[V8] WAAAAAAAY off subject: NAC! not even close to Audi content, but....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Scott's right about the reflectors....in lighting size does matter as a
general statement.  There really is no substitute for a great big reflector
that is deep and preferably regular in pattern. Perhaps the best of the best
are the Cibie Super Oscar, which are an enormous round driving or fog lamp.
That particular lamp uses the venerable H1 bulb in a very deep perfectly
round reflector and will push enough lumens more than a mile down the road
to read a newspaper with.  Enormously expensive, too. Cibie also makes a
Bi-Oscar which uses an H4 bulb and gives both high and low beams in one
housing...again: enormously expensive.
 
I think I have come to a decision about the Chebbie truck.  Rooting around
in the back of the barn I came across a new in the box pair of Hella Optilux
1900 driving lights.  I had completely forgotten I had bought them, oh, six
or seven years ago.  They are big round and deep lamps with a single H3
bulb. Big chrome/metal housings and, now I remember:  I bought them because
of the size and rubber isolation supplied with the mounting.  I think I
bought these for my first GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 pickup and decided there was no
good way to mount them since I was using a Fisher Minute Mount plow system
at that time.  Anyway, on the Chebbie these will work just perfectly.
 
I will replace the oem polycarbonate headlight units with new, aftermarket
lamps, take power to the auxilliary lamps from the high beam side of them,
and relay through a dash mounted switch so I will have high beams, or high
beams with auxilliary lamps as required or as driving conditions
allow...don't want to blind some State Trooper!  (Been there done that!  Lit
up the inside of a trooper one night years ago in a Porsche 912 that had two
Cibie 45 (7" round flat driving lights), QI headlights and some sort of
flood lights down low...forgotten which ones.  Anyway, the Porsche WAS going
warp nine, trying to make up time on a night rallye, and the cop was just
sitting still when I careened aroudn the road to light him up broadside.  He
could do nothing except yell a lot, and that he did...chewed my ass good,
and made us TWENTY minutes late on the leg!  That was on Cape Cod and trust
me: you can't even THINK about doing that down there today.).
 
The Optilux were cheap...>I think I paid about fifty bucks for them on eBay
so that I might try to do something about the lousy headlights, so now I'll
try them out, although I guess this is three trucks later.  These are
driving lights and not pencil beams, so they should do what I want:  volume
of light out to around 100 meters at most, since I rarely am on much of an
open road aside from Route One and with this truck have been on the
Interstate only once since last May...the Interstate is about thirty five
miles form where I live.  
 
I will wait to relay the headlights pending the overall installation and
trials.
 
Without doubt the BEST installation would be the installation of the
rectangular 200mm European headlamps (Hella or Cibie).  But that is also far
and away the most complicated and expensive, as it will require replacing
the grille, the headlamp mounting brackets and all the assorted adjustment
gizzies, either form a junk yard or from GM direct.  It would make this
entire project approach four hundred bucks if I source new parts.  IF I was
driving this truck all the time as my only vehicle and I was doing a LOT of
night driving, it might be the best solution, but I'll start by using what
is in hand.  
 
I have been looking at the nose of the V8. The V8 is going to the body
shop...perhaps this month or February...to have its facelift.  I am still
hoping for some European headlights but they don't seem to be surfacing, and
I want  the V8 back on the road.  I was looking closely to see if there was
any way to install really good driving lights on the front end of that car
and there really isn't one.  No matter how much I have tried, I can't find
any way to mount anything on the front end that won't be totally exposed to
a fatal blow from such things as a shopping cart.  The only thing I can
figure out would be to make a steel bracket and arm that would extend out
from the grille beneath the bumper and hold the lamp in front...not good.
So, added relays and higher wattage in the DOT lamps may have to do.  Unless
I find some decent european headlights somewhere...hint, hint, hint.....?
 
Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Justusson [mailto:qshipq at aol.com] 
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 10:04 PM
To: chance9121 at gmail.com; rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net
Cc: dsaad at icehouse.net; v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] WAAAAAAAY off subject: NAC! not even close to Audi
content, but....




The v8's are almost as good as the 200mm rectangulars, big lenses make
better potential light beam *control*.  I prefer HIR for low beams, and
plain old halogen for high beams.  I currently run this exact setup
currently in my 94 Landcruiser along with 55w Halogens in a really old set
of Rallye 2000 pencil beams:
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=165400&pictureid=234033

I live in Chicago, and travel to MI quite often, and enjoy a lot of late
night rides with high beams on for 20minutes or more.  I'm pretty serious
about lighting on all my machines because of the deer hazards, and find most
HID to give the false sense of security Stern speaks to.  After several days
with my folks 535ix recently, fully equipped with the latest in HID tech, my
17year old Cruiser gives nothing away to it, because the Landcruiser
reflectors and lenses are massive, bigger than the v8 even.  In reality, the
GE (now) Phillips patented HIR bulbs are the best upgrade for the old
H4/9006/90211/9012.  Stern used to sell HIR bulbs when GE had the patent,
but he dropped them a couple years ago.  The HIR patent changed hands from
GE to Toshiba, and is now owned by Phillips. You can get the 9006HIR
(Phillips branded) from rallylights, and the H4 HIR with a google search.
FYI,  the H4 HIR replacement is 'ala' 9006, it's a low beam filament only.
IME, it's best rigged to just have the low beams be on all the time, and the
inner highs will do fine with an upgraded 100w bulb.

I'll put all suggestions to Roger in perspective:  If you've ever driven a
US spec headlight 200tq/5ktq, the P-C chebby lenses make the crappiest Audi
pos lights ever built = desireable in comparison (yes, the 5000t lights are
not quite the crappiest lights on the planet!).  So, IMO, putting a "relay"
on the PolyCarb chebby lenses as a starting point, is like putting 3D
glasses on a glaucoma patient.  I suspect Roger knows the obvious answer
already, and it's time to just jump and make the proper swap to the lower
trim line 200mm rectangulars.  And, I know IF I was to go with the HID
build, the 430 series lexi have some of the best.  

Cheers

Scott J
92 v8
94 Landcuiser









-----Original Message-----
From: NIck Miller <chance9121 at gmail.com>
To: Scott Justusson <qshipq at aol.com>
Cc: dsaad <dsaad at icehouse.net>; v8 <v8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Sat, Dec 31, 2011 7:38 pm
Subject: Re: [V8] WAAAAAAAY off subject: NAC! not even close to Audi
content, but....


I wish I had had a chance to do HIR bulbs in my V8's euro's.  The euro
lights I had ran 100w highs and I think 55 or 65w lows, previous owner did
that.  They are one of the best halogen lamps I've used.

Personally, I prefer the HID with Bi-xenon, the throw is ridiculous.  But I
am in a plains state, so that may have some to say of it.  As well, its a
bit different putting them in a car meant to have a projector, there isn't
any restriction to the output like there could possibly be in a deeply
offset square lens.

Whatever roger decides on I sure would like to see it, and I think starting
with a relay is an easy starting point.