Hella 7" Conversion Lights with Xenon Upgrade

[78 Chevyrado]

Since I put my driving lights on, the old silver-star sealed beams looked kinda lame from the outside and inside of the truck.

I went today and bought the Hella "Vision Plus" DOT 7" conversion light. They're Hella PN#002395301 and sold individually. They DO come with a stock type halogen HB2 bulb included, but I wanted to go Xenon, so I did. I bought the Xenon HB2 Bulbs for the headlights, and also bought a pair of Xenon H3 bulbs for the Driving lights. Might as well do it all...lol

Here's what I started with:



Opening up the Boxes, here's what the New Lenses look like up close. They Felt Good in my hands and I notice that the glass has WAY less texture than the sealed beams has, making them a lot clearer. They just look GOOD.



The dust seal really makes it look clean and neat.





The lens itself is a lot flatter than the old sealed beams. I have a comparison farther down the page.



Here's the new Lenses with the Xenon Bulbs swapped in.





And Here's the Driving Lights

Stock Bulb


Xenon Bulb

[78 Chevyrado]

Here's the comparison Between the shape of the two lights.




Here's the installed comparison.

Hella

Sealed Beam


Hella

Sealed Beam


Here's how they look installed from the backside.


Nothing on the truck had to be changed whatsoever. The old headlight connector goes right on there and the procedure is exactly the same as if you installed another sealed beam.

The dust boot on the back of the headlight fit the hole in the core support perfectly, just like it was made for my truck. Looks neater too.


Here they are all installed





Here they are lit up in the daylight.
This is the low beams



Here's the high beams with the driving light on too. The light coming from all four lights matches in color and brightness.




So far I'm very happy with the fit and finish of these lights. They fit the headlight buckets and retainer ring actually a little tighter then the sealed beams. The old lights didn't vibrate, but I could move them if I wanted to.


I haven't put the relay upgrade on the headlights yet, but I have the stuff for it. I may do that tomorrow. I want to see how they are without it first.

[78 Chevyrado]

Here's the night time pics I have so far. I have all the lights aimed pretty good right now. I can see a lot farther and I can't see the faces of any oncoming drivers so I'm getting there. I think I may raise them a tad more. Between the high beams and the driving lights, I'm very happy. I actually feel safer driving at night (deer).

I'll tell ya now these pics are crappy. I took em with the camera, but its SO automatic, you can't change certain setting on your own.

Here's the basic Beam Pattern on a wall. It has a LOT better upper-beam cut off than the old lights did. My old ones kinds looked like smudges, with no real cut off, just a fizzle..lol



-----------------------

Various pics with the lights at different settings.

In the woods

Low Beams


High Beams


High Beams with Driving Lights


-----------------------

In the garage

Low Beams


High Beams


High Beams with Driving Lights



I also LOVE that the high beams aren't way off in useless out-space. On my old ones, the high beams weren't that good because of how they were aimed. When I had the low-beams where I wanted them, the highs were like twice as high as they should have been and way off to the left. I hated that.

I like them so far. We'll see when the relays are all done up.

I'll add a few pics after the relays are done here.

[BigRed76]

Where did you buy the Hella lenses from? as well as the bulbs? And how much did they cost?

[knightowl73]

Originally Posted by BigRed76

Where did you buy the Hella lenses from? as well as the bulbs? And how much did they cost?

x2 id like to know for when i put the older front clip back on my truck

[78 Chevyrado]

Bought the lenses from 4 wheel parts for $76 total or about $38 each. The Xenon bulbs are $50 a pair at local auto parts stores. I got mine from advance.

[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by 78 Chevyrado

Bought the lenses from 4 wheel parts for $76 total or about $38 each. The Xenon bulbs are $50 a pair at local auto parts stores. I got mine from advance.

Thanks. After seeing the results you got from them I'm impressed. Are you going to wire relays into your existing headlight harness or are you installing a new harness with relays?

[78 Chevyrado]

Everything from the relay on will be replaced. I'll get relays and connectors and just make my own wires, so it will fit like stock.

[BigRed76]

So yours will be set up like this? This is how I plan on wiring mine...

[78 Chevyrado]

^^ Yeah that's it.

[355GoldieGM]

looks great man!!

[WigglesTheHoly]

can those Xenon HB2 bulbs fit in our stock headlights?

[63chevyll]

Looks good and subscribed
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[78 Chevyrado]

Originally Posted by WigglesTheHoly

can those Xenon HB2 bulbs fit in our stock headlights?

Not unless you could cut the glass to make a mounting surface for it. But even if it did fit in a stock light it wouldnt be as bright. the bulb is bright, but the glass and reflectors in the old lights aren't as good.

[78 Chevyrado]

I got the relay harness made up today. Big difference. I'm totally happy now!

Here's the new stuff. I just made it myself, Cost me about $20 all together. I also didn't drill the hole to mout the relays, it was pre existing. Don't mind the way it looks now, I ordered some of that wire loom stuff like the rest of the harness is covered with, I just didnt know what sizes to get until I was all done. So before too long it'll look nice and neat and covered up.



Heres a couple of VS pics.

With Xenon Bulbs, but without the relay upgrade. Notice the fog lights are whiter and brighter even though they all have the same bulb in them.



Here's now with the Xenon lights and relay upgrade. Notice the headlights are the same color and brightness as the fog lights. They're Bright now!



More pics of the light beam Shape with the Relay Upgrade
Lows

High with Driving Lights



I also got a deal on these silverstar 1156 Bulbs for my backup lights. They really made a difference! I can see out the back window at night now. I had been having some trouble because of the window tint, but these bout make up for it. I recommend them! Just look for a deal on them on ebay. They're $20 a pair in the store, but I got my pair for $8 or so off Ebay. Sorry for the crappy pics, just compare the backup lights to the color and brightness of the tag light, the old bulbs were real close to the tags lights brightness.




I been trying to think up a way to light things up in the rear for messing with the trailer, without having to leave the truck in reverse or mount a big light under the bumper. I think I might put in a switch so I can turn the backup lights on independently. And I'll use a switch that lights up real bright so I don't accidentally leave them on.

[texassquarebodies]

Those lights look awesome. i wanna do that with my four head light set up. Thanks for the info and pics!!!!

[pig rig]

you can also get the H4 lens at motorcycle shops

I found mine for my toyota at a motorcycle salvage yard for $5 then went and bought good bulbs for them

[ch2000]

I believe I saw you passing through downtown today near the TED - recognized the truck! Looks great!

[Pop's C-10]

Very nice

[78 Chevyrado]

My wire loom showed up so I got the wiring all tidied up and coverd. *looks much better! *I bought a wire loom kit with 25ft. of 6 sizes so I did the whole engine bay, replaced everything that was gone, red, or cracked.

Headlight Harness




Everything else
Before




After

[Fixwhataintbroke]

This is an upgrade i see in the near future!

[Kerlijah]

dang, what a huge improvement over stock! My '79 has factory headlights, and I literally can barely even see at night, they're so weak. Thinkin I'm definitely gonna have to save my nickels and dimes and get a set of those Hellas. Thanks for posting all those detailed comparison pictures man, much appreciated =)

[78 Chevyrado]

No problem man!

Guess it's been long enough to do a little follow up...

All parts are still functioning properly and are really bright. I've gotten to use them on some road trips i took early in the morning too (like 1am early). It's just awesome how far I can see on the freeway, and how much of the ditch on the side of the roadway i can see too. I'm extremely happy about the upgrade. the only setups I've seen brighter than mine were true projectors, though they can be kinda scary when coming to the bottom of a hill...lol

In short I'm still extremely satisfied with this whole upgrade and will be doing it to any old cars I have from here on out.

[THE "10" SILVERADO]

Very glad that I found this old thread (I remember reading it a long time ago but never thought I'd get around to doing it). Went through a couple of threads about 08 Jeep Wrangler light upgrades but I had no idea how to wire the new connectors to it. I think I'm going to go with this upgrade as I don't have to wire new connectors. Plus I'm going to wire in a relay.

Question though, I see what looks like your 2 relays connected near the light but you also have two "kicker" (I think) things near the battery and then a blue connector also. Are these part of the relay upgrade or are they something else?

Thanks,
Michael

[78 Chevyrado]

In this pic they are fuse holders, top is for the stereo amp, and bottom is the bigger charging wire for the new Alternator, so they're unrelated to the headlights.




This pic has the relay for the driving lights under the bumper, also unrelated, except they come on with the high-beams.