Custom electric headlights + headlight relays
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 955
Likes: 50
From: Jersey Shore
Custom electric headlights + headlight relays
Still finishing up my headlight project, but heres a few pictures of my progress.
each headlamp has its own 12 gauge ground wire grounded to the frame. The feed side is wired like the factory (2 wires for high beams, 1 for low) in 12 gauge. These go through two 40 amp Hella relays that are junctioned to the horn relay, which is fed by 1 large 4gauge wire direct from the alternator (electric fans are junctioned here as well). Voltage drops should be very minimal.
Heres the brackets I made for the firebird headlight motors. Simple piece of aluminum. Doesnt flex at all. I did have to slightly modify the arms to get the lights to lock in the up position:
Heres my favorite part... Amber tinted aircraft landing lights. People were not kidding when they said these were BRIGHT!
Definitely dont use them with any other cars around! The low beams are the same ones I bought the car with almost 6 years ago, and with the wiring upgrade they are still nice and bright. They produce a true white color instead of the common off white/yellow with the factory wiring.
Ill get some better lighting pictures later. This is all I have for now:
Heres a quick video of the headlights in action. I dont have the control module yet, so Im just touching the motor leads to the alternator.
Driving at night is FAR more pleasurable. No more straining my eyes to see in front of me.
each headlamp has its own 12 gauge ground wire grounded to the frame. The feed side is wired like the factory (2 wires for high beams, 1 for low) in 12 gauge. These go through two 40 amp Hella relays that are junctioned to the horn relay, which is fed by 1 large 4gauge wire direct from the alternator (electric fans are junctioned here as well). Voltage drops should be very minimal.
Heres the brackets I made for the firebird headlight motors. Simple piece of aluminum. Doesnt flex at all. I did have to slightly modify the arms to get the lights to lock in the up position:
Heres my favorite part... Amber tinted aircraft landing lights. People were not kidding when they said these were BRIGHT!
Definitely dont use them with any other cars around! The low beams are the same ones I bought the car with almost 6 years ago, and with the wiring upgrade they are still nice and bright. They produce a true white color instead of the common off white/yellow with the factory wiring.Ill get some better lighting pictures later. This is all I have for now:
Heres a quick video of the headlights in action. I dont have the control module yet, so Im just touching the motor leads to the alternator.
Driving at night is FAR more pleasurable. No more straining my eyes to see in front of me.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 955
Likes: 50
From: Jersey Shore
Thanks 
The motors are rebuilt units from ebay... I think they were around $50 a piece. Arms were also from ebay at $30 I think. The landing lights were $20 for the pair, and the rest of the stuff (wire, terminals, and time) I had laying around my shop.
The motors are rebuilt units from ebay... I think they were around $50 a piece. Arms were also from ebay at $30 I think. The landing lights were $20 for the pair, and the rest of the stuff (wire, terminals, and time) I had laying around my shop.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 955
Likes: 50
From: Jersey Shore
Took a few more pictures of the light output at night.
Here it is with the brights on... The aircraft lights arent as spread out as regular brights, but still give decent all around light output.
And heres a picture to show how white the regular bulbs are with just a wiring upgrade
Here it is with the brights on... The aircraft lights arent as spread out as regular brights, but still give decent all around light output.
And heres a picture to show how white the regular bulbs are with just a wiring upgrade
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1,192
Likes: 7
From: Wentzville MO
Nice project. Going to tackle this one myself. With my LS conversion and big cam don't seem to have enough vacuum. Then only have vacuum on brake booster. Also any kind of leak messes up the ECU readings.
