Head Lamp Conversion

[carrierdave]

I was talking to a colleague the other day about his MGB and he mentioned that he had replaced his sealed beam units with a kit from Wipac that converted them to halogen lamps.

Has anyone come across a conversion for the Elan? Has anyone made such a modification?

I made contact with Wipac and they do not offer a conversion kit for the Elan ? however would an MG or Triumph conversion do the same thing? Is there a limitation on current draw through the cables? Would a halogen conversion cause the cables/wiring loom to over heat?

Your comments please.

[Fred Talmadge]

I use to convert all my LBC to the illegal at the time quartz iodine bulbs. They were illegal because the law was you had to have sealed beans in the US. Those bulbs burned hot and white and the Lucas electrics on the old Sprites and TRs were the same as the Elans. No kit was required just the new 7" headlamps.

[types26/36]

I dont think the Elans (Lucas) wireing or switces were built to carry heavy current loads but by fitting a relay it should'nt be a problem. Weather your (generator if fitted) can handle is something else..
Brian. (with alternators)

[poiuyt]

Replacing the sealed beams with a standard H4 bulb halogen light (55/60 watt) will not cause any problems because this is the same power use as the sealed beams. You can get them from many auto parts suppliers (I got two sets - for my S4 and my X1/9 - from JC Whitney for about $40 per pair).

If you go for the 80 or 100 watt bulbe you may run into problems.

Steve B

[carrierdave]

Hi There,
Thanks for all of your thoughts. My colleague is going to take one of his lights out of his MG so that I can give it a go.
Will let you know what happens.

Dave

[Hamish Coutts]

Dave,
As said elsewhere in this post - as long as you stick to the same wattage of lamp you'll be OK. I tried to be a smart arse and fit 100w bulbs. They were very bright but after about 20 mins the overload thermal cut out activated and shut the lights down, just as I was about to enter a corner kinda quick. I can assure you corners are very exciting in the pitch dark!

There are a lot of extra bright, standard wattage bulbs around, have a look on the Ring or Hella sights. Any good car acessory shop should be able to supply.

I have a +2 S130 which had cibie headlight units fitted when I bought it. I'm sure they are non standard. Any good headlight conversion should fit OK. I've seen Hella kits locally (In Scotland).
If you want to fit the 100w bulbs, you would have to fit relays to avoid the cut out problem that I had.

Regards,

Hamish.

[archigator]

I just bought a pair of Cibie headlights with Osram 65/55W halogen lamps (bulbs) from Dave Bean and installed them a week ago. Easy installation, and they work great!

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint

[archigator]

I forgot to add that you need to make a special tool (illustrated in the Workshop Manual) to pop the chrome headlight trim. You need to take a cheap butter knife and bend the last 1" of the tip 90 degrees and then run it from the behind the top of the trim around the edge to the bottom, and then pop the trim ring off. Hard to do without scratching the paint on the bottom of the light bucket however.

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint

[miked]

Re Wipac bits. Vehicle Wiring Products (UK) supply the bits to change out the shell and same wattge bulbs to H4 etc. I got them for my S4. If you look in the catalague there is a simple little clip that secures the rim on the plastic post. I phoned Wipac direct and talked to wiring products and they kindy included it in the catalogue.

This all gives the befinfit of new shell, no rust and better lights. The rim pushes down on the clip to remove. No tool. Only down side is the shell is a bit thicker than metal and need perfect center to avoid the body as it goes up and down.

Mike

[dougweall]

Guys,

I read with interest about the headlight conversion, but I wonder on the subject of relays if any of you can tell me which wires go to which relay and in which position, i.e. the tags on the relays

I have a brand new loom being fitted, and new relays, when I bought my car it came with no wiring in place. By the way my Elan is a 1970 S4

I have searched the site here for a diagram with no success.

Could anyone supply a diagram ? I really would appreciate some help on this one.

Thanks,

Doug.

[types26/36]

Have a look at:
<a href='http://www.ado13.com/techs/relay.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.ado13.com/techs/relay.htm</a>
Brian

[types26/36]

Think I mis-read your post Doug, the above is for additional relays and I think you are asking about the standard the relays, I note the wiring diagram is not much help there. Its a bit of a pain to get to check them on the car, maybe someone has the details written down ? it will also depend on if you are going to use the flashing headlight relay (now illegal in the U.K)
Think someone recently asked about the wiring, may be they can join in if they got an answer.
Brian

[dougweall]

Yes Brian you are correct, stupid me I did forget to add that it is the standard relays that I need to fit.

Again correct, I won't be fitting the flasher unit / relay for flashing headlights.

Looking at the diagram though gives me a clue as to what should go where. However if as you say someone has the colour coding written down then that would be spot on.

Thanks again,

Doug

[Robbie693]

Brian,

Could you please ellaborate on the flashing relay being illegal in the UK?

Is this the standard - lights pop-up and flash when you pull the dip switch stalk towards you - relay?

Cheers

Robbie

[types26/36]

Robbie,
With the non fail safe system the lights can be raised by pulling out the vac. control, if the headlight switch on the dashbord is left in the off position or is switched to side lights the headlights will flash continuously. As soon as you switch the dash switch to headlight position this cuts off the power to the flashing relay and supplys power to the main headlight relay putting on the headlights, the high or low beam is then controlled by the column mounted stalk switch.
I believe this does not apply to the fail safe system as you cannot raise the headlights without the headlights coming on.
As regards being illegal this was told to me by the late Graham Arnold and I accepted it as being fact, if anyone knows different please speak up.
Hope you can make sense of the above.
Regards Brian