I Want Brighter Headlights

[1967AceStroker]

Hello.
I have been wanting to upgrade my headlights for some time now, as far as brightness goes.
I just want some help with finding options, or any ideas that you might know of.
I have been thinking of going with the euro style lights from LMC and using the blue bulb for that cool looking white light, and mabey upgrading to the heavy duty headlight harness. But I'm not sure of the results this will produce.
If you have any pictures showing the difference with the euro lights on your truck that would be great, or any upgraded headlights would be good.
Thanks

[olgreen69]

I just replaced mine with the sylvania silverstar high performance bulbs and the made a world of difference. and i don't think they were to expensive.

[1967AceStroker]

I just replaced mine with the sylvania silverstar high performance bulbs and the made a world of difference. and i don't think they were to expensive.

Are these just like stock ones that came on the truck, but brighter, or is this a complete different style of light like the euro ones?

[kaptnkaos]

The best way to get brighter headlights on a bump is to get one of 390Nut's headlight harness's...
I have one for both my '68 CS and my '68 Ford/Bluebird bus 'Olde Skool"...
But don't take my word for it... lots of guys here at FORDification have installed one on their truck and swear by them.

KaptnKA S

[olgreen69]

yes it is "high performance" stock replacement. mine went from dull yellow to bright white.

[olgreen69]

The best way to get brighter headlights on a bump is to get one of 390Nut's headlight harness's...
I have one for both my '68 CS and my '68 Ford/Bluebird bus 'Olde Skool"...
But don't take my word for it... lots of guys here at FORDification have installed one on their truck and swear by them.

KaptnKA S

whats the benefit of his harness?

[kaptnkaos]

Hey 1967AceStroker

The reason the stock light system is dim is because of amount of resistance between the battery, the light switch and the wiring to the lights.
The benefit of one of 390Nut's harnesses it that there is a 12v relay for each headlight that boosts the power going to the headlights to a full 12 volts. This is the same way that the lighting system on new rigs are set up.
It is a really easy install and runs about $60 plus the ride.. They are a very well made and work great.

KaptnKA S

[willowbilly3]

I have always found the Halogen sealed beams to be quite adequate. Most areas of the country you can rarely drive with high beams on anyway.

[Calvin Gunter]

X2 for the wiring upgrade.Probably one of the best upgrades I've done to my bump.

[reflectionpoint]

Best combo, I would think, would be the 'Harness', SilverStar Ultra bulbs and use the Euro upgrade (so you don't have sealed beams anymore, as long as you like the look).. they give a nice brightness and are easy on the eyes and light up deer eyes like nobody's business. I am investing in the harness first because I don't want to overload the stock wiring with the bulbs, nor cause my bulbs to burn out prematurely due to inadequate voltage.. it doesn't matter what it looks like if you can't hit the streets with it because you can't see!

All said and done though, I would do that harness FIRST.. because that may give you enough for what you're looking for, then do the others later for aesthetic purposes.. also aiming your lights correctly and doing the 3G alternator swap make a big difference, if you haven't gone there yet.

[thebannister8]

i saw at autozone replacement bulbs that look the same as the old ones but are high intensity lighting...they are twice as much, but i'll be getting a pair

[Thunderfoot]

Do be careful using the Higher Watt type bulbs in your truck; unless you upgrade the wiring to a relay setup like the one 390nut builds or lmc sells one also. The stock light switch has a built in circuit breaker and you will find (and others have found out) that going to the higher watt bulbs is more then the switch can handle. You will get the blinking head light syndrome, which is where this circuit breaker in the light switch trips and resets, trips and resets, trips and resets, etc as you drive down the road

The wiring in these old trucks is marginal at best and the light wiring is one of the problems for dim headlights, The voltage drop to the headlights is considerable because of the length and size of the wire to get from the battery to the headlights, so upgrading to relays and using shorter/bigger wire increases the voltage to the headlights. Also, headlights do get dimmer and dimmer over time used, so just replacing them with new stock replacements you will notice an improvement.

[1967AceStroker]

Well I went to autozone and bought a set of Sylvania Silver Stars, and put them in the other day, cost me $50, but worth it. They are quite a bit better than the bottom of the line ones I had before. Also adjusting them better helped a lot too. So do think I should upgrade the wiring for my headlights cause of the new lights? And is a 3G alternator a drop in thing?

[Thunderfoot]

Looks like those Sylvania Silver Stars are 45 watts low beam and 50 watts high beam (which is pretty low for a halogen light ). Sylvania lists there standard sealed beam as 50 low and 60 high, so the Silver Stars are less watts. I looked up GE standard Sealed Beams and they are listed as 35 low and 65 high which is closer to what I remember stock lights being… The design of the glass and reflector also makes a difference in the brightness/pattern as well.
I think the light switch will handle these Silver Stars ok, but you would probably notice about the same gain again by changing to the relayed light wire harness. Here is the link where 390Nut describes his findings about the voltage loss, he measured 2V loss through the stock wiring, and he shows pictures of the difference. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 95#p143195

The 3G is not too bad just a little bit of changing the wire harness between the alternator and voltage regulator, as you get rid of the voltage regulator. More info here http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =8&t=13062

[1967AceStroker]

Has anyone got a headlight wire harness upgrade from lmc or 390nut? If so how was it to install? I might get one from lmc, and try it, 390nut seems to be waitng on parts or something, I already forgot what it said.