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1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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Being happy to be back street legal starting this morning I came to a thought if anyone of overseas fellow saabers is interested in making his headlights 90% like brand-new?
1. Why 90%?
Headlight performance is based on or consists of bulb performance (45%), reflector (%45) and glass that works as light diffuser (10%). Obviously if there's not enough power for the bulb or it isn't properly installed then headlight performance will be decreased, but I consider this question to be optic-related only. I think I could try offering a reflector restoration service. Since reflector gives 45% of overall performance and if one also replaces his bulb with BRAND NEW ones (see below) then he should get about 90% of brand new headlights.
2. Bulbs and such.
You can refer to Wiki or HowStuffWorks or many other sites to learn about halogen cycle. Main idea here is that a bulb is having a limited life-time. So bulbs must be replaced after 600 hours of their run.
60W bulb consumes about 5 amperes of current being supplied with 12V DC. That's is much as some microwave ovens and home kettles. Have a look at the power cords that run your home stuff and ask yourself a question: are you ready to run any of those gizmo's from old and corroded power outlet? I bet the answer is NO. So pay attention to all those ground points and relay connectors and other related stuff. You can carry out a quickcheck on this: just plug a DC meter in parallel with a bulb and measure the voltage across bulb's terminals having it turned on. Then check the voltage across batt's terminals and also at alternator and compare all those readings: the voltage drop should not be more then 0.3-0.5V If this threshold is exceeded then wiring loom service must be carried out.
80W-90W-100W-120W and even more powerful bulbs: NEVER INSTALL THOSE BULBS. Let me spell it once again: N E V E R. These bulbs will give excessive load to the wires and connectors, but this isn't the worst. These bulbs will kill the reflector cause of too high heat produced.
Special note for E-code users (EU headlights): european headlights are very sensitive to bulb geometry. So be careful when choosing the brand. I'm not very good at US market, but here in EU I've stuck with two brands only: Osram and Philips. Some say that GE bulbs are good too, but that's personal for me (Edison, who founded General Electric, marred Tesla's life; since I greatly respect N. Tesla then you know, it's very hard for me to support Edison's child). I'll shortly add some photo's about different bulbs performance (see link below).
DOT (US specs) headlights do not depend that much about bulb geometry.
3. Reflector
Nothing is immortal and headlight reflectors are not of any exception here. You can scroll down to see how '93 reflectors look like nowadays. I was lucky to find some Scantech reflectors and passed MOT inspection having them installed, but those Scantech's don't look too much good for me. So I'll going to restore those hella's.
4. The restoration
Yep, I can restore reflectors using some vacuum-sputtering hardware. After the new surface is sputtered the inside of reflector will be lacquered. 3 years ago I've done that with Aeroflop headlights, but unfortunately I didn't make any photos. Flop was sold to a new owner 2 years ago and I heard no complaints on the headlights so far. I'll surely update that photo album (see link below) with new photos after I restore these reflectors.
I think I'm ready to try two sets (pairs) of reflectors for free (customers pays shipping only) and start with 1.5 years of guarantee if 55/60W bulbs are used. Both plastic and metal reflectors are accepted.
5. Ehh...
If you're reading this phrase then I should thank you for your time you spent on this post. Any thoughts about whether it's worth it or not and inputs on price tag are greatly appreciated.
Zig
P.S.
Scott,
I do hope I haven't broken any rules with this post.
posted by 77.37.1...
full album about reflectors (under construction)
, Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:39:39
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