Headlight upgrade?

Gryphon

Gryphon

New member
My '90 has the old nasty sealed-beam headlights. Is there an upgrade I can swap in, something I can use a modern bulb in?

I have thought about swapping the entire grille and lights for a mid-90's setup (my grille is broken anyway). I understand I would have to modify the ends of the harness for the new bulbs, I am not concerned about that.
 
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I ditched the sealed beams and put in Hella German e-code lamps...great bang for the buck. I've tried the hella 55w xenon+30% and xenon+50% bulbs (currently). I'd recommend the former, as I can't decipher any difference other than the 30% ones last longer. Cibie also sells the e-codes, but with or without parking light. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably get the cibies w/ parking light and rig the parking light to the vehicle's parking lights to act as DRL's. The e-code pattern is far superior to DOT lamps (yeah, they're not DOT approved, but that's why they work!). Hella also makes DOT approved ones sold under the label "vision plus" or something like that. I also beefed up the harness to a 100w harness (plug in). That boosted light output by 40% right there. Factory harness wires are just too tiny. The e-codes and harness are one of the best upgrades I've made to my rig (next would be the OME suspension and ARB winchbar).
 
i just put in some (silverstar 9004) 4 times brighter than stock.
I drive east Texas backroads at night coming home from work and have no problem spotting wildlife anymore.
Took about 20 mins. once i figured out how.:roadkill: lol
 
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I just put a set of these in, I'm pretty sure the 2nd gens have the same headlamp...

Those Silverstars aren't so much brighter as they are whiter. I used the Phillips X-treme Power in my sploder, and they blew away my buddies' Silverstars.
 
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The hardest part about the mid 90's headlights is getting the headlight brackets to mount to your core support. It takes a little bit of modifying to make it work. The drivers side bracket has to be ground down to make room for the AC components that sit right there. Other than that make sure to get the side markers as well. The newer style sticks out a bit where the older style sit flush with the fenders. They mount different as well.
 
i swapped a set into my 85. got them from napa about 10 years ago. i think the set was $100.
uses standard H4 bulbs now i believe.
 
92 (gen 2) headlight upgrade to l.e.d.'s

I recently did a mod to my gen 2 adding 9004 led bulb sets

It is not what I'd consider a "drop in".

After adding them

I realized that the OEM diffuser part inside the headlight lens was diffusing the light, rather than dispersing it.

Also
The Marquee brand LED set bulbs were about 1/4" to 5/16" shorter than the OEM style bulbs

Meaning
It affected the output "focus"

So
Off came the grille
And I removed the headlight bucket assy's

Then baked em @ 225 in the oven for about 15 min each
And they slowly peeled apart

If you've ever done this
You'll quickly learn
The OEM grey gumbo crap they use to glue the unit together
Sucks cleaning it out on both "halves"

I haven't yet "re sealed" them yet

As this is a "running" mod

After I seperated them
You MUST be EXTREMELY careful if attempting to clean the chromed area inside
As it scratches VERY easy
And only a VERY clean cotton t shirt would do the job of cleanup decently

A bit of 0000 steel wool was good for the inside AND outside of the glass lenses

Also
To "re focus" the LED bulbs when installed

I chose to "die grind" the bulb seat mounts on the rears of the buckets down about 1/4"

I also learned
That the "inside" 3 line up tabs had to be removed/shaved
And the inner bulb mount holes
Had to be dremel tooled to open them up for the proper fit/seat

During each "phase" of this process
I used the truck to plug in
And test the output focus

Until it was "close enough"

I ended up just leaving the inside metal diffuser devices off
As it then allowed a much more "open" reflection pattern during tests

Matched the other side for symmetry

And used the OEM snap couplers that hold the glass lenses in place
To complete the assy
And do a few days of driving tests

I have to say

Its WAY brighter than the original set up
Even at low beam

I am not getting any high beaming from oncoming traffic
So
Apparently its working great
Even after re focusing the completed assemblies against a wall

I HIGHLY recommend this mod/upgrade for anyone with a gen 2!
 
I just got the IPF H4 headlights along with the IPF harness. Will be putting them in tomorrow. They seem to have pretty good reivews/reccomendations.
 
I'm having an extremely hard time locating the assemblies for the e code lamps for my 2nd gen. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should look for and where?
 
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