DIY: The Best Headlight Upgrade You'll Ever Do For Under $50

ruchi · Post by **ruchi** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 6:58 pm

Jono wrote:I was looking on the Narva website and it says the Narva HB3 +30's are 60w not 65w...

whoops! my mistake

After reading Jono's message I went fishing through the rubbish bin to find the packaging from the globes. They are 60W!

(I've editted my messages to reflect this).

So Jono, you've got the rights ones!

Clarification
Standard FTO globes: 51W HB4 (around 1,000 lumens)
The upgraded globes I used: Narva 60W HB3 +30 (around 2,000 lumens)

The Narva +30's were produced a whiter light than what the standard globes did.

If you want to increase the brightness further or if you want to use a tinted globe to get more of a HID colour, then it would pay to use a slightly higher wattage globe. You should have no issues with 60W, 65W or a 70W bulbs, above this and you might introduce heat and power issues.

G1 · Post by G1 » Thu Sep 02, 2004 8:53 pm

so to some it up we have seen real life example where upto 70W is ok. and going to 100W and above is not.

i say listen to ruchi and just get the 60W ones,

stuff the HIDs

i could use the $450 i save on something else anyway

it would be good if you could show us the output on the beam pattern reflected on a wall so we can see how the cutoff is affected etc

efteoh · Post by **efteoh** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:24 am

before and after shots of the luminated road would give a good comparison too

ruchi · Post by **ruchi** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:43 am

G1 wrote:it would be good if you could show us the output on the beam pattern reflected on a wall so we can see how the cutoff is affected etc

Due to the nature of the projector headlights the pattern remains virtually unchanged, including the cut-off. To my eye the pattern seemed not to change at all. I don't have a photo of it, but if I remember I'll try to get one over the weekend.

efteoh wrote:before and after shots of the luminated road would give a good comparison too

Turn on your high beams and you'll be able to see the difference for yourself

The pattern will be slightly different but the brightness will be similar.

I've thrown out my old bulbs so I can't give you a before and after shot. But the picture in my original post gives you an idea of the brightness difference of the bulbs, likewise the output is roughly doubled, and as the bulb is the same as what's in your high-beams, all you need to do is turn on your high beams to see how bright it would be.

Perhaps anyone else planning on doing this upgrade can do a before and after shot.

Guni_GuGu · Post by **Guni_GuGu** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 11:41 pm

I'm sorry for adding another "Will these be ok" post?

But I have to

Anyways, I bought some "EuroDezign" purple globes off eBay a few months ago, I got the set for the 9005, 9006 and driving lights. Anyways, the I should post a review of them, but all in all, they weren't very purple (in fact at some angles, it's still an UGLY UGLY yellow!!!), and they really didn't improve the performance over the globes i had in there, by much at all.

There were the ones I actually bought.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... gory=33710

They were rated for 600k.

Anyhow, after reading this thread, I've decided to buy some new "low beam" hb3's

So i'm back to ask for your opinions, I really want a purple tinge, if at all possible, and I've found a few that are intertesting.
First I found these
HELLA Optilux XP 9005/HB3 65w +100%, xenon purple
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... ename=WDVW

and after doing a quick google, I found these stats on it:
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/9005.asp

but then I also found these PURPLE PLATINUM HID XENON BULBS, which apparently come from the same factory that produce PIAA globes, and these run at 85W. (Too much?)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... Track=true
(The ad is for HB4's, but I'm pretty sure his got some HB3's there)

Both of these new globes run at a lower tempreature then the set of EuroDezigns I currently have, but I think also, both of these newer ones run at a higger wattage. I'm really in all sorts, here, which one, you think will give me the most purplish tinge?

Adriano · Post by **Adriano** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:56 am

i bought the narva +30 and it works great!!
easy to install, and improved spread and brightness....
its white in colour, but wished i went for a bluish one... but im happy with this one

thanks roochee!

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 12:08 pm

I bought these:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... RK:MEWN:IT

I figured it's only $13, so may as well try. I will let you guys know how they go, I can also compare these to Jono's which I believe are the Narva +30 ones...

mxysxy · Post by **mxysxy** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:45 am

Did the low beam upgrade on the weekend to Narva HB3 Plus 30.
Very happy with the results.
More, brighter and white light.

Distinct difference, driver side is Narva.

Thanks Ruchi

ruchi · Post by **ruchi** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 11:20 am

Good stuff.

For those of you using the Narva HB3 +30's, you might also want to consider replacing your high-beams with these same globes and your driving lights with Narva H3 +30s (H3 not HB3 for the driving lights).

This gives a really nice setup, the lights are all of a similar brightness but have different focus areas and it means the light from all your globes will be whiter.

You can get the whole lot (4 x HB3 + 2 x H3) for under $100, and I reckon its got to be one of the best upgrades you can do to your FTO for under $100

efteoh · Post by **efteoh** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 11:48 am

did the mod over the weekend, VERY happy with the result, just need to adjust the light a little, and shes perfect. my head lights are now that of what NORMAL headlights should be!.

thanks ruchi

btw, i did a search for the adjustment of the head light, but the posts mention 2 screws, i cant seem to find them. does any one have pics for these?

thanks

ruchi · Post by **ruchi** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:16 pm

efteoh wrote:my head lights are now that of what NORMAL headlights should be!.

Really? I would have to say that mine are considerably brighter than what "normal" headlights are. The HB3 +30s have around twice the light ouput of normal HB4 headlights so the result should be well above "normal". (This may have been an oversight in your wording).

efteoh wrote:btw, i did a search for the adjustment of the head light, but the posts mention 2 screws, i cant seem to find them. does any one have pics for these?

I tried adjusting the various screws and as best I can tell they only adjust the tension of the wire holding the globe in place, they don't actually adjust the angle of the beam.

After hunting high and low looking for some way to adjust them, in the end I noticed that if you grab the housing around the bulb you can move it. So at a guess I figure it is just held in place by friction (not totally sure on this). So just by grabbing the housing around the bulb and pushing or pulling it, you can alter the alignment. You'll need to do this firmly and it only requires VERY small adjustments.

If anyone has a better way to adjust the alignment, let us know.

efteoh · Post by **efteoh** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:25 pm

ruchi wrote:
efteoh wrote:my head lights are now that of what NORMAL headlights should be!.
Really? I would have to say that mine are considerably brighter than what "normal" headlights are. The HB3 +30s have around twice the light ouput of normal HB4 headlights so the result should be well above "normal". (This may have been an oversight in your wording).

ok, i meant twice as bright for the FTO and about normal for most high quality reflectors, (chalk and cheese i know).

but like ruchi said, its like having the brightness of your highbeams!

i'll have a look at adjusting them tonight, but lights adjusted using only friction sounds a little crude to me, esp on a fto.

ruchi · Post by **ruchi** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:38 pm

efteoh wrote:
ruchi wrote:
efteoh wrote:my head lights are now that of what NORMAL headlights should be!.
Really? I would have to say that mine are considerably brighter than what "normal" headlights are. The HB3 +30s have around twice the light ouput of normal HB4 headlights so the result should be well above "normal". (This may have been an oversight in your wording).
ok, i meant twice as bright for the FTO and about normal for most high quality reflectors, (chalk and cheese i know).

No, that's what I meant. So even though you've put high-beam globes in, you're FTO headlights are still only as bright as other cars low-beams?

This could be an alignment issue, try lowering the beam a little.

When I'm side by side with other cars on the road, since this upgrade, my headlights are definitely brighter than theirs (with the exception of HID

).

So what about others who have done this upgrade, how would you rate it compared to the brightness of other cars headlights?

mxysxy · Post by **mxysxy** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:57 pm

I am very happy with the amount of light coming out of my low beams now.
Definitely, more light than many other cars.

Probably, mine needs to be littte adjustment as well, as I was driving to Balarat on the weekend (night time), realised that the low beam distance is shorter than confortable. Needs to be higher up just a little bit.

however, not happy with the cut off, It seemed to me that I have two cut off lines now, directly on top of each other with a very small distance between them, this made it confusing to adjust to a normal level.

Ther · Post by **Ther** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:08 pm

i did this upgrade before ruchi posted it ( by mistake that is), i tried the blue bulbs G4 on my driving lights and they werent too bright but they work well with the high beams...on my drivings i got the super white 100w...kinda bright but not too excesive...

lal · Post by **lal** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:13 pm

ruchi wrote:
You can get the whole lot (4 x HB3 + 2 x H3) for under $100, and I reckon its got to be one of the best upgrades you can do to your FTO for under $100

just wanted to confirm.... we only need 2 x HB3 correct?

This seems like a great DIY for every FTO owner.

Question though,
are there parker lights that are white, so that it will match the Narva +30 lights??
I hate seeing yellow parker lights and white driving lights

if there are, please post the part number for parkers... thanks and $$$.

has anyone tried this with a colour tinge (not Narva +30)... if so... since it's not +30, is it still very bright? ie. 50% improvement instead of %100 iimprovement in brightness?

ruchi · Post by **ruchi** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:52 pm

lal wrote:
ruchi wrote:You can get the whole lot (4 x HB3 + 2 x H3) for under $100, and I reckon its got to be one of the best upgrades you can do to your FTO for under $100
just wanted to confirm.... we only need 2 x HB3 correct?

Correct.
>> Low-Beam - 2 x HB3
>> High-Beam - 2 x HB3
>> Driving Lights - 2 x H3

lal wrote:are there parker lights that are white, so that it will match the Narva +30 lights??

Use the 5W T-10 Artic Blue Globes (see Figure 20 in the following link)
http://www.narva.com.au/Globes_14.html

I put these in and they match well, all producing quite a white light.

lal wrote:has anyone tried this with a colour tinge (not Narva +30)... if so... since it's not +30, is it still very bright? ie. 50% improvement instead of %100 iimprovement in brightness?

In theory it should be around 50% more light. While the HB3 +30's put out around twice as much light as normal HB4's, the standard (non +30's) HB3s put out around 70% more light. Those which have a colour tint will have a slightly reduced light output so around 50% sounds about right.

I guess we'll know for sure once someone tries a coloured tinted bulb

TheSentry · Post by **TheSentry** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 2:41 pm

Boris wrote:I bought these:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... RK:MEWN:IT

I got a set of these off eBay as well. These bulbs were good when they worked, but they both blew. Just lasted over a month I think.

mxysxy · Post by **mxysxy** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:12 pm

Just a bit confused here, (due to my limited english)

>> Driving Lights - 2 x H3

Are we pointing "Driving Lights" as parker lights? Cause, in my stock setup, I think I only have parkers, low-beams, and high-beams.

ruchi · Post by **ruchi** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:12 pm

TheSentry wrote:
Boris wrote:I bought these:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... RK:MEWN:IT
I got a set of these off eBay as well. These bulbs were good when they worked, but they both blew. Just lasted over a month I think.

Did you happen to touch the glass bulb with your hands? If so, oil from your skin will have got on them and dramatically shortened their life.

It's very important that you ensure these bulbs are VERY clean and free of any oils etc. (see the highlighted note in my original post).

mxysxy wrote:Just a bit confused here, (due to my limited english)

>> Driving Lights - 2 x H3

Are we pointing "Driving Lights" as parker lights? Cause, in my stock setup, I think I only have parkers, low-beams, and high-beams.

Driving Lights are H3, parkers use a 5W T-10 wedge globe (see where I respond to Lal's message a couple of posts above).