Lets discuss headlights

[70chall440]

As I am planning my 71 Charger build I am currently thinking about the headlights. This will e a restomod with a 5.7 and a TKX so I am not interested in the factory sealed beams. I have already obtained 4 Hella glass housings as well as 4 Hella H4 bulbs but then started thinking about this. Before anyone jumps on here, yes I will be using relays for the low beams and a relay for the high beams.

So I have some options as it relates to wiring (we will talk bulbs in a sec)
1. wire it so that all 4 lights come one for the low beams and only the inside bulbs light up for the high beams.
2. wire it so that all 4 lights work on low and high beam
3. wire it so that only the outside lights come on in low beam (not sure why I would do that but its an option) and then the inside lights are high beam only.

In reference to bulbs I currently have Halogen bulbs but have been looking at some of the cheap LED bulbs found on Amazon. I am not going to spend $500 on LED lights for this, but would consider perhaps the $50/set bulbs. If they suck I can always go back to the Halogen.

I should probably note that I have Halogen in my 70 Challenger and 73 Cuda and they seem good but to be honest I have never driven either at night so its not real conclusive.

So gimme your constructive thoughts (if your think factory sealed beams are "just fine" then move on please).

 

[Dan64]

I'd go #3 ,if not be prepared for lots of people "High beaming" you because they see 4 lights and assume that you have your high beams on.

 

[Canadian1968]

I have a new pet peeve with these new cars that have headlights that are so bright they literally make driving difficult for the other people on the road. I get it, when on back country roads or other roads that are not well lit with no other cars around. BUT to have your regular city lights SO bright is ridiculous.

My vote would be outside low beam and then all 4 for high .

 

[70chall440]

Thats a good point. So it would be;

Low beam = the outside bulbs (only single filament)
High beam = all 4 (outside single filament, inside both filaments)

So since I am using H4 bulbs I could wire the outside to use the 2nd filament as well, might be a bit much on the high beam side.

 

[bm02tj]

You will have too much heat with both filament's on and over load the ground

 

[Crackedback]

If you have the std bulb set up, 3 prong low, 2 prong for high, wire it using the stock lighting configuration.

Low beam, outers only
High beam all 4, using only the High beam filament in your outers.

My 2 cents...

 

[Nacho-RT74]

There is a reason why use 4 high beams on 5 3/4 lights... cover more area all around and not just into the long distance. 7" lights are able to do it easier being single headlights. Hence the reason why when being 5 3/4" they are 2 per side on ALL cars. Hence why up to 57 every car it was single 7" become dual 5 3/4" at next year when it was I guess, federally posible?... Corvettes, Belairs, Coronets, Belvederes... you name it.

I think on 57 some models could be dual 5 3/4" begining with that posibility? Imperials etc... high class price rate cars... maybe mid year change due the law change?

At this moment I can't recall some car with 5 3/4" beams being single per side. Not saying doesn't exist, just I can't recall.

 

[72RoadrunnerGTX]

What am I missing here? You want to run four Hella low/high H4 housings rather than two Hella low/high H4 housings outboard and two matching Hella high beam H1 housings inboard? Curious as to why.

 

[72sunroof]

As I am planning my 71 Charger build I am currently thinking about the headlights. This will e a restomod with a 5.7 and a TKX so I am not interested in the factory sealed beams. I have already obtained 4 Hella glass housings as well as 4 Hella H4 bulbs but then started thinking about this. Before anyone jumps on here, yes I will be using relays for the low beams and a relay for the high beams.

So I have some options as it relates to wiring (we will talk bulbs in a sec)
1. wire it so that all 4 lights come one for the low beams and only the inside bulbs light up for the high beams.
2. wire it so that all 4 lights work on low and high beam
3. wire it so that only the outside lights come on in low beam (not sure why I would do that but its an option) and then the inside lights are high beam only.

In reference to bulbs I currently have Halogen bulbs but have been looking at some of the cheap LED bulbs found on Amazon. I am not going to spend $500 on LED lights for this, but would consider perhaps the $50/set bulbs. If they suck I can always go back to the Halogen.

I should probably note that I have Halogen in my 70 Challenger and 73 Cuda and they seem good but to be honest I have never driven either at night so its not real conclusive.

So gimme your constructive thoughts (if your think factory sealed beams are "just fine" then move on please).

On Amazon there are good LED H4 bulbs fkr about 50 bucks a set. They fit right into the glass housings. No ridiculous relays no cutting of wires plug and play, except if you have è hidden headlights you need resistors on rhe low beams or the doors will always think the lights are on.
Make sure the bulbs are DOT they will have the correct pattern. Same goes for the glass DOT approved.
I have had them for 18 months and I love driving at night.
Went LED bulbs everywhere in the car, no more melted plastic from hot bulbs.
If you want all 4 use yellow LED bulbs inside for high beams, get a Rallye look and helps with fog

 

[Outlawd]

I'd put the hideaway headlight front end on it, jmo

 

[VFilms]

You may also want to look into headlight relays. Here is the email address for Rob Yule <[email protected]>
He's a member here and builds his own systems. I bought a set for my '66 Belvedere. They're high quality and fit perfectly.

 

[70chall440]

I'd put the hideaway headlight front end on it, jmo

I'd love too but that seems to be quite expensive.

 

[70chall440]

You may also want to look into headlight relays. Here is the email address for Rob Yule <[email protected]>
He's a member here and builds his own systems. I bought a set for my '66 Belvedere. They're high quality and fit perfectly.

I always put my headlights on relays, I've been building my own kit for sometime, in fact I recently found a very nice compact relay setup that is pretty inexpensive but its size allows it to be mounted anywhere and its virtually hidden, contains 2 relays and 2 fuses.

 

[70chall440]

If you have the std bulb set up, 3 prong low, 2 prong for high, wire it using the stock lighting configuration.

Low beam, outers only
High beam all 4, using only the High beam filament in your outers.

My 2 cents...

Pretty much what I am going to do.

 

[70chall440]

What am I missing here? You want to run four Hella low/high H4 housings rather than two Hella low/high H4 housings outboard and two matching Hella high beam H1 housings inboard? Curious as to why.
View attachment 1214266

You are not missing anything, I am not wanting to do anything really out of the norm, but I thought it was something interesting to discuss. This came up because I got 4 Hella housings and 4 Hella H4 bulbs for Christmas from my daughter, I started thinking about the fact that each bulb was high/low beam capable and so I threw this thread up to talk about it. I guess my question was whether or not running all 4 bulbs the same was a "thing". I know how they work originally but since this is a complete build (like ground up) I have the option to wire it anyway I want. I will be running an Aftermarket harness, so customization is pretty easy.

 

[Photon440]

On Amazon there are good LED H4 bulbs fkr about 50 bucks a set. They fit right into the glass housings. No ridiculous relays no cutting of wires plug and play, except if you have è hidden headlights you need resistors on rhe low beams or the doors will always think the lights are on.
Make sure the bulbs are DOT they will have the correct pattern. Same goes for the glass DOT approved.
I have had them for 18 months and I love driving at night.
Went LED bulbs everywhere in the car, no more melted plastic from hot bulbs.
If you want all 4 use yellow LED bulbs inside for high beams, get a Rallye look and helps with fog

They will fit. They will put lots of light on the road. Thousands of people use them.

They are, however, not always legal no matter what is printed on them. In my province for example, unless the actual headlight housing has the letters LED or HID molded into it from the factory, you cannot legally install that type of bulb even if it's commonly available at local part stores. People still do it anyway though.

 

[72RoadrunnerGTX]

As a reminder, the buckets are originally tabbed/clocked slightly different for the low/high beam housings vs. the high beam housings to prevent them from being inadvertently mixed as described. Will need to modify or swap out the high beam buckets to install low/high housings into the inboard high beam locations.

 

[70chall440]

They will fit. They will put lots of light on the road. Thousands of people use them.

They are, however, not always legal no matter what is printed on them. In my province for example, unless the actual headlight housing has the letters LED or HID molded into it from the factory, you cannot legally install that type of bulb even if it's commonly available at local part stores. People still do it anyway though.

Hey this is America... LOL where I live there is no issue with the legality aspect.

 

[70chall440]

As a reminder, the buckets are originally tabbed/clocked slightly different for the low/high beam housings vs. the high beam housings to prevent them from being inadvertently mixed as described. Will need to modify or swap out the high beam buckets to install low/high housings into the inboard high beam locations.

I ran into that with my Cuda, I installed housings there that I had to modify as well. I used 7" headlights that have LED turn signals in the bottom of the lens, that way I got rid of the 72-74 front turn signals which I always hated.

 

[64fury74charger]

Headlights can be set up pretty much any way you choose when modifying the car. I had rust issues with the tension springs among other issues. I tried several different combinations of led h4 bulbs and various housings and could not get properly aimed.

I went to an aftermarket mount and put a pair of projector led lights on the outboard side and what a difference. Considering changing the inboard over as well. Sounds like you are making the car for driving and enjoying not a trailer queen so it’s a good time to experiment. Led power draw is considerably less as well.