The end is near....SCOTTeVEST's Baby

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That is a lot to read and sort through.

I have the BiFocal H1 low beam with the 'city lights' and Kioto H4 high, they are wired to work together as high beams so all 4 headlights are on. This combination is better than the adaptive Xenons, that turn with the wheels, on the 2010 & 2014 BMW X3s.

Found mine were NOT purchased at Daniel Stern, this info is not correct for what is on my coupe.
 
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Does anyone have an image of below I can see. I sort of like the idea of another parking light in the headlamp, although not sure if I prefer amber or white. Not sure if this is it or not: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0605rc-turn-signals/

The BiFocal low beams incorporate a built-in parking lamp
which you may hook up or not, at your option. This is a
small 5w bulb ($4.59/ea) that sticks through the lamp's
reflector into the lamp itself, a short distance away from
the main headlight bulb, via a socket and grommet. "City
light" is a common casual term for this. The official term
is "front position lamp" or "parking lamps". It is _only_ a
parking lamp, not capable of producing an effective or legal
daytime running light or turn signal function no matter what
bulb is installed. Electrical connection is by a standard
1/4" spade terminal, which you wire into vehicle's parking
lamp feed. The city light illuminates the whole headlamp in
a "pilot light" sort of fashion; this makes for large-area
parking lamps, and if a headlight bulb ever burns out,
oncoming traffic still sees you as a double-track vehicle.
Outside North America, parking lamps must emit white light,
the North American style amber ones are not allowed. In
North America, parking lamps may emit white or amber light,
and these white ones built into the headlamp are a legal
form of parking lamp in the USA and Canada.
This type of parking lamp is not used on vehicles with
hidden or pop-up headlamps.
 
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teahead said:
Right. VERY few cars looks OK w/a front plate. On all my cars, except my pickup truck, has no front plate because it always ruins the look on the front.
Click to expand...
PS: I never use front plates on sports cars, even if required.. Never had a problem, even when ticketed for speeding, cops say nothing. Anyway, somethings are worth going to jail for
 
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scottevest said:
Does anyone have an image of below I can see. I sort of like the idea of another parking light in the headlamp, although not sure if I prefer amber or white. Not sure if this is it or not: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0605rc-turn-signals/

The BiFocal low beams incorporate a built-in parking lamp
which you may hook up or not, at your option. This is a
small 5w bulb ($4.59/ea) that sticks through the lamp's
reflector into the lamp itself, a short distance away from
the main headlight bulb, via a socket and grommet. "City
light" is a common casual term for this. The official term
is "front position lamp" or "parking lamps". It is _only_ a
parking lamp, not capable of producing an effective or legal
daytime running light or turn signal function no matter what
bulb is installed. Electrical connection is by a standard
1/4" spade terminal, which you wire into vehicle's parking
lamp feed. The city light illuminates the whole headlamp in
a "pilot light" sort of fashion; this makes for large-area
parking lamps, and if a headlight bulb ever burns out,
oncoming traffic still sees you as a double-track vehicle.
Outside North America, parking lamps must emit white light,
the North American style amber ones are not allowed. In
North America, parking lamps may emit white or amber light,
and these white ones built into the headlamp are a legal
form of parking lamp in the USA and Canada.
This type of parking lamp is not used on vehicles with
hidden or pop-up headlamps.
Click to expand...


City lights and fogs. Doesn't Cindy look thrilled, LOL.

City lights in the Redwoods

IMG_2775.jpg
IMG_2425.jpg
 
adawil2002 said:
That is a lot to read and sort through.

I have the BiFocal H1 low beam with the 'city lights' and Kioto H4 high, they are wired to work together as high beams so all 4 headlights are on. This combination is better than the adaptive Xenons, that turn with the wheels, on the 2010 & 2014 BMW X3s.
Click to expand...

I am inclined to follow you know this because I have on so many other things. Do you have a simple lick what I should purchase and any information on how to wire so that all the lights are on and work together etc.


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scottevest said:
I am inclined to follow you know this because I have on so many other things. Do you have a simple lick what I should purchase and any information on how to wire so that all the lights are on and work together etc.
Click to expand...

Vintage Sports & Restoration did the conversion. I don't have any pictures of the headlight wiring, the harness is wrapped on my car so new pictures won't help. So I would refer to the directions from Daniel Stern and Benny's experience.

These:
If you do much high-demand night driving, instead of H4s,
put in the Hella BiFocal H1 low beams ($278/pair), which are
the most efficient, best focused replaceable-bulb halogen
headlamps in this size format, and I stock the
commercial-duty version with toughened hardglass lens,
extremely resistant to chipping, pitting, cracking, and
breaking. Use Osram/Philips H1 55w precision-focus, ultra
high luminance bulbs ($35.18/pair).

The BiFocal low beams incorporate a built-in parking lamp
which you may hook up or not, at your option. This is a
small 5w bulb ($4.59/ea) that sticks through the lamp's
reflector into the lamp itself, a short distance away from
the main headlight bulb, via a socket and grommet. "City
light" is a common casual term for this.

If you go with the BiFocal low beams, there's a minor/easy
mod required to keep the low beams lit when high beam is
activated (which, contrary to appearance, is not presently
the case).

Open the fuse box and remove high beam relay (usually
labelled K3). Examine it carefully -- there should be a
circuit diagram on its top or side, and even if not the
pins should be labelled.

If you see a terminal labelled "87a", follow this first set
of directions:
ams, for vehicles without jumpered
kickswitch:
RIK-H1H1, $59
 
scottevest said:
Seriously, that is only 2/3 of what he wrote to me. There were too many characters
Click to expand...
I keep re-reading, and thinking about this more. No offence to Mr. Stern - he is clearly a master of his craft and very knowledgeable in the subject of automotive illumination. But there is a point at which more words do not equal more information. I always find that the best experts in a given field are those that have the ability to distill relevant information into a form that can be conveyed, understood, and appreciated by those to whom the message is being delivered. That said, I am really happy with my Hella lamps - they are German which in my limited view fits a German car. I like how they look (acknowledging that this is irrelevant to their illumination). I don't think I'll run out to replace them anytime soon.
 
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adawil2002 said:
Vintage Sports & Restoration did the conversion.
If you do much high-demand night driving, instead of H4s,
put in the Hella BiFocal H1 low beams ($278/pair), which are
the most
breaking. Use Osram/Philips H1 55w precision-focus, ultra
high luminance bulbs ($35.18/pair).
Click to expand...
Scott

I pointed you to a cheaper source for these back when Andrew first mention them.
 
rolled fenders are the correct approach for using 16" wheels on a coupe. you won't be sorry for having done it. additionally you won't then catch the fender lip with the tire messing up that new paint.

sorry - i was a little behind in reading on this thread.
 
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I just talked with Daniel. That guy knows his shit. He was very helpful. Based on the fact I don’t drive terribly much at night and I’m not a slave to keeping things all German or original he recommended this late. He said it is kind of cool because it is flat and is much more efficient and what it does with the light. He claims to be one of the few distributors for this brand in the United States and offer some slightly less than MSRP
Thoughts?

Koito low kbsl14
high kbsl16
$316
$78 for bulbs


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adawil2002 said:
Scott, checked my invoices from VSR who did the headlamp conversion in 2014. Mine are Hella H4 Low with City Light and H1 High. Unfortunately there are no part numbers.

Believe mine were purchased at rallylights.com
City Light Low: http://www.rallylights.com/hella-5-3-4-round-h4-e-code-headlamp-with-city-light-hl66021.html
H1 High: http://www.rallylights.com/hella-5-3-4-round-h1-high-beam-headlamp-ece-each-hl71157.html

Hope this info is helpful and doesn't create more confusion.
Click to expand...

Much cheaper and they look fine to me. They say they are only for off-road in competition use in the description. Is that correct? I like the flat portion of the lights he suggested but think it might look completely out of place. Do you agree?


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