H4 Headlight Wiring Harness

[shikzachaser]

Certainly not terribly difficult, definately terribly not legal. They are probably not something you want to do if you have not done this type of thing before, but you are right, they are fun. I really like this little car as I know it inside and out and I am not intimidated with anything. It is still from an era where garage hacks can work on them. My C4 was awesome, and the repair bills were awesome when needed. I have decided that BMW makes a great go-fast car and the M3 is really a sleeper at least to the general public. Whenever my wife lets me have the keys it really amazes me with the combination of smoothness, handling, and power. Also someone over 4' tall can get in the back seat.

Steve

[shikzachaser]

Andy:

I used (2) 4X6 Polk coaxes in the front. You will need to take a hole saw and drill a hole lage enough for the magnet to get the grill flush and also relieve back pressure from the speaker. Roll the window up first....duhhh...

I used 6X8 Polk coaxes in the stock side locations. You have to enlarge the hole a bit. I am sure everyone knows what they are talking ablout when they say you have to take the window glass out but I have done probably 50 of these cars over the years and never did it that way. I also capped off the (4) speakers to allow no bass below 100Hz to get to them. These are all run off the stock 4X40 watt amp in the Blaupunkt. You also have to wire around the old F/R fader to get discrete wiring to the speakers.

The rear preamp out goes to a SONY 250 Watt amp run w/ the low pass on and set to 150Hz. This gives you a nice bump where the frequencies overlap with the fronts (100-150Hz). I used a Polk 6X9 on the passenger side and a Polk 10" on the drivers side. That is what fit, they are not the same size holes. The drivers are sealed w/ insulation behind them I also got a bunch of asphaltic rubber (marketed as dynamat) and lined the front doors, side panels behind the speakers, and in the rear. The passenger seat has to be shimmed up 3/4" to clear the amp.

It sounds really good for what it is, and the car is not modified. I have always maintained that you should not get into something further than you can get back out and make it the way it was. You may be out some time and a few bucks but at least the car is not destroyed.

I listen to no rap as I am 53 YO white dude, but I crank Sonny Landreth, Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray, etc.


Steve

[pdx944]

Lol Also being white I don't ever listen to rap either, i just would like a little bit more bass.

[Eldorado]

hey steve, dont know if you sent anything yet or not.. my email server has been down for a couple days, but it's back up now...

[shikzachaser]

Andy:

It's not a black or white issue, I am just a struggling old man trying to cope w/ a modern world and I don't understand the anger. Plus I think animated crappy poetry is for the birds.

Steve

[Wipeout]

Steve, I'll wait until Kyle gets his installed, but I'm probably gonna ask for one too. :P

[flosho]

Yes, I think the demand is really gonna grow for these. I'm interested in a kit as well..

[shikzachaser]

I am getting more inclined to do them. The only hesitation I have is making sure that they will work on all cars. It's hard to get test mules. Any imput with respect to this would be appreciated. I am not concerned w/ function, I am concerned w/ physical size and possibly access to the alternator terminal. Is this a problem on a 951? The additional lights for the fogs and combo fog / driving lights are not a problem. I can simply make additional trigger wires and use additional relays. Obviously the cost would be a little higher for those cars. I may even look into sourcing out the bulbs and offer any or all parts. I guess I would have to sell them w/ the understanding that they are for OFF ROAD USE ONLY, like someone is going to drive a 944 through the woods on purpose. Feedback to these thoughts would be appreciated.

Steve

[Wipeout]

Steve,

Mine's an 85 (.1) but if you need more test dummies, I'm game (especially if you wanted to do one for just the normal fog lights).

[shikzachaser]

It would not be that much more comlicated. Just an additional relay and disconnecting the stock power wire to the fogs. Then one of them would trigger the additional relay. Should be really straightforward. Lets let Kyle do one and see how it goes. If the response is positive I'll do it, if it's voted to be a POS then I won't.

Steve

[flosho]

I'd volunteer to be test mule for the 924/931's, however my car is in storage until March.. Plus I think 924/931 would be pretty much the same as early 944's.

[shikzachaser]

Kyle:

It's done and I got a preliminary instruction sheet together. I'll get it out tomorrow or Monday. I'll forward a tracking # when I have it. It is something that will take a couple hours so I don't know about trying it outside in sub zero temperatures. You hosers are a hardy bunch though.
I have a Canadian farm boy friend of mine that played for the Blues that could endure the coldest weather of any human I ever met He is a really little guy too. He retired a couple years ago. You remember Nelson Emmerson? He and his wife are really nice folks.

I did a few more things to mine today. I installed a set of driving lights behind the lower mouth in the Fiberwerks nose. You can't see them unless they are on. I have them triggered off the high beams with a defeat switch in the dash. It works great and throws out the additional light I crave. 6 lights are a no no in Missouri but hey who's counting?

Steve

[Eldorado]

got pics of the new setup of lights? what do the new ones look like?

I was at the parts store today (a few, actually) trying to source out non-sealed beam H4's.. amazing Bosch discontinued them up here! I'll have to look around, or worst comes to worst - Ebay... not looking to break the bank, but i want something a little better than the "diamond cut" $5 ebay specials that the PO installed. lol anyway, I found many "driving lights" that look to be approximately the same size as the 944 fogs... I'll have to bring one in and size it up to be sure, though...

it's still only hovering around zero here... Simon is the one that's getting hit hard right now, being much further north! he's about 30C colder!

I'm sure once i see the kit, steve, It'll be pretty intuitive... I'll do what i can of taking pictures and doing a write-up for it..

[Razorback1980]

Zero...hey we have zero here. A couple days ago, we actually had about a milimeter of ice on our bridges here. We were having 10 to 20 car pile ups everywhere, the whole city shut down for a day..schools were closed until all that major ice stuff melted away which was early afternoon but it was scary for a night and morning! I see how these crazy people drive on good roads, I wasn't going out in it.

Simon, I don't know how you do it!

[IXLOR8]

Originally posted by Eldorado
got pics of the new setup of lights? what do the new ones look like?

I was at the parts store today (a few, actually) trying to source out non-sealed beam H4's.. amazing Bosch discontinued them up here! I'll have to look around, or worst comes to worst - Ebay... not looking to break the bank, but i want something a little better than the "diamond cut" $5 ebay specials that the PO installed. lol anyway, I found many "driving lights" that look to be approximately the same size as the 944 fogs... I'll have to bring one in and size it up to be sure, though...

I am looking at purchasing new OEM fog lights or looking for a nice set of aftermarket. Maybe HIDs Please post images.

[Eldorado]

hey razor, we had the same ice here.. only ours was about 6 hours of freezing rain on top of 4 inches of snow...

I was rushing to a buddy's house to watch part 2 of the season premier of 24 on monday night... he lives 15 mins away on a good day.. it took me that long to chip out the Santa Fe!!!!

when i get around to looking for replacement Fogs, I'll post pictures... until then, just head over to the parts store... you'll probably get there before I will... Sylvania had a ton that were all rectangular, approximately the same size... i'm sure one of their types would fit in place of our fogs..

remember.. if you're updating the fogs to driving lights, you'll probably need to change the harness for those, too!

[shikzachaser]

I decided to post a couple pictures of my setup.



100 Watt spot driving lights are behind the mesh in the nose. They are set up to only work w/ high beams on. There is a switch in the dash to activate or defeat them. Again they only work w/ high beams. They are fused seperately, relayed, and run w/ a 12 ga wire.



They are not visible from a normal standing position. You have to lay down to see them. That is how I took the picture of them The mesh protects them from rocks, etc and does not seem to effect the light pattern. The pattern is very narrow and really goes out there.



The switch to the left of the cig. lighter triggers the all periphrial
lights off, front driving lights, headlights, fog lights on situation. There are no brake lights, running lights, turn signals, parking lights, etc when this switch is on. The one to the right is the on / off switch for the spot driving lights. Both switches have really bright internal LEDs to let me know when they are in use.
The little unit visible to the left of the dash is the F/R radar detector control. The speaker for the unit is behind the center speaker grill.



The extra mirror switch in the console triggers the reverse lights.
These can be on anytime the ignition is in the run position. I have higher wattage bulbs in them which are great for not only backing up but especially for when someone has their brights on behind you. They will pretty much blind people who are staring at the back of the car at night. I changed them a bit as I have them diode isolated from the reverse switch. They still work when the reverse is engaged, they just dont put power backwards through the system when they are on from the console switch.


I don't think this is exactly what Porsche had in mind but it works for me.

Steve

[onZedge]

SHICKZACHASER:
I was thinking about making (but not marketing) a similar kit, but using a waterproof relay/fuse box with provisions for hi/low heads, driving and fog lights. Still trying to source a box with the features I want.

Some fodder for your instruction manual:

-some wiring diagrams for these cars show wiring from the LH headlight circuit as part of the fog light circuit, so you must use the LH headlight circuit to drive the relays.
-since each factory headlight beam is individually fused on some models(through the headlight switch, no less), you can remove all four 8A (white) fuses and replace them with two 1A (yellow) fuses in the LH hi/lo position.
-make provisions for a flex allowance between the alternator where the main power is sourced and the relays if they are mounted on the bodywork
-make provisions for a flex allowance to the headlights as they are pop-up units
-add a disclaimer (grrrr-I hate political correctness but sometimes you have to protect yourself from idiots - FACT OF LIFE - no flaming please)

[shikzachaser]

Edik:

Fortunately my brother is a patent attorney w/ a degree in Chemical Engineering. Hopefully between us he can come up w/ a disclaimer and I can come up with a way to make it work. I am not trying to come up w/ some big marketing get rich scheme as there are probably 2000 of the cars left even worth working on and out of that maybe 25-30 people will want to step up to the plate and buy anything. I really don't care if the design gets ripped off as it's not some great invention, but at least it can save somebody serious time in sourcing out parts, putting it together, etc. I'm far from being the sharpest pencil in the box but I do have a BS in mechanical engineering and have worked in the design field for over 25 years so I have at least thought about the headlight bar moving and things like that. You may have a bit of trouble sourcing out a waterproof box w/ 4 internal relays, external triggers, etc. Just make one. Again it's not like we are talking about splitting atoms here.

Steve

[IXLOR8]

The headlight relays are potted. I would just put dielectric grease on the connections. These relays are used will all snowplow installations. On a snow plow it switches from the vehicle headlights to plowlights.