H4 Headlight upgrade, from sugar scoops

[Craig_D]

I always liked my underdog sugar scoops, with relays and upgraded H4 Hella lenses, but knew that eventually I was going to step up to the H4 plate.

I received my new H4s with 80/100 bulbs from our host today, and set out to do my install.

A few notes: I had fresh rubber headlight trim seals so no surprises there, but I did have two cross threaded lower attachment nuts for the H4 trims but luckily have a tap kit and made short work of that.

Here are some pics:


Sugar scoops:

[Craig_D]

Here's the install of the H4s:







Here, I'm just finishing tapping the cross-threaded welded in mounting nuts:




Here's the finished install and new look:

[Craig_D]

And now for some beauty shots. I went to a parking garage for aiming and took some different angles:

[Cooper911SC]

Nice work Craig! Did the same on my SC after a few years of running the sugar scoops W/H4 inserts.

The Euro H4s are so much nicer.

If you want to DIY the paint work on the trim rings, check paint scratch dot com for 741/041 black paint in rattle cans. (Assuming your car is straight black, looks that way in the pics.) Or with a local paint supplier.

Cooper

[porwolf]

Nice job, Craig. I did the same a few months ago and could not believe the improvement of the light output, even with regular 60/55 Watt bulbs.

[Craig_D]

I've got a question for folks who've done this swap: have you connected that little Euro city light? And if so, what wire did you tap? I'm assuming you want that bulb connected to the running lights only.

Who's done it?

[Craig_D]

Thanks guys!

I've got a question for folks who've done this swap: have you connected that little Euro city light? And if so, what wire did you tap? I'm assuming you want that bulb connected to the running lights only.

Who's done it?

[wolds]

Craig,

I've got a RoW car which has the city lights installed at factory. Do you have the first position on your light switch to turn them on? If not, no problem. You could come off your front turn signal running lights and achieve the same thing except being able to run them by themselves during the day which is what I do.

Warren

[Craig_D]

Thanks Warren, I definitely don't have a separate position on my light switch (just running lights, and headlights, with spin adjustability for interior brightness).

I like the idea of being able to run these by themselves, but my thinking was also that I would be able to tap into the running light wiring, and have them be part of the running lights. That would mean that they'd also stay lit when the headlights are on, which I don't think would be a problem, but my OCD self would rather have them turn off when the headlights pop on.

I'd also like to use a modern, small LED light for that super white glow, rather than the yellowish glow of a small incandescent bulb.

I'll bet someone's done this. We've got way to many clever Porsche people here, to have not thought of the same thing.

[Craig_D]

Here's a quick comparo from the front, with the scoops and then the H4s. The H4s have so much more surface area, it really changes the look.

My wife said it went from a sad frog, to excited gold fish face. LOL She said that now, Blackjack is happy to see her. ha!

Sad Frog


Excited Goldfish

[wolds]

Craig, the lights do remain lit on my car when I turn the headlights on. I just have the benefit of running them by themselves during the day. I suppose you could run a switched circuit to them in series with your existing running lights which would give you the daytime running light option, but not sure it's worth it. Warren

[nineball]

it's a great upgrade (did mine last year) but i would suggest you upgrade your plugs as well. switching to and 80/100 will have significantly more heat. i got mine here and i was very happy:

BEST QUALITY H4 / 9003 High Temperature Headlight Socket / Plug / Connector. We Welcome Custom Orders! All of our Head Light Sockets / Plugs / Connectors are made with USA Wire! - Innova Design & Dist. Inc. (909) 971-0000

[Craig_D]

Nice, nineball! Those look sweet! I'll probably do that upgrade when I do the wiring for the city lights (I've already named the project, project Broadway, for the city lights

[Arne2]

Craig, I connected my city lights to the running light circuit, the same as they are on a RoW car. The running light circuit is already inside the headlamp bucket, as is the ground you need. Look for the plastic terminal connection with brown wires for the ground you need, you'll need to add a wire from the blade terminal on the back of the H4 assembly to the brown wire junction.

They running lights are the black wires inside the bucket, they may have a gray or red trace, depending on the side of the car. Splice in and connect that wire to the city light socket terminal.

[Craig_D]

Thank you Arne! That's really helpful info, and exactly what I was looking for. This has to be the best online community out there!

[Cooper911SC]

+1 for Arne2.

The brown ground wires will be pre wired but taped up with your existing harness.

I think it is the right side bucket that uses the BK/R for the Hot side to parking lamp function. Left should be BK/Gray.

I pushed out the spade connectors from the plastic insulators, clipped them, added an additional pigtail and crimped together with new connector. Works great.

Cooper

[Arne2]

Originally Posted by Cooper911SC

I pushed out the spade connectors from the plastic insulators, clipped them, added an additional pigtail and crimped together with new connector. Works great.

I did similar, except I didn't snip anything. I built a new dual ('Y') pigtail for each of mine - disconnect the current junction, connect the base and one arm of the Y between the two existing sides of the connection, the second arm connects to the city lamp.

[wrxnofx]

Originally Posted by Craig_D

Thanks guys!

I've got a question for folks who've done this swap: have you connected that little Euro city light? And if so, what wire did you tap? I'm assuming you want that bulb connected to the running lights only.

Who's done it?

Craig, I've done this. Actually, when I bought my car, the city lights were hooked up and parking lights were not. In short, you have to create a jumper and use the ground that should be wrapped up as part of the original harness. The jumper enables BOTH the parking lights and city lights to work together.

This specific post number shows the jumper you can make.

The whole thread in general is pretty awesome, which is here.

[Craig_D]

Thanks wrxnofx, that's fantastic! I'm going to make those jumpers as soon as I can!

[wrxnofx]

Originally Posted by Craig_D

Thanks wrxnofx, that's fantastic! I'm going to make those jumpers as soon as I can!

No worries. Check out the whole post. It discusses when the lights should operate.

Here is the post on the ground being buried in the NA wiring harness for the Euro city lights.

I found out about my city lights accidentally and had never heard of them. I thought I had a short or something because it looked to me like the headlights were coming on really dim with the headlight switch in position 1, and I had no parking lights.

My car had spent time in Norway with the PO, so I assume he exposed the ground from the harness and switched the parking lights inside the buckets to the city lights to pass inspection or something. My surprise came when I created the jumpers, hooked up both the parking lights and city lights, and the parking lights STILL didn't work. Turns out the connections inside the parking lights needed to be cleaned. Before me, I bet the parking lights hadn't been working for 10 years.