Hey Bird, how you doin'?

Had to do a little whittlin'.





Not DOT approved but who cares? I followed Daniel Stern's recommendation on wattage and I like them.

 

Hella seems to have 2 versions of its lights out - one DOT approved, and one for Europe. The European have almost flat lead glass lenses and produce a very distinct cutoff that rises by 15 degrees to the right hand side. I was unable to determine whether the kit you reference was the (superior) European version. Suggest you try the following source
http://www.autobahnpower.com/HellaLi...ht_18918.aspx/[/QUOTE]



Also, this install did require minor mods to bucket and backing, BUT nothing that will not support a return to factory original lights

 

I agreed with this thought up to 1 month ago when I installed LED DRL on the high beams on my Chrysler 300....These LEDs are NOT the cheap a** S**t sold mostly on the internet.... $90 for the pair-Lifteime warranty BTW. I have not tried them on the low beams or Hella lenses but I suspect these LED's will be superior to the halogens. I can tell you that at 4,000 LUMENS per LED these bulbs which draw 30 watts are 3X brighter and whiter than any halogen including high wattage halogens or sealed beam aircraft light...there is NO COMPARISON...NONE. As for beam pattern, I agree that using them in low beams has not been evaluated by me with a superior Lense like my Hella Euro Halogens BUT for sure using these bulbs in the high beam will be NO ISSUE since maximum lumens in front of the car is the goal and beam scatter is NOT as important......You might want to rethink that comment...LED technology is changing and improving every day, all the time...I can give you the brand LED's I am using if you are interested....not cheap crap though

Headlightexperts.com

 

I am interested in checking out these led bulbs.
Did the Hella conversion last year, wiring and relay upgrade etc, and very happy with the result.
But ... if high beam could be even better I'll take a look.

Thanks

 

Beware of non-DOT approved lamps! I have relatives in law enforcement and headlamps that are too bright or emit an incorrect color light and no license plate lamp are two BIG reasons they'll stop drivers at night. If there's no other problem you're likely to get off with a warning but I'm told they frequently find other problems related to the driver's "condition".

Our cars get noticed by everyone to certainly include the police. Don't do illegal things to make it stand out even more

 

Before you do headlamp upgrades may I respectfully suggest that you get the original system in top-notch condition to see if an upgrade is truly needed?

If the lamps themselves are of unknown age, replace them with DOT approved halogens. Incandescent lamps loose considerable output as they age and before they fail. Clean the terminals in the lamp connectors! There's plenty of slack and you can easily remove the terminals for thorough cleaning with a jeweler's screwdriver. Disassemble and clean the ground points (top front center between the headlamp vacuum relays) and lower left (driver) corner of the radiator support (this one is an utter bitch to access if you have the rubber bumper with the big structural vacuum tank).

 

I fitted Cibie light units and they went straight in without any modifications.
Graham

 

Are they DOT approved?

 

Probably not...My Hella Euro Halogens are E approved for Europe and were never legally sold in the US. Cibie's are E approved for Europe as well but were never legal in the US. The Euro Hellas on my C3 were illegal in 1983 when I put them on but keep in mind that ANY halogen light/bulb for automotive use (not sealed) was illegal on ANY car in the US back then....the only legal light in the US until about the late 80's was a sealed beam/sealed halogen...which is far inferior to what the Europeans and the rest of the world had been using for many years. One Anecdote..I believe the 79 C3 was the first C3 to have a sealed halogen headlight...HIGH beam only. Low beam was a sealed filament light.

With all this said, I can tell you from many years of experience with the Euro Halogens that they are far superior to a sealed glass halogen DOT compliant light...there is no comparison. Frankly DOT compliant lights are not very good...just adequate. The reason for this inferiority is that US drivers do not keep their lights aimed correctly and often drive with high beams on with on coming traffic (we have all experienced this phenomenon). I used a sealed halogen in one high beam on my 78 along with the Hella High beam lense in the other until I wired the relay (30 years ago) and the Hella was easily 2X as bright with a superior beam pattern.

Lastly, I first used a 7 inch round Hella Euro on my 73 Nova SS and my mom's 72 Caprice (4 Cibies) in the late 70's and never had an issue with the authorities. All these lights actually have MUCH LESS GLARE than our beloved DOT crap lenses...

The lesson here is that just because something is DOT approved/legal and something else may not be does NOT necessarily mean the "legal" one is better for us or better period....Lights are a great example of this theory. The Europeans and much of the rest of the world were way ahead of the US lighting standards by about 20 years!!

 

One summer (84) I worked for a R&D company on my collage campus- the owner was also importing grey market cars. I got to do quite a few on the side... As far as the headlights-we had to remove the killer European lights, bust them up and take pictures with VIN numbers (OK maybe one set with a lot of different VINs!!!) THEN replace them w/ cheap sealed beam bulbs. Nowhere as nice- and made the cars look-well- silly.

The owner-of the company- also an attorney- explained to me it was the US bulb manufactures that didn't want the change to replacement bulbs. Had nothing to do with better or not- but due to the "light" lobbyist- and when the US car manufactures wanted more "design" options- that was the advent of the crappy 4X6 sealed bulbs!!!

I was just up at the Walter Mitty races at Road Atlanta- there was a beautiful 64 Jag e-type (pre-Nadar) with the headlights under glass- and a 69 (post Nader) right next to it that had no glass covers AND the headlights were raised up a couple of inches - for US requirements...what a shame -screwed the look of the car...

I was running around w/ 800w of lighting back in the day- none of it "DOT" compliant and was never bothered by the law...

 

I appreciate the response. Very good information. I was just curious.
Like my smog guy tells me, "I have no clue what is supposed to be on this car. As long as the gas cap and tank pass vacuum tezt, and the emissions are good, I wouldn't have a clue."

 

My Stern kit is on it's way!

 

Your car is probably older than he is.

 

PSA, don't be that guy.

 

http://www.headlightexperts.com/medi...e/led_2_83.jpg

 

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

All the same things apply for LED retrofits as are listed for HID retrofits in the above link. Do not retrofit led or hid bulbs in Halogen housings! And yes, light scatter does matter on high beam. You want a correct spread of light so that you can actually see the things you need to see...

 

Ok guys I am pretty much done with this topic.

The OP and others can make up their own minds. I will say that my LED application on my Chrysler 300 in the high beams only has turned out extremely well....I can not only see what I saw before with the halogen bulbs but about 3 X further down the road....not sure I agree with beam scatter in the high beams since high beam lights are only to be used with no on coming traffic nor cars ahead of the beam. The LED high beams are actually MUCH safer to alert cars that wander on the highway or fail to yield in the high speed lane....there is no question with these lights...A+ for these specific LED high beam bulbs....

 

Please let us know how the kit works out. Thanks

 

Will do. I'll make a procedure of how I do it if you want. There are a few details I need to work out before I install like keeping my fiber optics. Hopefully I'll have the kit before this weekend so I can figure some things out with the kit in front of me.

 

I see you tapped the high power side from your horn relay. Did you have to modify that connection point or did it have enough to add the two terminals without any issues?