Drove the bird to a show and then to a cruisenight...my headlamps suck.

[hotrod98]

I drove the bird to our local car show Saturday and then after the show I drove to a nearby town that was hosting a cruise night. I had fun except for the part where I had to drive home after dark.
They are completely stock and are so dim that it's almost dangerous to drive at night. Anyone have any good ideas as to the best way to make them brighter. I have driving lights mounted behind the grille but they weren't much help on the dark roads.
On my 69 Runner I used the Bosch style relays and it was a big improvement. But, they were still not as bright as I would have liked. Thinking about upgrading to newer technology.  The relays are just not the answer in my opinion. I need help.

[Bob T]

Have a dig through the Electrical section with the search tab, it will likely have the part numbers for you U.S. guys.
I upgraded my R/T's lights as soon as I got it and hid the relays under the bracket by the battery box, I cant find my thread at the moment though. I can load the wiring diagrams with colour codes if you want or if you cant find them either, or pm and I'll email them.

Great looking car too, I remember the history from your past threads, always like seeing pictures of it up and about.

Cheers

[Dave Kanofsky]

HotRod -
Good to see you and the car out and about.
Yea, it is very easy to drive past the lights.
I put halogen replacement bulbs in mine, but they are still no comparison for a modern ride's lights.

[1970Moparmann]

Nice picture Larry!

[hotrod98]

Thanks. Fifty nine year old guy in front of a 45 year old car.  My how time flies.
 
I seem to remember seeing some replacement housings on ebay a while back that you could install and then use the newer style bulbs.  I would love to use the HID setups with H4 bulbs. I'm looking into it.  Will post what I decide to do.

We don't do many car shows nowadays but we try to make as many cruise nights as possible. So, good headlights are a must. 

[A383Wing]

you won't like the HID with the H4 bulbs....they are not all that bright for driving....go to auto part store and get Wagner Halogens or Sylvainia Halogens and install them...you also might want to do the relay upgrade from the battery to the lights to get maximum brightness.....it's what I did on the Daytona and the rest of my Chargers

[Charger1970]

One of the very best upgrades I've done is the headlight relays. My headlights were very dim and would occasionally go OFF when I had the high beams on. I did the relay upgrade and installed sealed beam halogens and my headlights have been fantastic ever since. Seriously bright lights now.

[A383Wing]

...that's what I was talking about...

[cdr]

 

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Awesome car!

Try some LED bulbs along with the relays. Made a world of difference on my 69.  

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-headlight-bulbs-conversion-kits/led-headlight-kit-h4-led-headlight-bulbs-conversion-kit-with-flexible-tinned-copper-braid/2221/4993/#/tab/Overview

[billssuperbird]

What do you mean by a relay up Grade.

[myk]

What do you mean by a relay up Grade.

Give this a read: http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,168.0.html

Like A383 says, you can go buy the halogen sealed beam units, and in addition to the relay upgrade your lights will be plenty bright.  I had my car completely rewired, so with a modern, internally regulated 120 amp 'alt and halogen bulbs my headlights are blinding if looked at straight on.  If you're driving your car at night, good lighting is a must.  Please stay safe...

[r4daytona]

First, great car !  I agree about the dimness.  Funny how when we were younger - that's what we were used to.  Now we've gotten accustomed to the brighter lights.  I drive my Daytona with the high beams on and no one ever flashes me to turn them off.  Maybe yesterdays highbeams are about the same as todays lowbeams.  I'm going to read up about the relays.  Nice pic on the street!

[62 Max]

My bird  lights are good,but the ones in my 53 yr old wagon are a lot better !!

[A383Wing]

looks like aircraft lights for high beams....which is what I have in the black 66....they work great, although a tad illegal for street use

[62 Max]

looks like aircraft lights for high beams....which is what I have in the black 66....they work great, although a tad illegal for street use

You guessed it !!

[myk]

First, great car !  I agree about the dimness.  Funny how when we were younger - that's what we were used to.  Now we've gotten accustomed to the brighter lights.  I drive my Daytona with the high beams on and no one ever flashes me to turn them off.  Maybe yesterdays highbeams are about the same as todays lowbeams.  I'm going to read up about the relays.  Nice pic on the street!

Aiming has a lot to do with that.  Even the most dim light can be considered too bright if it's shining right into someone's mirror...

[69_Charger_RT]

you won't like the HID with the H4 bulbs....they are not all that bright for driving....go to auto part store and get Wagner Halogens or Sylvainia Halogens and install them...you also might want to do the relay upgrade from the battery to the lights to get maximum brightness.....it's what I did on the Daytona and the rest of my Chargers

You can run a H4 Hid Kit with Hella Housings (comes with regular H4 bulbs but pickup an HID H4 Kit with bulbs/ballasts)- just wire in a relay and you can make it literally plug and play easily  

Works great on my cars but just try and stick with 4000-4500K bulbs so the beam has best visibility.  Anything higher than I say 5K will give you a bluish tint  

[moparstuart]

 

[440mop]

The Jaguar E-type (XKE) owners upgrade their lights by running them directly off the alternator like this:
http://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php?t=4919&start=0
May be worth considering.
John

[hotrod98]

I decided to look at my headlamps this past weekend to see just what type I had. They are Halogens.  I need to do some serious rewiring and use Bosch relays I guess to get a full 12 volts to the lamps. I'm going to go ahead and replace them with new halogens since I know these are at least six years old since that's how long I've had the car.  I'm so busy with customer cars right now that I have trouble finding the time to work on my own cars.

[A383Wing]

bring it up, I'll work on it for ya

[hotrod98]

That would be cool. I definitely could use the help. Lately, I've been paying my guys to work on my cars to give me more time to work on customer cars.

I've been busy prepping my racecars in what little spare time I've had.   I still haven't finished my 2010 Drag Pak Challenger or my 71 Cuda. My son has been working on them as much as possible and they're both close to firing.

I retired my Massey dragster last year and my son mounted it on the wall in his new racecar shop that he built next door. 
Makes for a pretty good conversation piece.