Don Carter

I've been following the HID discussions lately and after finding out I already had E-Code Cibie lenses (7"), I decided to try my luck with HIDs. I was able to eventually figure out how to eliminate the glare but it wasn't as easy as just having e-code lenses.

I'm not much for writing up procedures, but this worked out so well, I thought I'd give it a try. I don't think I'll be putting Dwayne out of business any time soon though.

I didn't get pics of every step of the process but most of it is fairly straightforward.

I found a local wholesaler on craigslist who also sells to the public who delivered a set of HIDs to my work for $70. These are the Chinese 35w, 6000k, digital slim ballasts, with low beam only (actually there is a small halogen bulb that lights up for high beams but it's pretty useless and is only there so the lights don't go completely off when the lights are switched to high beam. I'm guessing it's 20 watts). The idea is that you don't really need high beams with these.

Here's what the H4 bulb looks like


After installing the passenger side light, I noticed a weird pattern on the garage door test. There was light shooting up at 10 and 2 o'clock. I also took it out to a dark street and stood in front of it and the glare was unacceptable.



My first thought was that the small halogen bulb, which is right next to the HID tube, was catching some light, and reflecting it on the lower section of the reflector, since it is not blocked by the lower shield. I put some electric tape over the halogen to test this theory and that didn't fix the problem. Next I started looking at the shield that is supposed to only allow light from the HID tube to shine up to the upper half of the reflector, which reflects it down onto the road. Obviously it was too small and not totally effective. I then decided to make my own shield. I cut a square out of an aluminum soda can and curved it so that it fit inside the headlight, into the existing round front shield. The depth of this peice was 2" but I didn't measure the other width.





Here's the inside of the headlight without the new shield


And with the new shield


From the front, you can barely see the aluminum can peice, but it's not very noticable. Could paint it silver I guess.


This seemed to work really well and eliminated the stray light giving a nice clean cutoff. I have not yet glued this into place, since it is held pretty well by the bulb and the front shield, but I will probably epoxy it to the front shield eventually.



Here's a shot that shows the intensity, and color temperature difference


You can see from this shot that the lower half of the reflector isn't getting much light from the bulb.


Running the wires is fairly easy. After removing the plastic painted rear cover (3 screws), you can see an obvious hole where the wires need to be fed through. The wires on this unit were plenty long for me to mount the ballast down low just about the brake duct. I decided to plastic tie it to a metal support. These ballast do get hot, so I thought this would be more reliable and provide better cooling than double side tape or velcro.

(From below, looking up to the underside of the headlight)


Here's the final pattern with both lights installed.


My reflectors are showing their age and the lenses are not as clear as they should be, so I may end up getting new lenses eventually. It's also strange that the drivers side lense focuses some of the light in one area, sortof light a flash light, but the passenger side lense does not. I was able to adjust this intense spot of light right into the lane in front of the car and it really lights up a long way.

The color of the lights is just what I wanted, about the same as stock HIDs, but of course the light is not as uniform as projectors. I don't like blue tinted headlights and these just look pure white. After taking a test drive on a very dark country road, I can say it's a huge improvement over the halogens, but granted, my bulbs were probably 20 years old. At 80 mph, on a dark road, I didn't feel the need for high beams at all. Street signs and reflectors are lit up like never before. I highly recommend this upgrade, but can't vouch for the reliability of the HIDs yet. At least this local guy I got them from will swap out the ballast for a year if I have problems.

I'll be selling the new aluminum shield for $99 per set, plus $25 shipping and handling (US only). I can't garantee this low low price for long since the price of aluminum could go up at any time. Yes I take PayPal! Roger, can you stock these? Actually, if you feel adventurous, the aluminum cuts pretty easy with scissors.

sharknoob

Looks nice... I need to check my Cibies your beam pattern is different then the ones I have. Mine shine straight across then on the right end of the pattern go up on a angle.

heinrich

I like the work you did Don. Noob's pattern is preferable and cleaner but that is IIRC, H4. Yours would be H5. Euro light standards have headlamp patterns cut a very sharp horizontal which rises at a 45deg or so to the passenger (roadside) side. I hate HID because to me, in my mirrors, they are blinding.

Don Carter

heinrich,

Thanks,

Wondering about H5... The bulb I took out was H4 and the lens is e-code and also says H4 on it. Where do you get H5? The pattern on my lenses is somewhat different than the 8" e-codes I have seen, but I don't think I've seen any 7" e-codes to compare.

I don't think these would blind you in your mirror.

Noob,

Do you have any pics of your pattern or are they on another thread?

I would prefer a more uniform pattern.

sharknoob

If I dont have to many 's tonight I will grab a picture and post it up

Alan

Well,

Don for sure its a huge improvement from the original state with HID

However if you look at the difference side to side projected on the wall - you still have a lot more spill on the HID side - looking head on the glare is notably worse on the HID side...

On the wall the incandescent side is quite black above the sharp cut off - on the HID side the cut off is nowhere near so sharp - and its not black above that line...

Its possible the arc capsule of the HID bulb does not align very well with the filament of the incandescent bulb... you could possibly improve this by offsetting the HID bulb back out of the holder with a washer spacer... check them side by side... I'd drop the extra bulb and just ensure the low beam stays on in high beam mode...

Alan

Don Carter

Alan,

There's definately some room for improvement, but I did stand 100 feet or so in front of the car, in the oncoming lane at about driver's height and the lights didn't blind or annoy me. They are noticably brighter, and will probably catch oncoming driver's attention, but I don't think they will be a problem for oncoming drivers. Keep in mind the photos are slow shutter speed exposures, so the stray light you see on the garage door, may be somewhat brighter than in real life.

I should have measured the alignment of the bulbs and compared the two side by side. They are easy to get to, so I may play around with alignment, good idea.

Dean_Fuller

Great write up Don...I think they look great. On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is this upgrade to do by someone as myself not that comfortable with wiring?

You are saying your lights are USA versions and not euros?

Imo000

You car originally came with sealed beam lights and the PO must have converted them with a 7" H4 kit. I have hte same thing, except mine are Bosch lenses.

Nice job by the way. I'll be intalling an HID kit into mine this winter and will try to do what you did to get a better pattern.

Don Carter

The lights themselves are plug and play. You have many choices of bulb types, but on my car at least, I specified H4 and the plugs that were on the bulbs, just plugged right into the wire going to the ballast. Some people wire a relay and a heavier wire going to the battery, or in our case battery post, but I figure if our wiring can handle a 80/100 watt bulb, they can handle these 35W ballasts. They do pull a lot more power during startup, but I'm thinking since that's only for a few seconds, should be ok. Time will tell.

Really not sure about my lenses. I had another thread where I asked for help identifying them, and everyone said they were e-codes, but they do say DOT on them also, and the pattern seems different from other e-codes out there. I will probably replace them eventually since the reflector is somewhat foggy as is the glass.

Hey, it's dark out, I think I'll go for a drive!

SeanR

I like the reflector idea and it might be something that I can do on the HID's on the 8" H-5's that are the rage here now. Have 3 others wanting them installed. Did my 2nd install on Sunday. Jim loves them as they are, and after pricing H-4's a couple of weeks ago, I just don't drive mine at night .

This thread gives me some ideas. Thanks Don.

SharkSkin

Those are the Cibie e-codes, not the Bosch H4s that people here are generally referring to. Those are the older style Cibies, later style is the Z-beam where the part of the beam that angles up to the side also has its own level cutoff at a certain point above the main cutoff. The early ones are excellent lights with the H4 bulb, I had them on my 510 then later on my '67 R/T back in the 80's. Neither seem to be available in these parts anymore.

I ended up with the Hellas on my Z when I was shopping for lights about 12 years ago(attached pic, cropped down from a whole-front pic so not great quality). Excellent lights compared to sealed beam but not as good as Cibie and certainly not as good as the Bosch.

You can see similarities between the Cibie, Hella, and Bosch since they all started out with similar end results in mind but peformance is noticeable different if you've driven with each.

Nicole

Creative use of metal containers seems to be a Texas way of fixing the otherwise unfixable.

Great job!

Don Carter

Thanks Nicole, I wish it could have been a can of Shiner beer, but I didn't have one handy.

Imo000

how did you secure the reflecter? Is it just sitting in there or something holding it in place?