the headlights on my gtv extremely bad! cant see anything!
is this a normal issue with GTVs??
is there anything i can do?
please help.
cheers, Brad ;)
Night vision goggles??
Seriously, yes, they are that bad. There are many solutions to the problem, usually they involve uprating the globe wattage and installing relays to handle the extra current. Sometimes the relay installation does the trick as it's the crappy wiring that means the globes are underfed.
Cheers
Stuart
Hey Brad, Yes they are bad naturally however improvement can be made by opening up the light itself by cutting the silicon around the glass and between the steel case and cleaning the inside of the glass and reflective surface of metal component. Be careful not to get to carried away rubbing the steel part as the reflective material comes off resulting in less light than you had . Regards duk
I actually replaced the lenses and chrome backing in mine and put 90/130 watt globes in they light up like a nuclear explosion,the mod allows for the h4 globes to be fitted rather than h1's.the one s i have done are for sale as i have stripped the car,just let me know if interested.
Hi Brad,
There is a very comprehensive thread covering this subject on page 6 of this section,just look for GTV6 headlights posted by Shane Wescott.
Cheers
Andrew
Brad,
I'm currently in the middle of the putting new inserts in the old Corello reflector method, as set out in the link mentioned on page 6 (spent 3 hours with a wire wheel removing rust last night):
http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=1464.0
I bought a set of Narva semi-sealed inserts. They are just a smidgen big to fit in the old reflectors, so had to do a bit of panel beating to stretch the rims of the old Corellos. Hella make inserts with the parking light sockets as well, but I don't know if they are any smaller. It would be nice if you could find a parts place that already had the lights in stock so you could do a trial fit, rather than having to order them in and buy them sight unseen as I did.
I've made up a set of 4 relays which will take the power direct from the Alternator and new earth wires so I've got better wire sizes as well.
AL.
Hi Al,
Thats the beauty of using the Motolite brand,they fit in perfectly and you can still fit the chrome/stainless dress ring over it.
Cheers
Andrew
AL/Brad,
Here's a conversion I have done using Hellas. Work fine.
Andrew,
Yeah thanks heaps ;), new that, but couldn't get hold of any autolites here in Melbourne, so went with Narvas. I estimate it took about 1.5 hours to stretch each rim and 0.5 hour for each stainless trim ring. I'm going to check tonight if they will fit in the grill, not so sure the trim rings will. Fingers crossed. Waiting for the weather to get over 10 degrees to paint the old shells.
AL
Hi Al,
You should be ok.I have done a set of Hella's the same as Mikey and it was a lot more work but I even managed to get the dress rings on but they were very tight.I have even removed the glass from Motolites and fitted Carello glasses to them,required a bit of diameter reduction on the glass!.I also found the Carello glass is a straight fit to the Hella light if you remove the Hella glass!.
Cheers
Andrew
A few semantics...
The Carrello lenses are more efficient but the Hella reflectors last 5 times longer :-\
I checked last night and the Narvas with dress rings fit easy in the grill! One other thing with the Narvas: the parking light socket is offset to one side and even though they are sold as a pair, they aren't mirror images; so on my passenger side light, the socket is just behind the Corello mounting pin. A tight fit, but it'll work as the socket is just pushed into a rubber grommet in the reflector, so there is flex as you push the socket in. In the attached photo, the small white dots are plugs where the parking light sockets go. You can see what I'm grumbling about on the right hand light.
Now you mention the Corello glass is good! I managed to get 3 lenses out without breakage (I got impatient with the last one), but I still have the Corellos fitted to the car. The glass looks a bit yellow, but maybe it just needs a clean? I did think that the casting on the Narvas didn't look as crisp. Hmmm after all this work I don't know if I want to think about changing the lenses.
AL.
After reading through a few of these posts i decided to send a p.m to andrew (alfagtv152), he seemed to be right up to speed on the conversions. He kindly offered to do the swap on my lights, a couple of weeks later they were back. Andrew did a great job and now i actually look forward to driving my car at night, something i would never have contemplated before. Thanks Andrew your a champ. :) :)
my alfa is fitted with aftermarket relays and globes and the vision isnt to bad for a 25 year old car.
best bet is to go with the hellas lights.
Its good to see some people are offering a helping hand.
Another relatively simple solution is HID lighting.
If you can convert the outer lights to H4s, (handling both the low and high beam), it is then legal (in Vic anyway) to run the inner two lights as driving lights, fitted with the 55W HID kits.
A little bit of stuffing around, but well worth it. These alone EASILY make twice as much light as the 100W super oscars i fitted to the car when i rallied it. For $70 including postage, some of the best money i have ever spent on the car.
The only downside being you can't keeping turn them on and off quickly.
Quote from: Mat Francis on May 19, 2010, 08:23:50 PM
Another relatively simple solution is HID lighting.
If you can convert the outer lights to H4s, (handling both the low and high beam), it is then legal (in Vic anyway) to run the inner two lights as driving lights, fitted with the 55W HID kits.
A little bit of stuffing around, but well worth it. These alone EASILY make twice as much light as the 100W super oscars i fitted to the car when i rallied it. For $70 including postage, some of the best money i have ever spent on the car.
The only downside being you can't keeping turn them on and off quickly.
Mat, 35 watts is more than sufficient for the hid in H1 inserts, and, if you get good kits there is no reason why they cant be dipped and then on in quick succession. The kits in my GTV6 behave just like Halogen globes. The conversion to Hella inserts is oh so easy. just need a hammer to break the lens , some tin snips or a 4" grinder to trim the reflector and some sikaflex to glue it all together.
Greg
Quote from: redalfaracing on May 19, 2010, 10:00:44 PM
Mat, 35 watts is more than sufficient for the hid in H1 inserts, and, if you get good kits there is no reason why they cant be dipped and then on in quick succession.
I thought i read somewhere that re-igniting the globes when hot will reduce their lifespan? I will admit i have done it a few times anyway.
If you reckon it's alright though i might just treat them like normal lights. At $15 for a pair of globes, it's no loss if they do die anyway.