flatsixnut

Why are there so many dif style rings for these cars? Is there a reason behind it? I have searched for answers but I will finally ask the question without feeling completely stupid.

DHinkle's car. His rings are the same as most I see pictures of.




Mine...I have not seen many like this.

flatsixnut

Are mine just origanal sealed beam with stock ring, and the other is an updated H4 with smaller ring?

MiniDHinkle

That's an awful nice Club Sport.

Auto_Werks 3.6

Yes, The blue car has an H4 converison, and your car has the factory sealed beams. There are Bosch parts available to update your car to H4's with either chrome rings, or painted rings. Im sure pelican sells them, or any major supplier.
It seems like most people dump the "sugar scoops" with seald beams in favor if the H4. Mark my words, in 10 more years the factory SC bezels will be cool again because 90% will be in a landfill.

Dan Cobb

They make H4 lenses that fit within the confines of your original rings. The H4 lens/bulb combo would probably provide a MUCH better lighting pattern than your sealed beams.
There are several (OK, at least 2!) makers of the H4 conversion lens. Not sure if they are any different on specs, but they are definitely different on price.
The Bosch version costs as much as you might expect for a Bosch part, about $50 or $60 for the set if I recall. The other brand (which I cannot recall the manufacturer of) is around $15 each.
I found the cheaper version at a local VW/Porsche parts house here in SoCal several years ago when I still had my 74.
The lighting provided by these sealed beam conversions cannot be compared to that of the Euro H4 lens, but it has a much larger surface area than the sealed beam version, so that is to be expected.

I can check into the availability of the cheaper units if you like, (the place is close to my work) and at least get a manufacturer name & part #, etc.

I have the info here somewhere, but it would probably be easier to go there than to find it here.
+++

Edgy01

Rings varied a bit over the years. Let's start with the USA rings, surrounding the standard seal beam headlights which are the most inferior headlight made for a 911. They lack any sort of adjustment access like seen on the white car. The rings have to be off the car to adjust the lights. By around 1982 Porsche started to provide the rings with the little grommet filled access holes so that the rings could remain on the car when you adjusted the aim of the lights.

As Dan mentions, the H4 solution is the only game in town. It makes for a much safer night driving environment. Those H4s by Bosch come with a chrome ring which has the adjustment screws visible on them, but are covered up by an outer trim ring. The trim rings themselves can be quite expensive,--be sure to get the RIGHT two-piece securing screw for the 6 o'clock position. The larger part secures the H4 bucket to the car, while a smaller screw holds the trim ring in place. (The trim rings are primered,--and ready for paint in your car color).

Another little tip to people digging into their headlight buckets. There is usually a rubber one-way valve at the bottom of the bucket in which water can drain out of the bucket. This is more critical for those with non-H4 headlight assemblies (as water can some into the assemblies around the sealed beams). The drain valves can easily get clogged with sand, etc. Don't just remove them as some do. What I did was to simply get a short length of soda straw and insert it inside that valve to keep it flowing.

flatsixnut

Thanks for the replies. I was only curious about the looks, but do not intend to change them out until they stop working. I rarely drive the car at night anyway. Actually, one of the last times I did drive at night...I got ran off the road by a truck passing another truck on a blind corner. Thank someone there was nothing on the side of the road where I had to go off.

Barry A. Waters

Michael,

The main reason for the difference is that Porsche decided that some 911's should look 'cool' and others should, well, just look OK... ;-)

Of course we ALL KNOW that a pre-89 911 (like yours and mine) looks MUCH better with the larger 'sealed-beam' style ring than it would with the H-4 type ring. They're Big, they're Bold and Chicks Dig 'em. What more can I say?

Barry

Ed Hughes

Don't forget the other ring seen:

The fantastic H1.

rgrimm

While the Euro H4 replacements are several hundred dollars, the 7" H4 replacments for your sealed beams, using your original rings are much less expensive, as noted.

I've got the Euro H4s in my '84 and the 7" H4 replacements in my 68 (wanted to keep the original look of the "sugar scoops") and I can assure you that the 7" replacements are a great bang for the buck.