H4 Conversion and LED Elements - The Journey Begins!

I followed what Greg did and am very pleased with the results. Low beam and high beam:


DRLs are bright too:

 

I kept trying to adjust my low beams but was never satisfied with the results and when I tested with a piece of cardboard directly in front of the car a few feet away, it became pretty apparent there is a dead spot in each low beam at the dead center of the beam.

I have two easy options:

1) Try a real halogen H4 bulb to see what it does. This requires me to actually research a good H4 bulb and buy it.

2) Examine the existing LED bulb and see if I can identify the issue. This is free and if I screw it up, I can always go back to option 1.

So, here we have the bulb and I think I see why there is a dead spot in the center. The LED can't shine past the raised edge. If I can't see the LED, the LED can't reflect from that spot.



I got brave and decided I'm going to modify one of them to see if I can improve on the spread.

Here's what I did, file down the edge and cut out a piece of the low beam shield from the non-shielded side. I've yet to test it. This is my first pass. You can now see the LED element though. It can't hurt.

 

Here's the fully modded version with visible LED from the top (which reflects up to be the low beam) instead of being blocked by the edge of the frame. The high beam ones are still shrouded. I'll test it in a day or two when I get the chance.

 

Well, finally got a chance to put it back in and check it. Maybe a little change. Not a lot. Might need different bulbs or different lenses.

Unaltered right headlight.


Altered left headlight.

 

See how it looks on the road

 

Yep, I need to get it out after dark again and see how it adjusts out. Which is pretty easy this time of year.

 

For all you step child owners (68-69 Skylark/GS) the H4 LED bulbs with the fan on the back (behind the mounting flange) will not fit on the passenger side high beam, unless you have a really small battery. I've ordered some that are supposed to be 1:1 size with a standard halogen H4 bulb and will report on the fitment when they arrive.

Yeah, I'm finally getting around to installing the housings and bulbs I bought over 3-years ago...

 

Well... bulbs came in today and that didn't work out either. Going back to the original H4 bulbs I purchased and that were suggested. I'll just have to space them out of the housings evenly some how. I think I got it figured out and will post up what I did when it's done and working.

 

Maybe a shorter bulb like: https://www.amazon.com/Auxbeam-2000...=auxbeam+h4+led+headlight+bulb,aps,205&sr=8-5

 

Funny you posted that Bill, that's the exact bulb set I purchased to try to replace the fan cooled ones. While I could make those work, their design makes them not nearly as bright as the fan cooled bulbs, and useless as high beam bulbs. I tried modifying one by cutting the prongs a 1/4 inch shorter to gain some clearance, and that pretty much killed it.

Tonight I'll try to get some photos of how I overcame the issue with the fan cooled bulbs, as I have 1 more to install yet.

 

Ok here is it. Started by cutting these 1" x 1" self adhesive stiff foam squares into 12 strips, about 1/4" wide. They don't have to be super straight or even. Wen you get it all together, you can't see them anyway.



Next, I stacked them 2 high, on each side of the tabs to line up the housing in the bucket. In this case, you don't have to worry about the tabs lining up with the slots in the bucket, as they won't sit all the way in there anyway. Set the housing in the bucket, and line up the top center with the top adjuster. Don't torque the crap out of the retaining ring, just tighten enough so the housing won't move. If you over tighten it, you may break a mounting tab off...



Here is the left side done. I only had to space the high beam lights out. The low beams installed just fine with no spacers.



Here is the right side done. The back of the bulb fan housing does sit against the battery, but for as often as the high beams run, I don't think it will matter.



Low beams on



High beams on



Now I can't wait until I get the rest of the things done, so I can take it for a night drive!

 

Nice - You could put spacers (made from steel tubing) between the retaining ring and the support so you could tighten the screws.

 

True, but this seemed much quicker and would prevent any rattles. Plus they stay in place while your lining everything up. Even with metal spacers, you don't want to crank on the mounting screws for the retaining rings, and break the tabs off.

 

I meant with the rubber spacers. I thought your rings were standing off the bucket??

 

I understand now...

I actually stood the head light housing off of the bucket by a little more than 1/4 inch, using the rubber spacers. You could do that with metal tubing too, but I thought it may crack the glass housing if I got carried away with tightening the ring too much.