200 Lights 9004->9007

["Al Powell" <APOWELL@agcom.tamu.edu>]

Last night I converted the headlights in my 1990 200 to the 9007 
lamps.  Thanks to Ernest Wong and Mike Spiers for the conversion 
information.

Brief procedure:

1)  The lamp connectors and pin locations are identical, so the stock 
9004 connectors can be retained.
2)  Two wires must be switched: looking into the rear of the socket, 
the left lead and center lead must be switched.  (**This is different 
from Ernest's initial post, which specified left and right, I think - 
the correction was supplied by Mike.**)
3)  I cut the wires about 2" from the connector and simply used 
blue size bullet connectors to make the connections - this took 
only moments for the conversion, and if I have to put 9004 lamps in 
during a trip, I can simply unplug the bullet connectors and restore 
the stock setup.  (Hey, do it the easy way, guys!!)
4)  Two grooves must be created in the base of the 9007 lamps; a Moto-
tool with a Dremel #194 tip is ideal for this.  (Gave me an excuse to 
buy the Moto-Tool I've been wanting, too!  :-)  Visual examination of 
the existing 9004 lamps allows one to identify the location of the 
needed grooves; a felt tip pen can be used to draw guide lines on the 
9007 lamp.
5)  When making the grooves, make sure to create them at the same 
depth as the factory one; both location and groove depth are 
important.

RESULTS:

Improvement is most perceptible on low beam.

Light output on low beam is improved perhaps 10-15%.  This results in 
the lows achieving what I would consider a normal range, safe for 
moderate driving speeds appropriate to low beams.  Since we do most 
of our driving on low beams, this improvement is worth the $20 in 
lamps to me.

High beam output is tougher to estimate.  I cannot say that I 
perceive any real improvement in range, but I suspect that it fills 
in the illumination "a bit" better within that range.  More driving 
will yield a more educated impression...didn't have much time to try 
them out last night.

PS to the esteemed SteadiRic: yes, I checked the headlight voltage 
with my trusty voltmeter and in my 200, the voltage is correct and 
adequate even with the stock wiring.  Evidently not all these cars 
suffer from low voltage in the headlight wiring.  Wish additional 
improvement were that simple!

My thanks to the list for continued help in our group quest for 
actual vision!
Al Powell                           Voice:  409/845-2807
Ag Communications                   Fax:    409/862-1202
107 Reed McDonald Bldg.             Email:  a-powell1@tamu.edu 
College Station, TX  77843-2112
W3 page - http://agcomwww.tamu.edu/agcom/satellit/rpe/alpage.htm