Technical Installing halogen headlights

I picked up some 1920’s industrial headlights for my 1938 Ford truck project and decided to upgrade the bulbs to the new halogen style.
I picked up some 1990’s Ford truck single headlight buckets and went to work. The pics should tell the story. The hole in the center ended up at around 1 1/4” and I sanded the back of the old bucket and the front of the new one.


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How did it work out?
I have read that visibility with them in a Hot Rod is second to none.

 

Great tech! Don't forget to use relays, I forgot and melted the headlight switch in a 55 Chevy during a long night trip.

 

I haven’t installed them yet, the JB Weld is still setting up.


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Here’s a test from yesterday.




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That makes for a really clean installation. Viewed from the front, most people are going to think they're stock lamps. But have you considered maybe venting the housings somehow? Those halogen lamps have got to run a lot hotter than the original 6 volt bulbs.

 

I was wondering about that, but the bulbs in their stock setting are in a plastic, sealed, housing, so I’m not sure it would need a vent (famous last word before the lenses crack).


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Just thinking that the newer plastics may take the temperature better than the older glass. Don't know about Ford's composite headlamps but it seems like GM's usually have a small vent tube on the back of the lamp somewhere. It would let the lamp "breathe" a bit as well as helping to clear out any condensation. Though it might be a non-issue unless the bulbs were on continuously for a few hours.

Hope they work out OK for you though, because that's got to be a big improvement.

 

You definitely will need a relay, as most of the halogens pull more amps than the conventional originals.

 

Bob Drake makes a conversion kit that works great,forget the old chrome reflector kits. HRP

 

Did you test the light against a wall or something like that before fixing the lamp holder in place? Where the filament is has a huge impact on how the headlight focuses and spreads light, something like 1/8" can be the diffrence between a useful, nice focused bean and a black spot straight ahead and a circle of light around it.

I've done a bit of testing trying to upgrade motorcycle headlights to HS1/H4 lamps, but it always fell through, usually because I could have the low bean or high beam in focus, but never both without moving the lamp.