Better Headlights?

[nim205]

As an ex-owner of a Euro-headlighted W116 in the past, and as a current owner of a US-headlighted W116 in the present, I can claim with certainty that even though my eyes have not gotten younger with time, the brightness of the sealed beam is equivalent to the Euro type bulb.

I will defend this position fearlessly until proof is provided to the contrary (and then I will claim to never have written the lines above).

[Big_Richard]

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[nim205]

wouldn't it be a boring world if we all felt exactly the same way about everything.

Yes, I feel exactly the same.

[John Hubertz]

I'm in agreement - a modern sealed beam has wildly better aimability and light output then in days of old.  Hard to imagine the Euro style performs better - NOW.  Before, with halogen a bulb/housing only thing...  the old filament USA lamps weren't all that great and I recall euro equipped cars being obviously better.

My SEL can outshine my other two euro-style lamp cars by probably 200 yards as far as signage in the dark - and the city lights are just fabulous!  I can see!  I can see!

[Zagato]

Would I have to replace each entire lamp, or can I just get one of those modern bulbs?

[nim205]

You replace the entire lamp. The sealed beam is called sealed because you cannot separate the reflector, lens, or bulb - they are all one unit.

The cost for one quality lamp is around $20 US. The standard are about $10.

Replacing one is as easy as unscrewing a few screws. You first remove the outer square plastic frame, and then you remove the lamps' retaining door which is a simple chromed ring. If you own a Phillips screwdriver, you can do the job.

[Zagato]

Thanks for the pointers! I'll head out and buy myself some sealed beams to replace my dangerously inefficient 70's vintage ones.

[John Hubertz]

BTW - in defense of the old standards...  the rationale for the sealed beam regulations grew from the lack of vehicle inspection standards and chronic variation in bulb/headlamp designs in the 1930s in America. 

Growing from WWII military standards, the newly formed USA NTSB (highway regulators) made sealed-beam headlamps of standardized sizes mandatory immediately after the war.  Conversion costs were nil as the military always demanded sealed-beam lamps and no autos were produced during that period that were not mil-spec.

We retained the standards long after lamp designs were created that allowed for relatively common bulbs (thank you, mercedes/bosch btw) to be a world standard.  Price gouging by US automakers is an issue to this day - and any proprietary part is ridiculously overpriced.

Here's a mark VIII like mine - side rear quarter windows?  $1232.00 US.  Headlamps?  (and they fade hideously) $1100 a pair. 

American companies are quite shameless at this.  The windshield?  $225 reproduction, $412 from the dealer.



Here's the lovely part - 275 HP twin cam 32 V cobra engine - and these are commonly $2000 cars now, as buyers are afraid (like with 6.9s) of the complicated suspensions:



Mine sold new (including some dealer installed bits) for $43,000 in 1994...  and I'd be lucky to sell it for $1500 now, since the insurance company totalled it due to one flat tire and MAYBE some suspension issues!

[Zagato]

Bought General Electric halogen headlights this morning. I was hoping for something higher quality like the GenElect Nighthawk version, but I was told those would require a conversion. As I just wanted something I could plug in, I went with the basic halogens for $18 each.

So far I've installed the driver's side lamp. The brightness is a bit better, but I'll need to change the other too, to notice any big difference. Problem is, the cover for the passenger side lamps has a rusted/stripped screw. I'll have to try and tackled it tomorrow.

[Papalangi]

The other thing you need to take care of is aiming the head lamps.

You might want to google around to make sure I've got it right but I remember it as being the bright spot set to 1" (or maybe 2") down at 20 feet.

Park twenty feet from a wall.  Measure the center of the lens to the ground.  Mark this height on the wall.  With the lights on low beam, set the center of the bright spot 1" below the mark.

It's a bit trickier to set left/right centering, at least for me.  I usually stand well behind the car and sight along both sides looking for the bright spot to extend in a straight line.  You don't want it wandering too far left or right.

If you have light fog or mist in your area, you can park in a poorly lit area and stand off to one side and actually see the downward angle of the bright spot.  This is my favored method 'cause it's quick and dirty.

My car has Sylvania sealed halogens right now.  They are not the best, in fact they have two different beam patterns but I don't worry too much about it as the only stretch of un-streetlighted road I travel is a half mile long.

In the past, I've gone the other way and mounted a rather silly amount of lumens to the front of a car.

I had 3.5 million candle power on the front of my '65 Mustang.  So bright that while it lit up stop signs at a distance of more than five miles, any signs that were closer were unreadable.  Later I toned it down to just the Cibie Z beams with 55/60 watt lamps and the aircraft landing lights in the grill.

Michael

[John Hubertz]

Reminds me of my 66 Galaxie 500 XL fastback - I got some modified aircraft landing lights and put them in place of the sealed beam highbeams - wow could I get slow morons out of the passing lane - those things would peel paint!

Like you I replaced them, in my case with GE police spotlamps.  They were too long-range to be useful as highway high lamps.

  I couldn't find a pic - but here's the year/model/color

390 4 bbl with console and buckets - that was one of the few cars over the years I wish I'd kept.

[koan]

Reminds me of my 66 Galaxie 500 XL fastback

Always been a fan of that era Galaxies, '65 four door with dead straight lines my favourite, there were quite a few here (AUS) as it was Fords big car, some with 390s but most 289s.

Only ever spotted one two door here, a convertible, don't know if it came out the factory that way or not. Yellow paint with black hood, not at all attractive.

koan

[BAR]

Better is a question of judgement.  ie Is round Better than Square?  Is a halogen globe better than a tungsten globe?  Is a sealed bem tungsten better than a sealed beam halogen?

To make some direct reference to the W116, when introduced, the USA demanded 'sealed beam'headlamps, of which they were supplied witht he tungsten globes.  The rest of the world had moved forward to accomodating the brighter light available from a Halogen Globe [sometimes referred to as Quartz Halogen because of the material used for the globe.  Tungsten was the filament in the sealed beam units and halogen was the Gas used and quartz was used for the globe in the QH globes.

So the QH lamps produced a 'whiter', 'brighter'light.  NO ARGUEMENTS, they were better than Sealed Beam units in performance.  They may not have 'looked'as good to some folks as the Euro lamps.  The shape of the Euro lamps was rectangular for styling improvements and also to accomodate, Hi / Low Beam, Park Light and Fog light.

These days most manufacturers are miving to even better light provided by Zenon units [which may appear to cast a blueish light.

For the Amerians lighting standards are being defined under:  FMVSS No: 18  have a look at http://fmvss108.tripod.com/fmvss108text.htm

[Papalangi]

Reminds me of my 66 Galaxie 500 XL fastback - I got some modified aircraft landing lights and put them in place of the sealed beam highbeams - wow could I get slow morons out of the passing lane - those things would peel paint!

Like you I replaced them, in my case with GE police spotlamps.  They were too long-range to be useful as highway high lamps.

  I couldn't find a pic - but here's the year/model/color

390 4 bbl with console and buckets - that was one of the few cars over the years I wish I'd kept.

I probably didn't get all of the light I could with only a 35 Amp alternator

My folks traded the 4 door Falcon wagon I grew up in for the grandparents Galaxy 500.  It's trunk was so big it had it's own weather pattern inside.  We didn't keep it all that long, it was traded in on a brand new 1969 Peugeot 504.  7 years later, I learned to drive in that Peugeot.

Michael

[John Hubertz]

Heh.

"Trunk weather"

Explains the rot on even the best 116s in the trunk corners.  And here I thought I parked it too close to my beater and caught a case of "truck moths".