Hey all
Tried searching in the forums for a relevant post and couldn't quite find what I was looking for, at least I don't think I did (though I did a search for 'headlight' but didn't make it all the way through the 20-odd pages of results it came up with - sorry).
On my '65 Dart, the headlights turn on and off perfectly fine, no switch problems, however, when the brights are off, one of my headlights is out. I just did the annoying thing and drive with my brights on constantly, so the headlight that was out is a bit dimmer than the other, however both lights on brights pretty much evenly compare with the regular headlights of newer cars. In any case, I wanted to replace the bulbs in the headlights, then figured out that the headlamps are sealed units and I guess have to be completely replaced? Can somebody help me find other replacements, or maybe an upgrade that will fit the body but will allow me to just replace bulbs when they go out as opposed to replacing the entire unit?
Thanks!!

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<i>D'Artagnan</i>
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/stephaniexchaos/dart/th_IMG_0326_zpsumhhfxi0.jpg">

Hi again. I run an automotive lighting sales and consulting company. Lemme help.

The headlamps you have now are indeed sealed-beam units. When either the low or the high beam filament burns out, you replace the whole thing. If what you want to do is get it working again, go to an auto parts store and buy an H6024 sealed beam headlamp. They are all equally badly made these days, but there is no need to make the situation worse than it has to be by spending extra money for the so-called "premium" headlamps (Sylvania Silver Star, Wagner TruView, GE Super Blue, Wagner Lazerblue). These cost more money, but actually perform worse than the regular units. The only upgrade sealed beam that is actually an upgrade is the GE Night Hawk H6024NH, and it is very difficult to find.


If, on the other hand, what you want to do is put in better headlamps, send me a PM.

You will need to aim the new lamp correctly, see here.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

That should be an easy find, H 6024 is the bulb youll need, there are actually "2 bulbs in one", that's why it can be dead on low but work on high. Jeep Wranglers actually take that same bulb til '06, so anywhere
that sells automotive lightbulbs should have them. Just so you know, the 1157s that are in your taillights work the same way, so you might find yourself one day with either a functional brake/turn signal and dead running light or vise versa.

A one step up halogen replacement is a sylvania h6024xv...


Don't bother with anything more expensive unless you can actually find a nighthawk (h6024nh) or go with a cibie (forget hella or any other sealed be replacements)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

If your looking to truely upgrade, I highly recommend Dan's Cibie package. It is simply outstanding.
The lights on my Valiant put my '99 Chevy headlights to shame. They stomp the Hella upgrades I've got on my Diesel 4x4 as well.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Actually...these aren't even as good as a regular sealed beam. Sylvania's entire line of sealed beams, and a significant chunk of their headlight bulb line, is junk.
Well...I agree the Hella units aren't what they ought to be, but there are other good headlamps aside from Cibié. In fact, just lately I've been testing — and liking — a particular 7" round headlamp out of England, of all places (No, it's not from Lucas!). And there are exotic headlamps (Marchal, Xesighting, etc.) that cost a great deal of money and don't make a lot of sense for most people who don't do a ton of night/bad-weather driving. But yeah, the Cibié is a very good headlamp indeed.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Really, way back in the archives you used to like them........... (pre nighthawk days)

What happened?

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I don't mean to question the wisdom of Dan, but I didn't have much trouble finding this particular item...


here

here

here

These links all end up leading to Amazon.com, but by searching the pn in Google, you could find about 100 other gateways to Amazon.

You're fixin' to regret having asked. I did some more detailed testing in late 2004!

Spent some time disassembling and experimenting with 200mm x 142mm (large rectangular) sealed beams, which tend to give very similar performance to the 7" (large round) units.

I took a look at a Sylvania Xtravision H6054XV headlamp. This lamp
uses a twin-transverse C6/C6 burner. The beam pattern from the assembly is *very* poorly formed and *very* poorly focused. The hot spot is large and of low peak intensity, there is a large and intense vertical "spike" of light, absolutely zero cutoff and *very* high levels of upward stray and "flare" light outside the beam pattern.

Therefore, I was surprised when I separated the lens from the reflector to
find that the unlensed beam is pretty tight and well focused -- a properly
oriented (horizontal and square with the vertical and horizontal) "bowtie"
of light as one might expect to see from a transverse filament placed on
the focus of a parabolic reflector. Stray light levels remained fairly
high owing to near-heel distortions in the reflector and ghost images
(reflections of the transverse filaments in the burner envelope glass,
subsequently picked up and distributed by the reflector).


The really interesting part was the results when I experimented with
different lenses in front of different reflectors. Using the *lens* from
the standard nothing-special GE H6052 headlamp with the *reflector-burner* from the Sylvania H6054XV Xtravision headlamp resulted in a much better-focused, better formed beam pattern than from the Xtravision lens. Both of these lenses were designed for use with transverse filaments. Using the GE NightHawk lens in front of the Xtravision burner-reflector yielded a less well-formed beam (this lens was designed for axial filaments) but it was still markedly better focused than with the Xtravision lens.

Using the Xtravision lens in front of the transverse-filament GE H6052
burner-reflector resulted in a poorly-focused, poorly-formed beam. Using
the Xtravision lens in front of the axial-filament Night Hawk
burner-reflector resulted in an extremely poorly-focused, poorly-formed
beam.

Conclusion: The Sylvania Xtravision lens optics are garbage!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

In case anyone in the Northwest cares the GE Nighthawk headlamps are available from Fred Meyer.

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Joshua

Dan, could you please recommend the best availble replacement for those of us running 4-headlight Plymouths who are trying hard to keep the car very close to factory stock? GE doesn't seem to list a Nighthawk for them.

There are no upgrade 5¾" sealed-beam headlamps. Sylvania is reboxing and marking-up their standard (garbage) units in pink-and-black "Xtravision"-labelled boxes because they think you are stupid and gullible. None of the sealed beams in this size format have been retooled in decades, and all of them currently available are sloppily-built trash.

What to do depends on how well you want to see, how much you want to spend, and exactly how close to original appearance you wish to maintain. Given even general or multiple-choice answers to these questions, I can talk at length, and will happily do so, but not right this instant; I'm just off the airplane home from Switzerland and am not sure what day or time zone it is.

As for GE Night Hawk H6024NH: Yes, GE have finally started really, actually distributing them...it only took them a good 24 months or so after they first became available!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.