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Date:         Mon, 1 Feb 1999 23:46:57 EST
Reply-To:     SBate82659@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Sam Bateman <SBate82659@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Retrofitting 5X7 H-4 Lights - Another Method (long)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Vanagoneers,

Some time ago I voiced a question on the list about the feasability of using a standard 5 X 7 in. headlight bucket to mount 5 X 7, H-4 lights on the late- model Vanagons. As I got no replies on this I assumed that no-one had tried it so I gave it a go and here's what happened.

Before I get to the details, I must say that I have read with much interest the posts about Randy Bergman's mounting kit. Although I have never seen one, it sounds like a very sturdy design that will also allow the owner to go back with the stock Vanagon lights if the need ever arrises. There were a couple of things that bothered me about this design, however. The first was the price - I know that at least half of the $200.00 was in the cost of the lights themselves so $100.00 for two well-made brackets is probably not that bad but I'm basically a cheap guy and wanted something that I could build myself without the need for brazing. The second thing that concerned me was the necessity to drill into the light reflectors to mount them. To my mind, the fewer holes into a light of this type whereby moisture can enter - the better. Also, if I were to break one of these lights in Bum____, Egypt (or some equally remote location) I wanted the ability to go to any local FLAPS and buy a Mc-light (H-4 or no) which would drop in the hole and enable me to get home with a minimum of fuss and no drilling or tapping of the reflector.

With these considerations in mind, my trusty tool bag in hand, and $25.00 in my pocket I got me down to my local junkyard. Wherein I soon spied a retired Chevy Chevette (don't shoot me yet!) with some interesting inner headlight buckets. What caught my attention was the fact that these were symetrical with both right and left brackets for adjusting screws as well as a top adjuster bracket. These I forthwith purchased for..........$2.00.

Back to the ranch I removed the driver's side (left) headlight bracket mounting pan from my Vanagon and then removed the hi/lo beam light making sure to preserve the plastic, threaded things that snap into the back of the bracket in case I ever wanted to reinstall the original lights. With the empty headlight bracket and my Chevette headlight bucket on the bench in front of me, I began that 3 beer, 2 hour process of determining how to mount the thing. What I ended up with was 1 NAPA headlamp adjusting screw with nylon base (part # 665-1041) mounted on the top and another on the outboard side of the back pan which corresponded to the adjuster brackets on the top and outboard side of the Chevette bucket. The nylon bases I mounted to the Vanagon headlight bracket's mounting pan with two, #8-32 X 1/2" brass machine screws and nuts (after VERY carefully measuring the resultant headlight position to make sure it alligned properly with the inner hi-beam and didn't protrude any farther outboard than the original light had). It was also necessary to mark and drill a 1/4" hole in the mounting bracket pan for the adjuster screw itself to pass through as required. Since the inner adjuster bracket on the bucket would have interferred with the tight fit against the square, hi-beam light, I removed it (the adjuster bracket) with a grinder leaving the bucket with top and outboard adjuster brackets which corresponded with the above-mentioned adjuster screws. For the third mounting point I used a Stanley 1 1/2", inside angle bracket with two #8-32 X 1/2" brass machine screws and nuts securing it to the inboard, bottom of the headlight bucket in such a fashion that a long machine screw could be run horizontally in from the front, through the angle bracket and into the back mounting pan. This long screw was a #10-24 X 2" machine screw with 3 nuts and lockwashers arranged so that the screw head was locked tight to the front of the angle- bracket with a nut and lockwasher on the back side. The remaining 2 nuts and lockwashers were used to secure and locate the end of the screw into the back mounting pan. By using these 2 nuts, I adjusted the headlight bucket so that the face of the new 5 X 7" light would be approx. flush with the face of the square, hi-beam light mounted next to it - then these nuts were locked-down.

At this point I was feeling pretty good about my concoction so I trial-fitted it to the van and installed one of my junkyard H-4 lights. All looked well until I tried to mount the grill - I found that it needed a bit of releaving on the trim around the top and bottom of the new light. I removed approx. 1/8" of the trim strip along the top and bottom above and below the 5 X 7 light only (grill was left as was around the inner, hi-beam light). This was acomplished with a Dremel tool basically triming the protruding lip on the grill flush with the horizontal support above it (top) and below it (bottom). The result was a remarkably good-looking installation (IMHO). The 5 X 7" light does not slope away towards the outside of the van as the original did so there is approx. 3/8" of the outboard side of the new light protruding past the grill edge but, to my mind, it doesn't look at all objectionable. At this point I had a van with a 5 X 7", H-4 light on one side and the original light on the other. An impartial observer (my wife) was called upon to see if she could determine which light was original and which wasn't - the only way she could tell was by the "H-4" stamped into the front of the new light!

The other side was modified in the same fashion only using the opposite side adjuster bracket on the headlight bucket. The end result is a mounting arraingement whereby the vertical aim is adjusted with the top adjuster and the side-to-side aim is adjusted with the outboard adjuster on each side. The only drawback is that the headlight alignment must be done with the grill removed to get to the adjuster screws. Once everything is adjusted the grill goes back on and it looks essentially stock until I switch on the low beams! I spliced-in NAPA headlight connectors (part # LS 6235) to the original wiring harness and used a couple of Hella relays and sockets salvaged from a late-model Jetta that snapped in to the top of the Vanagon relay panel to power the high and low beams. The output of the low beam relay goes to pin A-21 on the relay panel and the wire that once went to this pin now triggers the low beam relay. The output of the high beam relay goes to pin B-22 and the wire that once went to this pin triggers the high beam relay.

Hope this helps someone in their quest for better lighting,

Sam Bateman Fork Union, VA '87 Vanagon GL (brite eyes)


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