H4 Light Conversion - am I missing something?

[tbbuk]

As an owner of a 911 for just over 4 weeks I find this board extremely helpful in picking up all sorts of knowledge. One of the threads I have been following has been the issue of upgrading to H4 lights. When I first drove my car at night I was horrified by the poor quality of range coming from the standard sealed beams so this weekend I purchased a RING kit of H4 conversion for £44. Took about an hour to fit as the ring that hold the light unit had to have the slots widened. I fitted 100/80 watt bulbs and as you would expect there is a tremendous improvement. My question is why are all the 'Porsche' kits I see advertised so expensive? I still have the clear glass to the headlamp units fitted.

Car is of 1965 vintage so are these fittings different?

[Glasgow 911SC]

I'm not sure but those higher powered bulbs might be too much for the wiring.

Here's a usefull link >>>>>Look<<<<<

[tbbuk]

Thanks for the tip. All my previous classic cars (Saabs) have all had their headlamps run via relays and it never occurred to me that Porsche would not do the same.

[dotorg]

tbbuk: there are two H4 kits, one is a sealed beam US replacement (or non-US, for that matter). The other is the euro H4 housings.

The sealed beam kit is fairly inexpensive, the euro is 3-4x as much.

[SpeedracerIndy]

Originally posted by dotorg
tbbuk: there are two H4 kits, one is a sealed beam US replacement (or non-US, for that matter). The other is the euro H4 housings.

The sealed beam kit is fairly inexpensive, the euro is 3-4x as much...............

..............and 3-4x better looking!

(ducking my head!)

[Wil Ferch]

Hella usually is the maker of the less expensive, US sealed beam replacements... Bosch makes the aero looking H4's at higher price.
---Wil Ferch ---

[andyjboy]

I purchased a RING kit of H4 conversion for £44

What is this ?

Bosch H4 headlamps here in the UK are typically approx £85 each.


Andy
'69 911E------->R

[Early_S_Man]

Andy,

it sounds like tbbuk's car has the USA-production '65 thru '67 Hella headlanp assemblies, rather than the European assemblies using a Type 'A' incandescent bulb of 45/40 Watts ... and that he purchased H4 'conversion' assemblies using separate reflector/lens and H4 bulbs. Those Hella assemblies are quite nice in appearance, and almost identical to '49 - '66 VW Beetle and 356 headlamps for USA cars!

[tbbuk]

Warren is right and he has answered my original question as to why some of the official kits are so expensive. I could have done it cheaper if I had bought from
http://www.classic-car-accessories.co.uk/acatalog/Home_LIGHTS_5.html where the headlight unit is only some £11.35 each inc tax. The bulbs I already had in stock. NB this site seems to take a long time to lead.