TheSamba.com :: View topic - Rectangular E Code Headlight Upgrade-Hella Kit/Ford Buckets

Sat Jul 23, 2016 11:56 am

This is coming together into a kit or detailed "follow me" set of instructions. You need Jay Brown's wiring harness as it will get you local grounds and the right connectors and some cheap buckets that you are going to cut down into frames. This something a sheet metal shop could stamp out and if you went that far, the holes for the adjusters and headlights could be made at the same time.

But for the DIY type, tin snips, a decent crimp tool, the usual assortment of hand tools (drill, screwdrivers), the right headlights (with those bits at the corners to attach them), and the harness, it's a very doable job. If I can do it, anyone with a modicum of patience and a few hours can do it.

Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:11 pm

Agreed! ^^^^

It would be a nice little cottage industry to modify the VW bulb holder plates to accept Ford buckets on an exchange basis. Ship with Hellas, Jays wiring harness and relays or just the modified bucket assembly.

I Wonder what the potential market would be?........
🤔🤑

Dave

Sat Jul 23, 2016 1:05 pm

One last thing.......

TraDa!!!!

Dave

Sat Jul 23, 2016 11:10 pm

djkeev wrote:

I Wonder what the potential market would be?........
🤔🤑

Dave

The market is all current 86-91 Vanagons not already converted to 7" rounds or SA grill kits (minus) all 86-91 Vanagon owners who don't care about safety or are ready to go with s 7" or SA grill mod, i.e. a pretty good sized market in the Vanagon world.

Sun Jul 24, 2016 11:13 am

djkeev wrote:

I Wonder what the potential market would be?........
🤔🤑

Dave

The existence of Jay Brown's kits plus GoWesty, Van Café, Bus Depot et al suggest it's a real thing.

Thu Aug 18, 2016 6:31 pm

Seriously, the more I use and look at these Hellas...... The more I like them!

Dave

Thu Aug 18, 2016 8:02 pm

jimf909 wrote: djkeev wrote:

I Wonder what the potential market would be?........
🤔🤑

Dave

The market is all current 86-91 Vanagons not already converted to 7" rounds or SA grill kits (minus) all 86-91 Vanagon owners who don't care about safety or are ready to go with s 7" or SA grill mod, i.e. a pretty good sized market in the Vanagon world.

I care about safety and find my current lights fine, relays and better grounds added along with the higher watt bukbs, plenty of light for safety for me, sure beats my 6 volt car lighting!

Price will be a deciding factor on if I decide to make this conversion or not if and when the parts are offered. dont want to spend the time now making my own parts, too much else going on. I did upgrade my interior lights to LEDs and that makes reading maps much easier at night, stock lamps are very dim.

Fri Aug 19, 2016 8:43 pm

djkeev wrote: Seriously, the more I use and look at these Hellas...... The more I like them!

I do to! I think. Unfortunately, I've only had one or two Drives when it's been dark enough to notice. Dark is after my bedtime in summer. 8)

Sat Aug 20, 2016 5:02 am

My only real concern is at night, my volt meter is pulled down a bit driving with the lights on.
Didn't take note if it's more than the stock headlight draw...... Hindsight......

I Do wonder what effect hours of use will have....... I'll soon know! :wink:

I Have my house batteries and jumper cables for the AM if need be.........

Dave

Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:24 pm

Wow! Here we are three years on and this conversion is still valid. Just wanted to say thanks to LemonCove, djkeev, and Paulbeard for laying the ground work, and especially to Paulbeard for finding the Hella reflectors with the mounting brackets.

This shot shows a test fit to make sure that the lamps fit inside the VW grille. I had to relocate the passenger side mount on the body, drilling four new holes for the screws.

Here are the lamps mounted on the VW bracket. I used three headlight adjusters for each bucket, all Ford parts for a '67 Mustang. The buckets for the headlights were from a '67 Mustang as well, all sourced through Amazon.

This is the secret sauce that makes it possible to mount the Hella reflectors without hacking up the VW plastic grille. I used an 8x32 bottoming tap and Phillips head screws found in the parts drawer.

Here's a closeup showing the adjuster, spring, and bucket holding the headlight reflector in place. A bit of a perfect storm.

I ended up making buckets for the LED driving lamps out of some scrap sheet metal I had laying round. The lamps were another Amazon find, a pair of Rolinger 48W 5" LED Driving Lamp with 30 degree spot beams. The housings already had four threaded bosses on the back that greatly simplified mounting. That's a good thing because I ended up sawing off the large pivot base cast into each lamp housing. It would have been ugly showing through the hole in the VW plastic grille.

Once the bosses were tapped, I used an old machinist's trick to locate the holes onto the buckets. It's nothing more than the cut off end of a screw that't been sharpened by mounting it in a drill and holding it against a spinning sanding disc. I used this trick over and over on the buckets for both types of lamp mounting and to locate the slots for the adjusters. Layout dye or a blue magic marker helps the marks show up better.

This van is awaiting an engine transplant, and was gutted and painted prior to that, so there's no battery in it yet to test the lights for pattern or aiming. I haven't even decided just how I'm going to wire them in yet. I'll post a follow up once the job is completed...

Thu Mar 16, 2017 5:06 pm

Thats an interest concept with the square driving light. I wonder what the beam spread / glare factor is with them?

Dave

Thu Mar 16, 2017 5:26 pm

djkeev wrote: Thats an interest concept with the square driving light. I wonder what the beam spread / glare factor is with them?

They looked great shining on the garage wall, but that's not sayin' a lot. But for $35 for the pair I'm not out much if they're awful, and new options are coming on the market all the time. :lol:

Thu Mar 16, 2017 5:32 pm

Ah, shucks, so much praise for such a simple (in hindsight) project. Glad the documentation/pictured helped someone but I was following a trail that was already blazed.

Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:20 pm

Paulbeard wrote: Ah, shucks, so much praise for such a simple (in hindsight) project. Glad the documentation/pictured helped someone but I was following a trail that was already blazed.

You're too modest! I would have never thought 5x7s would fit in that space, and never found the Hella reflectors.

I didn't mention it, but now that HID and LED conversions are available, those Hellas open up even more options for better light. I'm going to start off with Osram Nightbreakers and see how they do first though. :-S

Sun Apr 02, 2017 6:34 pm

What is the size of the original Vanagon rectangular lights?
Found these on rallylights.com at 165mm

http://www.rallylights.com/hella-165mm-ece-hi-lo-h4-conversion-headlamp-with-city-lamp-hl72310.html

Sun Apr 02, 2017 6:44 pm

Quote: Sold for off road and competition use only (;-)

Those look like the ones I ended up using.

Sun Apr 02, 2017 9:28 pm

Here are the dimensions of the Hellas that I used (H6054 Hella 200mm Rectangular E-code Hi-Lo Conversion Headlamp Kit - pg 1 of this thread):

.

When installed like Dave (djkeev), these fill the stock grille openings.

I no longer have my old headlights to measure, but the ones you found seem smaller (167mm x 107mm) than the stock lamps.

Mon Apr 03, 2017 5:12 am

LemonCove wrote:
I no longer have my old headlights to measure, but the ones you found seem smaller (167mm x 107mm) than the stock lamps.

I thought they might be smaller, but wasn't sure.
These do not have the mounting tabs on the rear side so an original mount would be needed.

They had another lens with mounting tabs, but I think they were H1's.

Tue May 30, 2017 9:33 am

Got my hands on some surplus square headlight assemblies and thought I'd try to modify the stock rectangular reflector and its integrated mount points in order to accept an H4 reflector.

Building on the experience in this thread I removed the glass lense. (5 min. With heatgun) and then cut away the bulk of the reflector leaving only the outer "frame" with its mounting ears intact. (30 min. With die grinder)

I will proceed with the drilling and tapping method to secure the reflector at all 4 corners. Here below are a couple of images to illustrate the proof of concept.

Tue May 30, 2017 10:11 am

T3, if this works you just may get the smartest guy of the week award!

Watching.......

Dave