HEADLIGHTS

When I stripped the four headlights from the car including the black bowls or buckets that the glass part sits in, I realised how scruffy all the bits looked.

The four chromed bezels were very grubby on the outside and on the inside there was loads of rust, so I started with those. My polishing wheel brought the chrome back to more than acceptable, I then sanded down the inside to get rid of the rust, carefully masked off the shiny chrome and applied three coats of silver Hammerite. Photos below show job done.

Next were the four inner bezels that the glass units sit in and allow for adjustment of aim. This time I used a wire brush in my electric drill, clamped into my workmate and scrubbed all the rust away. Again three sprayed coats of silver Hammerite were applied.The photo shows before and after. The after is on the left, just in case there was any doubt.

Now it was time for the bowls or buckets, the outside of each of the bowls was covered in oily cack which white spirit and paper cloth removed, but it was both sides of the rims that were rusty and again the wire brush cleaned it up and the cables were masked. Three coats of smooth black Hammerite and now all four were nice and shiny inside and out. I forgot to take pictures at this point as I was excited to get them all reassembled.

 However I decided to upgrade the halogen bulbs to LED's, so ordered four H1 units, I also decided to buy new glass headlamp bowls to maximise efficiency of the LED's. I quickly realised the H1 LED's would not fit in the dip glass bowl, these bowls are now all designed to take the main/dip type H4.bulbs, I had a chat with Gil from BetterCarLighting and he suggested I upgrade to having four H4 LED's and rewire through relays to give me 4 dip beams and 4 main beams. Not only will each LED give far more light than the old halogen bulbs, but I will be doubling from 2 dip and 2 main headlights, the improvement of light should be amazing. Gil also said that for town driving, four dipped beams might be too bright and suggested that a small switch be mounted on or under the dash, that would allow the two inner dipped lamps to be turned off. I agreed with this suggestion and Gil included with the H4 bulbs a switch and wiring harness, plus a wiring diagram.

The photo above shows one of the new glass bowls fitted with my first choice of a H1 LED. The final choice of H4 LED's came with their own wiring harness, meaning that the wires in the black metal buckets that I had so carefully masked off before spraying, I now had to cut off and replace with the new wiring.

And there we are; a view of a freshly sprayed bucket and the complete assembly, polished rims, new glass bowl fitted with a H4 LED already to be installed in Stella when she returns.