The AMOUNT of light can be improved with hotter bulbs or HIDs. Do that and you'll probably blind people with the crappy beam pattern your lights have. The QUALITY of light can be improved by smashing your DOT headlights with a hammer & buying E-codes, and then you can think about improving light output.

You forgot to mention that you then cover the front of the smashed out DOT reflector with some lexan (preferably with painted on eyebrows) and you got new trick lights! If you must have a diffuser, the hardware store has them for flourescent lights - they work great.

So what's the final time line? I've got to score some E-Codes PDQ by the looks of things.

You'll have a bit of time yet, Craig - I've asked this guy the question but I'm thinking he gets about a zillion inquiries per day and doesn't want to think about giving a discount to anyone. For the sake of saving ~$20 per person in shipping, I think I'll get 'em shipped to James' place in Portland, and then he can send it all up to me. By the time the transaction goes through, and by the time James receives them, and by the time he gets around to shipping 'em all up to me, you'll probably have a month or so to find some Hellas.

You may have some trimming to do on the 122, though - I'm not sure how readily your headlight bucket will accept these. They're kinda deep.

I've thought about that issue. My light pods are a little worse for wear and I was considering a new set. I could then section them and add in what I needed (I can do 2 sets if Dale wants me to fab him a set). My only question is how much heat is involved with HID's. If they get pretty hot, then I'll have to give them more clearance etc. Thoughts?

I don't think they get very hot, to be honest. They're an extremely highly efficient 35w light source, so I doubt they get anywhere near as hot as a 55w bulb that's about 1/4 as efficient.

I'm just guessing. I've never played with arc-discharge lighting before.

Are you responding to my post, Matt ? Are you saying the stock Volvo headlamps on my '95 940 are crap or are you responding to someone else here ?

If it's my 940's headlamps you're referring to, where can I score some E-codes for it and how much are they likely to cost ? I've got the single large rectangular headlamps not the ones that the earlier cars had that had smaller rectangular headlamps and separate square-ish fog lights.

Roj

Yes I was, Roj. There are a couple sellers of aftermarket E-code headlights on the internet, or you could go for some OEM ones from Germany or somewhere else that has a Right Hand Target pattern.

Which would you recommend ? Are the aftermarket ones ok ? Are the OEM ones much better ? Worth the price difference ? (I'm assuming they're more expensive than the aftermarkets.)

Can you point me at one or two of the sellers ? If you just give me some names I can Google them. Or throw me a link or two if you have it/them handy...

So after I have some e-codes what are my HID options ? Can I get a kit for replacing a 9004 bulb with an HID bulb ? What kind of cost am I looking at and what's involved in converting to the HID bulbs ?

TIA,

Roj

Any time you feel like fabbing up an extra set of anything is fine by me...



I'm still playing with the idea of running these funky 3-bulb 7" lights I just got. They've got a big oval-shaped shroud on the back that would need some significant cutting of the headlight bucket. They're pretty cool though. A city light at the top. An H4 bulb in the regular location and an H1 bulb at the bottom. I need to see what kind of pattern they throw before I start cutting anything up though...

I'm not certain, but I think that I'll be buying a set and might not be able to use it.

The 740 e-codes use a full-circle ring to retain the bulb, and if you look at the back of the HID bulbs we're looking to buy, the solenoid is housed in a big bulb that won't fit through my retaining ring. *IF* the solenoid is detachable from the base, I'll be able to mount the base in my headlight and then load the bulb/solenoid afterwards. I *THINK* the solenoid is removable, based on pictures that show a "lock/unlock" right at the junction between solenoid and base.

I'm going to check with Jacob on Tbrix and see if this is the case.

Roj, I'm not able to point you towards anyone because I don't have a 900, and haven't really been paying attention or shopping for aftermarket E-codes. I imagine the OEMs would be better, but they're also getting old/rusty/dirty/pitted, and at some point the new-but-not-ideal aftermarket ones will become more effective. I think DJ Auto and AutoLampsPlus are two names, but I'm not sure. I also think FCP Groton sold some, but I'm not sure if they do anymore.

you could always ask the kid who has a bunch of this stuff lying around questions too. Dr2(I think that's the bulb name) are removable from the base/socket

The adjusters on te DJauto are not quite as strong as OEM in 7/940 and 86+ 240 land. The light from DJauto H4s is vastly better than my future set of crusty OEM dual H1s, better still than any DOT garbage, and perfectly fine compared with even pretty much perfect OEM cibie ones. It is very little work to convert a 940 to the e-code lights that replace the ones with the fogs next to the grille. I had a chance to buy some from france, but was too busy to follow up.
On your shopping list to use the e-codes that replace the foglight ones is the plastic trim under the light (easy to paint), corner markers (different on e-codes anyway (2 bulbs instead of one on a 7/9 e-code)), and a grille like the egg crate or chromie (barf) one that goes with the foglight front end. I am not aware of e-code DJauto lights in the non-foglight style. OEM ones exist, but are somewhat rare.

The lights currently on the puke machine are from a low mile '75 242DL. They are sealed beam non-halogens...and kind of crusty (they were free and I needed to move the car). Turning on the headlamps is a bit like lighting candles. On a clear night with a not totally black road I can overdrive the headlights at 50-60mph (80-100kphish). I'd die if it rained. Thankfully they won't be on the car much longer.

I've got access to a slip roller, so I could even do buckets with more area to the front side instead of just more to the rear. I was also planning on having the whole shebang powder coated after fabrication. How are your buckets?

Okay, well I haven't been able to get either of the two best candidates to email me back, so my enthusiasm has dropped somewhat. Furthermore, I've discovered that my driver side headlight has a left hand target reflector (bulb is tilted to the right) with a right hand target lens, making the pattern pretty blurry and gross. I never noticed this before, for some reason. I may be able to turn or modify the cup somewhat, or maybe I can find a good RHT reflector with a busted lens. Until I get this fixed, I won't be putting HID bulbs in them.

Anyway, does anyone still want these? I'd be shipping them to James' place in Portland to save a bit over $20 per kit, and he'll ship them up to us with the rest of the junk he's sending to me. If nobody really wants any, I'll hold off and save my pennies for the headlight project in the 780.

Nobody wants these anymore?