Headlight upgrade - '90

I'm interested in upgrading my headlights on my '90 Miata. I'm 52,have
some vision problems and need all the light I can get. Thoughts
appreciated

Chip L
Charlotte, NC

Chip L wrote:
> I'm interested in upgrading my headlights on my '90 Miata. I'm 52,have
> some vision problems and need all the light I can get. Thoughts
> appreciated
>
> Chip L
> Charlotte, NC

Hella makes a replacement for round 7" sealed-beam lamps which have
replaceable halogen insert bulbs. I used something similar way back in 1969
on my Fiat and found them to be superior to the available stock units.
Replacement H4 bulbs for that should fit these units are available at least
up to 100W/80W so if your circuit and fusing can handle the added load you
could get a lot more light output. You should note that, depending on where
you live, you might have troubles with state vehicle inspection so it would
probably be advisable to find out first whether you will need to keep the
old lamps to replace before you get inspected every year.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

there are aftermarket "conversion" headlamps that fit precisely into the
miata standard h6024 style 7" round sealed beams. though the conversion
headlamps look just like the sealed beams they are not, and instead accept a
user replaceable h4 lamp in the rear. the quality of these conversion 7"
round lamps vary wildly. many are complete junk and are made of plastic and
some have what are called 'city lights' inside that are a cheesy blue light
inside the lamp that turn on when you turn on your running lights
(irrelevant for a 89-97 miata whose headlights are down when just the
running lamps are on). the defacto best are lamps made by hella but they
are quite expensive at about $90 each. an excellent inexpensive alternative
that are a quarter the price of the hello are by empi. the empi are also
glass, have a flat front for a slightly more modern look, and, like the
hella, have a clear horizontal cut off. check out ebay item number
370182744366 for some great detail on them (good pictures in this auction -
but i have no affiliation with the seller and am neither recommending him or
not). the difference between these lamps and standard sealed beams is
dramatic, even with the supplied 55/60w lamps. i ran some 90/100w bulbs for
a while and they melted the wires on one side (thanks to pat for a
replacement socket and lead removed from his parts car). I bought hello
55/60w h4 bulbs and am still happy. the 90/100w bulbs were brighter but
occasionally angered oncoming traffic or a car directly in front. one other
thing to consider regarding visibility for your now 19+ year old miata is
the windshield. at 10 year old and 100k my '95 windshield was cast in glare
from bright lights, setting sun light by day or headlights by night. it was
unsafe so i replaced the windshield. it was the best upgrade i did on the
car and as i recall only cost $200. since the car is so low, lots of debris
skate across the windshield and scratch it over time, and there is no
solution other than replacement. the brightest headlamps in the world won't
help you see more clearly out of a scratched windshield.

"Chip L" > wrote in message
...
> I'm interested in upgrading my headlights on my '90 Miata. I'm 52,have
> some vision problems and need all the light I can get. Thoughts
> appreciated
>
> Chip L
> Charlotte, NC

one last point, the empi are not marked dot approved. so i suppose it is
possible that the car could fail inspection. i am not sure if the hella are
dot approved or not, but given their price i suppose they would be. just
thought you should be aware in case it is a concern to you.
ps. thanks to my spellchecker, hella was 'corrected' to hello in a couple
of places in my last post.

"Christopher Muto" > wrote in message
t...
> there are aftermarket "conversion" headlamps that fit precisely into the
> miata standard h6024 style 7" round sealed beams. though the conversion
> headlamps look just like the sealed beams they are not, and instead accept
> a user replaceable h4 lamp in the rear. the quality of these conversion
> 7" round lamps vary wildly. many are complete junk and are made of
> plastic and some have what are called 'city lights' inside that are a
> cheesy blue light inside the lamp that turn on when you turn on your
> running lights (irrelevant for a 89-97 miata whose headlights are down
> when just the running lamps are on). the defacto best are lamps made by
> hella but they are quite expensive at about $90 each. an excellent
> inexpensive alternative that are a quarter the price of the hello are by
> empi. the empi are also glass, have a flat front for a slightly more
> modern look, and, like the hella, have a clear horizontal cut off. check
> out ebay item number 370182744366 for some great detail on them (good
> pictures in this auction - but i have no affiliation with the seller and
> am neither recommending him or not). the difference between these lamps
> and standard sealed beams is dramatic, even with the supplied 55/60w
> lamps. i ran some 90/100w bulbs for a while and they melted the wires on
> one side (thanks to pat for a replacement socket and lead removed from his
> parts car). I bought hello 55/60w h4 bulbs and am still happy. the
> 90/100w bulbs were brighter but occasionally angered oncoming traffic or a
> car directly in front. one other thing to consider regarding visibility
> for your now 19+ year old miata is the windshield. at 10 year old and
> 100k my '95 windshield was cast in glare from bright lights, setting sun
> light by day or headlights by night. it was unsafe so i replaced the
> windshield. it was the best upgrade i did on the car and as i recall only
> cost $200. since the car is so low, lots of debris skate across the
> windshield and scratch it over time, and there is no solution other than
> replacement. the brightest headlamps in the world won't help you see more
> clearly out of a scratched windshield.
>
> "Chip L" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I'm interested in upgrading my headlights on my '90 Miata. I'm 52,have
>> some vision problems and need all the light I can get. Thoughts
>> appreciated
>>
>> Chip L
>> Charlotte, NC
>
>

Christopher Muto wrote:
> one last point, the empi are not marked dot approved. so i suppose it is
> possible that the car could fail inspection. i am not sure if the hella are
> dot approved or not, but given their price i suppose they would be. just
> thought you should be aware in case it is a concern to you.
> ps. thanks to my spellchecker, hella was 'corrected' to hello in a couple
> of places in my last post.
>
SNIP

>> "Chip L" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> I'm interested in upgrading my headlights on my '90 Miata. I'm 52,have
>>> some vision problems and need all the light I can get. Thoughts
>>> appreciated
>>>
>>> Chip L
>>> Charlotte, NC
>>
>
>

Another choice is made by Bosch, and, like the Hella ones, use the H4
bulbs. The Bosch kit is complete for two headlights, and is item SBQ7,
and retails for CAN$139 (about US$120) from
http://www.boschlightsandmore.com/pr...rsion_kits.htm

On both of my previous NAs I had the Hellas, and ran the 80/100 bulbs in
the first one with NO problem at all. Got stopped in Colorado for
speeding and put through a roadside safety check, and passed with flying
colours.

My current car is a '91 JDM Eunos Roadster. The headlight had to be
changed for driving on the right in Canada as part of the upgrades to
pass the licensing inspection (Out Of Province Inspection). The Hellas
were perfectly acceptable for that.

They are sure worth the money, even in our Canadian Pesos!

Stuart H.

Spruce Grove, Alberta

In article > ,
"Christopher Muto" > wrote:

> i am not sure if the hella are
> dot approved or not, but given their price i suppose they would be.

First, Hella E-code H4 conversions are $75 per pair with 60/55W bulbs,
from rallylights.com. With 100/55W bulbs, which I use, they're $83 per
pair. Not $90 apiece.

Second, the E-codes are not DOT approved. It's not a matter of quality,
it's because they don't have the three little machine-aiming tits on the
lens. Don't worry, these are the ones you want. I've never heard of them
failing inspection, because no one bothers to check headlights except
that they work.

Even better is the Cibié E-code H4 lamp, with its slightly-superior
high-beam pattern, but they're more money.

The Bosch lamps are OK, but you get what you pay for.

Hella also makes a DOT-approved "Vision Plus" lamp. These are crap.
They're especially bad in an NA Miata, because they have a weep hole
that's not at the bottom when the headlights are down, resulting in
trapped water and reflector corrosion. They also don't put nearly as
much light on the road.

There's absolutely no need for more than 55W on low beam. My 100W high
beam is marginally brighter than the standard 60W. Live and learn, but I
would not buy anything other than standard 60/55W bulbs again. My
12-year-old bulbs are still going strong, though. No problems with my
stock wiring, though the high beams might be fractionally (and
unnecessarily) brighter if I fed them through 10-gauge wire and a
dedicated relay. To me, 60/55W is just shy of the point of diminishing
returns.

Finally, DO NOT be suckered into buying bulbs that claim to deliver more
light by bending the laws of physics. They and other overwattage bulbs
don't last very long, and a dead bulb puts out no light at all. Above
all, avoid blue bulbs, especially the ones sold as "HID" lamps. They're
just riceboy bait. The standard Hella bulbs offer the best balance of
brightness, price, and longevity.

--
Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

Lanny Chambers wrote:
snip...
> First, Hella E-code H4 conversions are $75 per pair with 60/55W bulbs,
> from rallylights.com. With 100/55W bulbs, which I use, they're $83 per
> pair. Not $90 apiece.
snip...

The Hella E-code conversions are available from various vendors. Amazon.com
has them for approximately the same price.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

"Lanny Chambers" > wrote in message
...
> In article > ,
> "Christopher Muto" > wrote:
>
>> i am not sure if the hella are
>> dot approved or not, but given their price i suppose they would be.
>
> First, Hella E-code H4 conversions are $75 per pair with 60/55W bulbs,
> from rallylights.com. With 100/55W bulbs, which I use, they're $83 per
> pair. Not $90 apiece.
>
> Second, the E-codes are not DOT approved. It's not a matter of quality,
> it's because they don't have the three little machine-aiming tits on the
> lens. Don't worry, these are the ones you want. I've never heard of them
> failing inspection, because no one bothers to check headlights except
> that they work.
>
> Even better is the Cibié E-code H4 lamp, with its slightly-superior
> high-beam pattern, but they're more money.
>
> The Bosch lamps are OK, but you get what you pay for.
>
> Hella also makes a DOT-approved "Vision Plus" lamp. These are crap.
> They're especially bad in an NA Miata, because they have a weep hole
> that's not at the bottom when the headlights are down, resulting in
> trapped water and reflector corrosion. They also don't put nearly as
> much light on the road.
>
> There's absolutely no need for more than 55W on low beam. My 100W high
> beam is marginally brighter than the standard 60W. Live and learn, but I
> would not buy anything other than standard 60/55W bulbs again. My
> 12-year-old bulbs are still going strong, though. No problems with my
> stock wiring, though the high beams might be fractionally (and
> unnecessarily) brighter if I fed them through 10-gauge wire and a
> dedicated relay. To me, 60/55W is just shy of the point of diminishing
> returns.
>
> Finally, DO NOT be suckered into buying bulbs that claim to deliver more
> light by bending the laws of physics. They and other overwattage bulbs
> don't last very long, and a dead bulb puts out no light at all. Above
> all, avoid blue bulbs, especially the ones sold as "HID" lamps. They're
> just riceboy bait. The standard Hella bulbs offer the best balance of
> brightness, price, and longevity.
>
> --
> Lanny Chambers
> St. Louis, MO
> '94C

thanks for correcting me on the price of the hella's. don't know what i was
thinking, but recall when i shopped for them about four year ago i looked
for an alternative to the hella because of their price. still, at about $85
delivered (amazon's current price for the kit), the hella's are twice the
price of the empi and am not sure that they are any better. wish i could
provide a direct comparison of the two but i don't have first hand
experience with them in the miata. just know that the empi are a vast
improvement over sealed beams and totally worth the price. also, i have
passed ny state inspection three years in a row running these lamps. the
first year i had the old sealed beams in the trunk just in case. surprised
to hear that others have run the high wattage bulbs without issue and wonder
why my wires and socket melted on one side when running set of 90/100w
bulbs. perhaps it is my long distance night driving of 2+ hours at a time
that generated more heat then the wire could bare. and though my lamps are
well aligned, when driving behind a friend with the 90/100w bulbs, he told
me that it was unbelievably bright in his mirrors even though they were on
low. i now use the 55/60w hella h4 standard bulbs available from autobarn
(or amazon which redirects to autobarn) for cheap ($3.99 each).
finally, if anyone wants step by step instructions on doing this replacement
check this out.
http://www.blueridgemiataclub.org/te...ight/index.htm
ps. a quick search resulting in finding this vendor selling the empi lamps
(model number 00-9311-0) for just $11.20 each (you need two) plus about $15
shipping from http://www.dealparts.com/ or $13.95 each plus $10 shipping
from http://www.dansperformanceparts.com/ (based on shipping to the east
cost).