vette427-sbc

Just completed what I consider the ultimate in headlight upgrades for these cars (my opinion, of course).
There are a total of 6 lights lighting up the roadway at "full blast" . Ill start with the LED fog lights.
These were a direct replacement for the factory 1157 parking light/turn sig lamp. All I had to do was add a resistor across the turn signal wiring because the LEDs were causing the blinkers to not function properly.

They have a switch-back feature that will turn off the fog and flash amber built into the bulb. Although a bit pricy, I think they are a pretty good bang for the buck in terms of light output and cool factor. Ive had them in for a few months now with no issue.
Here is 1 LED:


And a video of the switch back feature (click pic for vid)


Next up was to make an HID projector fit in a 5.75" housing, and even more difficult, in a corvette headlight door.

I bought a cheap set of H4 conversion housings on ebay for $25 and started cutting them up to fit a set of Morimoto Mini Bi-xenon projectors.


I went for an all black look... Here it is without the lens


and with the lens back on


A little surgery needed to get the long projector to fit



Trial run to see the how close the LED and HID color was. (looks more blue in the pic than it is in person)


The camera gets a little washed out at night taking pictures of the light, but you get the idea... I guess I would describe the lights as looking more precise in person



And heres the best thing about projectors... Huge amount of light where you want it. Not in the oncoming drivers eyes! (still have minor alignment tweaks to do)
Heres low beam:


High beams with the GE aircraft lights


Low beam


High beams



This will be my 3rd headlight setup and probably last.
My first setup was stock wiring and parts store bulbs. Horrible.
Next was to relay the headlights, and add the GE aircraft lights. Better, but still not great.
So now I have the LED fog lights, high and low 35W HID projectors, and the GE aircraft lights! It makes driving at night FAR better, safer, and the car looks damn cool coming up in your rear view.

I could not ask for anymore light at night. Seriously. I thought about quad projectors, but when you dont care about beam pattern for high beam, the GE aircraft lights are almost un-beatable (especially for the $$).

Heres the parts list for those who asked:
Projectors/Bulbs/ballasts:
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=227

LED fog lights/turn sig:
The website I got these from is not great for linking to but go here:
http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm
and do a ctrl+f (PC users) for "80 Watt Cree Led White-Amber Switchback Bulbs"

Aircraft Landing lights are GE 4537

The headlight housings that I cut up were from ebay. As long as it has a non fluted lens, you can use it. The title for the listing was Conversion H4 Head Light Lamp Diamond Cut Pair.

7t2vette

Nice work, I like it!

You could add some LED halo rings to those 5.75" housings. I am about to start making something similar but a little different with projector headlights. One thing I am concerned about is the projectors appearing to "flicker" because they have such a sharp cut off, and they won't be mounted in a rigid housing, like on a C6 Corvette. Have you had a chance to drive with them yet, and did you notice any flickering?

CA-Legal-Vette

Well done!

I love the light given off by those bulbs. I've always wanted to add the landing lights, but those low beams rock too.

vette427-sbc

Thanks! I thought about the halos, but they just arent my thing... I do have your halo mod on the rear tail lights and love them!

Funny how you mention the sharp cutoff/flickering issue... I thought I had my headlight doors in pretty good shape until I drove around with these. I wouldnt be surprised if I induced a few seizures with the flickering effect!
I did alot of work after that to make sure they are as rigid as possible and while there is still a small movement in the headlight door, it is not bad at all. My car is sprung fairly stiff to so that im sure makes it worse. I will say it is definitely not as "flicker-less" like a fixed headlight car though.

509 rat

to me if your vette is modded I would run the fia l88 head lights, way lighter.

7t9l82

im thinking of going to aircraft lights, i had them on another vette years ago and they were great. anybody know of an easy way to wire them up for full effect? and how about more detail on the turn signal driving lights.

Amorget

Personally I like the pop up lights a lot more than I like the FIA lights.

vette427-sbc - the headlights are amazing!

jb78L-82

Vette427,

I really like the low beam HID's and the LED turn signals.I am not a fan of the GE (100 watt?) aircraft landing lights since they are a very inexpensive (Cheap) light with a basic reflector and use a sealed beam filament which is a VERY yellow white light color even with clear lenses. The morimoto projector is one of the best for the HID's and I have considered them for some of my other cars but not the 78 since I don't want to cut up the housings.

I have had my light setup on the 78 since 1983 when changing headlights to anything but sealed beams was illegal and they were the best lights then and still pretty darn good today. The most important aspect of any lighting system is the QUALITY of the lens, NOT the wattage or color of the light bulbs. Using the morimoto projector's in the light housing is excellent. I have 4 Hella Euro lead Chrystal housings with the low beams having a sharp cutoff like the morimoto's in your pictures. I am very confidant that using the Hella Euro lenses with HID's would give a very similar effect without having to cut the light housings. I run H4 55/80 watt halogen bulbs on the low beams. I don't run HID's simply since I hardly ever drive my 78 at night anymore simply due to the car's age, not mine. On the high beam side I would strongly urge you to consider the Hella Euro Lead Chrystal lenses or Cibie lights running a 100 watt halogen bulb (extreme white light bulbs) in place of the those GE 100 watt sealed beam headlights which is all that they are. The light output will be superior and better white light color (if you use a clear lense) which is what I run. My low beams use the standard wiring and the highs are on a relay so as not to trip the circuit breaker in the headlight dash switch which is what would happen before the relay install way back when. You can also run an amber colored halogen bulb with the clear lenses as an alternative in the H1 high beam. Just a couple of options. Hope that helps!

I do have aftermarket 5000K (the best color for maximum white light output) HID's in the factory projectors on my chrysler 300 and they are simple stunning.

Amorget

Why is a non-yellowish light important?

CA-Legal-Vette

The bulb number that I got to do this is 4537

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wagner-4537-Aircraft-Landing-Light-Bulb-Clear-Glass-100-Watt-13-Volt-New-In-Box-/161166846627?pt=Motors_Aviation_Parts_Gear&hash=item25864aeaa3&vxp=mtr
There seems to be a number of different terminals on these bulbs. The ones that I have use large wire nuts. Some of these use profs that look pretty similar to stock.

I know that most folks use relays to power these but I've also seen it done without. Presumably they'll flicker more and be tough on old wiring.

stopherjones

Could you post links for the led fogs? There are about 43,000 on EBAY...LOL!! I want to get the right ones the first time.

Also some links for the housings and other items for this conversion. I am very interested in getting this done pretty soon....My headlight situation is very dim...(pun intended)

Thanks again and those look great!!

MotorHead

First, very impressive, I bet they light things up pretty good.

I had the harness from Speed Direct and the high end lights. The harness had a relay for each light. I never did install them for one reason or another.

What I did do was put aircraft landing lights in the high beam housing with a relay for each one and separate switch to turn them on. I don't care about what anyone says about pencil beam or yellowish they rock at night when I flash them on a "Look at my lights" high end car blinding me coming in the opposite direction

I have seen drivers flash their high beams on a BMW or Lexus because the guy thought they had their lights on high when they were actually on low beam.

The basic reason the normal lights are not that bright and yellowish was so you can see adequately at night and not blind the person driving in the opposite direction on a 2 lane road. I believe there are now restrictions at least on new cars of how bright the lights can be for this reason.

vette427-sbc

Thanks guys
As for using the aircraft lights; they are only used for high beam so I could care less about the beam pattern. All I want is light output and anyone that has them knows- they give off some serious light. As for the light being yellowish, sure they will not be as white as a 5000k HID or LED. Mine are tinted yellow on purpose!
Ill look into the Cibe stuff, but I really like the GE lights. Plus, like i said before its hard to beat these things at $12 a bulb


The website I got the LED fogs from is not great for linking to but go here:
http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm

and do a ctrl+f (PC users) for "80 Watt Cree Led White-Amber Switchback Bulbs"


Original post edited with parts list at the bottom

jb78L-82

If the ultimate goal is the most light output from the lights, then the whitest possible light will give the most candlepower/lumens. Yellow/blue light which might look cool but will reduce total light output.

Amorget

Please explain to me how the color of the light has affect on the lumen of a light. At least I assume you are referring to lumen when you say "output"

jb78L-82

Watts is the amount of electricity to light a bulb and really is not a good measure of light output. Lumens is the amount of visible light in a certain area. The whitest light is the most visible color to the human eye (the most sensitivity) followed by yellow and green light.

Below is HID light color description that should help clarify my points:

"The McCulloch 5000K Bi Xenon HID car kit (Bi Xenon means low and high beam) has an approximately 3200lm output, which is more than 3x the light output of the traditional halogen light and is the color temperature with the most output. The H.I.D. light appears fairly white, and has light yellowish hue when reflected off the road identical to the OEM HID equipped vehicles. This color is for customers who are looking for pure performance while improving the looks of their headlight. It is ideal for customers who do a lot of back road or canyon driving and need the optimal visibility these High Intensity Discharge lights / system provide."

The bottom line is that for the maximum light output, you want the best quality lens you can afford, with the brightest, WHITEST light-Pretty simple formula.

Hope that helps!

vette427-sbc

4300K is what most (if not all) factory HID cars have. It offers the most usable light.
(source: theretrofitsource.com)

Yellow, although not as bright, is easier to see in foggy or rainy conditions. Beam pattern also dictates how easy it is to see through fog/rain, hence the reason fog lights are mounted low. Ive been through some serious fog with the yellow GE lights and they work quite well.

Amorget

I can't find anything that says the human eye is most sensitive to white. Basically everything I find says it is green, followed by yellow.

noonie

Color Temp (K) Color Description:

3000k Yellow light (suitable for fog lights)
4300k White light with tinges of yellow.
5000K: PURE WHITE LIGHT.
6000K: White light with tinges of blue
8000K: Distinct blue color light
10000K: Bluish-green light
12000K: Bluish-purplish light.

C2C3PO

For anyone interested in learning more about the science of lighting I highly recommend a site called "Daniel Stern Lighting" (www.danielsternlighting.com).
He has some interesting tech articles on there and explains the myths surrounding color vs usable intensity of light. Basically what the human eye thinks is brighter does not always provide the best long range illumination as it relates to seeing further to detect road hazards, etc.