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1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Early Eighties Bullnose Ford Truck

Upgraded headlights

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Old Jun 7, 2021 | 05:00 PM
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Idi_guy88's Avatar
Idi_guy88
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Upgraded headlights

Looking to see if anyone has purchased

1980-1986 Ford Bronco and F-Series Truck H4 Headlight Conversion from bronco graveyard. I’m looking to buy them and the upgraded heavy duty wiring harness. Is it worth it?

 
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Old Jun 7, 2021 | 06:25 PM
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I went with Vision X brand headlight housings:
Amazon Amazon

Amazon Amazon

Amazon Amazon

https://www.lmctruck.com/1980-96-for...dlight-harness

LMC was a little cheaper, not sure how the price difference works out with shipping though. So pretty much I think the headlight upgrade was worth it. Its pretty easy to keep an extra H4 headlight in the glovebox if you're ever out at night and need one. There are quite a few posts with the pros and cons of the wiring harness, I think its worth it. Again, easy to keep a spare relay in the glove box if you ever need one. Its easy to install (or remove) if you ever want to. I will add with these headlight housings you could go with LED bulbs, I think theres enough room - definitely on drivers side, passenger side may be close with the battery. I went with standard style bulbs because I prefer them melting the ice off in the region I live in. Plus I also use dialectic grease on all the connections, I dont know how bad these chinesium components will corrode.
 
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Old Jun 7, 2021 | 06:38 PM
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Good to know. You would say it made a considerable difference?
 
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Old Jun 7, 2021 | 06:44 PM
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dagwood57107
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Originally Posted by Idi_guy88
Good to know. You would say it made a considerable difference?
I would, but more so in the spread pattern of the light opposed to the actual brightness. These are definitely brighter, not as much I was hoping for, however these housings really spread the lights to all the right places on the road.


skip ahead to 7:40 to see the difference.
 
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Old Jun 8, 2021 | 05:46 AM
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From: St Albert, Alberta
Personally, I'd opt for the non-DOT (ECE approved) Hella conversion units, not cheap but really the best ones you can get.
The DOT headlight lighting standards are basically 50 years out of date and do not provide the same road visibility as the ECE standards. The only country on the planet that only uses the DOT headlight standard is the US. Every other nation on the planet else has either mandated or allows for the use of ECE approved headlights.




 
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Old Jun 8, 2021 | 07:49 AM
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Originally Posted by matthewq4b
Personally, I'd opt for the non-DOT (ECE approved) Hella conversion units, not cheap but really the best ones you can get.
The DOT headlight lighting standards are basically 50 years out of date and do not provide the same road visibility as the ECE standards. The only country on the planet that only uses the DOT headlight standard is the US. Every other nation on the planet else has either mandated or allows for the use of ECE approved headlights.



is this the one you got? Do you need to upgrade the wiring harness or anything?
Amazon Amazon
 
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Old Jun 8, 2021 | 10:09 AM
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matthewq4b
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From: St Albert, Alberta
Originally Posted by Idi_guy88
is this the one you got? Do you need to upgrade the wiring harness or anything? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001G...QRE?th=1&psc=1
Yes the ones linked from Amazon are the right ones.

You do not need to install an upgraded wire harness if you are using the standard 60/55W H4 bulb. The standard H4's actually drawn less than the sealed beams they replace. But with the age of most of these trucks, the headlight switches tend to get worn and dirty and become a high resistance connection so you can see a volt drop for the headlights, and the headlight switch connectors can be melted from the heat of this high resistance connection.
The aftermarket harness avoids this situation but so does replacing the headlight switch which is the right thing to regardless.

If you are using the high output 100W lamps you should upgrade to the relay harness and the ceramic connectors. The headlight switch and wiring were never designed to continuously handle the 16 plus amps the 100W bulbs consume.
 
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