head lights

[Rt.146]

To me this is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" moment. For years I drove with incandescent bulbs really did not have a problem, yea more light at the time would have been better I guess. I would keep the OEMs thought where do you find them, readily? Now they are totally out of production. So, now trying the convert for Halogens. I believe I may have burnt out or it was sent defective my headlight switch with the bridge using the Halogens without the relays, those switches with the bridge are priced from $60.00 up plus shipping, the ones without the bridge $15.00-$20.00. The bridge makes the light lever sit flush, without, it sticks out.

[Terry64HT]

I think it is almost impossible to get non-halogen sealed beam headlights unless you go to a specialty supplier. Most everything sold by the Tbird suppliers and auto stores is halogen. I suspect RedBird64's problem may be more related to the voltage drop. At 11 volts, you have less than 2/3 the light output compared to 12.4 volts. I have seen voltage at the light socket as low as 10.5 volts, so you would have under half the light.

Terry

64HT

[RedBird64]

I'm sure your right Terry, I've got orig wiring and the design of the old lights isn't great to start with. I rarely drive the bird at night and when we do, it's a fairly short distance so I'm not terribly concerned.

[Rt.146]

The other day I picked up my two remaining window motors, that were checked out by the people at Ace Armature, they did check out OK. I brought up the topic of relays and halogen headlights, it was mentioned LEDs might be the way to go, low power requirement, brighter light. Has anyone fully converted to LEDs, any recommendations where to purchase?

[RedBird64]

Looked at some LED headlights and they draw around 42 watts so they don't save a ton of power (around an amp). The good part is they will be just as bright at 11V as 14V since they don't suffer from voltage drop.
I want to keep the vintage look but those who drive their cars a lot might check into LED's.

[paulr]

The other day I picked up my two remaining window motors, that were checked out by the people at Ace Armature, they did check out OK. I brought up the topic of relays and halogen headlights, it was mentioned LEDs might be the way to go, low power requirement, brighter light. Has anyone fully converted to LEDs, any recommendations where to purchase?

Look closely at the first page of this thread, picture at the top. Read the post I wrote if ya like. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11803&sid=678497a23 ... 52bdc6ff57 I was installing relays back then--maybe 4 years ago. Relay supported, the passenger lights in that photo are OEM (still have em somewheres); the driver lights in that photo are halogen + LED. I still have these lights on the car. They can be used as halogen only, LED only, or both together as in the photo. Together, they are bright as #*@%! With relays, performance is consistent even when running A/C.

The downside is the appearance is clearly non-stock what with the LED halo inside the chrome rings. I don't like it, personally. But, as much as I drive the car, I've grown dependent on the bright path in front of me. That, the dual master cylinder, rear seatbelts, soon to rebuild front brakes with discs...I got a thing for safety mods, I guess.