Twin Carb Sud - Let there be light!

[DAMO1A]

The low beam driving lights on my Sud are showing there age and are no longer safe to drive at night.  It seems that the reflective backing inside the lights are not longer very reflective.  I am not sure if this is able to be refurbished?

Fortunately I have sourced a set of replacement lights in good condition from the UK and am installing them today. The replacement lights look like new compared to the original ones so I am looking forward to seeing the end result. 

It seems like a pretty straight forward task...(hopefully)

[colcol]

If you wish your Sud to have all original parts, then there is not much to do, however, if you don't care about any extra's fit a heavy duty relay for your headlights, as the current in too small wires goes from the fuse box to the headlight switch to the headlights, it most likely drops a volt or two, and you get dim lights, my brother had this problem 20 years ago with his Sud and an auto electrician wired a relay in for good effect, i had the same problem with the 33, yellow lights that would dim at idle, so i put in a heavy duty relay, with screw in terminals, picked up the power direct from battery for terminal no 30, terminal no 86 used the original wires for the headlights to turn the relay on and off and then the no 87 and 87b terminals on the relay used some new thicker wires to run to the headlights, and terminal no 85 to earth, on the 33 they are just spade connectors, so its easy to get rid of the old ones and put in the new ones.
You need a 3 position relay, off - low beam - high beam, i did one one side first, and it was white, while the side i hadn't done was yellow, so it made a difference.
Whatever you do, don't put in 100 watt 'rally light globes' as they get too hot and burn the connectors and discolour the reflectors.
If you wish to maintain the original look, then clean up all the fuse connectors, connectors in the fuse box and connectors on the headlight switch and headlights, use some copperkote grease or some loctite electrical grease that stops corrosion and conducts electricity, Colin.

[DAMO1A]

Col Col

Thats great advice.  I have to admit that it sounds beyond my fairly basic ability but perhaps something to work up to. 

The lights went in without too much hassle.  They simply pop in and out. I managed to connect the right wires so they all work again.  Thanks for the tips on the "rally" globes and grease.  I did give the connectors a bit of a clean up but will need to get some electrical grease. 

[colcol]

I would say that the hopeless light switches on the Sud have most likely got burnt connectors in the switch, another advantage of a heavy duty relay, it takes all the load of those switches.
It would be good to put a voltmeter on the battery, with the headlights on and see the difference between the battery and the headlight voltage to see how much its dropped.
The loctite grease is quite hard to get, but i purchased another brand of electrical grease from a four wheel drive place on ebay, but the copperkote grease that has a slurry of copper in it seems to work allright, Colin.

[Craig_m67]

Changing in some me relays is very good advice. I had the stalk burn out on me in my QV Sprint once, very acrid, scary, smoky, pitch black WTF is going on moment at 110Km/h in the middle of nowhere (Lake George).

There's plenty of circuit diagrams about, and it's quite simple really. If you think about it, new bulbs and connectors are just going to put strain on the older bits (light stalk switch)

[colcol]

The contacts in the Sud and Sprint light switches just burn out as there is too much power going through them, back in the day, i had a spare Sud combination switch, that i drilled out the rivets, and used 3mm button head screws to hold it together, and i used to pull it apart and clean the contacts on the switch, the minute they get dirty, they get hot and start to melt, usually at night 110 klms from nowhere.
I had a 'changeover' switch always ready to go in, as of about 4 years ago you could still buy the switches new from Europe, for about $350 + delivery.
I had a relay for the lights, wipers and heater fan, for the Sud, as standard in all modern cars.
No such problems with switches in the 33, well designed, and like the 33, still going strong.
The switches for the Sud and Sprint are the same, even the Sprint, based on the 33, still had Sud switches, Colin.