Where to get projectors

[1979C20]

Why not start by adding relays on what you have?  It will make your headlights brighter and if you're still not happy you'll be glad you have the relays when you do upgrade.

I have to agree. The difference in light quality with and without relays is amazing. Even with HIDs, my kit cam with a relay and kits without relays will flicker quite a bit, and one bulb may be a slightly different hue than the other due to the differences in voltage. With the relay kit, ita not the case.

[Skunksmash]

[Skunksmash]

There are the pics of my connectors. I think I'm just going to go with the standard 2 highbeam, 2 low beam setup if I can.

As for the relays, I'm not exactly sure where you hook 'em up at. Perhaps one of you has a picture of your relay setup and what wires are going in and coming out of the relay.  Oh yeah, one more thing. I'm not sure if this matters or not, but i think someone may have already done some kind of mod to my headlights. I think that from the factory, when you turn on the bright lights, the lowbeams go off. But mine stay on, so all four headlights are shining at once. I think I read somewhere on this site, that its some kind of mod that people do. Not sure if it matters or not.

[jaredts]

That's the standard connectors that gm used for sealed beams on these trucks and many other vehicles.  I'm pretty sure that all of the quad headlight trucks had all four on for high beams, until the change to the new front end with the smaller side by side headlights (was it '91+?).  I think those are the ones that people mod. to have all four on at the same time.  As for the relay, your existing positive wires hi and low beam would be used to trigger the coil on two relays and you would supply a new positive source with a fuse to one contact and the other contact would go to the headlights.  Here's a write-up:  http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/exterior/headlight_relay.htm  If you haven't messed with relays before this might all be a little confusing but its really simple.  If you have one around that you could pull the lid off of you would see right away how they work.  I'm looking around for parts to do a relay retrofit on mine soon so maybe I can snap some pics.  Hopefully I can make it presentable enough to not be embarrased to share.  Notice I haven't shared many pics of my welding!

[Skunksmash]

Is there any bulb size that will just plug right into that factory connector? I noticed that the H4 bulbs only have two prongs, so I don't think they'll work. Might have to retrofit some H4 connectors.

[beastie_3]

I thought H4 bulbs were hi/low so they should have 3 prongs. 1 high, 1 low, 1 ground.

[1979C20]

That is the same plug pattern as h4s. Since you have 4 headlight system, you could buy a pair of housongs just for your low beams and only use the low beam wire and the ground wire from the harness and that will give you HID low beams and standard sealed beam high beams, and with the mod thats on it your HIDs and your high beams will be on at the same time when you switch to brights. Like I said before, if you get aingle beam HID kits, it will use only 2 wires from the 3 wire factory harness, the low and the ground. If you get bi xeneon hid kits, it will use all three. Since you have the 4 headlight set up, if you wanted HID high beam and low beam, you would need to buy 2 pairs of housing and 2 sets of aingle beam hid kits.

[Irish_Alley]

if it was me and i was to have 4 style head lights and only upgrade two out of my four bulbs then i would op for high beams only so then you dont have to worry about blinding someone and with low beams if you have them on you dont have a problem seeing cause there other cars around or street lights but with high beams your all alone and need to see more than with the lows

[Skunksmash]

Hmm. Odd that the H4's will plug right in to my existing connectors. I never would have guessed. Now I just have to find some H4 Conversion "reflector" housings that actually fit the truck. After looking at many of the ones sold online, I'm pretty sure its that the metal mounting plate won't transfer over. That explains why the ones sold online will fit a mustang or a camaro or other cars, but not my truck.

[1979C20]

This is asking a bit, but can you post a picture of your current sealed beam bulb removed from the truck and its mounting ring?

[paniolo]

Hmm. Odd that the H4's will plug right in to my existing connectors. I never would have guessed. Now I just have to find some H4 Conversion "reflector" housings that actually fit the truck. After looking at many of the ones sold online, I'm pretty sure its that the metal mounting plate won't transfer over. That explains why the ones sold online will fit a mustang or a camaro or other cars, but not my truck.

I am just getting ready to do this exact mod to my Suburban.  First, though the H4's use the same connector they are wired differently, so you would need to reroute the terminals in your existing sealed beam connectors if you want to reuse them.  I think it is easier to just install a new headlight harness with relays and just use the existing connector to energize the relays from your old headlight/high beam switch.  That way the entire old harness is unmolested and can easily be returned to sealed beams if desired.  The Hela H4 units should fit in your truck fine.  I needed the 6"x4" or 165mm ones.  Some of the cheaper ones fit too, but I wanted to stay with higher quality reflectors from established mfg.  I was going with the Hella units, but ended up finding a pair of Cibie e-code conversion units used on Ebay.  Hope that wasn't pound foolish, they look nice but with some glass pitting, and by the time you can actually see degradation in the reflectors their light output is way off.

My plan is to do the relay harness to insure full power at the lights, and enable increased wattage.  Go with H-4 conversions in the low beams.  I was going to install 100/80w halogen bulbs, but got convinced Osram 70/65w would be a better choice.   The ideal is H-1 conversions in the high beams, but I'm trying to keep it cheap so I think I will keep the existing sealed beam highs but run through relays to get full power.  Then I have a set of Hella FF500 driving lights with 100 watt halogen bulbs that I will wire with my high beams and a separate dash mounted switch.   My total project cost will be under $150.  I will have brighter 65w low beams but with lots of control over light with the e-codes.  For High Beams I will have 3 steps:  The H-4 70 watt beam by itself, add in the 65 watt sealed beam high and finally add in the 100 watt driving lights.  So 235 watts on each side, just under 500 watts in total high beam mode.

I found most of my information on relays at Daniel Stern Lighting.  Here is a link to his very good relay explanation.

[1979C20]

Skunksmash, I looked at my buddies 4 headlight system tonight. The ones on ebay will almost certainly work.

[paniolo]

Skunksmash, just read your earlier posts.  Do you have the integrated headlights with a separate halogen bulb in the back of the housing, or the 6x4 sealed beams held into buckets with a mounting ring on the front?

[Skunksmash]

This is asking a bit, but can you post a picture of your current sealed beam bulb removed from the truck and its mounting ring?

Sure no problem. I'm going to take them out anyway for replacement. The visibility is borderline dangerous so they have to go. The aluminum trim ring is the only thing that holds the light to the truck. And it just sort of slips over the light itself. The light itself has a little lip, that the aluminum trim ring sits on. You then just screw the screws though the little holes in the aluminum ring, and your light is fastened to the truck. Pretty simple. So really, the only thing is, the lip would have to exist on the new aftermarket reflector headlights, in the correct dimensions so that the trim ring could fit on. If the lip was too far out, or wasn't there at all, they're not going to fit. You can see the lip I am talking about in pic 2, where the ring is separate from the headlight.

As for the the back, yes, as you can see, the bulb is made into the headlight housing. I don't have a problem with moving the connector pins around though. If I wanted to convert to H-4's, I could simply pull the pins out of the little white connector itself, then stuff them back in, in a way that let them work properly with an H4 bulb. I think...

[1979C20]

Ahh. Exactly as I thought, you see, my sealed beams had a lip as well, but my conversion housings fidnt. But they still work. The lip does not have to be there, the mounting ring only.has to fit around the lense.