in light output.


WHY USE RELAYS?

Power for the headlights is controlled by a switch on the dash. This is *not* a great place to tap into the system, for two reasons: The headlamp switch uses tiny, high-resistance contacts to complete circuits, and the wire lengths required to run from the battery to the dashboard and all the way out to the headlamps creates excessive resistive voltage drop, especially with the thin wires used in most factory installations.

In many cases, the thin factory wires are inadequate even for the stock headlamp equipment. Headlamp bulb light output is severely compromised with decreased voltage. The drop in light output is not linear, it is exponential with the power 3.4. For example, let's consider a 9006 low beam bulb rated 1000 lumens at 12.8 Volts and plug in different voltages:

10.5V : 510 lumens
11.0V : 597 lumens
11.5V : 695 lumens
12.0V : 803 lumens
12.5V : 923 lumens
12.8V : 1000 lumens ←Rated output voltage
13.0V : 1054 lumens
13.5V : 1198 lumens
14.0V : 1356 lumens ←Rated life voltage
14.5V : 1528 lumens


The Europeans take a slightly more realistic with their voltage ratings; they consider output at 13.2v to be "100%". The loss curve is the same, though. When operating voltage drops to 95 percent (12.54v), headlamp bulbs produce only 83 percent of their rated light output. When voltage drops to 90 percent (11.88v), bulb output is only 67 percent of what it should be. And when voltage drops to 85 percent (11.22v), bulb output is a paltry 53 percent of normal! It is much more common than you might think for factory headlamp wiring/switch setups to produce this kind of voltage drop, especially once they're no longer brand new and the connections have accumulated some corrosion and dirt.