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People with H4 headlights

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Old May 13, 2003 | 08:19 PM
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Sir Coolness
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From: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
People with H4 headlights

Which bulbs and I supposed to use and also do the bulbs just plug into the stock harness? Just kind of curious because I was going to install the lights, but I noticed there wasn't a bulb with them =\
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Old May 13, 2003 | 08:33 PM
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The bulbs(H4) do plug right into the stock harness.

As far as brands, PIAA makes great bulbs, but are quite expensive. Toucan bulbs suck *****. I know someone who got APC bulbs on their 240, and they are bright as hell, but other than that, no experience with them. Hella also makes good bulbs. Sylvania Silverstars suck.

Hope that helps. BTW, what brand lense did you get? That matters A LOT more than the bulb.
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Old May 13, 2003 | 08:39 PM
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So, what is the best lens/bulb combo then?
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Old May 13, 2003 | 09:25 PM
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Hella lenses cant be beat. As far as bulbs, I believe PIAA makes the best DOT legal bulbs. But non-DOT legal bulbs of a higher wattage will be brighter, but you will need to rewire the headlights with 2 relays so the wiring harness doesnt melt. Send me a PM if you need instructions for rewiring the headlights with relays.
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Old May 13, 2003 | 09:30 PM
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i run i believe OSRAM headlight caseings that came from somewhere in japan my bud brought back for me and a PIAA H4 135Watt.. nice and bright.. dont need to rewire for that.. and i have a small city light hole in there made for a 5Watt colored bulb.. but i drilled it out a bit more and put a 150watt H3 in there wired to a switch.. now thats bright.. plus my fogs.. lets say u dont wanna be in front..
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Old May 13, 2003 | 09:35 PM
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Sir Coolness
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From: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Originally posted by bcty
i run i believe OSRAM headlight caseings that came from somewhere in japan my bud brought back for me and a PIAA H4 135Watt.. nice and bright.. dont need to rewire for that.. and i have a small city light hole in there made for a 5Watt colored bulb.. but i drilled it out a bit more and put a 150watt H3 in there wired to a switch.. now thats bright.. plus my fogs.. lets say u dont wanna be in front..
Yes, my otto lenses have some japenses writing on the box and came with a blue light for them, I don't know what thats for, unless it's just to run around and say I have a blue light in here *shrug*
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Old May 13, 2003 | 09:39 PM
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anyways... just go find yourself some Hella caseings and a PIAA bulb and im sure youd be happy with that.
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Old May 13, 2003 | 09:51 PM
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Sir Coolness
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From: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Originally posted by bcty
anyways... just go find yourself some Hella caseings and a PIAA bulb and im sure youd be happy with that.
It's ready to go in the car, I just need bulbs :p

"These headlight housings allow you to get rid of the stock sealed beam light. Allowing you the ability to use any of the H4 bulbs on the market. These also have a blue city like built in. We sell a number of headlights including PIAA, Raybring, Nokya..etc. Call for specific info."
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Old May 13, 2003 | 11:17 PM
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From: Savannah, GA
Osram cases are made by Sylvania, who happens to be one of(if not the) largest headlight manufacturer in the world. Sylvania is also who makes the stock sealed beam headlights. Next time youre playing headlight trivia, you will know Osram and Sylvania are the same company, with the Sylvania name beign used mainly in the states, and Osram everywhere else.

Hella e-spec(NOT DOT legal) are supposed to be great. Theyre designed for autobahn driving(good light pattern for high speed driving) Hella vision plus is a DOT legal version of the e-spec, but its effective range isnt as long. Something about the DOT not wanting oncoming traffic to be blind...

Anything over 90W for the bulb, and you run the risk of melting the wiring harness.
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Old May 14, 2003 | 12:38 AM
  #10  
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I say screw DOT. US spec lenses are awful. Newer cars with fixed lenses are much better and give off much better light distribution. Older cars using the H6054 or the likes are *bad*. The only option is buy H4 conversion lenses but you need to buy quality lenses and not cheap Ebay $30.99 a pair craps. These are bright as hell but there is hardly any light on the road but a lot on oncoming trafiic and blinding them. The best are European and Japanese lenses. My wife's cousin's FC has H4 Japanese lenses and they are amazing. The lights cut off just about at the cars rear window as we were following cars. Her Skyline, well, with extra fogs and even factory lenses I was amazed how well it lights up the road.
A friend's VR6 has Hella lenses and they are good as well.
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Old Aug 21, 2003 | 09:44 PM
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I am running PIAA H4 Extreme Whites in PIAA housings.
The lighting is amazing....very close to HIDs
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Old Aug 21, 2003 | 10:37 PM
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I've got the Bosche H4 Conversion kit, was $90 cdn and can be found at alot of auto stores.

Easy swap. They come with 55/65watt bulbs and the improvement is AWESOME over stock. Plus there DOT stamped. The casings are really good quality compared to ebay specials.

Can our wiring safely handle those PIAA 135 watt bulbs?
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 02:59 AM
  #13  
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Originally posted by bcty
i run i believe OSRAM headlight caseings that came from somewhere in japan my bud brought back for me...
Dude, you should not be runnning Japanese RHD headlights in the US. All lo-beam headlights are designed to throw more light to the outside of the road than the inside. It helps you see things on the footpath and stops you blinding oncoming motorists. It's illegal for a very good reason and it's extremely inconsiderate to boot.
...and a PIAA H4 135Watt.. nice and bright.. dont need to rewire for that..
I would consider a 145% increase in outout without rewiring a major fire hazard...
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 03:01 AM
  #14  
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Originally posted by bcty
i run i believe OSRAM headlight caseings that came from somewhere in japan my bud brought back for me...
Dude, you should not be runnning Japanese RHD headlights in the US. All low-beam headlights are designed to throw more light to the outside of the road than the inside. It helps you see things on the footpath and stops you blinding oncoming motorists. You lights are aimed towards the inside of the road. It's illegal to use RHD headlights in the US for a very good reason and it's extremely inconsiderate to boot.
...and a PIAA H4 135Watt.. nice and bright.. dont need to rewire for that..
I would consider a 145% increase in outout without rewiring a major fire hazard...
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 03:26 AM
  #15  
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mazdaspeed7, can you post the instructions for rewiring headlights on here or on a seperate post?? That info should be archive material. Seems like theres alot of people with high watt light bulbs on stock wiring. Thanks
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 03:36 AM
  #16  
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Originally posted by NZConvertible
Dude, you should not be runnning Japanese RHD headlights in the US. All low-beam headlights are designed to throw more light to the outside of the road than the inside. It helps you see things on the footpath and stops you blinding oncoming motorists. You lights are aimed towards the inside of the road. It's illegal to use RHD headlights in the US for a very good reason and it's extremely inconsiderate to boot.
What about European headlight housings? I know cars out there are left hand drive. Besides DOT approved housings, are housings designed for "offroad use" brighter than DOT approved ones? I know theres a quite a few of us here that live in rural areas with dark roads so will using offroad headlight housings be a better solution?
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 05:25 AM
  #17  
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Yu can get H4 spec bulbs at most any good parts store. Try whatever they have. If you don't like them, mail order the Hellas.
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 09:04 AM
  #18  
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I've got the Hella conversion, no gripes about it.

As far as bulbs, they're big bucks, but 4100k on the light scale, Raybrig Magnum H4's.
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 09:05 AM
  #19  
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http://lighting.mbz.org/home.html

great site loaded with info...
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 09:27 AM
  #20  
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Originally posted by wan
mazdaspeed7, can you post the instructions for rewiring headlights on here or on a seperate post?? That info should be archive material. Seems like theres alot of people with high watt light bulbs on stock wiring. Thanks
yes, please do a write-up! thanks!
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 12:38 PM
  #21  
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Originally posted by wan
mazdaspeed7, can you post the instructions for rewiring headlights on here or on a seperate post?? That info should be archive material. Seems like theres alot of people with high watt light bulbs on stock wiring. Thanks

How did I get dragged into this one??? NZconvertible is the person to talk to.
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 07:40 PM
  #22  
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OK then.

The headlight wiring is very simple. It goes from the 30A "HEAD" fuse in the main fusebox to the headlight relay in front of the radiator (one wire), then to the dimmer relay right next to it (one wire), then splits into low-beam and high-beam from the relay, which splits into left and right pairs somewhere in the loom. Look on page 50-48 of the 88 FSM wiring diagram for the circuit.

I think the best way to upgrade the headlight wiring is simply to run extra wires in parallel with the stock ones. Extract the pins from the relay's plugs and solder new wires to them. Run the wires as per the curcuit diagram.

This will significantly reduce the voltage drop between the battery and the headlights, and should be considered mandatory if you're going to put higher wattage in bulbs.
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 08:14 PM
  #23  
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What's a good place to the the Hella lenses?
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 11:14 PM
  #24  
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Originally posted by NZConvertible
OK then.

The headlight wiring is very simple. It goes from the 30A "HEAD" fuse in the main fusebox to the headlight relay in front of the radiator (one wire), then to the dimmer relay right next to it (one wire), then splits into low-beam and high-beam from the relay, which splits into left and right pairs somewhere in the loom. Look on page 50-48 of the 88 FSM wiring diagram for the circuit.

I think the best way to upgrade the headlight wiring is simply to run extra wires in parallel with the stock ones. Extract the pins from the relay's plugs and solder new wires to them. Run the wires as per the curcuit diagram.

This will significantly reduce the voltage drop between the battery and the headlights, and should be considered mandatory if you're going to put higher wattage in bulbs.
Good stuff. Thanks!
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