Headlights...

You got the correct ones - you should be able to set top trim ring on the metal clip t top of opening and "hinge the assembly down so the one bottom screw can be attached.  Or are they too deep with the bulb assembly installed?  Some time the 3 prong plug on back makes them a bit too deep for the socket.

Some of the buckets have the screw adjusters hitting the outer edge of the bucket opening , use a rasp tool in a drill and clearance it out.

Alan Merklin posted:

Some of the buckets have the screw adjusters hitting the outer edge of the bucket opening , use a rasp tool in a drill and clearance it out.

The adjuster screws on mine hit like Alan describes above.  A Dremel tool, round rasp or round file will work to give it enough clearance, just don't grind too far!  

I did that on Lane's Speedster when we built it, too.  Free-handed it, and no big deal.

Nice, warm, dry Carlisle day......    NOT!

Notice that I'm free-handing the headlight buckets while Lane is over around the back of the car.  That was not planned that way.....Nope, nope, nope.   

WOLFGANG posted:

You got the correct ones - you should be able to set top trim ring on the metal clip t top of opening and "hinge the assembly down so the one bottom screw can be attached.  Or are they too deep with the bulb assembly installed?  Some time the 3 prong plug on back makes them a bit too deep for the socket.

Hi Wolfgang.

Do you have the drawing with the measurement in mm?

I am busy building my Speedster from scratch and the clips is missing, so I must make my own.

I would appreciate it if you can send me a pic of the clip.

Regards

AJ

Anyone know where to get those Rim Retainer Cips? I just bent some picture hanger hooks and they tend to come off from time to time.

Thanks for the replies, I must now accept my mission Dremel in hand this weekend.

Does anyone have a link for the gasket which would go under the ring?

There isn't a gasket that goes "under" it but you can use a 356 gasket that fits around the chrome ring to seal water out and give it a finished look.  Photo is of old one - that is weathered and slightly cracked.

I like ordering from Ed at Klasse356 - most of stuff is shipped from Stoddard Porsche.

EXL5.0

Seal, Rubber. Headlight To Fender. Fits all 356 Models.

$11.50

https://klasse356.com/catalog/...ems.asp?Category=EXL

Most of the VW parts houses have headlight gasket rings for a VW sedan - the headlights are identical to a 356 except for variations in the "fluted" glass of the lenses.

I actually prefer a VW headlight gasket ring as opposed to the 356 style, but either will work.  They range in price from around $3 for the VW ones (Bugcity.com) to over $12 for the Porsche version (Sierra Madre).  Be aware that they are both designed to be stretched gently into place.  Sometimes it takes some patience (and/or a beer or two) to get them to fit right the first time.  After that you know the technique and it becomes easier.

As for the clip that holds the headlight at the top to the body, I didn't get any with either CMC kit I built, so just make a couple out of some flat, tin stock or try shaping a piece of 3/8" X 3/8" aluminum angle - Remember that it has to be gently bent into an arc to fit against the inside of the top of the headlight bucket in the fender.  You don't need much of a lip to catch the headlight rim, so the 3/8" stock will be slightly high, allowing you to trim it down to the height you need.  Remember, also, to make it stick out enough to catch the rim with room for the gasket you want to use.  IIRC, mine were about 2" long and I bent them by hand.

For what it's worth, when considering vintage headlight car bulbs, I'm headed this direction: VC3500 or VC4000 headlight kit

Ryan in NorCal posted:

I just spoke with Matt at VintageCarLEDs and he recommended the VC3500 or VC4000 headlight kit for Vintage Speedsters ($189 and $219 respectively for a pair). I was concerned about the aesthetic of the pure white light and he suggested the VC5000 kit could work in its "Warm Yellow"  (2500) color for $329. The "Warm Yellow" is just a filter that can be removed if I'd prefer white instead.

Seems like a great product. I'm asking for pics of "Warm Yellow" in action. I really like how my sealed beams look today. I don't know how far I want to stray from that look.

Thanks for the recommendation @mtflyr.

Anyone looking at an LED conversion should at least consider these, I think.

It's a housing for H4 bulbs that looks like a standard sealed beam lamp from the outside. They're plug-and-play - sealed beam bulb out, this in. No rewiring. No muss, no fuss. It takes any H4 bulb and very, uh, cost effective too. About $18 each.

I tried them, and they're a yuge improvement over sealed beams.

@Ryan (formerly) in NorCal , in Sacramento, Bugformance carries them - and includes an H4 bulb in the price!

@Sacto Mitch, that's great to hear. The only reason I haven't left my sealed beams yet is that I kind of like the old amber hue. I know it's not safer, but I try to not drive much at night anyway.

How do these H4s compare? Does the light it throws still look period correct or do we just give that up in the name of safety?

H-4 I recommend that you replace the current wire with a heavier wire.....

@Ryan (formerly) in NorCal , hard to say just how much brighter, but way better. Maybe we could meet one of these frosty evenings and compare.

There are a wide variety of H4 bulbs available. I just used some basic ones that are the same wattage as the sealed beams (55w/60w). You can get H4's of varying quality and up to about 100w. But, like Alan just said, that would probably be safest with upgraded wiring to the bulbs.

Of course, short runs of heavier wire and dedicated relays will themselves improve brightness - something I haven't done yet. @Robert M recently posted some good photos here showing the results.

I don't drive the Speedster at night much, so this hasn't been at the top of my list.

I've always wondered about the LED headlight craze. Yes, they draw less power, but it's hard to imagine something throwing more/better light than an H4 housing with SilverStar bulbs.

The EMPI housings (with genuwine Chinese bulbs) were about $15 each when I bought mine a few (10?) years ago. I just checked- they're still about $15 each. I chucked the lamps and bought some SilverStars at Autozone for 30 bucks or so for the pair. I'm about $60 in, and have lights that are flamethrowers.

I've got relays, as everybody should. Driving at night needn't be scary. 

And just to muddy the waters a bit, there are relays and there are relays.

I put in some under the dash just to take the load off the headlight switch shortly after I got my VS (and shortly after my first headlight switch went up in smoke). But I was still using the VS wiring to power the lamps - pretty long runs of 16 gauge wire from the battery up under the dash, to the fusebox, and then back down to the bulbs.

What @Robert M did is mo better.

He ran short lengths of heavier gauge wire straight from the battery box to the headlights - with dedicated relays and fuses right in the battery box. The shorter the wire runs, the less resistance in the circuit and the higher the voltage the bulbs actually see.

"I've got relays, as everybody should. Driving at night needn't be scary. "

I have the euro look buckets and I have H4 P45T bases running 80/100 watts. 

Since I have relays from the factory they put out as much light as any LED.  Just saying.

I recently bought some spares from China for under $10 of your bucks.

I even have some 80/100w standard H4 P43T with adapter rings I got them from Europe just in case I am stuck somewhere.   Hard to be stuck on the road to Carlisle without an emergency kit.

Now if only old age could reverse we all could go out at night.

Hi Guys

I did mount all relays in front next to the battery and then the distance to the lights are short and easier to get to the relays. My fuse box is also there so if there is a problem just open the bonnet and easier to find problem.

Regards

AJ 

I don't often drive the Speedster at night. But when I do, I use both the headlights and the driving lights. Not offensive and I'm told that the combo, on my car at least, doesn't blind people ahead of me.

I also added a third brake light in the rear grill that is hard to detect until I hit the brake. Then Stevie Wonder can see it.

I would be more concerned with being seen from the rear at this point then seeing out the front. Those tear drops aren't exactly throwing out a lot of flame. Maybe LED's in the rear would be a good next step.

So, what might you want to use for wires for those 12 volt "Flamethrowers" ?

If you're running 55 - 85+ watt bulbs (looking to scorch the paint off the rear of the car in front of you at a light, are you? ) then these might be good guidelines to prevent voltage drop and maintain full brilliance and heat on the paint:

From the battery to the relay power tab (you ARE using a relay, right? ) use 10 gauge and an in-line, 15 amp fuse (available at most auto parts stores).  I would use red wire for this and put the fuse as close to the battery as possible.  (On a Beck and others with the battery out in the "way back",  just look under the dash for the fuse block and tap into the biggest (should be red) wire position or use the existing headlight fuse.)

Run separate 12 gauge wires from the relay to the headlights - up to 6 feet.  I would use red with a white stripe, but any color (including solid red) is OK.  It is not necessary to fuse these leads unless you are anal about it (or have the spare fuse positions, like me).  You may find that the leads coming out of the headlight socket are measly 14 or 16 gauge.  There, you have the option of swapping out the socket for something beefier (best), getting the proper terminal ends and wiring it up with 12 gauge wires (equally best) or just using the socket as-is.  That 3" - 6" of smaller gauge wire won't make much difference up to 85 watts. 

From the headlight/dimmer switch to the relay trigger terminal run 16 gauge.  It should already be fused on the other side of the switch so no more fuses needed here.

ALWAYS use stranded wire in a car.

It is not necessary to solder the connections IF you have a ratcheting crimping tool and can make really decent terminal crimps.  Lacking that, you can certainly solder everything and never worry about them again.  Use shrink tube on all connections to prevent any shorting.

I have the 85 watt H4 bulbs but I lost maybe 25% - 30% of the light output when I added my spiffy headlight grills (nobody told me about that part).  I got all that back and then some when I did the H3 conversion on my Marchal driving lights.  More than doubled the light output of those so now I light up half the town on high beam.  

And maybe obvious, maybe not:

If you upgrade all those red wires Gordon mentions, make sure to upgrade the ground wires from the lights back to the battery, too, with the same gauge wire.

Electrons are just like my old aunt Rose. They won't go anywhere unless they know they've got a good ride back  home.

Too true....    

I'll toss this in, usually there is one fuse for the input side of light switch this fuse is the catch all for high, low tail and park lights ...if and when the fuse blows it's total lights out which can be interesting and shyt scary at 65 mph. (Think how far you travel  saying WTH ?  and try to see where to come to a stop along the side of the road).  In addition to the switch fuse  I install a separate 4 gang fuse block for high , low , tail and park lights. The total lights out happened to me , I had a piece of wire in my tool kit  and ran it hot from battery + to one headlight plug prong so I could drive to a better location to fix the issue.

I used the Hella Vision Plus replacement lamp housing and bulbs.  They were $70 or so when I bought the pair.  They have a flat fluted glass "lens".  You can also get them with an extra bulb for running lights - called "city lights" in Europe. I choose to leave the clear unfluted headlamp outer glass cover --- thinking that double fluting would be overdoing the dispersion of light. There are little ceramic pigtails for the bulbs if you feel the heat might build up and melt the insulation on old wiring.

Gordon, thanks for the reminder on the need for proper wiring.  

I do think when laser lights get approved here in NA, we will have the advantages that the Euro zone has with lights that are able to adjust to uncoming drivers easily.  

But Honestly, with HID, and Xenon and LED's now out there some cars blind you no matter what car is incoming in the other lane and those cars are not usually misaligned headlights. 

zackly. Think of the guy coming at you....

Rather than start yet another thread on headlights, I'll just update this one.

I'd put in relays to protect my headlight switch a few years back, and then upgraded to H4 lamps last year, but just now got around to upgrading to heavy gauge wire to the lights themselves. This has been covered at length here (see what I did there?), so I won't get into the whys and hows, but I discovered a few tricks I hadn't seen mentioned before.

Basically, I ran 12 gauge wire straight from the battery to fused relays in the battery box (one for low beam, one for high beam), and then more 12-gauge to the lamps.

But I was wondering about weather-proofing the new wire runs, as they're right under the front of the car and open to splash and debris thrown up by the wheels.

I needed three runs of 12-gauge (high beam, low beam, and ground). A common way to protect the wire is to just wrap it in electrical tape, but that looks kinda tacky, is a bit of a pain on longer runs, and probably isn't all that waterproof, anyhow.

So.... I found a heavy-duty 15-foot US-made extension cord on Amazon rated for outdoor use. Three 12-gauge conductors already wrapped in a neat, waterproof, tough casing. Perfectamundo.  (Extension cords carry UL ratings for stuff like weatherproofness, oil resistance, etc). If you do this, make sure the gauge of conductor is specified - many cheaper extension cords are 14 or even 16-gauge.

This made for a nice, neat install, and looks like it will last longer than most of the components in my front suspension.

And, while the H4's were a huge improvement themselves, upgrading the wiring probably made them 40% brighter than before. In fact, if you want brighter lights, you may want to try this before switching out anything else.

Be careful out there.

Sacto Mitch posted:

...upgrading the wiring probably made them 40% brighter than before. In fact, if you want brighter lights, you may want to try this before switching out anything else.

I suspect we can measure voltage drop before switching out the wiring to test, right? Can you share what you're getting to your relays? If you have 13v on the battery, do you see 13v at the relays now?

Sure, you can measure for voltage drop at the battery (the reference voltage) and then at the relay(s) and finally at the headlight to see voltage drop/resistance in any leg of the circuit.

Don’t forget that the wire gauge may be ok and that a potential voltage drop/resistance might be caused by the terminations used.  It’s always better, at 12 volts, to run heavier gauge wiring, but not all crimped terminals are created equal, nor are the crimped connections.

Yeah crimped termination sucks a lot in my opinion as if any one of them loosens it can throw an ECU for a loop if you have a Subie ECU.   I had that when I did my cruise install it sent the A/C circuit crazy for some reason.   I Traced it to a loose connection going to the ECU on the Cruise circuits.  

Now that I know everything works, my goal is to redo all of those before the season starts again.  

Mitch,

There is actually a wire-type for "extension cord" wire (stranded and jacketed) in the electrical wiring world. The version with 250v-rated insulation is "SJ" cord, and can be purchased in various gauges and number of individual wires (14-3, 12-2, etc). There is a 600v version as well called "SO", but it's more expensive and unneeded for our application.

I have a couple of rolls of 14-2 and 14-3 in my shop, but an electrical supply house (or probably somebody on eBay can sell you what you need by the foot. What you did will work, and it's fine now, but just something to file away for the future. 

Great Idea for sure.

You can also use split loom to build a custom 5-8 wire loom and you can use plain old electrical tape to make it completely sealed up... Works like a charm.   I ran a complete loom from under the back seat under the edge of body seam along the doors and into the wheel well then under the dash.  You would think IM did the work ... 

IaM-Ray posted:

Yeah crimped termination sucks a lot in my opinion as if any one of them loosens it can throw an ECU for a loop if you have a Subie ECU.   I had that when I did my cruise install it sent the A/C circuit crazy for some reason.   I Traced it to a loose connection going to the ECU on the Cruise circuits.  

Now that I know everything works, my goal is to redo all of those before the season starts again.  

I crimp slightly then solder every connection I can get a hold of and follow that with one or two layers of heat shrink. I've got one of those nice ratcheting crimpers and still you can get a faulty attachment some times. 

Aircraft guys swear by connectors sold by www.steinair.com  and those sold by Aircraft Spruce too. This stuff is aircraft rated but I don't know what qualities of the product make them better than the hardware store variety though. 

Maybe it's dumb luck, but I crimp all the time and have never had an issue. I realize it's not aircraft grade, but I do use very high-quality crimp tools (Klein 1006 or Ideal 35-5431), and tug every connection when I'm done.

So far, so good.

Well there are better grade of connectors even IM's guys showed me some that they use they feel do a better job.  I am not sure what they were but I think soldering as much as you can is better but pulling the connected ones is surely good and sometimes surprises you when they pull out. 

FYI, I had my crimped connector connection on my furnace board, pull away and stop turning on my humidifier.  A gentle tug left the connector on the board and the wire in my hand.,  I fixed it. 

I also shrink wrap every connector it just does a better job. 

Have you been to Gervais Electronics David, they have lots of good stuff for switches etc.  Just saying. 

Maybe I should get myself a ratcheting connector that might help. 

IaM-Ray posted:

Maybe I should get myself a ratcheting connector that might help. 

Klein 1006 or Ideal 35-5431. The Klein is a better tool, but they both do really well. I don't use the ratcheting ones.

Solder/shrink-wrap is better in all ways, but just not practical in many situations. Nobody is going to solder a humidifier connection on a PC board in a furnace, but not every HVAC guy can make a nice crimp, either.

Well it is evident that in every service you get those at the top of the skill level and those at the middle.  To err is human so You hope you get those on the top end but even those err.  

BTW Stan that little cylinder does it hold up the engine lid well ?

Stan Galat posted:

 

The lift cylinder does well when new and warm. It holds up the deck-lid even when a couple of years old and cold. It's not perfect, but it works well enough.

Stan, I think I have the same lift cylinder as you and mine has gone soft. You may have mentioned that yours is simple a Napa part. Any chance you know the part number  ? Thanks.