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From: Gomes, David [david.gomes@us.gambro.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 9:04 AM
Subject: RE: [D90] Re: 80/100s
"....Could you elaborate on "PROPER AIMING"...."
Did you get aiming instructions with the lamps? I'm going from memory here,
and based on my E-code lamps that have a distinct low beam cutoff in a
___/ ___/ pattern (please bear with the ASCII-draw!). But if I remember
correctly, the instructions were to park about 3 ft from a wall on a level
surface, with the car perpendicular to the wall. Mark the point on the wall
where the horizontal cutoff meets the slanted one. Back the truck up 20 ft
along the level surface. The intersection point of the cutoffs should now
be about 4" lower on the wall.
Again, that's just form memory. I still have the instruction sheets from
the lights and could check it if you like. There's a more involved (probably
better, IMHO) procedure on this page:
http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/how_to//aim/
I don't necessarily agree with everything this guy has to say, on the site,
but I think this procedure is probably a good one, and would recommend it
over my poor memory.... Notice his detailed instructions about the vehicle
loading. He's going for mean conditions. Okay in a passenger car, but in a
SWB vehicle that gets loaded up like the 90, I'd say do his thing, but be
aware that if you load up, you might be blinding people, and if you'll spend
significant time that way, maybe figure a "worst case" setup and know that
it takes, say one turn of the vert adjust screw to be safe when loaded up.
-Dave G.
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From: Chris "V"[SMTP:t.velardi@snet.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 11:39 AM
Subject: RE: [D90] hella vision plus vs. hella non DOT
If you look at the beam created by the H-4 lens it has a distinct cut off
line that runs about 50 degrees lower on the left (oncoming traffic) and
higher on the right. This distinct cut off line between light and darkness
can be directed right left up or down with the headlamp bucket screws. The
standard Halogen or Vision lenses create more of a round or oval light
pattern with no distinct cut off line. When adjusted up down right and left
you primarily move the center beam focus and it's surrounding dimmer light
pattern. This is one of the reasons you can throw a 90/140 watt bulb in an
H-4 (E-type) lens focus it right at the edge of a typical passenger car
trunk lid, and drive around any highway in the US (with low beams on)and
never offend oncoming traffic. Do this with an bulb over a 70 watts in a
Vision lens (non H-4 E-type)and you will offend oncoming traffic and
inevitably the police.
Chris "V"
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From: Scott Monico[SMTP:smonico@monico.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 8:34 AM
Subject: [D90] Re: Lights
I have the hella vision plus and they do have a fairly sharp cut off and
upswing to the right on low beam. As far as light output I am happy w/
them, however as far as durability I am not happy. I have had 2 sets
replaced by the place I got them under warranty for cracking in the last 2
years and I just cracked another one this last weekend. They are not
cracking from impact but from stress. I am running stock wattage bulbs and
the slightest splash of water on them cracks the glass. The only reason I
am still running them is because they have been replaced free so far. When
I have to buy a new set I am going to try IPF, I have heard they use a
thicker glass.
Scott Monico
97d90st
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From: Alan Dobbs[SMTP:gulfcmt@flash.net]
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2000 10:44 PM
Subject: RE: [D90] Lighting
I am probably one of the very few who are running the Xenon (HID) 7 inch
round headlights. Not cheap at around $850 for the set, but they do however light up better
than even the non DOT approved Euro Hella H4 lights. The HID bulb is DOT approved and the optics are made so it does not blind oncoming traffic. The only downfall is I have to run the Hella off-road lights on my Hi-beam
to pass inspection since all HID bulbs are only single filament.
Alan Dobbs
-------------
From: BROWN DAVID E (DAVE)
Date: Tue Dec 5, 2000 8:14am
Subject: Headlight switch
Christopher - sorry for the delayed response (I'm behind again in reading
digests) I searched for alretnate replacements, and only found a "late model
MG switch" to be the same, only with a different picture on it. I got a
factory LR switch from British Pacific for around $25. It came in a Lucas
box with part number 30713 on one side, and a sticker stuck on the other
side with part number PRC5425 on the other side.
If you're burning them out that fast, R U running high wattage bulbs? If so
you NEED relays!
ADD A HEADLIGHT RELAY KIT!!! This will not only brighten your headlights,
but eliminate full power going through your headlight switch. It's $65.99
from Jeg's (1-800-345-4545) Painless Wiring part number 76430815
No affiliation with British Pacific, Jeg's or Painless Wiring, but they
worked well for me!
Dave... '87 Rangie 4.6L
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 10:29:40 -0500
From: "Chris Velardi" tchris@freewwweb.com
Subject: [D90] Head light swich
As recommend I took apart the steering column and found that the switch was
more "dislocated" than broken . The retaining nut had backed off and made it
so the switch unplugged the low beam wire . A simple retightening and
putting the wire back on the post corrected the situation. It turns out
there is a lot of nice free electrical wiring space down there and a
reinforced switch location to the right of the steering column ...any idea
of it's purpose?
Chris "V"
Bill Ritchie had said:
I had the same problem with my switch. It ended up being a retaining nut that had backed of just inside the plastic of the steering column. 3 minute fix if that is your problem.
and Rob Leggerio added:
Same exact thing happened to me. Took the cover off the column, added
a drop of blue Locktight, tightened, and was good to go.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 01:30:54 -0400
From: "Daniel S. Hayes" dsh12@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Re: [D90] Wiring for upgraded headlights
Their home page is http://www.jacobselectronics.com/. The specific
product, Headlight Britener can be found at the bottom of this page: http://www.jacobselectronics.com/Products/Security.htm
I don't know the max wattage it will handle. I called and ask them if it
would handle two 155 watts head lamps (my setup when I pull the headlight
lever back) and they said no problemo. If have more wattage, give them a
call. They were very helpful.
Dan
------------------------------
From: Gomes, David
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 10:25 AM
Subject: RE: [D90] Headlamp harness
> I am about to install the H4 replacements (headlights). Is this wiring harness
> replacement something that needs to be done also?
You only "need" to do the relay kit if you want to use higher wattage bulbs than the stock 55/60. IMHO ability to use the brighter bulbs is a main attraction of H-4s. Some say the relay kit even makes the 55/60 bulbs brighter due to it being a lower resistance circuit than the stock circuit. Some others (like Barnett) have blown switches with stock wattage bulbs too. IMHO, the relay kit is cheap, easy insurance for one of the few areas where the Defender system is marginally effective.
-Dave G.
-----------
From: Gomes, David
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 9:41 AM
Subject: RE: [D90] Headlamp harness
Barnett sez:
> I think British Pacific and Painless wiring has something?
> Has anyone had any experience with these?
I put the Painless Wiring kit in my '97 D90. I was very impressed at the high quality of materials (waterproof sealed Bosch relays and fuse holder, heavy wire with flexible insulation, high quality rubber-sealed crimps on terminals). The only bit of trouble I had was that I had to trim the socket that the kit uses to tap into the existing headlight plug (where it gets the signal to close relays). The right-angle type headlight plug used on my 97 D90 wouldn't fully engage the deep connector on the Painless harness. Trimming about 1/4" from the painless socket solved this easily though.
Oh wait, I seem to remember that I might have had to move some of the wires in the socket to get the hi-beams and low-beams to be on at the right time. It may have been another issue with how the Painless plug mated to the LR one. I'm not positive about that though. One thing that bugged me came up at that point. There were no instructions or schematic with the Painless kit. But, it wasn't rocket science to figure out.
The whole install and debug took maybe two hours, including putting in the euro H-4s and making a plate to mount the relays and fuse to the clamp bolt of the radiator overflow can. Worked flawlessly for the 3 yrs I had the truck. The D90 is gone now, but the relay kit and lights are still going strong after being transferred to the 109".
> Sounds good. Who did you buy the kit from? Do you have a part # ?
The Painless number is 30815. See it at:
http://www.painlesswiring.com/relays.htm
I called them first, but the customer service rep there was kind enough to tell me, "I could sell it to you, but you can get it a lot cheaper from Summit Racing." So that's where I got it. I don't much care for summit's web catalog, and couldn't find this kit listed there when I looked just now. But, if you call them, I'm sure they can find it. Summit's customer service people are pretty good.
http://www.summitracing.com/index.htm
Click on "Shop" at the right end of the blue menu bar to get into their catalog. Then, Happy Navigating!
-Dave G.
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From: Michael Azzariti[SMTP:efxguy@earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 7:55 AM
Subject: [D90] Headlamp Harness
Just a follow up about the Painless Harness. I had burned out a headlamp switch before I had upgraded to H4's.
I bought mine from Summit Racing for a total of about $60. Mine came with a short installation instruction sheet that was clearly written.
Details of the installation are as follows. I opted to mount the relays and fuses to the left hand (driver's side here in the US) edge of the wing in the engine bay. That puts them near and above the horns. I routed the power leads, wrapped in plastic wiring loom, to my auxiliary fuse panel in the seat box next to my battery. The input connector was routed to the left hand headlamp and was trimmed back about a quarter inch to accommodate the LR plug. This connection was wrapped in electrical tape. Then the Painless plug was connected to the headlamp, excess cable was coiled and cable tied back to the existing harness. The harness to the right hand side needed to be lengthened about five feet. I used a type of machine hook up wire that is high temp rated, and a larger gauge than that of the Painless harness. The plug was clipped off the Painless harness about 18" back and soldered and shrink tubed onto the extension wires, then the extension was loomed and taped. I routed the harness along the top of the bulkhead, following the existing harnesses there, and cable tied it every few feet or so. Then I followed the existing harness along the right hand wing into the headlight area. The existing headlamp plug was taped over and wire tied to the new harness so that it may be easily found if need as a back up.
Total time: about two and a half hours.
Just as a rough test, I will hook up the right headlight back to the stock plug and compare the output of both headlamps with a light meter to see if there is any measurable difference in output.
Michael
94 D90
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From: childress, barnett[SMTP:childress_barnett@emc.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2000 9:24 AM
Subject: RE: [D90] Relay kits
I got the Painless harness in and it looks nice & well built. The ARB/IPF harness just arrived yesterday it looks just as good. No really "significant" differences in build quality. The Painless harness however is cheaper (approx. $20). Both have to be adapted to add the extra cable needed to run the wires into the battery compartment. The only other difference might be in the plugs. I think someone mentioned before that the Painless harness had to have the plugs trimmed to mate properly with the LR harness. I hope to have the time to do the install this weekend. If so I'll check it out.
Bottom line is however, at this point I don't see where you can go wrong with either harness.
Barnett
(ARB/IPF H4 high performance loom p/n is M002 - ed.)
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From: joe mulqueen[SMTP:joemulqueen@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2000 1:39 AM
Subject: Heavy-duty headlight connectors!
I finally got my hands on some Cole Hersee brand
headlight connectors. P/N 3028-02 includes a phenolic
like plastic connector which is superior to any I've
seen. The metal contacts come loose in the box and
you can easily attach 'em to 12 (or even 10!) gage
wire. They need to be soldered though, they won't
take to crimping.
JoeMulqueen
'67 SIIA
(with 12G headlight wires)
NOTE: Joe is refering to a conclusion to his quest for heavier duty headlight connectors. He was long frustrated by the fact that he'd upgraded his wiring harness for higher wattage lamps, but couldn't find any headlight connectors (3-pin style) other than parts store pre-fabbed pigtails which used smaller wire than he wanted. - ed.
Joe later added:
.......These are the contacts Cole Hersee provided. If I
recall correctly, Express Truck Parts was very
interested in ordering them for me. It just so
happened, my local store came through with the goods.
JoeM
UNIVERSAL FLEET, FREMONT, CA TEL 510-657-2557
JEEPSTER MAN, HOWELL, NJ TEL 732-458-3966
TERMINAL SUPPLY, TROY, MI TEL 248-362-0792
THE LIGHTHOUSE, LOS ANGELES, CA [FOR BOTH] 213-749-5031
INSTRUMENT SALES & SERVICE, PORTLAND, OR [FOR 3028-2] 800-442-0863 EXT 310
EXPRESS TRUCK PARTS, SAN JOSE, CA TEL: (408)288-5410
-----------------
From: Chris Velardi
Date: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 10:01 AM
Subject: [D90] Adhesive lenze covers
I saw a while back an adhesive backed THICK poly.... material that
owners could stick to the lens of their headlights to prevent expensive
lens' from breakage from stones. Now assuming this layer of plastic/
urethane/ polyethylene/ rubber or whatever they are composed of would
not only be a protection from the shock of impacts but would they not
also prevent the shock of extreme tempreture changes (water dunkings,
ice and snow storms, etc,?) Has any one tried these? Any one know where
to get them? Or who the manufacture is?
Chris "V"
Dennis White wrote:
Eddie at Cityside Garage in Boston is the Manufacturer and they work great.
You didn't even know I had them did you! They're invisible
Dennis White
95/90 -93/110
gfai@mindspring.com added:
I remember speaking with some one at Susquehanna Motorsports about them
(not sure if thats the correct spelling) they had them in stock.