Euro Headlights
- Thread starter Bwana
- Start date
All this said, what were Euro cars leaving the factory with? Varied by model, year etc?
John, clearly scotch served neat.
John, clearly scotch served neat.
Yeah you are right. I’m still going to look into LED bulbs before adding a relay. I already have a three relay harness with Bosch 30a relays for low/high/driving, but would prefer not to use it. I don’t really intend to do any serious night driving with my car. I wonder what the collective hours on night driving are within this forum (excluding @adawil2002).
I’m sure @HB Chris knows. My assumption would be all US cars got sealed beam, and all euro cars got H1. I’m not sure how or why H4’s entered the equation. H4’s are awesome, but not in a 5 3/4 package.
so i forget ... who is still making h1 low beam housings? the hella flat fronts are h4 and i believe the cibie are also h4
AFAIK all euro coupes have the H1 lo with 4w parking lamp and H1 hi, each of these has a distinct lens pattern, and had the flat face Hella lamps. To accommodate US regulations all US/NA coupes got H4 lo and H1 hi sealed beam headlights with a unique column dip switch for use with the H4 lamps and turn signal housing with a dual filament bulb for the parking light.
Scott, I forgot where I got my Hella H1 lo beams with parking light but they are still available I believe.
Scott, I forgot where I got my Hella H1 lo beams with parking light but they are still available I believe.
Walloth sells them
I think I’ve been down this path before. I get a little thrown off by H4 sealed beams. I think mainly because I have always done euro H4 upgrades on cars with 9004 sealed beams. When I think H4, I think euro lenses with the H4 boot and city light sockets. Had them on my VW’s (Hella), and on my Jeep (ARB - IPF).
The thing that is also confusing is that the H4 bulb is dual filament, which explains the third prong. For a traditional single lens that means a low and a high in the same lense. That is why having tiny dual beam fluting on a 5 3/4 lens is odd/inefficient. Works great on a 7” lense. So I am reading that one let of the filament was a parking light? I thought BMW handled that with dual filament bulbs in the blinker/side marker. Certainly that was the case from the 80’s onward.
I have the sealed H4 from my CSI handy. Note the H4 plug and the H1 high. Also note the very concave glass. High beams are from Toshiba
and are kinda cool IMO.
My project car has euro H4’s. I’m pretty sure mine are motorcycle lenses. This is a euro H4 with a removeable bulb, non sealed beam. To accommodate the large dual filament H4 bulb, the glass protrudes a good 13mm or so from the HL retainer. They look funky on e9’s.
Apologies for the grime. I haven’t washed my car in 5 years.
Euro coupes have a single filament turn signal bulb as the parking light is in the headlight. I guess I use H4 and 9004 for sealed beams interchangeably.
I think they are H4 sealed beams actually. The 9004 plug is the more modern plastic plug with the gasket. I just never owned a car with sealed H4’s. Maybe my 84 volvo 240 with quad square HL’s.
So what was the second filament on the sealed H4’s used for? Did the US E9 have dual high beams? Still confused on that part.
On an H4 one filament is lo and one is high, 55/60W. They never come on together, one goes out the other goes on. That why the dip switch needs to modified on a US coupe if you switch to H1 lo. If you don’t to it the lo goes out when Hi is selected.
Gotcha. That has always been my understanding of H4’s. Your comment above threw me off but I think I misread it. So in fact e9’s had dual high beams. The H4 outers when high is engaged, along with the H1 inners.
Yes four filaments but same with four H1.
I upgraded my Hella lighting with dedicated relays, new wiring and connectors as well as Osram 70/65 bulbs. I now have better lighting than a lot of modern cars. A vast improvement from what I had before which I think was due as much from new connectors and wiring as it was from better bulbs. As a side note my car came into my possession with these clear plastic covers over the headlights. I've never seen these anywhere else and was wondering if this was a period add on? Anybody know where these came from?
Go figure. What Stern provided me was the most useful of light. I needed bright for my evening desert drives, done, good dispersion required, done, Fail free wiring, done....It requires time, fine tuning ones needs, and he is more then happy sharing his great resources.
He also designed the perfect lighting solution for my W113 Mercedes 280SL.
If you are looking to “Enhance” your lamps for actual night time driving, outside a street lite city, and period correct, then I go Stern every time.
He also designed the perfect lighting solution for my W113 Mercedes 280SL.
If you are looking to “Enhance” your lamps for actual night time driving, outside a street lite city, and period correct, then I go Stern every time.
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Headlight covers were very popular in the 1970’s and 80’s. Many BMW parts shops sold them
These were on my CSL when I recently got it back. The seller picked them up in Germany in the mid 90s at an autojumble. I like them
Yep - these were pretty popular back in the mid/late 80's.
I had a pair on my 2002. Not at first though. LOL
I was in college and had a bit of a tight budget, but went ahead and splurged and installed Cibie BOBI headlights. About a week later - lost one to a rock on the highway.
Went back to the shop I bought them from originally and got a replacement - and a set of these covers. I installed them that week and never looked back. Didn't loose any more glass and... I must admit - after having them on the car 25+ years - the day I sold the car, they were as clear as the day they were when I installed them.
I see them on some cars these days - but have not seen them sold new in quite a while.
Anyone ever use Narva bulbs? I did an upgrade on my E24 with flat Hellas and was underwhelmed with the improvement. Dan Stern sent me a 4 page note how this upgrade is not an upgrade and then suggested about 600 dollars worth of things to do. I found some Narva H4 bulbs and they made a huge difference without re-wiring and relays etc.