Replacement Headlight advice for 69 Barracuda

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@restorationrealities

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Favorite Headlight replacement for 69 Barracuda...it has a new Painless wiring harness
Also in need of headlights grill rings

Thanks

20250308_173251.jpg
 
What ever brand you prefer, just watch the wattage / amperage. The oem bulbs did not draw as much as the modern halogens etc do.
 
Something like this. (Choose your bulbs)
Along with something like this. (Choose two H4 Lamps)

lots of choices on watts.. what do ya think is a good choice?
 

What's the goal? Should they look stock or futuristic? Good lighting on a budget, or awesome lighting where money is no object? Any unusual considerations like rally racing?

If I replace the Dart's headlights, it will probably be with the Toyota Landcruiser kit discussed I other threads for good, relatively stock looking, budget.
 
The bang-for-buck LED 7" round headlamp (no need or benefit for relay harness because low amp draw) is this one; details on what makes it so are here.

With halogen headlamps you'd deffo want to put in a relay harness; our own FABO dude @crackedback makes excellent ones.

For halogen lamps: the Hella items RRR linked are certainly better than the mountain of off-brand garbage all over the net, but even so, those Hellas have never been very good, and they've slipped badly in recent years; if you're rabid for Hella lamps, the ones you want are these. The Toyota kit is a better price on better lights.

Bulbs: do not just point-and-pick on wattage. Even with a relay harness, for a sturdy collection of good reasons overwattage bulbs (higher than 60/55w) are not the wise pick they might sound like. And while there's no magic bulb that turns crummy headlamps into good ones, there is a huge range of performance even just within spec-wattage bulbs, there is a huge range of performance. take a look at this. And don't be fooled;
the "LED bulbs" now flooding the market (like "HID kits" before them), claiming to convert halogen headlamps, are not a legitimate, safe, effective, or legal product. No matter whose name is on them or what the vendor claims, these are almost all a fraudulent scam. The overwhelming majority of them are not capable of producing the right amounts of light, nor producing it in the right pattern for the lamp's optics to work, let alone work well.

Whatever lamps you wind up with, their aim is by far the main thing that determines how well you can (or can't) see at night, and how much glare you're throwing around. Pretty good odds your headlamps (and fog lamps, as applicable) aren't well aimed; even many brand-new vehicles have poorly-aimed lamps. And if you remove and replace the lamps, even with the same ones you removed (let alone different ones!), the aim won't carry over after replacement, even if you put back the same lights you took out. Plus, there's a bunch of bad how-to-aim info to be found on the web (and on headlight boxes, sad to say).

So, ya gotta-gotta-gotta make sure your lamps are aimed carefully and correctly per the instructions here.
 
Not all relay kits are created equal. Some are engineered, designed and use products much better than others. Some are detrimental to an OEM wired car as sold, no redundancy, etc. as at least one set up suggested in this thread.
Much like cars. You can buy a entry level vehicle and any number of flavors up the food chain.

My old axiom, "pick your parts, pay your money" is definitely relevant.

If OLD STOCK GE nighthawk 6024H headlights, US made one can be found, they are really good low cost lights
 
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I installed a pair of 2012 Jeep Wrangler headlamps in the Jaundiced GT. They're a bolt-in, but the harness side connector(s) will need to be modified. At the same time, I installed relays to take the load off of the wiring (from the battery, through the bulkhead connector, to/through the switch, back out the bulkhead connector to the lamps). Also attached is the schematic how I installed/wired everything.

Dart GT Wrangler Headlamps.JPEG


Wrangler-Headlamp-_-Relays-Wiring (cropped).jpg
 
Want an original look, don't need anything too powerful, don't see driving it much at night
I hate the modern bulb look on old cars.

Not too much night driving is typical for our cars now but don't forget our parents drove these cars 24/7 and unless their eyesight was better than ours, they almost all made it out alive.
 
I hate the modern bulb look on old cars.

Not too much night driving is typical for our cars now but don't forget our parents drove these cars 24/7 and unless their eyesight was better than ours, they almost all made it out alive.

Right there with you on the look.

A well set up relay kit and old school halogens make a huge difference from the OEM stuff. Even better than many hid/led lights from a usuable light standpoint.
 
Those Philips LEDs are 14w low beam, 27w high beam.

The № 6012 headlamps your car was built with were 40w low, 50w high. The commonly-available replacement, the № 6014, is 50w low, 60w high.
 
Right there with you on the look.

A well set up relay kit and old school halogens make a huge difference from the OEM stuff. Even better than many hid/led lights from a usuable light standpoint.
Forgive me friend. I don't know why I default to Rally Lights about the harness. I need to retrain my brain. Yours is way better. I know I like mine.
 
Where did you find that info?
Vehicle lighting is my profession. I have reams of technical information on common and obscure lighting devices, much of which is not readily accessable on the internet in general. Closest I come to finding this info out on the web is here (once you've clicked enough times to finally get to the "full" tech specs) but even there, it only lists the low-beam wattage.
 
Forgive me friend. I don't know why I default to Rally Lights about the harness. I need to retrain my brain. Yours is way better. I know I like mine.

LOL I wondered if pee hit your cheerios or something.... :)

All good.
 
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