Headlight Upgrade

[mfroes]

Hi guys,
My headlights have been cleaned and still dont actually brights the road as good as the newer cars. i guess its the wiring getting to me again just like the electric windows.
searching i was able to find people that have made a custom wiring with relays to be able to power the headlights properly. so i decided that it was a 2 step upgrade.

1st STEP: wiring
but then i found a kit from international auto parts that is supposedly to do the same thing.
http://www.international-auto.com/headlight-wiring-upgrade-kit/iap-headlight-wiring-upgrade-kits.cfm
do anyone knows if that would fit on a alfetta gtv6 ?
by the installation manual it would need to drill the headlight bucket.
http://www.international-auto.com/images/articles/HWKInstructions.pdf
i was wondering why not take the original wiring out and inserting it by the old hole ?!?
i doubt i would find a more ready-to-fit headlight upgrade for the gtv.

2nd STEP: headlight / reflectors / lights
on the same website i have found some HELLA headlights
http://www.international-auto.com/index.cfm?fa=p&pid=2564&addcar=1
which i think they are illegal in australia as they look like xenon lights. as i see they are not even legal in US, they are for offroad use only.
then instead of opening my own headlights, opening, cleaning the reflector, etc. was thinking on getting the Standard halogen sealed as they are $9.
would they go well with a good halogen bulb. any suggestions?
i went to
http://www.invisionsales.com/lighting/application/

and it seems that are a couple of bulbs that passed ADR than i thought.
i`d really like a britter light, but not close to blue.
was thinking on a Xtreme power or maybe a vision. anyone have any experience with these bulbs?

what do you guys think about the upgrade? looks like a full upgrade that should make it light up the road like a perfectly new car.

[BBRT]

G'day,

There are a few previous threads in this section on upgrading the headlights in 116 cars.

Do a search in this section on "headlight". There are detailed ones explaining the whole process.

Cheers

[MD]

Here is a Carello to Hella conversion.
Relay all filaments for minimum voltage drops.

[Al Campbell]

Do the relays & wiring first. A must to save your light switch from burning out and to get maximum voltage. Won't make any difference to the original Carellos 'though. Stupid design that these cars don't have any at all.

Modify the existing Carello metal parts to take new inserts:

http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=1464.0

Thread showing the wiring loom I made:

http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=7722.msg46624#msg46624

and my inserts:

http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=2928.msg14675#msg14675

I used Narva inserts with dual low/high beam outer lights and high beam inside pair. So I had 4 bulbs with high beam. Against ADR as you are only supposed to have one pair of high beams. I used plain old halogen globes and with 4 x 100w high beams it was more than enough. The first few times I tried high beam it was startling. Really is no need to spend the money on expensive globes. By the time you ad  up all the costs. relays, relay sockets, connectors, wire, 4 inserts & globes you are looking at over $400. Narva inserts were a tight fit, I had to stretch the Carello metal with a lot of hammering - panel beating technique. Get another brand of insert if you can.  I think Hella are supposed to fit well. Have a good search on this site.

I've got a modern 2009 Subaru Liberty with HIDs truth be told they aren't that good at showing up the road. the blue light may be closer to daylight, but I reckon the old halogens in the 2009 Forester do a better job. There have been various discussions about the old yellow fogs they used to use and there is a bit of evidence that human eyes are more sensitive in the yellow part of the spectrum. Certainly true for an old fart like me.

The other thing with the blue lights -they look wrong with an old car like these.

[rowan_bris]

I used Cibie lights in my GTV6, rewired and relayed, upgraded the alternator and used American headlight buckets rather than the modification of the old lights.  Using those buckets achieves a very neat result.

[Beatle]

Yep, get a set of US market headlight buckets if at all possible.  Then you can take your pick of whatever 5-3/4" (?) diameter light takes your fancy.  My white GT had US buckets with the outer lights using H4 bulbs to give both high and low beam, the inners wired purely for high beam.

On other 116s I've been able to fit relays without unduly changing the factory wiring.  Use the existing wiring to control the relay switching (instead of the headlight) then add heavier wiring off the battery, through a fuse block, to power the lights.  This way you can quickly bypass the relay and return the circuit to original , for example if the relay fails.  While you are playing with relays, make sure you add one to the starter circuit as well.

Beware buying lights from overseas as most will be cut for LHD and these are illegal.  You shouldn't run foul of any laws or registration requirements by simply upgrading your bulbs though, as long as you don't do something silly like going to HID...........

If you want a REAL challenge, come up with an option for Alfa 90 headlights

Al, I'm with you on the blue-spectrum lights. I hate them all.  Cant abide them as LEDs for camping, LED downlights, and absolutely sick of being blinded by aftermarket HID headlights.   An expert told me that one reason they are almost all blue spectrum is to fool your eye into thinking they are brighter.  It's easy to make LED/HID etc with a warmer yellow spectrum light, but then they don't look so bright.

BTW I don't believe ADRs outlaw twin high beams.  My Landcruiser has twin rectangular lights, the outers are high/low, the inners are high beam.  I recall there used to be a 'rule' that you could only have a maximum of six forward facing white lights and this meant some cars had their parkers modified so they extinguished when the headlights were turned on.  This allowed for factory driving lights.  But I doubt that rule is still in force, and I think low wattage lights (5W or less?) are not counted for ADR lighting.   How many 'lights' are there in all the modern forward facing LED strips?

And the sun is yellow, not bright blue.........

[Beatle]

Forgot to add, the choice of replacement light will alter the 'look' of the car.  My GT had flat/concave lights and the glass sat forward of the surrounding grille a tad.  Looked a little Lambo Espada-ish from front 3/4 view.

[mfroes]

Thanks guys.
Talking on relays have anyone installed it on the wiper motor ?
With this rain season, i realised they are not working very well.

[Beatle]

I'd look at the wiper motor and linkage grease.  Pull it all apart, clean out all that old dry grease and regrease with something modern, new and slippery.

[Fylnn]

Any other suggestions on the wipers?  ways to improve voltage and/or earthing?

[BBRT]

On my GTV there was a lot of slop due to wear in that pin blade attachment at the end of the wiper arm

I replaced the wiper arms with a set from a 75. This allowed the use of those new all rubber blades. Much less chatter and drag on the system.

The 75 arms are shorter so there was some mucking around with blade lengths.

[Beatle]

Rainex or even Polish/wax significantly reduces the drag of the wipers on the glass and unloads the motor.

Above about 40kph you don't even need to use the wipers if the Rainex is fress, though it does make the water bead much finer with misty rain so you tend to turn the wipers on earlier around town.

[LukeC]

ADRs... I know a bit about this: ADR 13/00 specifies that you can have either two or four "Main Beams". "Driving Lights" are optional can be fitted additionally in twos or fours, but can only be turned on by their own switch (when the main beams are on). While there are technical requirements on light spread for "Dipped Beams" and "Main Beams", there are none for "Driving Lights".

Therefore, you can legally have four Main Beams and Four Driving lights (and man, you would need one hell of an alternator....!).

Gas Discharge Headlamps have light at the blue-ish range of what is considered white light (on the tri-chromatic co-ordinates... defined in the ADRs). Yellow light is less prone to refraction, and therefore more frequently used in fog lights. Gas discharge or HID lamps produce a light that is more prone to refraction. The ADRS require vehicles fitted with HID headlamps to be fitted with compliant headlamp washers. This is because a HID headlamp with a dirty lense will appear as a Main Beam from light refraction.

Boy racers etc can buy all this stuff to make there cars seem better, but it is the state's responsibility to ensure they remain legal. These intracacies are often not well known to the people that police them.... Have you heard of people being told that braided brake lines are not legal... Bull Sh*t!!! They just have to conform to an ADR nominated standard and be traceable to it by markings.... I have had this argument before and won.

I hever bought a standard Alfa headlight for my own cars. I have been doing the Hella conversion thing with relays since the late eighties.

Has anyone tried an Alfa 75 windcreen wiper motor in their GTV? I know they are lighter, but do they have more torque?

[mfroes]

hey guys,
went to jaycar today. for all parts to do the headlight upgrade you will need at least $150 bucks on parts + the labour of doing the entire thing.
and even thou the fuse and relay holders that dont know if it can reach the 20A.
so if you can wait and dont wanna go through the hassle, the 40-50 bucks pre made ones from international auto dont seem like a bad idea to me

[kartone]

Substantially improved lighting on my 1980 GTV:
1. used the existing light switch to activate one relay (fused) for low beam and one relay (fused) for high beams
2. positioned relays as close as possible to light units
3. used the alternator main connection point found in engine bay (one with plastic cover) to supply power positive to each relay individually
4. each relay has two power positive outputs, one for each light 
5. each light is individually grounded

While at it, by-pass ignition switch which is a source of voltage drop by using it to activate a relay (fused) to power car systems.