Better headlights and/or driving lights

[70MTroadster]

My 70 1600 is running great. I've put in my own EI distributor, modified filler neck radiator, a servo syncho 5 speed, new GR2 shocks all around, a dash cover (today) and a GM single wire 60 amp alternator. Cannot wait to stroke the 1600 to a 2L......only thing holding me up is $$$$

Now I would like to upgrade the lights to Cibie or Hella H4's high/low beam and maybe even put some slim halogen driving lights out on the bumper.

My previous 2000's lights were not too good, just as are these on the 1600. I always felt I could outdrive their reach. Up here in Montana we have the chance to smack deer or elk on the highways. The thought of that in the Roadster would be

I would not be apposed to upgrading to an 80 amp if the lights required it.

Any of you folks done it?

Scott

[TR]

Congrats on all of your accomplishments with the car. It sounds like you are having fun with it!

How does Elk taste? Joking aside, hitting one in a roadster may lead to serious injury, maybe even to the driver!

You may want to look into a Painless Wiring headlight kit. A fog light kit would get you what you need for the extra driving lights. The way the roadster powers the headlights and taillights combined with the high/low beam selection makes improving the lighting a bit more tricky than most other cars.

The simple way to do it is to buy two fog light kits. Use one kit for the low beams, the other for the high beams. Use the low beam feed as the trigger wire for one kit and the high beam feed for the other. Power them from a fused link to the battery. Place the relays adjacent to the lights and use the wire from the kits to replace the original headlight wiring.

The more complex but cleaner solution is to replace the stock relay with a SPDT relay that handles the odd configuration of the roadster. If anyone is interested, I could do a write up of the rewiring and relays when I find the time...

Also, a 60 Amp alternator is plenty! Lets say you were running two high beams and two driving lights, each 65W (That's a LOT of light), that means you are drawing:

4 X 65W / 12V = 21.6 Amps

The rest of the car draws less than 10A (with heater and wipers ON) ((Unless you have a monster stereo, but then you wouldn't need the lights to see the elk that have already run from the music))...So your 60A is more than enough. Good luck with it and watch for the eyes at night! TR

[TR]

I forgot to mention how important it is to put a fuse inline with your amp gauge. Anyone with a roadster should invest in the $4 it takes to put a fuse in. The two power lines that run through the dash harness are almost always cooked. In all of the dash harnesses I have ever taken apart, these wires are fused to their adjacent lines. I think this is the source of all of roadster fires (that are not from fuel spilled in the engine bay)...TR

[70MTroadster]

Thanks for the response TR.
1. Where do I get the Painless Wiring harness?
2. Elk tastes outstanding, better than beef by far
3. I was thinking of the 100-80 bulbs in the H4's
4. The driving lights would be 100 each H1's
5. I have a 30 amp fuse in the amp guage line too

If my math is correct, that would draw 33 amps and still the 60 amp alt. would be enough.

Yes, please, please do the SPDT article. I might be able to do lots of fab and mechanical but, alas, I am dumb as dirt when it comes to electrics.

One final thing. Daniel Stern Lighting has a website and he offers lights, relays, wiring harnesses, etc., etc. Know anything about him? He seems to really have his stuff together.

Scott

[TR]

Hello Scott,

Here's the link to Painless' website.

www.painlessperformance.com

It looks like they have some kits to fit your needs, but the headlight kit says 150W max. It is unlclear if that is a total or for each bulb. A 40A relay should handle 200-300W continuous without any problems. They have kits especially for the H4 lights. You can buy their products at specialty shops or Jegs or Summit.

I took a quick look at Daniel Stern Lighting, nice selection of bulbs, looks like he does his research and takes pride in his work.

I can send you a quick sketch of how to wire the roadster switching scheme, but you may not need it! I just noticed that your car is a 70 and the switching changed in 69. I do not know how it was done in those years, only in the earlier cars...It is probably the same...

Note that if you have a quick blow 30A fuse inline with your amp gauge that you are not pulling anything near that through the system currently (unless you are replacing fuses often). I would not run your lights through the amp gauge, it will definately overload the stock system. This means your amp gauge will not be 100% accurate when you have full lighting, but at least your car will not catch fire!

Let me know what you end up with and I'll try to help you on the wiring...TR

[Minh]

I don't know if you looked into this, but here it goes. If you have, than just ignore all this.

I think PIAA has replacemnet bulbs where you can pop in any modern replacement halogen bulb to your existing harness. Plus they got a huge line of driving lights too.

I wish you knew a little more about electronics becuase I would just recommend to buy 2 bosch relays, a 30A inline fuse, and lighted toggle swtich.

Make the lighted toggle switch run from the low beams power line to the relay. This will enable and disable the lights. Connect the driving lights to the relay's output power. Connect 30A fuse from the battery to the relay's input power. This way you can turn on or off the driving lights when the low beams are on. And, you will always know if the driving lights are on cuz the switch is glowing.

Redo the same settup to the drinving lights again to the second relay. But this time connect the enable/disable relay connection to the power line to the high beams. So, whenever the high beams are turned on the driving lights automatically kick in if you have the toggled off.

The cost for the 2 bosch relays, a 30A fuse line and toggle switch will cost between than $13-25 bucks.