H4 Headlights installed!

[Dixie]

Perhaps you'll recall, I had one of the original H5 headlights on my '88 break. I used that as a reason to upgrade to a set of really nice used H4s. A bit of an extravagant project since I rarely drive the car at night,

I finally got around to installing them today. I hooked up the city lights, and installed the relay kit from Pelican. Now all I need to do is get the H4 trim rings painted, and install some 3M protective film over the lenses.


Here they are installed





City lights on




Low beam




High beam

[DRACO A5OG]

Congrats and Great Job!

[Zeke]

What connectors did you use to the lamps and where did you get them?

[Trog]

Just curious, how long did it take you to screw in the trim ring lower attachment fastener?

[4flyboy]

Where did you get the "city lights" did they come with the H-4's? I have the provision for them but no light or mount?

Scott

[midnight911]

Originally Posted by Trog

Just curious, how long did it take you to screw in the trim ring lower attachment fastener?

When I did mine last year, I spent 2 hours the first day, 1.5 hours the next day, and at last on the third day after about 1 hour attempt, I managed to get the driver side ring in place. The passenger side ring somehow got in at very first attempt. frustrating... Now that was on an old seal. Just thinking about replacing the seal with new makes me twitch...

[Dixie]

What connectors did you use to the lamps and where did you get them?

I replaced the H5 pigtails with a pair of "heavy duty" sealed-beam pigtails from Autozone. Between the Bentley manual, and searching Pelican, wiring them in was a snap.

[Dixie]

Just curious, how long did it take you to screw in the trim ring lower attachment fastener?

The screws that hold the headlights in took about five minutes on the driver side, 15 on the passenger. I had to "tweak" the tab on the passenger side. Otherwise it would bind against the headlamp an make it pop off. As for the screws holding the trim rings? about 2 minutes a side. It helps to have a cheap, stubby, ratcheting screwdriver.

[Dixie]

Where did you get the "city lights" did they come with the H-4's? I have the provision for them but no light or mount?

Not all H-4s come with the sockets. (Luckily mine did.) I've never seen the sockets at a generic auto parts store. But you can source the sockets from a set of broken front side markers.

Searching the Pelican Forum showed an easy way to get power to the lights. You simply make a "Y" connector using 16 ga. wire, and some male and female spades. You unplug the connector for the grey/black wire. This wire runs to the corner lights. (Yes, the corner light wiring runs through the headlight bucket.) Reconnect the grey/black wires using the "Y" connector. The extra lead on the "Y" goes to the city light.

You'll also need to make another "Y" connector so you can run a ground to the city light. At first, I erroneously assumed the city light would ground through the headlight assembly. But without the ground wire, they wouldn't light.

[Trog]

Originally Posted by midnight911

When I did mine last year, I spent 2 hours the first day, 1.5 hours the next day, and at last on the third day after about 1 hour attempt, I managed to get the driver side ring in place. The passenger side ring somehow got in at very first attempt. frustrating... Now that was on an old seal. Just thinking about replacing the seal with new makes me twitch...

Brings back memories, sadly they aren't happy ones.

[4flyboy]

Originally Posted by Capt. Carrera

Not all H-4s come with the sockets. (Luckily mine did.) I've never seen the sockets at a generic auto parts store. But you can source the sockets from a set of broken front side markers.

Searching the Pelican Forum showed an easy way to get power to the lights. You simply make a "Y" connector using 16 ga. wire, and some male and female spades. You unplug the connector for the grey/black wire. This wire runs to the corner lights. (Yes, the corner light wiring runs through the headlight bucket.) Reconnect the grey/black wires using the "Y" connector. The extra lead on the "Y" goes to the city light.

You'll also need to make another "Y" connector so you can run a ground to the city light. At first, I erroneously assumed the city light would ground through the headlight assembly. But without the ground wire, they wouldn't light.

Once again Captain thank you. Great tip. I remember this from another thread but needed a reminder.

Regards,

Scott

P.S. It was probably you who posted the original thread.