any issues with converting a 86 Carrera Sugar Scoops to H5

[Fubawu]

I am in the midst of refinishing a 86 Carrera and I was wondering what was needed to
make this conversion? I have a set of H5's from a 89 I believe. My initial thought was to
remove the old plug and splice female connectors into there place. This way each wire would individually connect to the half moon H5 plug? Do you see any issues with this conversion?

Cheers

[darrin]

h5 headlights will not give you better light than the sugar scoops -- If you're interested in better light, you'll need to upgrade to european H4 headlights -- either the 911-specific ones now sold by porsche (around $700 a pair all in) or 7" round ones that are drop in replacements for the 7" sealed beam headlights in your sugars cops.

Your conversion idea (splicing wires) should work fine -- you might also want to consider adding headlight relays while your at it -- as built, all the current from the headlights goes through the high beam switch on your directional signal -- this causes the contacts to distort/melt. Adding headlight relays (our host sells a nice set for under $30) will alleviate this problem.

[DRACO A5OG]

+1 H4's or if you can find them H1's, definitely get the relay, cheap insurance.

If decide to keep them consider a HID kit with 4000 lumens, anything less is worthless and 5000K color, closest to standard incandescent no blue hue.

[Fubawu]

Thanks for the info guys, I made this conversion more for aesthetics rather then light.
After I made the conversion i.e. 1 hour ago I notice a small amount of smoke starting in the cabin.
I quickly disconnected and wanted to rethink. I am guessing this is why the relay is needed??

I am not sure if the over heating was caused by a relay issue or is it possible that I swapped the high beam and Std beam plugs??
Would this cause a short issue?

[DRACO A5OG]

Oh poopola! Yes, that is what the relay is for, you may have fried the stalk. there may be a poor ground so it may be grounding out at the stalk = smoke.

open the clam shell and verify.

You did use a volt meter to check the wiring, right? Please try to use one, it will save your ancient wires. I assume you soldered these wires and heat shrank them, yes?

for Looks, then remove the h5 Lens and clean her up. I bet you have a white haze inside, once clean they will emit light better. Get some OSRAM night breakers plus, they will be brighter than the standard h5 bulbs.

[Fubawu]

Thanks DRACO I will take a look! Would this have been caused by misplaced high/Std beams or poor ground?

[DRACO A5OG]

Usually ground. If a poor ground, the voltage will go to the least amount of resistance ergo the stalk, liken to a heating element as a result melting of the plastic housing around the trip switches at the stalk or worse melting of the wires.

[Fubawu]

didn't find any evidence of melting under the clam shell. I am guessing just need a resistor and or check my grounds

[DRACO A5OG]

Oh good, take the volt meter and test each spliced line to insure you have proper readings.

Look up a thread by WON fixing the headlight switch, it shows which contacts need adjusting, if needed.

[cabmandone]

I'm running H5's on my 85 and they DO give better visibility than the standard lights. As for your smoke, I'd check the fuse size to make sure you're not over fused. I installed the relay kit in my car at the same time I installed the H5's.

[Fubawu]

ya it was a quick panic as the cabin was full of smoke. It took me a few seconds to compute what was going on!

[Arne2]

H5s might be some better than the stock sealed beams. Won't hold a candle to a pair of 7" Hella drop-ins in the sugar scoops, though. That's the best bang for the buck in lighting you can get.