Headlight upgrade

[elwood blues]

With daylight savings time taking effect over the weekend, that means here on the far east coast it will be getting dark at about 4:30 at night again.

Has anyone upgraded their headlights to H4's or something more ? I was looking at the IPF H4 lenses

or the one's from Hella

I don't want anything that's going make it look like a freaking rice rocket or some eurojunk with halo headlights, I would just like headlights that make more light than a pair of zippo's :driving:.

 

[mylittlecj5]

With daylight savings time taking effect over the weekend, that means here on the far east coast it will be getting dark at about 4:30 at night again.

Has anyone upgraded their headlights to H4's or something more ? I was looking at the IPF H4 lenses

or the one's from Hella

I don't want anything that's going make it look like a freaking rice rocket or some eurojunk with halo headlights, I would just like headlights that make more light than a pair of zippo's :driving:.

as part of my rewire, i am upgrading my lighting harness with relays and circuit breakers on both tbe high and low beams. i also changed out the actual wires with 12ga wiring. my next step will be an h-4 conversion.
I dont know of anything else that can be done to them, or i would add that to the system.

 

[Old Dog]

I have never used that light, but I have used Hella's in the past a few times. They were always great.

You are going with relays also right?

 

[Zuni]

I upgraded a little over a year ago to Hellas. Really a big improvement that I recomend to anyone who needs more light. Where I live there are few street lights and the H4's really light it up compared to the old lights. Just remember to hook them up with relays.

 

[elwood blues]

~ ~ You are going with relays also right?

~ ~ Just remember to hook them up with relays.

On my XJ I upgraded to IPF square lenses with PIAA bulbs and it was just plug and play. I was unaware that the CJ headlight system wasn't relayed. So, when you pull the light switch, all of the headlight voltages/amperage is running through the switch??? Wow, that's just scary, do any of you guys have a diagram for wiring in headlight relays?

 

[Old Dog]

EB I haven't done mine yet but here's some info I have.

Installing Headlight Relays

headlight mods.....

 

[BajaEdition]

I will have to figure out which conversion I did, it was not those Heelas, I think it was the IPS,
What ever it was I did not want those blue ricky racer lights but still wanted those super bright ones

 

[LongHorn]

Here how I wired mine.

 

[elwood blues]

Great schematic LongHorn.

Old Dog, good info in those links.

mylittlecj5, are you doing your own wiring our are you using an aftermarket harness of some kind?

Thanks for the great replies everyone

 

[IOPort51]

7" H6024 6014 H4 EURO CONVERSION HEADLIGHTS KIT:eBay Motors (item 270478333801 end time Nov-30-09 11:45:01 PST)

Hey Elwood;
Check these out, I put them in the J-10 and am quite happy with them, in principal. The truth is the bulbs are junk but the jugs you put them in are way cool, you just have to put a pair of Sylvania high end bulbs in them. They draw less current then the sealed beams and, I am told, last about a zillion times longer.
With the Sylvania bulbs I got about twice the light with out being obnoxious. It is white light with out being blue. I like it
I want to say I paid about $60 for the pair of bulbs and the ones that came with the conversion are on a shelf in the shop. I did try them and they were perhaps marginally brighter than the sealed beams.

 

[mylittlecj5]

Great schematic LongHorn.

Old Dog, good info in those links.

mylittlecj5, are you doing your own wiring our are you using an aftermarket harness of some kind?

Thanks for the great replies everyone

Mine is pretty much all scratch-building. There are a few circuits that will have the stock wires (no need to upgrade the front marker lights/wires for example), but all the important things will be custom work.
New aftermarket gauges, complete replacement dash (custom built) marine fuse box, circuit breaker protection on important stuff (like headlights!), ect...

 

[IOPort51]

Little cj;
please tell us more about your marine fuse box/circuit breaker. where did it come from??

 

[mylittlecj5]

Little cj;
please tell us more about your marine fuse box/circuit breaker. where did it come from??

Its just a fuse box designed for boats (I thought it was a sealed box B4 I bought it, but it isn't )

Since I bought mine, I've seen a few guys running the same one and seem happy with it. A few have them mounted under the hood and have reported no problems. Mine will be behind the dash to protect it from water/ mud intrusion.
I got mine here...
West Marine: ST Blade Fuse Blocks Product Display

the circuit breakers are just standard CBs you can buy nearly anywhere. I got mine from someplace online with a bunch of other stuff.

 

[BrockGrimes]

headlight mods.....

I like the above link for how to wire it.

Check out these lights.
7" Round H4 Headlamps

I posted info in the above link but here's the basics.

Buy a light with a glass lens and a metal reflector if you can.
It's not the name that's important buy the cheapest one you
can find, e-bay is a great source. Your just looking for a 7" light.

If you live in an inspection area get ones with DOT approval listed or
paper work showing they are.

BTW, it's very important to upgrade your wiring or carry good
insurance on the jeep cause you'll burn it down!

 

[Jokenring]

I put these in Link Then a year later added an HID kit to them. I know HID on a '74

But you can't beat the light output. The headlights alone put the 100 watt spots to shame.

 

[LongHorn]

I put these in Link Then a year later added an HID kit to them. I know HID on a '74

But you can't beat the light output. The headlights alone put the 100 watt spots to shame.

Do they have this kind of output?

 

[Jokenring]

Do they have this kind of output?View attachment 1443

Something like that. It really is a night and day difference. Pun intended.

 

[mtruckstuff]

Good outfit..... Susquehanna MotorSports - High Performance Vehicle Lighting and Competition Accessories .....they have anything you might need in terms of electrics, plus a lot of valuable tech data and advice. Dealt with them for years.

Paul