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Crystal Headlamp units


Pete Lewis

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The 2000 Mk2 had bulbed 55/65 halogen outers and sealed 75w inners , alls fine on main but the dip was a dreary 30 mph max even with the aim raised to optimum

so have fitted a set of crystal lense units from ebay for £53 , not a utopia make but

sound enough for a trial, which was tested going to our busy club night on monday

 

the result is astonishing, not fitted relays yet thats for a sunny day, but with no light loss from the old prism lenses makes a world of illumination

Thats using the same bulbs

 

They need one location notch opening up as the pitch of the three lugs is slightly different, 2 align the 3rd needs a simple extention to the location slot

 

relays will be fitted to extend the switch life but on main its actually 2 x10w less

than the sealed units

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yes £57  was for all four and bulbs

units are made by autopal   bulbs are std  halogen H4,  

 

many on ebay  are  as a set  with side pilot, (bit cheaper)   which i didnt want so got two sets of 261909261450  from vintage warehouse bromsgrove

 

  as crystal headlamp kit  caterham7      5 3/4"  pair 

 

   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Aidan, you need 7" lamps  for your GT6  or it will need glasses ?!!!!!!!

 

Pete

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I too like the crystal lights. 

On my last spit, I changed from std sealed beams to the crystals with the cheapo supplied H4 bulbs. The difference was astounding, far more than the previous halogen conversions I had done.

In current car they are also relayed and Philips extreme bulbs. I don't need the spotlights I fitted during the build......

 

(first car did LOTS of night rallies, which prompted the chage. Current thoroughly tested over 2500 miles on the 10CR on top of "normal" use)

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I fitted these a couple of years ago and as mentioned by Clive & Pete the difference was noticeable. When I went from sealed beam to halogen it was a bit of a difference, then added relays which was big difference, then changed to these and they improved the same again. Cheap too, but some people may not like the look of them, but I'd rather see where I was going.

 

My old pair of halogens had rusted quite a bit, these are plastic so won't. My only complaint about them is that the chrome ring doesn't clamp them in so they are slightly loose.

 

headlamp_001.jpg

 

headlamp_002.jpg

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Aidan,

 

An easy way of deciding what fuse to use on any application is to divide watts by voltage. So if you have 2 x 60w headlights, that's a total of 120w, so divide 120(watts) by 12(volts) gives you 10(amp). However I'd use a 15amp fuse as there may be a bit of a surge when turning on. The cable in the headlight circuit is rated to 17 amp.

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Love clear headlamps on the GT6 although for shows I might retain the original units on my Herald - just to please the anoraks! I also recently used a Meguiars headlamp cleaning kit on headlamps on a Renault clio and a Hyundai where the plastic had become opaque and the transformation was amazing - you don't realise how much cloudy plastic dims the beam until you clean it off.

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  • 3 months later...

Pete, or anyone who knows :)  

 

I have opened up the loom at the front of the bonnet and have found the point at which the cabling splits for each headlamp there are bullet connectors here which I guess is a good place to splice the new wiring in. The question is what is the standard size of bullet connectors used?

 

- If I can get the right sized female ones I can make a clean and easy splice

 

Aidan

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi

 

Well All done thanks and all working through the relays YAY!

 

One point to raise though, and this might be because I have been using the column switch regularly to test the lights but I seem to remember there is a "Flash facility on the column switch when you pull it towards you

 

This is not working

 

. Looking again at the wiring diagram there is definatelky another circuit to power the main beam

 

Does the switch need replacing? I cant think that what I have done would have impacted on it other than using the switch

 

Any thoughts welcome

 

Aidan

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Hi Pete

Checked the wiring on this. The switch is a really simple design. Effectively the switch swivels when you pull it toward you and makes a contact to a separate supply Checked the supply and its fine at the fuse box ( permanent live), but no power at the switch

 

I guess it must be where the switch cable joins in to the the harness

 

Horn and interior light are working so the fuse box is not at fault

 

Aidan

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