I am soooo ready for 2002 driving season

[jgerock]

Finally buttoned up the minor Winter projects and took Celeste out for a spin this morning. I really missed driving the car during the cold months that we had so much salt and sand on the roads.

New (to my car) this year is the set of used narrow grills, H4 headlights, Pierre's driving light brackets and an H4 relay/wiring harness from Susquehanna Motorsports.

Will take her out for an evening drive to see the H4 difference between standard GE halogen sealed beams. Also, crossing my fingers that the different set of plug wires eliminated my running issues from last year.

Low beams and driving lights both on

High beams only (driving lights automatically go out - think I got his right)

New relays installed - horn relay moved down and over

New relay and harness - simple installation!

[cj]

Just a suggestion(please don't take offense), I would loosen all the nuts that fasten the headlight buckets to the nose and center the headlight bucket up in the grill.

Looks great otherwise.

Cris

[Scott Sislane]

Jim, that looks beautiful.

So you have 'driving lights' vs fogs? If you have driving lights (long range light) on w/ low beams, when someone comes head-on, won't the driving lamps blind them?

I have fogs, and started-out w/ them just working w/ low beams, then realized when I have high beams on, I'd still like to have the road lit right in front of the car, so I attached the trigger lead to the parking light circuit instead of the low-beam, (IIRC) and have the factory switch to turn them on/off if I want. I know it's not legal... but I told you about our NH "inspection" stations.

[jgerock]

Just a suggestion(please don't take offense), I would loosen all the nuts that fasten the headlight buckets to the nose and center the headlight bucket up in the grill.

Looks great otherwise.

Cris

That is next on my list Cris. Thanks for the suggestion.

[jgerock]

Jim, that looks beautiful.

So you have 'driving lights' vs fogs? If you have driving lights (long range light) on w/ low beams, when someone comes head-on, won't the driving lamps blind them?

I have fogs, and started-out w/ them just working w/ low beams, then realized when I have high beams on, I'd still like to have the road lit right in front of the car, so I attached the trigger lead to the parking light circuit instead of the hi-beam, and have the factory switch to turn them on/off if I want. I know it's not legal... but I told you about our NH "inspection" stations.

I have rarely (if ever) had the opportunity to use the H500's. Maybe the beam pattern of the H4's is throwing me off. The auxiliary lights are wired to a separate green push-button on the console.

[beammmer]

from Susquehanna Motorsports or is it a custom harness. Car looks great, I'm thinking of getting the "Pierre" brackets they look very nice.

Don

[Emyers]

Jim,

Looks great and I think you will like the E Code headlights much better due to the lens characteristics. Tech note, driving lights are powered when the brights are on and fogs with low beams. At least that way in Europe.

Earl

74 02Lux

02 M Roadster

72 Volvo 1800ES

[dlmrun2002]

Jim- You will be throwing FLAMES out of the front of that car. Nice wiring job. You will love the H4"s. And driving lights sit just right too. Now all's you need is the nuclear lights Blunt has on his car........ Just make sure your headlight switch isn't getting to warm after running the lights for a bit.

Doug M ny country

[jgerock]

Don -

Ordered one right off their website and it came within 1 week.

HL28200 for about $ 84.00.

http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1247

1) Remove both stock headlight plugs. Mount the new relays and route the (3) grey cables into the bulkhead.

2) Plug the black "trigger" plug into the left-side stock headlight socket.

3) Secure the new left and right hand sockets to the headlight bulbs.

4) Secure the + and - wires to the battery.

It's that easy.

Driver's side. The electrical tape hides my soldering job on the wire that was almost broken in half.

Passenger side

My lights were previously mounted on the flimsy bumper - whole lotta shakin

[jgerock]

Jim,

Looks great and I think you will like the E Code headlights much better due to the lens characteristics. Tech note, driving lights are powered when the brights are on and fogs with low beams. At least that way in Europe.

Earl

74 02Lux

02 M Roadster

72 Volvo 1800ES

I think I have the driving lights wired incorrectly. Might have to switch the wires on my relay.

[Brandon]

You'll like the H4s, I had them on another 02 of mine and they make a world of difference. I also have a set of Cibie H4s on my benz.

On the previous installation, it's a good thing someone searched around for those special fog light brackets so they could be mounted to the bumper without drilling holes...

[MatthewCervi]

Looks nice, Jim! I think you'll like the H4's...sooo much better than the halogen lights.

[adawil2002]

Jim, that looks beautiful.

So you have 'driving lights' vs fogs? If you have driving lights (long range light) on w/ low beams, when someone comes head-on, won't the driving lamps blind them?

I have fogs, and started-out w/ them just working w/ low beams, then realized when I have high beams on, I'd still like to have the road lit right in front of the car, so I attached the trigger lead to the parking light circuit instead of the hi-beam, and have the factory switch to turn them on/off if I want. I know it's not legal... but I told you about our NH "inspection" stations.

I have rarely (if ever) had the opportunity to use the H500's. Maybe the beam pattern of the H4's is throwing me off. The auxiliary lights are wired to a separate green push-button on the console.

Cannot wait to drive either.

Vern's chrome Hella 160 driving lights are from Susquehanna too. His are wired to the high beams, via the white factory wire near the + battery, and my green factory aux. light switch too. So I have three beams, low, high (medium) and day.

If your 500s are driving lights I recommend hooking them to the high beam you will use them. You will see for miles and stop deer in their tracks.

[M3M3]

um, H4's are halogens...

and yes, driving lights should be wired to come on only with high beams. dim the highs and the driving lights should shut down.

fogs should only come on with low beams.

the rallylight.com harness looks like a nice solution for the roundie cars.

[vinceinIL]

Looks good, Jim!

A lot of the effectiveness of the driving lights has to do with how they're aimed for the weather and terrain you're driving through. Heavy fog or dust makes it hard to use powerful driving lights; in such instances dedicated fog lights are more useful because they throw more light low and to the sides.

Terrain makes a difference, especially if you're going though twisty roads or with lots of elevation changes. I remember making minor adjustments to the front lights to compensate for the terrain when I was running lots of SCCA rallies, some at night.

Sadly, where I live it's too crowded to need to use even regular fog lights on my daily driver. So the green ti is reserved for special use only, with it's memories of the Alcan to keep it going. The old Rally 2000s on it didn't do the Alcan, but they did run lots of rallies 20+ years ago.

vince