We ran plain old Halogens in both the 57 and 62 All4 were changed They wuold light up as good or better than a new car.Didnt have to do a thign to run them as they draw less amps than the stock ones.My 65 I run ones with the replaceable inserts I run 55/100 watts in it Still the stock wiring and no problems
i bought a set of octane lighting 6000k lights for my charger, but i haven't installed them yet. when i do, i will try them without a relay system first, using the factory harness, then i may rig up a relay system to see if there is any difference.
Easy to tell before you even install them. Turn on the lights and measure the voltage at the bulb terminal. Mine was only 9V with all the loss through the wiring and switches. When you up that to battery/alternator voltage (12-14V) with the relays, you can tell there will be a huge difference.
Well, got them from Summit and changed out my ORIGINAL date code lights from March of 1970 and the change is unbelievable. The high beams look like daylight outside. I’m glad I got these. I think I need to start looking for an upgrade on my 05 dodge truck now. Those lights are horrible.
I took feet’s word for it. I ordered the Holleys. They looked simple to me. I’ve got the relay system in mine from the guy in CA. I could not get them to work for some reason. It was probably a ground or something but they would not turn off on high, if I remember correct. I did not mess with them after I got the car on the street. I just plugged in the original harness.
If that kit was on a 70 charger, the headlight door relay is often the issue. They bleed juice and that is enough to make the rest of the system with relays act funny.
For my 70 RoadRunner I was not happy with the OE headlight coverage for nite driving so I started to look at some alternatives noted below. Note that here in SoCal, closeby I have one of the largest distributors for various headlight solutions. so I paid him a visit and checked out some possibilities. He carried a variety of brands, at different prices but the one thing I didn't like for most everything he recommended was the depth measurement that required enlarging the mounting hole in the bucket. This is something I didn't want to do... Next I kept checking out other options on-line and came across of the Holley retro-brights, when I contacted Holley about availability they had just made their initial distribution but had no inventory. But I did find on-line an east coast distributor of Holley that had some inventory. Note at this time Holley was only supplying the low/high beam version but now do have available a high beam only. What I liked about the Holley retro-brights was their compact design rear alumunim cast heat sink that would fit into the RR OE bucket without any modifications or cutting. So I ordered (4) from the east coast guy who had stock and cut me a nice discount. Though Holley provides a wiring adapter to convert a dual beam headlight just to illuminate the high beam. But after receiving the (4) Holley retro-brights and mounting up the outer pair I realized that the dispersion in both the low/high modes was broad but not piercing. Being an electrical engineer I thought that having (4) low or (4) beams could be acceptable without blinding on-coming traffic. So I bought some ceramic headlight sockets from Amazon and made (2) Y-adapters that wired each pair of headlights in parallel so I could have a choice of (4) low beams or (4) high beams. Note even with (4) bulbs powered ON the total current drain is only about 7 amps for low beam and 10 amps for high beam.
Attached are a couple of jpegs of my install @ nite time... I have been running this install for about 18 months without any problems or hassles with cops.
Just my $0.02...
Re: Better headlights for 70 cars
[Re: Sinitro]
#3257521 09/13/2405:52 AM09/13/2405:52 AM
They mention about 4 low beams but I did not quite understand how to do that so I figured any improvement would be better than what I had with the oem. I’m well pleased with the lows only.
Re: Better headlights for 70 cars
[Re: crackedback]
#3257522 09/13/2405:59 AM09/13/2405:59 AM
I took feet’s word for it. I ordered the Holleys. They looked simple to me. I’ve got the relay system in mine from the guy in CA. I could not get them to work for some reason. It was probably a ground or something but they would not turn off on high, if I remember correct. I did not mess with them after I got the car on the street. I just plugged in the original harness.
If that kit was on a 70 charger, the headlight door relay is often the issue. They bleed juice and that is enough to make the rest of the system with relays act funny.
I figured that was part of the problem. It would leave the headlights on when the switch was off, if I remember correctly. You could work the dimmer few times and it would turn off. I went trough several dimmers with the same result. I gave up trying to figure it out at the time. All I need is better lighting with out the draw that melts the dimmer switch plug. This will do the trick. I’m very happy with these Holley lamps. Now one thing I have not thought of is that I did not have the headlight motor on the car. I wonder if that might change things?
Last edited by fastmark; 09/13/2406:01 AM.
Re: Better headlights for 70 cars
[Re: BDW]
#3257523 09/13/2406:14 AM09/13/2406:14 AM
I'd be a little worried about replacement 5 or 10yrs down the road with the Holley's. It looks like $150 per bulb, if you trust they will even support them 10yrs from now. But at that price, I guess you just replace the whole thing at that point.
Well, got them from Summit and changed out my ORIGINAL date code lights from March of 1970 and the change is unbelievable. The high beams look like daylight outside. I’m glad I got these. I think I need to start looking for an upgrade on my 05 dodge truck now. Those lights are horrible.
Mark which ones did you get?
Re: Better headlights for 70 cars
[Re: Droop69]
#3257543 09/13/2409:09 AM09/13/2409:09 AM
Well, got them from Summit and changed out my ORIGINAL date code lights from March of 1970 and the change is unbelievable. The high beams look like daylight outside. I’m glad I got these. I think I need to start looking for an upgrade on my 05 dodge truck now. Those lights are horrible.
Mark which ones did you get?
I bought the Holley Retrobrights. I bought two high and two low beams. Now I have encountered a problem. Just like crackedback said, the oem headlight relay is kind of a problem and it does funny things. I may have to buy two more of the high/low beams bulbs and run a four low beam bulb system. When on low beam and I turn off the headlights, the lights go off but the doors stay open. The only time the doors will close is when I turn the lights off on high. Now get this. With the headlights off, key on, I can make the headlight doors open by pushing the dimmer switch. It also has a slight low beam glow. Key off and nothing happens like this. It all worked properly with the old oem headlights. Lol! There’s some kind of feedback or that relay has to have lots of amp to make it work. Idk.
Well, got them from Summit and changed out my ORIGINAL date code lights from March of 1970 and the change is unbelievable. The high beams look like daylight outside. I’m glad I got these. I think I need to start looking for an upgrade on my 05 dodge truck now. Those lights are horrible.
Mark which ones did you get?
I bought the Holley Retrobrights. I bought two high and two low beams. Now I have encountered a problem. Just like crackedback said, the oem headlight relay is kind of a problem and it does funny things. I may have to buy two more of the high/low beams bulbs and run a four low beam bulb system. When on low beam and I turn off the headlights, the lights go off but the doors stay open. The only time the doors will close is when I turn the lights off on high. Now get this. With the headlights off, key on, I can make the headlight doors open by pushing the dimmer switch. It also has a slight low beam glow. Key off and nothing happens like this. It all worked properly with the old oem headlights. Lol! There’s some kind of feedback or that relay has to have lots of amp to make it work. Idk.
Hmm... If everything worked fine with the OE headlights, but now with the Holley retro-brights U have related problems with the headlight doors. But I have some questions noted below. 1. What year and model is the car? 2. Are the headlight doors operate by vacuum or electric? Advise back and I will try to give U some support.
Just my $0.02...
Re: Better headlights for 70 cars
[Re: Sinitro]
#3257686 09/14/2402:59 AM09/14/2402:59 AM
It’s a 70 Charger with the original electric motor operated headlights. I tried the relay system on it first with oem headlights and it did the same funny stuff. It worked perfect with the oem headlights and all the factory wiring. It has something to do with the amp draw and the factory relay.
Re: Better headlights for 70 cars
[Re: fastmark]
#3257728 09/14/2410:13 AM09/14/2410:13 AM
It’s a 70 Charger with the original electric motor operated headlights. I tried the relay system on it first with oem headlights and it did the same funny stuff. It worked perfect with the oem headlights and all the factory wiring. It has something to do with the amp draw and the factory relay.
Apparently the 12V feed to the headlights and electric doors are tied together... And since the current drain of the Holley retro-brights are significantly lower than the OE lights is causing issues with the electric doors... My suggestion would be divide rhe 12V to each, and put the electric doors on its own circuit and switch.
Just my $0.02...
Re: Better headlights for 70 cars
[Re: fastmark]
#3257733 09/14/2411:07 AM09/14/2411:07 AM
It’s a 70 Charger with the original electric motor operated headlights. I tried the relay system on it first with oem headlights and it did the same funny stuff. It worked perfect with the oem headlights and all the factory wiring. It has something to do with the amp draw and the factory relay.
Unplug the factory door relay and check the operation of headlights. Problem resolved?
If so, change the factory relay to a bosch std 5 pin.
Not focused beam! Brighter but will be blinding people. Theseare focused beam led's. "LED Projector for bright crisp lighting without the glare. RHD Beam Pattern."
I put the Holleys on my pickup, and they are phenomenal. The low beams spread to the sides rivaling fog lights, and the high beams makes reflective signs glow like neon or something.
After reading Fastmarks ordeal, I cleaned and lubed the headlight switch first thing. It stopped the dim LED map light to boot.
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