ENGINEERMAN

Hi all:

I have a 951 with the stock sealed beams. As you know they are not very bright. I have already installed the Euro Driving/Fog combination set and they have made a huge difference (I almost don't even need the head lights) but would like to upgrade the headlights as well. I hate not being able to see well at night, especially in such a fast car!

Are there any sealed beams that do a good job or do I need to go the complete headlight with seperate bulb route? What ideas do you have to get a brighter light going?

Thanks in advance for your comments & suggestions!

Luis de Prat

Do a search on "IceShark" and everything you'd ever want to know about 944 headlights will appear.

sweanders

Try this link to get straight to the IceShark kit page:

http://www.gururacing.net/LightUpgrade.html

IceShark

Engineerman, You have to do two major things to improve the headlights and you can be running with the big dogs like MB, BMW, Audi, etc. and their HID arc lights. You will probably even beat many of the arc lights.

First, you have to replace the lenses with some E-Code and get good H4 bulbs. Look at the link Anders posted to Danno's GuruRacing site and go to the bottom photos. Those are Ben's pictures with just new Cibie E-Codes and 90/100 watt bulbs on the stock wiring. I'm not a big fan of running 90/100 watt on the stock wiring because it is a pretty heavy load but I've more or less given up telling people that because they are going to do it anyway.

Second, you have to rewire and boost the voltage to the bulbs. Here is the Rennlist thread that Danno got the upper pictures from which shows what happens when you go all the way: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...light=IceShark

The reasons a rewire is in order are: 1) Porsche has such crappy wiring for the headlights; 2) Halogen light output varies at ~ the 3.4th power to voltage changes. So, if you lose 15% of voltage you just dropped light output by about 50%. The other way around, you can increase light output by 100% with just a 15% increase in voltage.

This is so important as many 924/944 cars have voltage delivered to the headlight bulbs down around the 10v area. On a bulb that is supposed to get around 13.2 to 13.5 volts at spec design. That is one reason the lights look so yellow in stock - the bulbs aren't happy at all.

So, that is why I built the FullBoat headlight package and went way overboard on the improvements to the wiring. Voltage drop is well under 1%; the headlights get better voltage delivered than the battery. And is why people see increases in lighting on the order of 400 to 450%, plus a better beam pattern so you can actually use that increase. You can see it in MTM's pictures. Which I had nothing to do with - he just did it for his own kicks and posted it. But that is what happens when you pull it all together and go ***** to the wall, within reason.

ENGINEERMAN

Thanks for the good tip! I appreciate it!

Best regards!

ENGINEERMAN

Hi IceShark:

I see you live in Minneapolis... me too! I would like to discuss with you how to go about pulling off this upgrade ( I have all winter)!

Is your e-mail 'wraydan@msn.com' at Guru? I just sent him/you(?) the following...

You seem to be the pro for better Porsche Lighting. I have two projects in question, a 1986 951 (See photo 1) and a Strosek 911 (See photo 2).

On the 951 I have already upgraded to the Euro Driving/Fog light combination and it has made a huge difference but the headlights are still stock and not very bright. Is there a sealed beam improvement (I have sealed beams now)? I have seen your top of the line upgrade system and am sure that it is the best solution out there, how much of an improvement is it over a good sealed beam option? Why is it necessary to use a relay and voltage regulator with this system? Please advise.

On the Strosek 911, it came with PIAA light units that mount in the fender as you can see as the main head lights. They are pretty small and are not very bright at all. They seem to be similar to "projector" but are not bright at all with very dim yellowish light similar to old time sealed beams but even less effective.
Is there a better bulb that can be used with PIAA lights or are there better units that could be fitted to the Strosek Fender (I can send more pictures of the units if you would like)?

Bob Aziano (the guy who did the Strosek conversion) said that the fog lights are out of a Honda del Sol. They too are not very effective but they are a little better than the PIAA head lights.

What can I do, I can barely see at night!



You have obviously answered my questions for the 951, but the Strosek is really bad and it needs help. IceShark I sure would appreciate a phone call (since we are in the same town), or an e-mail if you prefer, to discuss how to proceed with both cars. I am at 651-603-2512 (work) if you would prefer to talk on the phone. Thanks Tom

ENGINEERMAN

Thanks a lot!

PCinDC

I have the Iceshark Full boat headlight kit and love it. I'm getting the full boat battery cable package this week! Can't wait!

The Full boat headlight kit even comes with an unterminated lead to wire 100 watt driving lights into the euro driving light housing. Now thats a lot of light!

Kesepton

I looked at the site, i must say, this is one of the cheapest conversions i have ever seen for lighting improvements that great. I know that for converting an E36 bmw to the e46 halogens, it costs well over a 1000 dollars. And, this conversions looks just as good. Then again, they have to change the whole housing. But, who cares, it looks great.

Has anyone done snake eyes with these 951s? I havent seen a thread about it. And, do you think these bulbs would be too hotfor them?

IceShark

I've told this story before. Coming across SoDak late at night. 100 watt Cibies on high, the Bosch driving side on 100 watt, fog side on 55 watt. All wired up good. The gas station guy said he saw me coming from 40 miles off and thought I was a plane trying to land on the freeway.

PCinDC

:rofl:

Granted, there isn't much else to light up the night in most parts of S Dakota, but LOL thats awesome. I need to get the Euro driving light housing. Where can I pick these up? Also, will the extra set of Narva's that came with the kit work for the driving lights or do I need to source different bulbs for that?

IceShark

Might be too hot. Some jokers pulled out one of the headlights, turned it on and fried eggs on it for lunch. They burn hot which is why you need quality lenses that can take the abuse.