Date:         Tue, 23 Jul 1996 15:04:28 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Shawn Wright" <VWNUT@smus.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: upgrading 86-up headlights

On 23 Jul 96 at 0:16, Mark McCulley wrote:

> The low beams on my 87 Westfalia are really terrible and I've 
decided that 
> my next upgrade project will be to add relays and rewire for higher wattage 
> bulbs. Have any of you done this? If so, were you satisfied with the 
> results? Should I run the new 12V wire directly from the alternator or from 
> the battery?
> 
I haven't popped the lights out on my Westy yet, but I went through 
this in my Jetta which also uses 9004 bulbs. I put in 55/100w bulbs & 
promptly fried (melted) the plastic connectors. I ran a relay, along 
with 14g wire to ground & battery, and fried two more connectors. 
Then I tried 3 separate spade connectors carefully inserted into the 
bulbs. This seemed to work fine, I guess the air space allowed them 
to dissipate the heat. The bulbs burnt out & replaced with stock & 
added H3 driving lights instead.


Shawn
'88 Westy 332k (Kyra)
'85 Jetta TD 350k (Jenni)