Hi there Vanagon�rs!
I have been reading through your mail for some time now - with lots and
lots of admiration for your ideas and tech tips and finally I�ve worked
myself up to the point where I �ll try to dare and share some ideas of
my own.
Living in Sweden with lots of experience from night time deriving
amongst moose and deer both as a privateer and as a truck and rally
driver I�ve tried a lot of light combinations and this is what I�ve come
to prefer....- oh god, I�m starting to sound like a teacher, sorry �bout
that, it�s not my intentions to be a smart alec or anything, just
spilling some tips..-
First of all, look at what you�ve got!!!!
I now that you in the US are almost stuck with the sealed beams but if
you have a chance, go get yourself some H4 lights, prefferably the older
round types!
Then- and this is the important part- get a couple of good relays and
some THICK cable.
Connect the relays between your old wiring and the bulbs with as short
and thick cable as possible, using the old cables as triggerwire so you
know that everyting is connected right AND possible to rebuild.Then- and
this is if you have got H4 bulbs-go and get a pair of high quality bulbs
and dont bother with 100 watts or more, they will only make the cromium
go yellow or crack early because of extended heat and youll get a lot of
power down to the bulbs anyway thanks to the wires and relays you just
installed.
Then you could give yous nightvision some extra help by adding som extra
headlights but  buy quality stuff and think of the wiring.
Don't fall for the salesguys "3 zillion candlepower, lights up
everything into the next county" crap but buy a pair or two of  big and
round lights  that gives you the pattern of the headlight.
If you want the yellow light, get a bulb with yellow gas in it, if you
pait the glass, it�ll crack when it rains because the yellow paint
collects the heat!
And again:Quality bulbs gives the best lights and 55W IS enough - unless
you're going 150 mph and that�s not a good thing to do in a Vanagon at
night anyway!
I mean, you want the alternator to be able to give you both light, heat
and maybe run the vipers as well without leaving you with a dead battery
the next morning!
So check the watt output and the wiring , let off the accelerator at
night and drive safe
Calle, -88 Vanagon