Yet another headlight upgrade scheme...

[tsmithae]

I am planning on doing a headlight upgrade on my '70 and am going to be building a custom wiring harness to power the headlights, very similar to a lot of the upgrades I have seen here.

I will be utilizing the stock wiring to trigger relays fed by the alternator and would love to NOT cut my harness up.  What I want to do is obtain the bulkhead connector for the front lighting harness and simply put it in line.  This would mean that I would need both the male and female portions, which brings up my real question... does anyone sell the connector separate from the harness.

Also, does anyone have any old bulkhead connectors that they would be willing to part with?  I would love to take one and modify it to work for my project.  My plan is to get a blank project box and run the male pigtail out of the box and that would connect to the firewall connector, then contained inside this box would be the circuit breakers and relays for the headlights. I would then mount the lighting harness portion of a bulkhead connector to said box and plug in the factory harness to this box. All of this would then mount on the firewall or fenderwell near the bulkhead connector and it would be weatherproof and clean!

Any thoughts or suggestions?  I am seriously considering building and selling just the headlight upgrade portion to members here if they would be interested... Let me know what you guys are thinking and if anyone has parts laying around that they could part with, please message me!

[Kern Dog]

Some same year A body cars used the same Bulkhead connectors. You could pirate from a Dart or Valiant the plastic ends and run your own wires.

[b5blue]

And eBay, they pop up all the time. You know NAPA has the correct male and female connectors that crimp to the copper wire and insulator. They have a proper crimp tool that folds the tangs like factory also. (Not just mashing them flat.) 

[tsmithae]

Carquest does too and in quantities less than bulk! I already got a bunch for repairs to my harnesses and for this upgrade. However, I'm a big fan of soldering vs crimping, personal preference I guess. However, I appreciate the tip for eBay, as massive of a marketplace it is, its the last place I think to check.

[b5blue]

I crimp and solder conductors to connectors and crimp to the insulator for mechanical support with the NAPA crimping tool # 726603. (Whenever possible.) 

[tsmithae]

Well, after a little bit of a wait (all good things come in time) I have managed to finish my headlight upgrade box.  

I have used an empty project box to house 2 relays for the high and low headlights and it will mount to the firewall utilizing the same bolts as the starter relay and can be easily removed if need be.  It requires NO cutting of any original harness and has the exact same effect as the headlight upgrades that everyone talks about with splicing in and mounting relays in the engine compartment.  The box will also help to keep the components clean and corrosion-free!

I decided to go about it this way after putting (too) much thought into it and deciding that I wanted to eliminate as much high-drawing current from the bulkhead connector as possible.  All original wiring will remain intact but the new box I have created will take power from the alternator directly and feed it into the relays which will be switched via the original harnesses (thus eliminating the power for the headlights from ever passing through the bulkhead).  

Any questions, comments, criticism, ideas, please!

Here are some pics of the process and the finished project.


I modified the mounts of the relays in order to get them to mount how I wanted in the project box.



I drilled a hole in the bottom of the box (theory being that any moisture will drip off the box and not into the box as this would be the one opening).



Then, ran all the wires trough a grommet in the bottom and connected them to the original male connector (Thanks Tolley over at the '70 Registry)

[b5blue]

Nice work! 

[tsmithae]

Thanks b5blue!  I can't wait to install it in my car (which will unfortunately be a while...)

[ChargerST]

Nice! but I don't really get the layout at the moment..don't laught at me 

So you mount the box under the bulkhead connector. Plug your selfmade male connector to the bulkhead (which is now plugged to your box in the pictures) and then plug the original male connector to your box, right?
otherwise (like in the picture) it would be a loop..

[Dino]

I like it!  Very nice work.  The one thing I don't care for is the elctrical tape, It tends to come loose when it gets hot, and it will get hot.  I'd try to use a self vulcanizing tape or something.

Anyway I'm nitpicking now, I do like what you did, drain hole and all.  So how much are you thinking of selling these things for?

[tsmithae]

I won't laugh, ChargerST, and yes you have the right idea, I just have it plugged into itself for display purposes.

Dino, I really like your idea on switching the tape and I think I will have to do that, you have a pretty good point about the heat.  However, I haven't thought of a price for them yet... A lot would depend on the availability of the bulkhead connectors and the correct male connector for the headlight harness. 


If people are really interested, I have had a few people offer up various parts for various prices and I could put together an estimate of what it would take.