Headlight options for my 73 Chevy pickup

[Kardolf]

I've been reading for hours, about HID, LED, projector, HIR, halogen, and whatever else that people have used for their headlights. However, I'm still feel rather uneducated about what is and is not realistic in my pickup.

At this point, I definitly want to do a wiring harness upgrade to allow more current to my headlights, without causing a fire hazard.

I would like to upgrade the lights themselves to a more modern, more efficent, and more road (and driver) friendly style. I don't want obnoxious. I don't want something that is going to blind oncoming drivers. I really don't want blue, green, or any of the other pretty colors out there.

My truck is reasonably stock, 2wd. Bit of a rake right now, but I would like to do a 2/4 drop, which will level it out, and bring it a hair lower. So, not the 8 foot high skyrider 4x4 that blinds you no matter what lights he has.

Is there an HID upgrade that would be legal, and not create so much glare that I **** off every other driver in the city? Or am I better off doing the Sylvania SilverStars after the wiring upgrade? Or, something else altogether? And, what kind of costs am I looking at?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Is there an HID upgrade that would be legal, and not create so much glare that I **** off every other driver in the city?

Not really.

Or am I better off doing the Sylvania SilverStars after the wiring upgrade? Or, something else altogether? And, what kind of costs am I looking at?

You're better off doing the wiring upgrade, but not with the Silverstars.

Either the GE Nighthawk (H6024NH) or the Cibie H4 headlamps—7" round (scroll down).


Make sure they're aimed properly.

 

[-Virgil-]

Yup, Alaric Darconville's giving good advice. If you want cheap/decent, get the GE Night Hawks. If you want "much better" and have a little cash to spend, get the Cibies or Bosches. Either way, do the relay upgrade and make sure they're aimed properly per Alaric's link.

Sylvania Silverstars are badly-focused (and heavily promoted) trash.

There is only one HID setup in the 7" round format that is worth looking at, in terms of performance and durability. It's the XE7 (not the XE7R). It's a funny-looking, expensive set of lamps, but performance and durability are quite good.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

There is only one HID setup in the 7" round format that is worth looking at, in terms of performance and durability. It's the XE7 (not the XE7R). It's a funny-looking, expensive set of lamps, but performance and durability are quite good.

Interesting product -- and expensive. Ouch. Too bad the Xe7R doesn't pass muster, because it would preserve the "stock look". Those Xe7s look like they'd be on a Chryslus Highwayman or something.

 

[-Virgil-]

Hah! Seriously, yeah, I tend to be a "form over function" kind of guy, but the XE7 product stretches even my ability to overlook that amount of fugly. Great performance, but...man! Somebody get that car a bra; that just ain't decent!

The XE7R isn't awful, and really isn't even bad, it's just...not great. Reflector BiXenon is just really, really, really hard to do well.

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

Hella headlight modules would work too, even if they'd look a bit funky. Hella makes a 90mm HID bixenon. You can poke around that same site and find lots of other sizes, although with most setups you'll have to use separate modules for low and high beams.

I wouldn't buy from Rallylights.com. I've purchased from them several times and they always manage to screw up the order somehow and getting ahold of them afterward is nearly impossible. Stern is much better and well worth the extra cost.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

For me, just looking at prices ($546.15 each for those Hellas, for example), and just being a purist who likes things to look stock (or at least not ridonkulous), I'd go for the Nighthawks and the relay upgrade.

 

[-Virgil-]

Why the Night Hawks instead of the Cibies, Alaric? Is it because you want your lights to have that "SEALED BEAM" lettering on the lens (and those three aiming tabs for the mechanical aimer nobody has used since, um, 1973)? Or is because you're cheap?

(just messing with ya)

 

[Alaric Darconville]

I'm CHEAP!!!

Also, if I went to the parts counter to ask for it I'd have to deal with the guy going "Doncha mean 'Sea-Bee'?" when I ask for "Cibie"...

(I know, I know... I can order them on the internet and all that...)

 

[Random Guy]

Why the Night Hawks instead of the Cibies, Alaric? Is it because you want your lights to have that "SEALED BEAM" lettering on the lens (and those three aiming tabs for the mechanical aimer nobody has used since, um, 1973)? Or is because you're cheap?

(just messing with ya)

How did those mechanical aiming doohickeys work, anyways? I have always wondered that.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

How did those mechanical aiming doohickeys work, anyways? I have always wondered that.

Maybe it's like a modified carpenter's level kind of thing where it mounts on the bumps (or the bumps keep it centered within the light's lens) and then you adjust it until it's within the right markings or something (assuming the vehicle itself is on a level floor). The bumps form a triangle to assure that the headlight isn't mounted upside-down (a square pattern would be ambiguous, and could result in a low beam that shoots upwards instead of toward the ground).

 

[glarus]

Reflector BiXenon is just really, really, really hard to do well.

Do you know of any other factory applications where a reflector based BiXenon design is used? The only one that I am aware of is the Japanese and ASEAN market Honda Fit where a solenoid moves the reflector assembly for high beam / low beam operation.

 

[Kardolf]

Ok. I been looking at the suggestions, and have another question.

I like the idea of the Cibie lights, but I think that, since this is not my dailiy driver, I'm feeling more hesitant about the higher price. And, I have a gift card for Amazon...

So, what is the difference between the various models of Nighthawks?

 

[-Virgil-]

Do you know of any other factory applications where a reflector based BiXenon design is used?

Certain Volvos of last decade. 2nd-gen Toyota Prius with optional Xenon.

 

[-Virgil-]

So, what is the difference between the various models of Nighthawks?

The one and only Night Hawk headlamp you should be looking to buy off Amazon is the H6024NH.

(Or, go get two of these; whotta deal! Put in these bulbs.)

Whatever lamps you pick, put in good quality relays, not one of the cruddy $30-$40 Chinese relay harness sets, and aim the lamps properly.

 

[-Virgil-]

How did those mechanical aiming doohickeys work, anyways? I have always wondered that.

The three bumps on the front of the lens form a plane. This plane, in theory, is precisely oriented relative to the axis of the lamp, which in turn is theoretically precisely oriented relative to the beam. The aiming device allows the headlamp to be aimed (oriented vertically and horizontally in space), which theoretically aims the light beam correctly.

The problem is that this only works if the plane defined by the aiming bumps is indeed precisely oriented relative to the axis of the lamp, and if the beam is correctl focused relative to the axis of the lamp and the aiming plane. Neither assumption necessarily holds up. There are problems with visual/optical aim (aiming the beam itself rather than the lamp unit in space), too, but it does negate the contingeny of all these mechanical parameters being accurately and precisely correct.

The bumps form a triangle to assure that the headlight isn't mounted upside-down

No, actually, clocking of the sealed beam within the housing is handled by the locating lugs on the back of the headlamp. It's nothing to do with the aiming bumps.

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

The three bumps for mechanically aiming headlights are to mount the aiming mechanism. The mechanism has a suction cup in the middle to pull it towards the headlight, and three legs corresponding to the three bumps on the headlight to hold the aiming mechanism away from the surface of the headlight. There should be a small number near each of the bumps that would correspond to an adjustment number for the appropriate leg; the legs are adjustable because not all headlights are flat. After mounting the aiming mechanism to each headlight, you adjust the headlight so that a level on the side of the aiming mechanism looks right, and that the view through a window in the aiming mechanism, looking at the aiming mechanism stuck to the opposite headlight, also looks right. Been a few years since I did that in high school auto shop class, but that's how I remember it.

 

[-Virgil-]

There should be a small number near each of the bumps

Not quite. There're no numbers on sealed beams; you use the aiming adaptor correct for the shape/size sealed beam you're aiming. On replaceable-bulb mechanical-aim headlamps, there will be a code on the headlamp lens that looks like "3H9V" or "11V2H"; that refers to the vertical and horizontal settings on the adjustable mechanical aimer adaptor.

 

[tay]

How do those Bosch units compare to the Cibies and the Hellas? $17 seems ridiculously cheap.

I got my dad the 7" Nighthawk sealed beams for Christmas, and he was thrilled with their performance in relation to the old sealed beams on his Miata.

 

[Kardolf]

How do those Bosch units compare to the Cibies and the Hellas? $17 seems ridiculously cheap.

What he said! On one hand I see $76 per housing, then I see motorcycle housings for $20. Makes me wonder.... Are those even legal in a car (or truck, since that's what I am playing with)?