Rise of the Phoenix, '96 Firebird Formula 6-speed Options

[Box]

Thanks! Which will have to do the wiring tomorrow, technically today, since ended up going over to father's due to a last minute invitation to watch the opening game. Which that was a nice chance to test the shifter out some more and it really is greatly improved, you wouldn't think just the stick could make such a difference but I guess the combination of reduced height, being straight, and mounting solidly instead of having a giant chunk of rubber to isolate noise it all adds up. Which driving home I look forward to how much a difference the new lighting harness will make.

[Bitter]

I'll be excited to see too! I remember the first time I drove at night with my harness boosted halogen in the Celica I was absolutely blown away by how much more light I had, it was incredible.

[Box]

Of course would finish everything up and it turns out the relays are the wrong style... Stupid 87A and not dual 87... For what it's worth they do seem brighter even in direct sunlight, guess I'll just have to join the passenger and driver harness wires into one connector...

[Bitter]

Oh, wait no you want to run two relays as the relays are the most likely point of failure in the system, and two fuses to feed the relays so if one fuse or relay goes you still have both headlights working.

[Box]

There are two relays and fuses(one for low the other for high), but a dual 87 would've let me run passenger and driver on entirely independent wires since there'd be two power outputs but with the 87A I had to join the passenger and driver together onto each relay power output. Which finally done, had to reset the settings on my stereo since just removing the nut off the post for all of a few seconds was enough to reset it. They do seem considerably whiter and brighter, which once it's dark outside will be able to really tell. I was also able to route the wiring for the driver side behind the washer bottle so it all looks nice.

This post has been edited by Box: Sep 5, 2016 - 7:36 PM

[Bitter]

Sorry, you want 4 relays then. One for each headlight and one fuse for each headlight so you still have high and low and left and right all working should one relay fail or fuse blow. Eh what you have is probably fine though since you'll have either high or low beams full working should something fail.

Can't wait to hear your impressions of the headlights at night with the harness though, I'm sure you'll be as astounded as I was. What made it better for me was I was driving back from a car meet in the dark along roads I wasn't entirely familiar with and so I needed to see really well and I could see REALLY well!

This post has been edited by Bitter: Sep 5, 2016 - 8:07 PM

[Box]

I carry a variety pack of fuses in the glovebox which won't do me much good while going down the road, but I'll be able to pull over and pop another in real quick. The Daniel Stern site showed just doing a relay and fuse for low and then a relay and fuse for high so figured that'd be the way to do it, oh well. Anyhow did a quick look and a couple pictures, about to go realign to the fatter beam pattern. Low then high:

[Bitter]

if it's good enough for DS then it's good enough!


That does look substantially brighter, like a lot brighter. How is it out on the road?

[Box]

Just got back from aligning and doing a small test drive and it's a much bigger improvement than you'd think just by changing wiring gauge. I can actually see pretty well, even on low beam the entire road is nicely lit and then on high beam I didn't reach a stretch long enough I couldn't see the end of(only a couple or few hundred feet but still). That and I noticed pulling back onto my street and into the driveway there actually seems to be a twinge of usable side illumination now, still would like to add some fogs though. Honestly still kind of astounded with the performance of a dual filament halogen in a popup housing of all things, I'd say it's somewhere around 50-100% brighter. So thanks for talking me into it, definitely worth it even if I won't be able to walk for a few days and it looks like my hands and arms were attacked by an angry cat. Grabbed a couple more pictures after returning from inside the car, for some reason the pictures look dimmer but of course it's hard to get a perfect representation:

[Bitter]

I knew you'd like it. I agree, some fogs would help if you had somewhere to stick some!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-X5-ALL-BLACK-MET...VOa&vxp=mtr

Those are what I used to replace the OEM fogs on my aunties Capri, they're actually brighter than the OEM flip up lights are and have a nice wide but not tall pattern so they wont' glare. They add a lot of width, but I don't think you have the room for them.


I should make her a heavier gauge wire harness for the Capri, it's lights are seriously dim.

[Box]

I think I'd do well to fit those blazer projectors you were talking about before.

Ah, the FWD Miata. Apparently the Capri uses the same headlamps as my Firebird, so could do the H4 conversion along with the new harness. If you did both at the same time she'd think you're some kind of magician after seeing the new setup.

[Bitter]

Indeed, bigger fish to fry with that car though.

[Box]

Here we go, new 100W/80W bulbs inside E-code headlamps with a 12 AWG wiring harness. It's actually pretty amazing to think it's halogen, whiter and wider than I thought it'd be:




Tried to match the last set of photos as closely as possible. The next time I go shopping at night I need to remember to get some pictures at the dead end side of the road. I'm actually surprised how good it is, of course I'd still like to make a HID setup but this will definitely hold for the time being. I do know any future older car with sealed beams will get the same treatment.

This post has been edited by Box: Sep 21, 2016 - 11:09 PM

[Bitter]

Yowza, I see little need for any more light down the center, just need some more width to the light to cover the shoulders. I feel bad for anyone who pisses you off and gets the high beam!

[Box]

Yep just need the shoulders which is slightly better than before but still not enough to be 100% comfortable, need to sit down and see if those H3 projector fogs will fit. Which on my test drive I didn't have the couple of cars or so I passed flash me so that's good, but even on low beam now I can see enough to feel comfortable and not be itching to throw it onto high. High beam is just wow though, easily near HID output but of course it takes thrice the wattage but should I digress. It still amazes me a glass lense is able to focus the light so well though, it's almost like a projector. So it turns out it's just DOT crap that's crap, go figure.

Well a projector has a glass lense too, but you know what I mean. Guess should say a flat lense to be more precise.

This post has been edited by Box: Sep 22, 2016 - 12:56 AM

[Bitter]

http://rimiusa.com/index.php?main_page=pro...;products_id=58 Are those what you got? I need to wire up a relay harness and rebuild a headlight switch because of Ford stupidity from the late 80's in the department of electrical design. If those are it then I can search them on ebay for that number. Except you got ones without the marker lights in them right? Would be pointless on popup headlights...

[Box]

Yup these are the ones I got sans city lights: http://rimiusa.com/index.php?main_page=pro...;products_id=59

Found them cheapest shipped here and who I bought from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/165-mm-or-6x4-HALO...0606159?vxp=mtr

Could be someone else might have them cheaper now on eBay or Amazon, seems price on the listing went up a dollar per lamp since I bought them.

This post has been edited by Box: Sep 28, 2016 - 9:19 PM

[Bitter]

I found 35+15 shipping as the best. Same price roughly either way.

Wait, does he combine shipping?

This post has been edited by Bitter: Sep 28, 2016 - 9:47 PM

[Box]

He does, I just double checked using the cart and it'd be $12.15 for shipping to me.

[Bitter]

Well crap, I had submitted and offer on the other ones, let me see where that goes. Only a $3-5 difference between them.