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  1. #1

    Default Headlight Upgrade - The old fashoned way.

    I have wanted to do this for a while. This is not my first rodeo with upgrading the headlights on a 4-eyed Fox. I did this many times back in the early 90s when I was racing the Fox cars. The 4x6 sealed beams are about as bright as candles and now that I am in my 60s the problem is worse for me. Then, a few months ago my daily broke down and I needed to drive the Fox, which I rarely drive and haven't climbed into in about a year or so. Maybe less. But it was about 5:00 am and raining and foggy (as it often is in NC).

    Too be clear, I literally scared the crap out of myself. It all started to come back to me why I used to upgrade the lights on these cars back in the day. It is truly a pain for me to try and navigate in the adverse weather conditions with the factory sealed beams. I don't drive as fast as I used to when I was a kid but even at road legal speeds the lighting was dangerous for me.

    I went on line hoping I could find some later technology to replace the original lights with LED's so I wouldn't have to upgrade the wiring. As I searched I found nothing that appealed to me mostly because I wanted to retain the factory look of the original lighting (at least as much as possible). I also didn't want to replace halogen bulbs in halogen shells with LED bulbs because I wanted to avoid optics issues associated with doing so. I am sure it works for some people but not for me.

    So, I dug out my old schematics from when I used to do this back in the day and made a list of everything I needed to add the lights I used to add as well as the switching changes. I was actually surprised that most of the stuff was still being manufactured. They are as follows.

    1. Hella H4 HB/LB shells (100/80 Hella HW bulbs)
    2. Hella H1 HB shells (100w Hella HW Bulbs)
    3. Hella H2 100 HW bulbs for the fog lights. (incidentally the factory Marchel fog lights are fairly low quality lights (which I modified to make better) and 100 watt bulbs help quite a bit but they are still sub par fog lights and mostly for cosmetic appeal. And yes the Cibie version is exactly the same light but can be bought in a driving lens version which I bought but did not use.

    Wiring /Switching
    1. 4 30 amp Bosch relays (1 for low beam for H4, 1 for high beam #1 for H4, 1 for high beam #2 for H1, 1 for the fog lights.)
    2. 12 awg silicone jacket wire for each light) too support 600 watts (50 amps) across the front of the car when all lights are running.
    3. 4 awg power and ground feeds. I could have used 6 awg (or even maybe 8 awg) but I had lots of 4 awg laying around.
    4. 20 awg silicone jacket for switching.
    5. 2 STDP rockers
    6. 2 LEDs
    7. 1 6 pin molex for interior
    8. 4 DTS waterproof connectors
    9. 3D printed switch panel (because I wanted to replace the fog lite switch with a panel that at least looked kind of factory.
    10. 4 relay/fuse box. (this turned out to be the hardest part of the project. I finally found one out of china that took me 3 months to get)
    11. G3 alternator. (i already did this upgrade a couple of years ago.)
    12. Ceramic H4 headlight plugs.

    I am sure most of you know that these lights with these bulbs are illegal and rightly so. The key here is the correct switching and aiming of the lights. A 4x6 reflector is small by modern lighting standards. So to get the proper lighting from an H4 in a 4x6 shell reflector a hotter bulb is needed. This is ok as long as the 4x6 H4 shell is aimed so that the low beam (80w) cut-off is below the eye level of the oncoming driver and the in-board H1 high beam (100w) does NOT come on when you go to high beam unless you need it. This is where the switching comes in. Just use the outboard H4's 99% of the time and keep the inboard H1's for when you need them such as in the middle of nowhere.

    For the fog lights to be useful the need to be able to switch on with no headlights in play. This is just a switching issue as well.

    SPDT switching

    High beam 2 (inboard H1) center position - off, down - hard on, up on and of with high beam column switch (operates like factory).
    Fog lights center position - off, down - hard on, up - on and off with low beam (operates like factory)

    The install was a bit lengthy but went off without a hitch. My main goal as stated before was to keep everything looking as factory as possible. There were some things (switch panel, relay box, G3,) that I could not avoid so I just blended them as much as I could.

    Switch panel
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    Relay box
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    Modified Lights
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    More to follow

  2. #2

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    Plugs
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    Battery and Power feed
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  3. #3

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    Lights
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    I have driven this and tested. The voltage is rock steady. No flickers whatsoever. Same light output @ Idle as 6000 rpm.

    Overkill? Maybe. But I can see.

    Sorry for the long post.

    Matthew.

  4. #4

    Default

    That came out great! You do real nice, tidy work- good for you!
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

  5. #5
    FEP Power Member 87gtVIC's Avatar
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    Default

    I appreciate the clean work. Looks great. That fuse box fits right in place between strut tower and air box. Like OEM.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by 87gtVIC View Post
    I appreciate the clean work. Looks great. That fuse box fits right in place between strut tower and air box. Like OEM.

    Took me a long time to find it. Between searching and delivery it was about 4-5 months. An alternative would be to use Bosch relay modules that slide together (like I did in the old days). Going that rout of course offers no cover and no fuses so you would have to put fuses in a different location and leave the relays bare. I thought this would be a cleaner install so the searching and waiting for delivery was worth it to me.

  7. #7
    FEP Power Member 87gtVIC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 86FOX4EYE View Post
    Took me a long time to find it. Between searching and delivery it was about 4-5 months. An alternative would be to use Bosch relay modules that slide together (like I did in the old days). Going that rout of course offers no cover and no fuses so you would have to put fuses in a different location and leave the relays bare. I thought this would be a cleaner install so the searching and waiting for delivery was worth it to me.
    Its neat too because you can use it for other fuses if you so choose. I see it can hold 12 in total. Can probably fab up some sort of busbar even one so chooses to do so. I like it.

  8. #8

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    You wouldn’t happen to have a link for that relay/fuse box, would you? Would make my next wiring job a little easier.
    Thanks
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

  9. #9
    FEP Power Member 87gtVIC's Avatar
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    This appears to be the exact model:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Way-Blad...Cclp%3A2334524

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by 87gtVIC View Post
    This appears to be the exact model:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Way-Blad...Cclp%3A2334524
    Yep that's it. I had to get mine from Banggood. It was not available from ebay at the time.
    Last edited by 86FOX4EYE; 11-27-2020 at 06:15 AM.

  11. #11
    FEP Member Hans's Avatar
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    Default

    In Europe we have complete H4 lights in the foureyes.
    Can 't you buy those locally?
    Regards.

    Verstuurd vanaf mijn ALE-L21 met Tapatalk

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hans View Post
    In Europe we have complete H4 lights in the foureyes.
    Can 't you buy those locally?
    Regards.

    Verstuurd vanaf mijn ALE-L21 met Tapatalk

    Yes. They are available on Amazon. The Hella 3177862 and 003177821 is what I used for my conversion. I have used these shells since the early 90's.

    Note: The glass on these is much thinner than the original sealed beams. They tend to be more prone to rock damage. I have had to replace them on occasion on race cars. I have never had to replace them on a street car. This can be overcome using Dick Cepek 4 x 6 wire stone guards which is what went to on race cars. I don't like the look on a street car so I don't use them.
    Last edited by 86FOX4EYE; 11-27-2020 at 07:13 AM.

  13. #13

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    Thanks for the link
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

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