Early "Four eye" Swepty Headlights

[64D100Poly]

Hello, for the sake of preventive maintenance I am changing my worn out headlights on my early 65 sweptline. My questions is are all four the same exact light or are the low beam inners different from the outers that light up with high beams? The online parts manual only seems to list ones for the late 65-68.

Thankyou - LB

[PwrWgnDrvr]

They're different

[712edf]

Just curious, I thought the outer were the low beams? That's been the case with all the 4 headlight vehicles I have owned.

Also I seem to recollect high beams only having 2 prongs.

Bucky

[PwrWgnDrvr]

There are 2 filaments in the high/low beam lamps, thus 3 prongs. Only 1 filament and 2 prongs on the high beam lamp. Just look at the wiring harness to verify location. One will have a 2 prong connector, the other 3 prongs.

[64D100Poly]

Just curious, I thought the outer were the low beams? That's been the case with all the 4 headlight vehicles I have owned.

Also I seem to recollect high beams only having 2 prongs.

Bucky

Yeah they are, don't know why I was thinking that yesterday.

[64D100Poly]

There are 2 filaments in the high/low beam lamps, thus 3 prongs. Only 1 filament and 2 prongs on the high beam lamp. Just look at the wiring harness to verify location. One will have a 2 prong connector, the other 3 prongs.

ahh that makes sense, thankyou!

[Seanreisk]

I was looking at a set of Phillips LED headlamps for the early 4-lamp grilles. The Phillips brand headlamps are nice, they have great brightness, color, warranty, and the price for 4 of them is only

$600.00! WTF!!! ROMGZ, $600.00 R U KIDDING ME????!??

So anyway, I didn't buy them.

P.S. For $600.00 they better come with a nice dinner and some kind of lubricant.

[DraytonCalhoun]

I’m going for LEDs from Rock Auto, lol!

[martincom]

I researched LED headlights a year or so ago. They all sold for north of $400 a set and nearly all of them had poor beam patterns (China junk). I only recall one or two brands that had decent beam patterns (optics) and they were closer to $800/pair. There was at least one YouTube video where they specifically tested each brand, displayed the beam pattern, and other operating characteristics of each.

I briefly gave some thought to a pair of Hella halogens. I had utilized a pair of them on my work truck (stepvan). They performed a little bit better than the prior incandescents--but nothing great. Halogens would have also required the addition of relays and circuit breakers, as the standard headlight and dimmer switch would not handle the added current draw of halogens.

Aiming is super critical and even being off a little has a significant impact on headlight performance. The beam pattern of the LED headlights just had a somewhat "bright spot", similar to incandescents, and their lens did not have the three aiming fixtures pads. So you were pretty much down to "seat of the pants" aiming, which has never yielded good results for me. The Hella halogens have a defined beam pattern, much like the Cibie brand (offered decades ago before being acquired by Wagner & then discontinued). They are time consuming to aim, as you have to find two walls that form a 90 degree corner, with level ground up to it. Then position the vehicle a specified distance away, mark out the both the horizontal and vertical centers of each headlamp on the wall, mark the pattern offset from the horizontal center, and wait for dusk to actually aim.

Years ago, a supplier was offering an optical headlight aimer kit on a promo clearance and I purchased it. Most of the new vehicles have the aiming measurement devices built into them. So there is not much call for an optical aimer any longer. I decided just to retain the incandescent headlight on my D100 for now. Once aimed, with the optical aimer, their performance is actually pretty darn good.

At this point in time, I would not recommend LED headlights due to the poor optical quality of most and the crazy cost. The Hella halogens performed well and they were around $60/pair for 7" dual headlamps (Summit Racing). They will require relays & circuit breakers and aiming them properly is time consuming. Unless you think you're going to be to doing a lot of night driving in remote, low traffic, areas where you can utilize the high beam; you will probably realize little value from an upgrade to halogens. A reputable body shop will have the optical headlight aimers and have a designated stall in their shop for performing headlight aiming. A such, they don't have to measure the floor slope calibration value and the actual headlight aim goes quickly. Before I purchased my own aimers, the last time I brought a vehicle to a body shop for headlight aiming, they didn't charge me at all for doing it. It went that quickly.

[64D100Poly]

I researched LED headlights a year or so ago. They all sold for north of $400 a set and nearly all of them had poor beam patterns (China junk). I only recall one or two brands that had decent beam patterns (optics) and they were closer to $800/pair. There was at least one YouTube video where they specifically tested each brand, displayed the beam pattern, and other operating characteristics of each.

I briefly gave some thought to a pair of Hella halogens. I had utilized a pair of them on my work truck (stepvan). They performed a little bit better than the prior incandescents--but nothing great. Halogens would have also required the addition of relays and circuit breakers, as the standard headlight and dimmer switch would not handle the added current draw of halogens.

Aiming is super critical and even being off a little has a significant impact on headlight performance. The beam pattern of the LED headlights just had a somewhat "bright spot", similar to incandescents, and their lens did not have the three aiming fixtures pads. So you were pretty much down to "seat of the pants" aiming, which has never yielded good results for me. The Hella halogens have a defined beam pattern, much like the Cibie brand (offered decades ago before being acquired by Wagner & then discontinued). They are time consuming to aim, as you have to find two walls that form a 90 degree corner, with level ground up to it. Then position the vehicle a specified distance away, mark out the both the horizontal and vertical centers of each headlamp on the wall, mark the pattern offset from the horizontal center, and wait for dusk to actually aim.

Years ago, a supplier was offering an optical headlight aimer kit on a promo clearance and I purchased it. Most of the new vehicles have the aiming measurement devices built into them. So there is not much call for an optical aimer any longer. I decided just to retain the incandescent headlight on my D100 for now. Once aimed, with the optical aimer, their performance is actually pretty darn good.

At this point in time, I would not recommend LED headlights due to the poor optical quality of most and the crazy cost. The Hella halogens performed well and they were around $60/pair for 7" dual headlamps (Summit Racing). They will require relays & circuit breakers and aiming them properly is time consuming. Unless you think you're going to be to doing a lot of night driving in remote, low traffic, areas where you can utilize the high beam; you will probably realize little value from an upgrade to halogens. A reputable body shop will have the optical headlight aimers and have a designated stall in their shop for performing headlight aiming. A such, they don't have to measure the floor slope calibration value and the actual headlight aim goes quickly. Before I purchased my own aimers, the last time I brought a vehicle to a body shop for headlight aiming, they didn't charge me at all for doing it. It went that quickly.

That's what I had done, I just ran the original incandescent and got them adjusted. They actually work very good and put out plenty of light.