Has anyone upgraded there headlights? I have a 66 chevelle with all the improvments it handles real nice but you can only go so fast when you cant see where your going. If anybody has any thoughts or links it would be greatly appreciated.

I use Cibie 5 3/4 quads on both of my cars. The first set lasted over 20 yrs before the reflectors started to pit and corrode from moisture. The lenses are very high quality. There are a little pricey at about $55 or so a piece if you can find them. I run the convex (vs flat) lenses as they shoot the light down the road more. Which help for these AZ desert roads at night. The pencil beam high beams will light up a reflector over a mile down the road. You definately must use relays with these. I think any upgrade will be an improvement over stock headlights. Good luck.

If you easily overdrive your head lights, replace the inboard lights with aircraft landing lights, those will get you visibility close to 200 mph.

I purchased some Blue Dot tri bar headlights off eBay for my 67... They have a plastic back and have a flat glass lens. The use H4 bulbs which give you some options... You could even convert to HID if you wanted to .... You will need to set up a relay for the Hi and Low beams and some heavier gauge wire... The relays will help even you stock headlights... The stock system runs full current through the stock headlight switch... If you run power direct from the battery and just switch it through the relays, you'll end up with more power to the headlights and they should be a little brighter and not fluctuate when you rev the engine...

Do a search in the electrical section. There's tons of articles on upgrading many different ways. I used direct replacement halogens.

A search will turn up more info.

The first and foremost thing to do is build a new front lamp harness using heavier wire than factory (I used 12ga) and using relays. The factory harness is very light gauge and results in HUGE voltage drop causing the lamps to be quite dim. On my car with the factory wiring with 14.2 volts at the alternator I was only seeing about 11.5 volts at the headlights. Check your car & lamps with a voltmeter... you'll be very surprised.

After the new harness and relays the headlights had full alternator voltage and it was a HUGE difference in brightness by itself without even changing the headlamps.

The next best upgrade is to run E-code European market lights. The new Cibie Complex Reflector headlamps are amazingly bright and have superb beam distribution and won't blind oncoming drivers. You have to make sure you buy left hand drive versions though. If you buy the right hand drive versions the beam cutoff pattern is opposite and you'll blind oncoming drivers with them.

Try rallylights.com I bought hella lights for my 67 Elcamino, they are very friendly and family owned in Pa.

Check this out:

http://home.surewest.net/jahr/ElCamino/Electrical/Electrical.html

These are flat lens Hella E-code H4/H1 halogen conversions. Check out the last comparison pictures in particular. Nothing like going from about 120 watts to 230 watts up front.

You can find them in various places like here:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=HLA%2D002850871&N=700+115&autoview=sku (http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=HLA%2D002850871&N=700+115&autoview=sku)
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=HLA%2D002425831&N=700+115&autoview=sku

Or here:
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/5.75_lo.asp

Figure around $50 a bulb plus electrical system upgrades. Good stuff though :thumbsup:

Thanks for the info very helpful.

I bought tri bar headlights for mine and put them on relays....very bright! Im still thinking about putting HIDs in though.

Do a search in the electrical section. There's tons of articles on upgrading many different ways. I used direct replacement halogens.
:thumbsup: I did the halogens also. Quick and easy

I'd try and find a set with projectors if you are planning to go with HID's. They are EXTREMELY blinding to other drivers. I have on numerous occasions almost been in accidents because of HID's in non-projector housings. :mad:

the H4 or halogen is probably you best bet, and cheapest. it should be an easy 4 times brighter then what you are using now.

last summer i was cruising at night an noticed a 1970 challenger with HID's. it was interesting nontheless and his beam pattern and light quality outreached even that of the late model vehicle i was driving at the time with only the outer of his quad lights on. i am unsure of the challengers headlights, i imagine they are the same as the chevelles.

We went with the package from Musclerodz, a sponsor on this site. Easy install with no mods. The kit comes with plenty of wire and the relays so no worries about burning up the switch. All four light up on low beam then on high beam they go into search light mode :D Salt on the roads here so I haven't had her out yet but lining it up on the inside of the garage door it looks good. There is even a couple of videos about the package.

Id suggest some HID headlights. They will work where if you have a conversion housing on your car that will take a modern H4 or H1 style bulb. They have a new high energy ballast that boosts the output of the light but does not strain your electrical system if yuo use the supplied relays. PM me for more info.

We went with the package from Musclerodz, a sponsor on this site. Easy install with no mods. The kit comes with plenty of wire and the relays so no worries about burning up the switch. All four light up on low beam then on high beam they go into search light mode :D Salt on the roads here so I haven't had her out yet but lining it up on the inside of the garage door it looks good. There is even a couple of videos about the package.
I have read about their conversion kit but never seen it. The "no modifications" aspect does sound like a benefit. Should be interesting to see how well the light is controlled.

Regarding having all four light up on low beam though, I do not think I would recommend that. The main reason is many drivers will see four lights and think "high beam", even if you are not. And you do not need to be falsely flashed all the time.

Technically the conversion headlights for quad systems are not legal in the US. I get the distinct impression that a single 55/60 watt H4 bulb is legal based on the marketing by Summit/Hella of the 7" version. But the quad lamp system is labeled as "off-road use only", and I would guess it is because of the higher total wattage. So attracting less attention and running under the radar is probably a good tactic.

Id suggest some HID headlights. They will work where if you have a conversion housing on your car that will take a modern H4 or H1 style bulb. They have a new high energy ballast that boosts the output of the light but does not strain your electrical system if yuo use the supplied relays. PM me for more info.

i almost second this, although you can "retrofit" a newer HID projecter to fit in your old T3. i wouldn't reccomend going as extreme/exotic as the challenger i saw for legal reasons, as i imagine he had 15000K seeming how they had a purple tint that matched his plum crazy paint job. probably want to be around 4100K to 6000K :thumbsup:

I put 4 Hella's in my 66, along with 2 relays. One for brights and 1 for dims. Got the relay kits from www.madelectrical.com

This is probably the best HID conversion on the market http://www.xesighting.com/hotrod1.html

You can get that kit here for cheaper:http://www.suvlights.com/product_info.php?products_id=267

Good lord... and I thought the Hella H4/H1 conversion was expensive.

found this on the web thought it might help some of you guys out.
http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/brighter-headlights.shtml

You can get that kit here for cheaper:http://www.suvlights.com/product_info.php?products_id=267

wow, there is some $$$ dough. now the 5 3/4" is the same that is found on the 70' and older correct? it also dosn't mention the K rating for these lights. i would imagine 4100K although i would want to go higher, and question is if they can be swapped out with ease if at all.

I was thinking about my headlights again. I was looking to make my own harness with two relays. What I havent been able to find until now is a decent headlight connector. We'll I found some nice ones on eBay that are ceramic but they already have a couple inches wiring. I cehcked out www.ralleylights.com and the ones they have come unassembled but they have a right angle which I'm not sure I like ... I have some Bosch relays left over from my last eBay purchase... I'll have to see what I can come up with for a harness ... :D

ralleylights.com
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/hella%20images/CPH4CF.jpg


eBay
http://i11.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/c6/a9/1564_1.JPG

Hmmm... not entirely sure what makes a "good" headlight connector?

You can likely reuse your current conector bodies by removing the existing terminals and using new Packard 56 terminals. These are available from a number of sources.

You can also get new bodies/terminals from American Autowire.

Hmmm... not entirely sure what makes a "good" headlight connector?

You can likely reuse your current conector bodies by removing the existing terminals and using new Packard 56 terminals. These are available from a number of sources.

You can also get new bodies/terminals from American Autowire.

One of the original connectors is cracked/melted. Its suggested to upgrade to a heavier gauge wire (and 40 years newer) when upgrading the headlights anyway. Also, the ones at the local auto parts store just looked flimsy/cheap. I figured if I'm going to build a harness I want to use the best parts available. The ceramic should handle the heat well.

The ceramic would handle the heat well indeed. And heavier wire is a good idea too, especially on the ground wire which was downright scrawny from the factory.

I do not think the ceramic is *required* though. What I would do is to solder the wire connections after crimping though. This will seal the connection from any contaminants or oxidation. Which will in turn keep resistance to an absolute minimum, and this will make a huge difference in heat generated in the connector.

I would probably opt for a wire without other connections and standard connector body over a ceramic and an extra outside connection.