Junkyard Headlight Upgrade

Okay everybody, this is how I went from the stock "bleh" headlights in my '94 RMW to OMG I can actually see now!!
First off, this "upgrade" is NOT dot compliant. Due to the fact that the bulbs we're going to swap in were never tested with the wiring harness for the stock 9004 headlights in these rides. I accept NO RESPONSIBILITY for you should you cause an accident or get pulled over and get a ticket because of your own decision to perform this mod.
With that said, here we go.
Items you'll need:
tools to remove the headlight housings with
a small pick
a pair of 9007 headlight bulbs ( pulled mine from a mid 90's ford explorer) easy to get free from your local pick a part.
about 30 minues of time.

And here we go.
1) obvious it would be to swing by the local you pull it yard and acquire a set of 9007 headlight bulbs.
   if you're not okay with grabbing them at the junkyard then one of the parts stores should have them.
2) pull your bulbs and pull your headlight housing away from the header panel because you need to sand or file or whatever off two of the little "alignment" pins in the headlamp housing.
3) the two you need to remove are the two on the bottom of the bulb opening leave the one straight up in the 12:00 position. reinstall the housings.
4) Now for the hardest part, you have to swap two of the wires in the headlight bulb plug.
 Look at the plug. You'll see there is (at least on mine) a green, black, and white wire going into the plug.
 You need to switch the ground and the low beam wires so grab your pick or siimilar small tool you can use to push the pin in the center out which is the wire for low beam and and then push the ground wire out and swap those two wires around. So now your ground is in the center and your low beam is on the left.
5) plug in your 9007 bulbs put them in there respective housings and enjoy the fact that you can now see at night.
6) MAKE SURE YOU DOUBLECHECK YOUR HEADLIGHT ALIGNMENT. Other drivers will be very grateful.

Reasons I feel this is an improvement. This is a start, it was quoted from sylvania's website.
9004 45/65W 700/1200 lumens (low/high beam specs)
9007 55/65W 1000/1350 lumens (low/high beam specs)

As you can see, there is a decent improvement in the lumin output of the 9007 bulb over the 9004 according to sylvania.
I had done this upgrade on one of my previous vehicles and it was one of the best things I ever did as far as that car was concerned.
If you are skeptical as to wether or not this on paper good idea translates to real world improvement, only swap out one side and compare them for yourself.
I will try to answer any questions I can but I believe this how to writeup is painfully simple to follow.
And a final thought, if you decide to go back to the 9004 then you MUST switch those two wires back.
ALso, if you decide to sell your ride then either switch it back to the 9004 wiring and bulbs or let the new owner know of the mod. Thanks for reading guys, enjoy

Good write up! I'd heard about that years ago (before HIDs were cheap) but never got around to trying it out. 30% more light output is nothing to sneeze at! If you really want to be impressed, install a good relayed wiring harness and get actual alternator voltage to the lights (instead of the 9-10v with factory wiring) and you'll be totally amazed!

Man, I never even thought about that. Definitely something I gotta check into. That is if I don't catch too much grief from the local sheriff because of how bright they are now. I'll post it up hopefully with pics if I ever actually do that. thanks Bill.

Wow is it really that easy?

I don't want to put HIDs in the stock lights, and I can't afford new housings right now.

Might go junkyarding on Monday....

Going to try this with my wagon,do one side first then take a drive.Should be interesting on a particularly dark stretch of park service highway too.

Sounds like a great idea. Thanks for the write up!

My wife said you'll hold you responsible for having to see my butt hanging over the fenders of the car again!

https://2img.net/h/i338.photobucket.com/albums/n424/wrenbirdx/9004-9007.jpg

https://2img.net/h/i99.photobucket.com/albums/l290/dave73/9004vs9007bulb.jpg

Some pix links for you if anybody wants them.

lol, I was just about to post the same thing:

WOW!! I love this. first things first, jay and roady man thank you for the pics. I'm bad about forgetting to put pics with my posts. secondly, Flash and sting, that's the exact same thing I said when I was given this same info. And I can say without question, Yep, it's that friggin easy! One thing I forgot to state earlier is that the filament is actually oriented opposite on the two bulbs. And that plays a major role in how the light gets dispersed. Basically guys, your regular beams are going to be about what your brights were before and your brights are going to be "HOLY S#@T!" That's why I made a point to mention re-aiming the headlights after you're done with the swap cause you could possibly make somebody REALLY unhappy if you flash them for whatever reason and they lose the ability to see for a few seconds. And finally, lakeaffect, THANK YOU!!! It really does feel good to have a mod of this forum tell me that I'm the cause of them to start wrenching away on their wagon to do a mod or conversion.

I was thinking it was more reason for my wife to sign up for a pistol permit. 

Could you, by chance, show a photo of which pins we need to sand/file off the headlight housings? Planning on making a yard run today.

Also, thought:

Could one, reasonably, run a 9007 HID kit after this mod?

Hmm... that could be cool.

Sting, if you look into the housing through the hole for the headlight you want to keep the one that's at "12:00". Cut out the other two. As far as the HID goes, never held one in my hand or even looked at one. So I don't know, sorry. Hey lake, could you ask her to stop with the laser sight? It keeps going into my eyes. LOL...

vamp8267 wrote:

Sting, if you look into the housing through the hole for the headlight you want to keep the one that's at "12:00". Cut out the other two. As far as the HID goes, never held one in my hand or even looked at one. So I don't know, sorry. Hey lake, could you ask her to stop with the laser sight? It keeps going into my eyes.  LOL...

 Ah laser sights makes everyone a good shot and easy to use too!

Flasheroo wrote:

vamp8267 wrote:

Sting, if you look into the housing through the hole for the headlight you want to keep the one that's at "12:00". Cut out the other two. As far as the HID goes, never held one in my hand or even looked at one. So I don't know, sorry. Hey lake, could you ask her to stop with the laser sight? It keeps going into my eyes.  LOL...

 Ah laser sights makes everyone a good shot and easy to use too!

Tell me about it flash. I put one on my paintball gun and the guy at the paintball place I take it to for servicing thought I was crazy for that till I told him I used it to shoot dogs that sneak onto my property to dig in the trash. I live in the country and DO NOT believe in killing animals for no reason. So I blast them once or twice with frozen paintballs and they generally don't want to come back and do it again. The sight helps when they take off running... hehehe (BTW, for those of you that are scratching your head about the frozen paintballs, if you ever got shot by one you'd understand.)

This sounds very doable!

vamp8267 wrote:

Hey lake, could you ask her to stop with the laser sight? It keeps going into my eyes.  LOL...

Sorry, I'll try to keep her north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Dave

Anyone do this mod and have before and after pics ? Would really like to see the difference .

If the lights are adjusted properly, how or why would anyone feel blinded or why would a police officer suspect you of having modded your car illegally?  The bulbs came on other cars, after all.

A silly question, perhaps, but I'd like to know the answer.

Well, put my 9007s in today.

I'll have to snap a pic after they're aimed tonight.

Stingroo wrote:

Well, put my 9007s in today.

I'll have to snap a pic after they're aimed tonight.

cool will be looking forward to it .

Can you explain to me about running voltage from the alternator vs the harness? Was that a joke or a real thing

Real thing.


http://innovativewiring.com/?page_id=232

So I can do full 36 watt HID with these wires right? No burn up risk?

I think I'm gonna try this this weekend.

3TONFUN wrote:

I think I'm gonna try this this weekend.

If you do post up pics of the progress if you can .

Oh. I never took pics.

I did this. Easy peasy. DEFINITELY improved lighting situation.

Curiousnapper wrote:

So I can do full 36 watt HID with these wires right? No burn up risk?

Ye-up, you could run 100 watt off road lights with Gary's wires.

C'mon Roo, no pics!? Fail.

A huge "thank you" to vamp8267 and the other posters here. My newly aquired 96 RMW had one dim headlight and one bright one. When I turned on the brights, the bright light dimmed and the dim light brightened. The good ole multimeter showed that sockets were both putting out a stunning 7.6v. Luckily, I remembered this thread and, upon further inspection, found that some genius installed one 9004 and one 9007.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?257219-9004-to-9007-myths-dispelled

Here's a thread with comparison pictures. The guy is not too happy with 9007.

PostSubject: Re: Junkyard Headlight Upgrade Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:36 pm
Good write up! I'd heard about that years ago (before HIDs were cheap) but never got around to trying it out. 30% more light output is nothing to sneeze at! If you really want to be impressed, install a good relayed wiring harness and get actual alternator voltage to the lights (instead of the 9-10v with factory wiring) and you'll be totally amazed! Smile


How common is this low voltage? I checked mine and I'm getting 12.5 at my headlights. I was expecting the 10v posted here. Still a 1 volt drop from system voltage, but acceptable considering how many points the power runs thru

when you check the voltage at the headlight socket,.
use the ground and power at the socket itself,..

the skinny wires don't carry amperage very well,.

That's what I did. Checked power and ground thru the socket. I'm wondering if other people had corroded sockets when they were checking their power.

I'd like to improve my lighting situation and I found this thread. I understand the benefits of relays and how to run them myself, by there's something to be said for not cutting up the stock harness. Which one of these relay kits would you recommend? The stock 9004 bulb setup, or the 9005/6 setup?

http://innovativewiring.com/?page_id=232

Note: if you install FTP from a FW, and swap the low and high beam connectors at the switch, you will have to swap the high and low beam connectors at the bulb. If you install FTP, and do not switch the connectors at the switch, you can proceed as instructed. You want to have the FTP work with the high beams.

Had I thought about putting 9007 bulbs in my car when I was installing FTP, I would not have swapped the wires. Since I am going to swap two of the connectors in the headlight connectors, it is easier to swap the wires in the headlight connectors than to pull the Headlight switch connector and swap them back.

What's FTP mean?

Flash to pass.