Relay lighting

[byoshida@zygote.hsc.usc.edu (Benton Yoshida)]

Hope you all got the performance parts that you asked Santa for.

I just wanted to belatedly chime in on the benefits of updating the stock
'81 lighting system to relays.  Thanks to John/Gene Fulmer's post from
10/27/96 for the instructions.

A brief cost breakdown:

4  relays               @ 2.25  =  9.00
4  in line fuse holder  @ 0.45  =  1.80
2  12 gauge wire spools @ 4.00  =  8.00
4  15A fuses                    =  2.00
   miscellaneous connectors     =  3.00
   shrink wrap                  =  2.00
   plastic ties                 =  2.00

Total of less than $30.00 with dramatically better lighting.  Still not as
bright as a lot of other cars but no more of that flickering flashlight
with the dying batteries feel.  I still have to do one of the high beams.
Also, I did a sorta half-assed job and didn't mount any of the relays to
the sheet metal since the relays that I bought didn't have any mounting
tabs.  I might epoxy them to a sheet of plastic then screw them down but
they seem to be doing ok so far.  Since I didn't screw the relays down, I
used the same ground wire that originally went to the lights to hook up the
relay coil.

I got the relays and fuse holder at a local electronics surplus store--C&H
in Pasadena.

Are the legal power (55W?) H4 lights noticeably brighter than the sealed
beams?  Have people been running the higher wattage (90W?) bulbs without
unwelcome attention from the law?

I mentioned this before but no one seemed to comment on it so I'm gonna
keep bringing it up till someone says something.  I wondered if the dual
unequal size rectangular lights on the vanagon are the same as the one's
that people have been installing on their Mk. 2's?  If so, seems like it
would be much cheaper than the conversion kits.  Just a thought.  Bye,
b---------


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