Doggone you, George!!!!

Just when I think I have all this lighting stuff sorted out in my mind
enough to make a lighting upgrade, you come along with some new
information that thows all my plans and expections out of kilter. Now I
have to rethink what direction I want to go. LOL!

Ok, so here's a question, where do these 200 mm Hella's for $80 come
from. Got any sources you can refer me (us) to?? I would be on those in
a heartbeat.

And is there any other source you know of for those double fuse blocks
to enable fusing the coil of the relay??

Although I have some round buckets and was about to go for the SA
grille, if I could get the cheaper rectangular lights I really think I
would rather stay with them, expecially give that I am interested in
those fog lights that are rectangular that fit on the end of the lower
grille. Rectangulars above and below look better to me than a mix of
rounds and rectangulars.

Thanks,

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

George Goff wrote:

>Some thoughts on Vanagon headlights:
>
>1/ I converted to the SA configuration, but I would not do it again.
>Instead, I would adapt 200 mm rectangular (nominally 5X7) Hella's to the stock
>grille.  I saw this reported in the Limbo newsletter some years ago and the result
>looked good even without the curved lens of the stock modular lights.  The
>200mm Hella's can be found for about $80 including the bulbs.  Considering only
>the cost of the necessary hardware this is the cheapest route to go.  My SA
>conversion cost half of what most vendors charge only because I already had the
>buckets and I get Hella's from a place with the best price around.
>
>Don't be misled into thinking that the SA grille is simply slapped into
>place.  In reality, there is no time saved mounting an SA grille compared to
>fabricating the mounting pieces for rectangular lights because, done properly, the
>SA grille requires the fabrication and accurate alignment of the three
>attachment points which do not exist in the grille openings of US Vanagons.
>
>Still, the SA combination is hands down better than the stock setup.  For
>that matter, the round headlight grille prior to '86 with a set of 7" Hella's is
>also mucho better.
>
>2/ Save your money.  Simply installing higher wattage lamps is no solution.
>The problem with the stock headlights has little to do with the intensity of
>the light source but much to do with the optical characteristics of the lamp
>and the resultant light pattern.  Ask any of the unfortunate soles who bought
>those made in Pakistan H-4's from one of the list vendors about the
>effectiveness of more watts.
>
>3/ Although I was not compelled to use higher wattage lamps, I, too,
>installed relays for the lighting load solely because I did not want to suffer, once
>again, the inconvenience of a failed headlight switch.  The lighting "relay
>kits" I have seen offered have one serious shortcoming: they leave the coil side
>of the relay unfused.  I was fortunate enough to find a double relay block
>with two attached fuse holders hiding in my mass of Vanagon junk (I think it was
>from an '84) which allowed me to install the lighting relays with proper
>fusing.
>
>George
>
>
>