I have done several different types of headlight upgrades. The cheapest solution is to get the headlight buckets from an older Vanagon that used the round headlights, and put in a couple of standard round sealed beam headlights. You'll want the older grill too most likely. With a friendly junkyard and a little bit of labor, you can make this switch for less than $100.

Or, you might be able to get the South African grill (4 round headlights) which will come with the extra highbeam bracket. You'll still need the older headlight buckets. The extra highbeam you'll have to switch the electrical connector for the highbeam.

If you go and of the above routes you'll also need to switch the headlight plug to something like the H4 connector (which works fine on the old sealed beam headlights.)

And you can go with H4 round headlights, though the sealed beams have a great lighting pattern.

Finally, if (like me) you still like the rectangular headlight look, you can switch out the DOT US rectangular headlights, for the EuroSpec equivalents. These are H4 headlights, so again, you'll need to switch the electrical connector. However, as with the above switches, the lighting pattern is so much better you won't regret the switch.

On Jan 9, 2010, at 1:38 PM, Michael Kimball wrote:

> The headlights on my 1987 Westy are useless.  Have switched bulbs with no
> improvement.  Any similar problems and solutions?