Headlight mod 83 GS450

[madmaze]

Hey all,
I have come to the conclusion that my old headlight was too dim and too expensive to replace.
So im looking for some mad ideas of putting other light bulbs into the old reflector bulb.

This is what i am thinking:

1 take to old bulb carefully take/cut out the old bulb out of the reflector housing and then replace it with something like a Sylvania Silverstar bulb.
im sure i can find a way to hold it in there..

any tips/ideas/comments?

[biker_guy]

well I never said anything about what I did with my headlights because the housing I have doesn't even have dot on them. But even still if you alter anything DOT did not approve that either. SO I'm sure many will not approve of this, BUT I have been driving with these light for sometime now and have hand no problems not even a second look.

The reflector on the head lights I have are metal. If you have a glass reflector I have no idea what you would do. ANYWAY I went to a junk yard and found a busted up head light off of some vehical. I don't know what it was just laying on the ground. I said how much? They said well it's broke ain' it? I used a dremel tool to cut off the part that held the bulb and bolted it on the metal reflector. I tried to keep it as straight as possible.

So the housing I have is not DOT but at least the bulb is. I think that's the biggest thing. I didn't get some crazy stupid bulb. I also think it depends on where you are too. But that's what I did and I haven't gotten in trouble YET. Maybe I won't either cause I wasn't trying to put some 100watt bulb in there. I will say though that switching for a sealed beem to a newer style bulb, not changing the wattage, on the first drive I was thinking I CAN SEE!!!!

[Charlie G]

I've got the same problem on my 80 450 e. What a dim bulb and expensive. If you figure out some thing let me know.

charlie g

[madmaze]

ok.. this is what i found out/did
its not all done yet but let me give a walk through:

1. Take the bulb and turn it over, on mine there were tabs crimped over a
little brass ring which held the bulb fixture in, so i cut those off with a dremel tool ad then pried the ring off with a screwdriver.
2. Then there is a rubber ring which i guess acts as a seal.
I pried that one off too, which needs a little force because it breaks the connector form the glass part of the bulb.
3. then the actual bulb(glass part) came loose and fell into the reflector housing.. since its to big to pull out through the hole i carefully smashed it with a screwdriver and just poured out the glass shards.
4. I cleaned out the hole and then took a Phillips H3 bulb from kmart and cut off the top metal rim just under the glass bulb, (see picture)

then the bulb fits perfectly into the reflector housing of the original bulb =)

5. Now the problem is securing, I havnt done this step yet but i will and then I will post pics. The Idea is to use the 3 tabs on the side of the bulb, by soldering 3 pieces of solid core copper wire to the metal part of the reflector housing so that you can bend them over the 3 tabs of the bulb. that should hold the bulb secure in place.


I will Post pictures of the soldering and the final result as soon as im done =)

EDIT: PS I didnt use the blue bulb pictured, but a clear one.

[biker_guy]

One thing to consider is you'll have to do that every time you change the bulb. Not to be Mr. negative but will you be able to replace the bulb if it goes out and your on the road?

[maparker]

I have an 81 450T that I got tired of paying $40+ for a bulb for so I modified it Even though it is a sealed beam you can pull the bulb part out with a little effort. I then put in an H4 and used the holes in the three little tabs to run a pieces of wire to the housing. Twist the wire tight and it holds solid, but is easily removable for when you need to replace the bulb. I almost took pictures of this as I was doing it, but was in a hurry.

I've had this set up for several years now and the beam is MUCH brighter...but the reflector is designed for a different bulb so it gives a strange light pattern which has a hole with the high beams especially. So it is doable, but using the H4 doesn't give the best pattern. Still I think it was an improvement over the very dim (and expensive) stock bulb. YMMV though!

Parker

[madmaze]

One thing to consider is you'll have to do that every time you change the bulb. Not to be Mr. negative but will you be able to replace the bulb if it goes out and your on the road?

Well check out the pictures i have, the copper tabs i soldered on are bent to one side and with a twisting motion you can twist the bulb out.



does that sound good?

btw please ignore the aweful soldering job.. i'll probably redo it with a torch

[biker_guy]

Oh I got it now. A picture is worth a 1000 words. If it seems secure that looks like it'll work.

[madmaze]

definitely secure, the bulb has virtually no play
the whole thing can probably be done in about an hour

[Charlie G]

I wish I hadn't thrown out that old bulb last month to try my hand at something. I can't break a new $40.00 bulb. Thanks for the ideas.

cg

[maparker]

I wish I hadn't thrown out that old bulb last month to try my hand at something. I can't break a new $40.00 bulb. Thanks for the ideas.

cg

If yours is like mine always were it'll go out soon enough This new bulb has last longer than any of my sealed beams ever did. If I would have had time I would have gotten an new bucket so that I could switch to an 7" bulb and put in an conversion that has the correct deflector (reflector?) for the halogen bulb, but I didn't have a light and needed to ride to work that night so I gave it a try...three plus years later its still brighter than the old one!