The Hella H4 combination is the way to go in my opinion. I retrofitted the
rectangular headlights on my 87 to this system. I don't know about the
JCWhitney "Hella H-4 Quartz-Halogen Headlights" you refer to, but $17 to $25
sounds too good to be true for the headlight assembly and the bulb. I think
I paid around $40 or so for the combination. You have to buy a new headlight
for the H4 bulbs-they won't work with the stock headlights. 

-Mark McCulley

At 08:01 PM 2/5/97 -0600, Scott Walker wrote:
>On the subject of improving headlights on the Vanagon...
>I seem to remember someone recommending replacing the lamps with Hellas.  My 84
>has Sylvania lamps now.  What Hella lamp would be a direct replacement for
>these, and would such a move be likely to improve lighting (I know there is the
>issue of low voltage in the wiring, but I'm not ready to re-wire yet)?
>
>In JCWhitney they show two types of Hella H-4 Quartz-Halogen Headlights,
ranging
>in price from $17 to $25 dollars, which they say are for "off-road use".  They
>also show a Hella "Vision Plus High Performance Halogen Headlight" with an HB2
>bulb to replace "existing H6024 or H6054 headlights", running $40.  Any advice
>on what I should buy?
>
>Thanks to all.
>Scott Walker
>New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, USA
>71674.16@compuserve.com
>
>84 Westy
>
>
>