Another happy PO-related discovery...
11-13-2007, 11:50 AM
#1
Burning Brakes
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Another happy PO-related discovery...
The PO loved the car. Every so often I discover something else that he did... and it's usually a pleasant discovery.
At the last Central FL. get-together it got dark, and I discovered that one of my headlights was out... and I had a look at some of the other cars' headlight patterns. Overall it seemed that the E-codes are STILL much better than DOT spec. -So I thought I'd not bother replacing the (presumed) DOT sealed-beam unit, but instead replace them BOTH with E-code replacements.
Yesterday lunchtime, I figured that I'd take a quick look at how they come out for replacement, and I noticed that the lights looked a little different to what I'd expected... I noted that they were marked "SEV Marchal" on the front, and I know that LOTS of the historic rally cars at Rennsport had 'SEV Marchal' sponsorship/decals... so I decided to do a little web-hunting.
The headlight lenses are marked "SEV Marchal", "AMPILUX" and "E2".
A google search on "Marchal Ampilux" returns only about 23 hits... -here's one, for example- but they're ALL related to how these are supposed to be just about the greatest headlights ever made... They were original equipment on Ferraris, upgrades on Rolls-Royces, highly-prized on DeTomaso Panteras etc... and considered pretty much essential upgrades for LeMans cars, due to a combination of their excellent cutoff pattern, completely separate reflector/lens combination each for high beam and low beam, and the super-high heat-rating of the reflectors...
These apparently go for around $400 PER SIDE, in NOS condition, and a significant number of the 23 search results were from people who wish that they'd never parted with them and are looking for more...
So on the drive home last night, I picked up a 55Watt Sylvania Siverstar H1 bulb to go in there. I'll put it in at lunchtime and I'll get to evaluate it on the drive home this evening...
Wow... people seem to really LOVE those headlights... To be honest, I haven't really ever tried them out, since the PO was also good enough to put in the European HELLA driving lights with PIAA bulbs... I guess I've been missing something!
Keith
At the last Central FL. get-together it got dark, and I discovered that one of my headlights was out... and I had a look at some of the other cars' headlight patterns. Overall it seemed that the E-codes are STILL much better than DOT spec. -So I thought I'd not bother replacing the (presumed) DOT sealed-beam unit, but instead replace them BOTH with E-code replacements.
Yesterday lunchtime, I figured that I'd take a quick look at how they come out for replacement, and I noticed that the lights looked a little different to what I'd expected... I noted that they were marked "SEV Marchal" on the front, and I know that LOTS of the historic rally cars at Rennsport had 'SEV Marchal' sponsorship/decals... so I decided to do a little web-hunting.
The headlight lenses are marked "SEV Marchal", "AMPILUX" and "E2".
A google search on "Marchal Ampilux" returns only about 23 hits... -here's one, for example- but they're ALL related to how these are supposed to be just about the greatest headlights ever made... They were original equipment on Ferraris, upgrades on Rolls-Royces, highly-prized on DeTomaso Panteras etc... and considered pretty much essential upgrades for LeMans cars, due to a combination of their excellent cutoff pattern, completely separate reflector/lens combination each for high beam and low beam, and the super-high heat-rating of the reflectors...
These apparently go for around $400 PER SIDE, in NOS condition, and a significant number of the 23 search results were from people who wish that they'd never parted with them and are looking for more...
So on the drive home last night, I picked up a 55Watt Sylvania Siverstar H1 bulb to go in there. I'll put it in at lunchtime and I'll get to evaluate it on the drive home this evening...
Wow... people seem to really LOVE those headlights... To be honest, I haven't really ever tried them out, since the PO was also good enough to put in the European HELLA driving lights with PIAA bulbs... I guess I've been missing something!
Keith
11-14-2007, 05:16 PM
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I suspect these are actually H4 bulbs. The E code 7" headlights are hi/low in a single bulb unless they are doing something funky. You should pull the bulb before you go to the part store to verify the wattages it is currently using. H4's come in 55/60 60/80 55/100 80/100 just to name a few. You will want to put the matching bulb or it will look like it has a week eye.
I run 55/100 using a separate harness. Legal low beam but burn the eyes out of a deer at 500 yards high.
I run 55/100 using a separate harness. Legal low beam but burn the eyes out of a deer at 500 yards high.
11-14-2007, 06:08 PM
#6
Burning Brakes
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Nope.
H1 for the low beam, H3 for the high beam. Not just separate bulbs either... separate REFLECTORS, too!
Went to the parts store the other evening on the way home, and -Surprise!- ran into a fellow Rennlister who worked there. Left with an H1 which fixed the dead low-beam.
E-code refers to the lens/reflector behaviour, and is a light-throw pattern standard, and is not directly related to bulbs per se.
Picture of an Ampilux up close:
You can see the lower 1/3rd is the high-beam reflector (uses a 100Watt H3) and the upper 2/3rds are the low ("dipped") beam H1, which uses the front lensing, unlike the lower (high-beam) section.
With seperate reflector assemblies, the manufacturer avoids having to 'compromise' light output when trying to achieve two lensing/reflection patterns from two filaments in the same bulb... such as an H4. Cibié also did the same thing with their "biode" headlights, which were considered essential equipment for many European rally drivers... particularly with the Ford Escort MkI rally cars.
The current lighting setup on the 951 is comprised of the two Ampilux Marchals, with 55W low-beam and 100Watt high-beams, AND Bosch European drivving lights, fitted with PIAA 55W fogs AND PIAA 110-Watt driving lights...
Instead of just blinding the deer, it actually roasts it for you!!!
Keith
H1 for the low beam, H3 for the high beam. Not just separate bulbs either... separate REFLECTORS, too!
Went to the parts store the other evening on the way home, and -Surprise!- ran into a fellow Rennlister who worked there. Left with an H1 which fixed the dead low-beam.
E-code refers to the lens/reflector behaviour, and is a light-throw pattern standard, and is not directly related to bulbs per se.
Picture of an Ampilux up close:
You can see the lower 1/3rd is the high-beam reflector (uses a 100Watt H3) and the upper 2/3rds are the low ("dipped") beam H1, which uses the front lensing, unlike the lower (high-beam) section.
With seperate reflector assemblies, the manufacturer avoids having to 'compromise' light output when trying to achieve two lensing/reflection patterns from two filaments in the same bulb... such as an H4. Cibié also did the same thing with their "biode" headlights, which were considered essential equipment for many European rally drivers... particularly with the Ford Escort MkI rally cars.
The current lighting setup on the 951 is comprised of the two Ampilux Marchals, with 55W low-beam and 100Watt high-beams, AND Bosch European drivving lights, fitted with PIAA 55W fogs AND PIAA 110-Watt driving lights...
Instead of just blinding the deer, it actually roasts it for you!!!
Keith
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11-15-2007, 11:12 AM
#8
Burning Brakes
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I'll take some pictures either this evening or over the weekend... I'm in the VW at the moment.
The above picture is just one I snaffled from the web; mine are in somewhat nicer shape than that, without the rust/corrosion which that one exhibits in the lower left area of the reflector.
Here's the back (picture snaffled from the same site):
Again, mine are a little tidier than this example: the wiring is MUCH less messy.
HIDs would be a FANTASTIC option, and if these things weren't apparently so historic, I'd give them some serious consideration! -However, the light output of these combined with the Euro Driving/fog combination is AT LEAST as good as any HIDs I've yet seen... though the HIDs do have the undeniable advantage of looking GORGEOUS and modern at the same time. HIDs also consume a tiny fraction of the current which the Ampilux/Euro-fog combination takes, and as a result cause rather less line-loss.
I'd LOVE to see some pictures of the HID setup. -Do you have HID fog/driving lights also? -I can only IMAGINE what that looks like on an Alpine White 951... -specially ons as gorgeous as yours. (the white splitter/lip on yours makes it just about one of the most fabulous white 951 front ends that I've ever seen, BTW.)
I'll trade you pictures... Just like in Kindergarten: you show me yours, I'll show you mine!
Keith
The above picture is just one I snaffled from the web; mine are in somewhat nicer shape than that, without the rust/corrosion which that one exhibits in the lower left area of the reflector.
Here's the back (picture snaffled from the same site):
Again, mine are a little tidier than this example: the wiring is MUCH less messy.
HIDs would be a FANTASTIC option, and if these things weren't apparently so historic, I'd give them some serious consideration! -However, the light output of these combined with the Euro Driving/fog combination is AT LEAST as good as any HIDs I've yet seen... though the HIDs do have the undeniable advantage of looking GORGEOUS and modern at the same time. HIDs also consume a tiny fraction of the current which the Ampilux/Euro-fog combination takes, and as a result cause rather less line-loss.
I'd LOVE to see some pictures of the HID setup. -Do you have HID fog/driving lights also? -I can only IMAGINE what that looks like on an Alpine White 951... -specially ons as gorgeous as yours. (the white splitter/lip on yours makes it just about one of the most fabulous white 951 front ends that I've ever seen, BTW.)
I'll trade you pictures... Just like in Kindergarten: you show me yours, I'll show you mine!
Keith
11-16-2007, 06:53 AM
#9
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When you hit the high beams on those, do the low beams stay on?
As much as I dislike my camry, I have to say that it is excellent to drive at night because the seperate low beams stay on when you hit the high beams, so you get tons of light.
As much as I dislike my camry, I have to say that it is excellent to drive at night because the seperate low beams stay on when you hit the high beams, so you get tons of light.
11-16-2007, 10:46 AM
#10
Burning Brakes
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The DOMINANT factor in how fantastically well these lights work is the reflector. I'm not sure what the 93 Camry model year had as a reflector/bulb arrangement, but IIRC, some of them do indeed have seperate bulb/reflector combinations. -By way of direct comparison, the MkIV VW Golfs/GTIs do exactly the same thing, yet the Jetta/Bora (identical car, except that it has a trunk instead of a hatch, and different headlamps) has a shared reflector, and a common bulb. With the Jettas, the low-beams go off with the high, and vice versa... so the Jetta/Bora is "Either/or", whereas the Golf/GTI allows both... -Guess which has the vastly better headlight pattern!
Golf:
Jetta:
With a common bulb, the heat is concentrated to such a degree that in high-output /increased power situations, heat becomes a MAJOR factor... specially with plastic headlight assemblies. Since the usual reason for flipping on the brights is that you need to see further ahead and the low-beams don't "look-ahead" far enough for you, it should be fine to shut off the low-beams when the brights come on. -However, the 'compromise' in terms of reflector efficiency is still an issue. It's not only the brightness which has to change, but the (irregular) conical shape of the beam. With most shared-bulb applications, a little is lost to this compromise.
The 951 -as I have it at the moment- does something different:
The pop-up lights do indeed 'alternate' between low and high-beam: meaning that when you switch to high-beam, the low beam goes off, and vice versa.
EXCEPTION: -When you have the low beams on and you "pull-to-flash", the lows stay on and the highs come on IN ADDITION. (This is usually fine, -even for sealed-beam and shared-bulb applications, because the 'flash' duration is so short that it shouldn't have enough time to heat anything up unduly.)
The Euro driving lights function differently. The 'low beam' (which actually works VASTLY better than the stock DOT low beam on the pop-ups, BTW) comes on with the sidemarkers, i.e. with the first switch 'on' position, not the second, which brings on the 'pop-up' low beams. When you go to high-beam, the sidemarkers stay on, so the Euro high-beams come on as WELL as the Euro fog/driving lights.
There are two (illuminated when active) factory fog light switches, each of which activates one half of the Euro system: One activates the two 'low-beam's, the other activates the Euro 'high-beams'.
If you 'pull-to-flash' with the low beams on and both switches activated, you have 2 x 55 Watt mains, PLUS 2 x 55 Watt Euro lights, PLUS 2 x 110 Watt high-beams, PLUS 2 x 110 Watt Euro high beams... a total of 2/3rds of a kilowatt of frontal light, with each lens having a unique reflector.
Golf:
Jetta:
With a common bulb, the heat is concentrated to such a degree that in high-output /increased power situations, heat becomes a MAJOR factor... specially with plastic headlight assemblies. Since the usual reason for flipping on the brights is that you need to see further ahead and the low-beams don't "look-ahead" far enough for you, it should be fine to shut off the low-beams when the brights come on. -However, the 'compromise' in terms of reflector efficiency is still an issue. It's not only the brightness which has to change, but the (irregular) conical shape of the beam. With most shared-bulb applications, a little is lost to this compromise.
The 951 -as I have it at the moment- does something different:
The pop-up lights do indeed 'alternate' between low and high-beam: meaning that when you switch to high-beam, the low beam goes off, and vice versa.
EXCEPTION: -When you have the low beams on and you "pull-to-flash", the lows stay on and the highs come on IN ADDITION. (This is usually fine, -even for sealed-beam and shared-bulb applications, because the 'flash' duration is so short that it shouldn't have enough time to heat anything up unduly.)
The Euro driving lights function differently. The 'low beam' (which actually works VASTLY better than the stock DOT low beam on the pop-ups, BTW) comes on with the sidemarkers, i.e. with the first switch 'on' position, not the second, which brings on the 'pop-up' low beams. When you go to high-beam, the sidemarkers stay on, so the Euro high-beams come on as WELL as the Euro fog/driving lights.
There are two (illuminated when active) factory fog light switches, each of which activates one half of the Euro system: One activates the two 'low-beam's, the other activates the Euro 'high-beams'.
If you 'pull-to-flash' with the low beams on and both switches activated, you have 2 x 55 Watt mains, PLUS 2 x 55 Watt Euro lights, PLUS 2 x 110 Watt high-beams, PLUS 2 x 110 Watt Euro high beams... a total of 2/3rds of a kilowatt of frontal light, with each lens having a unique reflector.
Last edited by VWaddict; 11-16-2007 at 12:15 PM. Reason: Text formatting
11-16-2007, 12:09 PM
#11
Burning Brakes
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A couple of pictures:
The Ampilux on the 951 (Passenger side):
The Euro E-code (E-1) Fog/Driving lights:
Close up of the lens coding:
Keith
The Ampilux on the 951 (Passenger side):
The Euro E-code (E-1) Fog/Driving lights:
Close up of the lens coding:
Keith
