Robby

To those of you who have an interest in upgrading your headlights, Iceshark is putting together a kit that will include everything you will need to upgrade your entire light system, from bulbs & lenses to wiring and relays- he also has adj voltage regulators. His prices seem to be very cheap, and I believe a whole upgrade w/Cibie lenses and 90/100w bulbs, etc will stay under $250. If you are interested, and serious about getting in on this (I advise you to do so quickly) please respond here, so we can get an idea of who's really in and who's not- I know that Iceshark has sold bulbs to many on this list already...

Iceshark- I've been trying to reach you, I'm sure you've recieved the messages- you're e-mail may be messed up too- I know you've been having problems w/it, so I'll try calling again tommorrow night...

This might be a decent place to list some of the prices for the whole kit- I am sending you a deposit check like we spoke about last week, as I know you said the lenses were due in mid March, and are in limited quantities. I hope you don't mind me starting a post about this, being that it is your project, but I haven't seen anything about it lately, and we've talked about this for several months now- I'd like to help get the ball rolling, and hope that others will do the same...

Thanks,
Robby

Ahmet

I would be interested, but I think I'm making mine, and I already have the headlights and relays ready to wire in, EXCEPT one problem...

I don't want to use the original headlight circuit, can anybody help me figure out which wires to use to turn the relays on/off coming directly from the switch?
Thanks
Ahmet

IceShark

Ahmet, you are good at wrenching. Don't know why the the lights are still an issue.

Tell me your headlight problems and I can probably help, maybe, solve.

Regards, Dan

P.S. People that want in on the kit or headlights should send the $100 deposit. Most of the headlights have been spoken for, so it is first come, first serve.

EDIT: Robby, guess I didn't post the prices. The Cibies will cost $80 a pair without bulbs. This price will likely go up 10% to 20% when I have to re-order.

The good Phillips/Narva 90/100 bulbs will be $20 a pair. I don't think most will be interested, but I can get you some cheap 55/60 watt bulbs for $5 a pair. You really don't want to go that way, though.

The wiring kit will come in about $125, but that is subject to a bit of change. Everyone is wanting a little different setup. If you want NASA grade wire v. marine grade v. welding, that is a price issue.

The top quality adjustable voltage regulator with attached brushes is $16.50. Voltage is preset at 14.40 , I suggest you leave it at that seting.

Did I forget anything?

Ahmet

IceShark, I bought this car with a lot of problems...

Anyway, when I bought the car, all headlight wiring was completely hacked, the headlights got their power from the turn signal assys (left front and right rear didn't work, etc etc). and they would come on when the parking lights were on!

Obviously I fixed that, and removed part of the hacked wiring for the headlights. Now I have the headlights grounded, and high and low beam +s hooked up to the relays, the relays are connected to the battery, the only thing I haven't done yet is to wire the relays to the headlight switch so they turn on with the (factory) headlight switch...

I want to know which wires coming directly off the switch I need to connect to the relays to make this work. If you can tell me, that'll save me a lot of time.
Ahmet

PS: If I hadn't upgraded the headlights/wiring with relays on both my 944s, I'd definately buy the kit from you.

IceShark

Ahmet, which car are you working with, the '86 951?

Doesn't really matter because you shouldn't need to take off the fuse board, just catch them as they come out of the firewall on the left side. Follow that down to the headlight area and you should find where the PO hacked in and cut them.

Once you find that, test the wires out. Use them to drive your aftermarket relays on and off - that is a very small load, just a few watts.

As long as things are still screwed up and apart, I would move that positive headlight feed off the battery and put it on the alternator. That will clean things up a bit and be better all around.

The nice thing about my kit is you don't need to hack up original wiring and get screwed up like you now are with some crazy deal that is wired to the parking lights where years later you are not sure what is going on. Just plug the original left hand headlight socket into the kit socket, then attach the kit wire eyes and sockets in the proper places. Wire tie down the new runs and cap off the old runs. Pretty easy, especially for a mechanic like you.

Ahmet

Yes, I'm working on the 951.

I appreciate your replies, but there's one thing I'm trying to avoid, and that's cutting the wiring harnesses for the headlights. When I put fuses in, it blows them. I've never been able to get power at the actual headlight sockets.

I've wired in the relays for my other 944 as your kit would be wired in, using factory wires to turn the relays on/off, this is not an option on my turbo. Aside from that, I'd also like to keep the relays under the dash instead of in the engine comp.

Anyway, do you know which wire I need to use (immidiately @ switch) to turn on the relay for low beams, and which wire for high beams?
Thanks again.
Ahmet

User 462021

Iceshark, Did you recieve my deposit? Is their anything that you still need to know about my car, since it is an early one. Are the fuse panels different on later cars? Mine is right above my legs.

Robby, do you mind if I copy and paste this topic and start it over at Pelican? Let me know.

IceShark

Yes, Tim, your deposit showed up yesterday. Saw the postmark and they took about a week to deliver.

So you are a locked in price on the lenses and bulbs and get first delivery when they get in the country. The Cibie lenses may go up a bit in price on later orders. Not my decision, just what I think will happen.

I think we are OK on your wiring inspection and your fuse panel really doesn't matter to what we are doing, other than driving the relays, which is done through the plug into your left hand headlight bulb.

I do want you to find a spot on the front of the block to bolt on the new ground wire, so I can make the length correct. You have to find this anyway. Though the ground is a totally seperate wire so you can find the right spot as you install and I can ship the thing out to you 2nd day or something. Just trying to save you some shipping and wait time.

Regards,

Dan

User 462021

I think I may have found that ground. I'll take a pic tomorrow if it isn't rainning. I can't wait to get these lights. My right light seems dimmer than my left one. Tonight I was driving in the rain and I can hardly tell if my lights are even on. Its bad, are all 944's like this or is my really bad?

IceShark

Tim, it is a standard 944/924 problem. Especially with the right light as you noted. Your car and lights are bad because you are a bit older than most. This problem is only going to get worse for the rest and they WILL see it in a few years.

Anyway, post that picture and I will build from it at the first part of next week.

Regards

Robby

Tim,

Yes, posting the message at Pelican would be great...

Actually, I'm a little dissappointed w/the lack of responses to this, and while I know that a few people have already commited, I really expected more people to participate- especially since this has been mentioned several times over the last few months. I know that many of us have spent lots of money on our cars, and it's sometimes difficult to justify spending even more (we have to prioritize) but I just don't understand why so many people will spend such huge amounts of money rebuilding engines, adding larger turbos, MAFS, etc, while so few will spend so little (comparably) to noticeably upgrade their lights(?). Especially considering that our lights have never been that great to begin with and have gotten much worse w/age. I don't like the fact that my Turbo S is outlit by so many modern day, low dollar American cars, not to mention how badly it compares w/some of the high dollar imports. It's not just for spirited night driving, or for the "coolness factor," but it's also for added safety. Oh well, hopefully more people will join in soon...

Danno

Are these the genuine e-code housings that have a sharp cut-off between the lit and unlit regions? Also it rises towards the right side?

IceShark

Yes, Danno, they are genuine E-Code by Cibie, one of the most famous manufacturers in lighting. And coming in from Europe, which is why they are taking a few weeks to get here. Cibie is French and the French have always had some sort of fetish with lighting like their cooking. Both efforts have worked out pretty damn good.

The sharp horizontal cutoff is why you can run 90/100 watt bulbs in them without blowing other drivers off the road and get close to true HID arc lighting. Maybe better in some cases. But your wiring better be pretty darn good which is why this whole headlight upgrade kit idea was started.

Dano_944

Iceshark, I have a question or two:

My fiance's 912 has the Cibie light upgrade (with all appropriate harness and relays) and the car illuminates the road like a lighthouse becon! Are the Cibie's sealed beam or replaceable bulb (H4 etc) type? I didn't do her upgrqade, the previous owner did.

I replaced my stock sealed-beam lights ('87 944 N/A) with the Hella H4's last night....Woo! I can signal Venetians with these high beams. Can you give me a comparison of the H4 and Cibie in terms of illumination? My system accepted the H4's really simply with minor beam adjustment, and I have a backup relay, should the stock relay fail (my mechanic has been running his stock relay for 2 years on the H4 setup..... apparently no relay problems). What are your thought?

<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

IceShark

Dano, here goes a long explaination as a couple guys complained about my using short hand lingo.

It may depend on how old your girlfriend's Cibies are, I think they used to also offer sealed beams, and maybe still do in some markets. But my guess is they are E-Code (Ecomomic Commission for Europe lighting Code) using a replaceable H-4 bulb. In other words, they are the current design Cibie 7" E-Code lens, especially given your description. You can tell easy enough by looking at the letters and numbers cast into the lens glass. Just look for an "E" followed by a number. Probably an E2, 2 meaning the approval was granted in France. Then look for an H4, this might be real tiny but should be towards the center of the lens. That means it uses H-4 bulbs.

Now as to your E-Code Hella H-4s there are two models out there, the "regular" E-Code H-4 and the Hella "Super" E-code H-4. My guess is you have the regular flavor because the Super is rather new and most people doen't even know about them so there are very few in North America.

The "regular" lens is inferior in most people's opinion which is why Hella came out with the Super even though they are still selling the "regular". Strange marketing decision. The Cibie and Hella Super are comparable and I prefer the Cibie.

Which is why the headlight kits are using Cibies once I found out people would trust my opinion on selecting the best lens. When I originally started out putting the kit together I was going to use Hella Supers because of Brand Name recognition. A couple guys in on my deal are even replacing their "regular" Hella H-4s with Cibies.

Now did you put these Hellas in your 944? Hate to tell you this but the stock wiring of the 944 doesn't have relays for the headlights, as hard as that is to believe. So, unless someone did an aftermarket upgrade of some sort, you don't have relays. Another reason for the Headlight Kit since the stock headlight wiring is so poor that even running stock 55/60 watt bulbs there will be a fair voltage drop. Rewire your stock headlights and you will likely see a pretty good improvement in light output running just stock bulbs.