I can see!!!!!!!!!!!

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swing69

fightin' socialism
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First night run with the 65 Dart since the "upgrade".

relays and GE nighthawk halogen lamps. I can see!! I can see!! what a difference. Its just like a "real" car now.

I also tied the alt. directly to the battery, replaced the regulator, added a voltmeter, added a ground wire to the alt., regulator and battery neg., and replaced the whole headlight harness (with relays). thanks Dan! :notworth:

Only 1 little bug; the voltmeter needle is a bit bouncy at a few different steady RPMs. 13 - 14v (still charging), but bouncing.
 
that headlight upgrage is one of the best things you can do to these old mopars. what a difference. everyone always asks, "howd you get your lights so bright. and why dont they dim down at idle" good job!
 
Met up today with a friend and his 70s Scamp. he said the wiring mod wasn't necessary, he just pops in the halogens. no problems ever, he said.

Next up: headlight drags. lol I have my nighthawks on, he puts on is reg. halogens. Just looking at the lights, his looked like candles next to my brights. I'd say his were ~ 60% of the light mine were throwing off. he said, OK you win... lol.

good natured ribbing. nice night today to be out driving.....
 
Glad to help out. Sounds like you showed him!

If he's curious for details, here's a bit of a repeat: he's right for certain definitions of "no problems". On a 2-headlamp car, you can get away with his halfaѕѕed method without the lights tending to flicker off and leave you in the dark (which happens on a 4-lamp car on high beam as the thermal cutout in the headlamp switch trips open), but you will still be starving the lamps and heating up the headlamp switch and the bulkhead disconnect. The wiring was marginally-specified for the original 50/40w headlamps, and now it's between 35 and 51 years old and you propose to put 65/55w lamps in. Sure, they'll light up, but remember that light output drops exponentially with voltage drop. A 10% voltage drop costs you over 30% of your headlamp output. A 15% voltage drop, very typical on cars like ours, leaves you with 58% of the light output you should be getting. A job worth doing is worth doing right; it doesn't take much more time, effort, or money. What's it worth to him to not get in a crash at night in his old A-body?

Also, his comment about "the halogens" suggests he might be buying whatever halogen sealed beams he finds on the shelf. Fact is, everything from Sylvania and Wagner and most of GE's stuff is junk. The GE Night Hawk (not Night Hawk Sport, but Night Hawk) is the only sealed beam worth buying. There are better headlamps than the Night Hawk sealed beams, but they cost a lot more money. The Night Hawks are the world's only good AND cheap headlamps to fit our cars. All the bling-bling ones on eBay (etc.) are crap.

Remember also, headlamp aim is the single most important factor in the safety performance of your headlights at night.
 
this is something i need to do as well.

Dan, did you do a write up on the headlight rewiring? I've seen the MAD electrical article. Anything different you did for yours?
 
Very often a simple upgrade on these old cars is to replace the negative cable,
from the battery.

The stock Neg wire is too often corroded, under the plastic/vinyl
and ends up causing a loss of current.

In 1979 I had a 1968 GTX the neg cable was corroded and the car was hard
to start, after replacing the battery, the starter twice, I finally replaced
the neg battery cable. DOH!.
 
Ths is one of my projects for later. I just need everything to do it, plus the funds to get evrything. Is there a simple way to get his done? without buying kit?
 
My new volt meter twitched like crazy at idle. Faulty regulator was the problem. It was a aftermarket piece ( Autozone, Advance, I forget ). Replaced it with a very old OEM regulator, cured it.
I now see one little twitch when I turn on the headlights.
I have a tip or 2 for the do it yourself headlight wiring upgrade. Dont know if this thread is the appropriate place though.
 
daves66valiant said:
Dan, did you do a write up on the headlight rewiring? I've seen the MAD electrical article. Anything different you did for yours?
Click to expand...

Forget that half-baked idiocy from MAD electrical, which leaves the inadequate factory wiring in place and just splices in relays. My writeup is here; allpar's is here.

There's nothing terribly magical or mystical about this upgrade. There are many ways to do it. Some techniques are better than others. Some decisions are not better/worse but simply a matter of opinion and preference. For example, I recommend using one relay to control both low beams and one relay to control both high beams. Some people prefer to have one relay for each filament (left low, left high, right low, right high) for a total of four rather than two relays. Their way reduces the consequences of a failure (only one lamp goes out if a relay, fuse, or connection fails); my way reduces the likelihood of a failure (reduced parts count/complexity so reduced number of potential failure points). My philosophy is to do the job in the simplest practical effective way, and toss a spare relay in the glovebox if you're worried about it.

The only reason to buy the parts kit is that it contains all the hard-to-find specially made premium-grade items (e.g. ceramic or phenolic headlamp sockets to accept large-gauge wire) instead of the "consumer grade" junk you can find at the parts store. Relays are widely available, but it can be a pain in the neck to find the ones configured properly for the job (dual #87 terminals, no #87a) in reliably good quality. Likewise, relay brackets and terminal blocks are generally not hard to find, but the ones in the parts kit have tongue-and-groove so they snap-lock together to form tidy relay banks.
 
SlantDan,

You mentioned the Night hawk Sport as being bad. I know they cost $112.00 versus $15.00 for the standard Night Hawk's. What is wrong with the sports oother than the cost???
Thank You!

I know, it's an old thread
 
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