Euro Headlights

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Bwana

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I've got an Italian delivery CSi and need to replace the headlights. The low beams have stone holes in them and the high beams are pretty cloudy. I've searched the forum but can't find what I thought was a "headlight" thread discussing all this but can't find it now. I'd like to keep the "city lights" so I guess I have to buy them from a non-U.S. supplier. Any suggestions on where to order them?
 
Thanks but not much selection unless I'm looking in the wrong place. Only one choice of flat 5.75"?
 
OK, lets change the question and ask what is everybody using for headlights that keep replaceable bulbs (no LED stuff) and flat lens to maintain the original look
 
Not flat lens, period Marchals with clear low beams, yellow high and driving beams. All relayed. Very bright but easy on the eyes.

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My link was for flat Hellas, plug and play. You don’t need city lights but those have them and are H4, only euro coupes used H1 with city lights and a jumper wire needs to be added if used with a US headlight stalk.

That being said I think the Cibies put out a better beam pattern but are much more expensive and are not flat. US coupes never had flat lenses as we got sealed beams.
 
Cibie CSR units. These are fully flat but the lens sits a few mm further forward than Euro factory. Not a problem unless you have headlight wipers
 

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this is quite a thread resurrection! But I will just say that, even though I'm on the wrong side of the pond, Daniel Stern has ben my go to person for lighting advice for 15 years now. He advised me to upgrade the factory euro (RHD) lights on my E24 to Cibie CSR units. These same lights are now fitted to my E9 (with relays and chunky wires on the low beams). Cibie no longer makes the CSR but if you find a set used, just buy them! Awesome lighting.
 
I am on this soap box for follow up of posts , so many on the E24 site where we never learn the answer/solution/outcome.That said, Bwana what did you end up doing?
 
Drew20 said:
this is quite a thread resurrection! But I will just say that, even though I'm on the wrong side of the pond, Daniel Stern has ben my go to person for lighting advice for 15 years now. He advised me to upgrade the factory euro (RHD) lights on my E24 to Cibie CSR units. These same lights are now fitted to my E9 (with relays and chunky wires on the low beams). Cibie no longer makes the CSR but if you find a set used, just buy them! Awesome lighting.
Click to expand...
Daniel (Consult Daniel Stern Lighting <[email protected]>) had the following to say:
Flat-face Cibies have been unavailable for quite a few years now, and the convex-face Cibies just recently were discontinued after deteriorating in build quality and performance for some time.

Daniel is now big on:
1. Kioto Headlamps, to him these are the most efficient (greatest amount of light on the road), best focused (most useful distribution of light), best-built (sturdiest glass and metal materials, most careful build quality) lamps of their type in this size -- he said they're significantly better in all three respects than the (discontinued) Cibie and (available but not worth buying) Hella lamps in this size, not to mention blowing away the off-brand junk.

2. His current best-pick bulbs are made by Tungsram (GE of Europe) and cost $78.36/set of four, that is two of the H4 high/low beam bulbs for the outboard lamps and two of the H1 high-beam bulbs for the inboard lamps. For data, please see bulb test results posted by his colleague Virgil at http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?392498-Interesting-headlight-bulb-test-results

3. He recommended adding a relay install kit RIK-4. The RIK includes all the needed relays, brackets, terminal blocks, terminals, plugs, sockets, fuses and fuseholders, all in very fine quality. You can DIY or have them build the kit.

4. For those of us with Euro's, or those of you opt for parking lights, you can either:
a) Swap on a set of the US/Canada front turn signal socket-housing assemblies (they take a 2-filament bulb with the bright filament for the turn signal and the dim filament for the position light), or if you want to keep your existing front turn signal housing -
b) buy a cheater dingus on ebay a set of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/292919232969

5. Daniel says the exterior signal lamps can safely be made 45% brighter with special high-efficiency bulbs available (only) through the Honda parts system.
The single-filament variety (replacing 7506, 1156, 1141, 1076, P21W, or P25-1) is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IFP9P4O/?tag=2402507-20
The dual-filament variety (replacing 7528, 1157, 1034, 2057, 2357, P21/5W, or P25-2) is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFDIN0K/?tag=2402507-20

6. When it comes to connectors, he writes: It's best not to use the fold-over-and-crunch "Scotchlok" type taps. Much better, more durably trouble-free result if you use Posi-Taps, http://www.allpar.com/reviews/other/posi-tap.html

Daniel typically responds late at night Pacific time, but the responses are very detailed. Again, great service and information. He knew all the variations of e9s.
 
Personally not a fan of Daniel Stern. Those positabs look like crap and are a solution to a non-existent problem. If you are going to rewire your headlights do it right. Use real euro terminal ends inside the H1 connectors and the relay bases at the other end.
 
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