You're correct, the high/low relationship is cooked into the lamp on the dual-filament lamps. But I like doing the low beams as that allows me to get as much performance as I can. Winter here can see some pretty dark gloomy nights on the roads I travel, every last bit of lighting is wanted. Get a no moon, overcast and raining night and it's like driving into a coal mine... My eyes aren't getting younger either, so every little bit helps.
I think I will try to adjust the lights and make sure they are wired correctly, first. Got to figure this out as folks blink their lights at me more on low beam than high beam….and I have four headlights! That used to be a dead give away that an oncoming person had their brights on! But now with modern cars and especially trucks, they can have two, four or six lights on , on dim! You think they are bright ing you , so I blink my lights and Holey shit, they hit the brights and I can’t see for three miles! One good thing….my headlights have stopped going off at night, like the did when I was first forced to drive my avatar car at night! I figure working the headlight switch and dimmer switch must have cleaned the contacts or something. Bones
Yea, I went to Ebay and saw that kit offered for around $200/300! Me being frugal (cheap) , plus lazy…..I might just contact some body shop and have it done….if any still have one of those! Bones
Well after reading that Petersons manual I just realized something super simple that I obviously overlooked and now feel kinda dumb! I said this was about my avatar car, for simplicity, but it actually my very similar 65 Country Sedan! My avatar car is raised in the back and sets real nice, for me! But my wagon had been lowered and it sets lower in the rear than the front! I am now sure that could be a factor in my headlight aiming problem, maybe. Still doesn’t totally explain why I get more flashes on dim than high beam….other than maybe I shining over their head on high??? Bones
Do you folks remember the “tool” service stations used to have? It rolled on casters, was adjustable up and down, then put up against the lights, I was just a kid when I saw them, been a good 50 years. Never seen them once I was driving, etc. may have been they only worked on round lights?
You're late Bones, I already beat you to it! LOLOL! I've been wanting one for a long time, couldn't resist!
That's funny, he said he'd get me a shipping quote... and the listing was new at 9 am today. Sure it's the same guy?
Yep, I just got a message from him that he received my payment, Jim in Southern California . I asked him to check , to see if you got it. He has been a member here for years according to his profile. The ad I saw was posted at 11:05. Bones
Is it possible the headlight flashers are assuming you haven't got your headlights on? To late model halogen, L.e.d. ballast corrected, nuclear powered headlight shopping trolleys your 5" sealed beams look puny and ineffective so they're saying "Put your lights on dummy".
Sorry about that, I sent him a shipping guesstimate earlier and he was good with it...probably was too low, Ha
I use the far corners of these two blocks in my garage door. I've been using them for decades. The old sealed beam lights were bright enough once you fed them with a relay fed with #6 and controled with the old headlight switched feeders. Nothing beats the old Flame Throwers. Some cars needed an extra battery or the generator swapped for a big Fleetwood or Imperial alternator.
Can't go wrong with an old Hoppy kit. Sometimes the suction cups get a little hard but that's it. Funny part about headlight aiming is that you can set them up with an manual or optical aimer, get everything exact but still be perceived as out of adjustment. The aimers have a set distance in them (25ft) to the cars level (must level to each vehicle you test), but they don't take into account the eyes of the driver. I can't tell you how many times I had to tell someone that their car passed the inspection now you might need to readjust your lights. 25 ft out looks different to someone with their head on the headliner vs someone looking through the steering wheel.
One other thing to look at would be your headlight grounds. If they are marginal the additional current flowing by lighting four filaments instead of two will cause a greater voltage drop across the ground.
I know someone has been into the light system because the parking lights on the front come on with the ignition switch…..so I’m going to have to do some detective work! Just found that out last night! Only had the car five years! Bones
I remember back in Highschool, finding a buddies car parked with him not around a few quick turns with a phillips would have his lights cross eyed or pointing in the trees
That was the best part of the annual Texas vehicle inspection in the 70's The shops that did the inspections made their actual money off the inspections by adjusting your headlights with their machines and selling you new wiper blades. You just flat didn't meet many cars on Texas roads with cockeyed headlights then. For the past 40 years I have either parked the car somewhere where I could see the lights hit the side of a building and adjust accordingly using the park back X feet and low beams should hit this high and straight in front of the car and high beams should hit that high and straight in front of the car. Just as often I take the car out on the dirt road just north of the house and get down about even with the house where the road is flat and aim the lights down the road and cover one light and adjust the other to get it the way I want it and then do the other. There are a ton of instructions and diagrams on the net and you just have to see which one you can decode easily enough. one outfit posted these rather length instructions that may or may not help How to Aim and Align your Headlights Correctly Installation Instructions Video Transcript Associated Vehicles Created on: 2017-04-07 Watch this video to learn how to aim your headlights. The expert mechanics at 1A Auto show you how to align your headlights if they're misaligned or uneven or if you recently replaced them. step 1 reparing the Vehicle Check that all four tires are at their recommended air pressure Have about a half tank of gas in the vehicle Put any equipment you usually carry in the vehicle into the vehicle Mark a vertical surface to aim your headlights at Line up the center of the vehicle with the center of your aiming surface Back your vehicle 25 feet straight back from the aiming surface Turn your headlights on and check which are the high and low beam lights Push down on the front of the vehicle to check that the suspension is at the proper ride height step 2 :Aiming the Headlights with an Aiming Board Make a dot at the center of your low beam light with a dry erase marker Measure from the ground to the center of the dot Record this measurement Locate your headlight adjusters Turn on your headlights Turn off any lights in your garage or wait for dark if working outside Block one headlight at a time Measure your light cutoffs on the aiming board Compare these measurement to the measurement of the headlight dot The driver side cutoff should be about four inches lower than the headlight dot The passenger side cutoff should be about two inches lower than the headlight dot Adjust the headlights, one at a time, as necessary step 3 :Aiming the Headlights without an Aiming Board Make a dot at the center of your low beam light with a dry erase marker Measure from the ground to the center of the dot Record this measurement Mark the center of your vehicle on a board with painter's tape Put tape on the board in a vertical line, lined up with the dot on each headlight Make a mark on the driver side tape four inches below the headlight dot measurement Make a mark on the passenger side tape two inches below the headlight dot measurement Place tape horizontally in line with those measurements Block one headlight at a time Adjust each headlight, one at a time, until the light cutoff is level with your horizontal tape Tools needed Measuring Tape Painter's Tape Ratchet Marker /
Hello, Our 58 Impala was normal height. But, sometimes during our weekend nightly cruises, the headlights did not always light up the road ahead nicely. To us, it was a little dark as the beam angle was set at the factory. The high beam second bulbs lit up the roadway quite well, but we could not drive all of the time with quad headlights on at the same time. So, the normal single light needed some adjusting. Directly in front of this narrow opening between the two old houses, is the perfectly flat concrete driveway pad. We knew it was level by using our two foot long bubble level device. Our basketball court/backboard was mounted on the garage roof and the ball would not roll if it was put in the middle of the concrete pad. It is right in front of a small two car garage. 1951 Oldsmobile Sedan parked in the small two car garage in 1957 We lined up our 58 Impala and closed the garage door. It was a nice white paint, as I was the painter many times over for the wooden door. So, the Impala was about 6 feet away facing the closed door with a large white art poster board was measured and attached to the garage door. The headlight beam was shot right onto the white boards in front of each headlight. As the high beam light was pushed, we marked the poster board. Then when the normal light was cast, we could see how low they were. The headlight ring around the bulbs were easily removed and the adjusting screws were accessible. Make sure you mark the beam on the white paper as “normal light” once you start turning the screws, you may forget where the starting point was in the first place. The little screws move the bulb left/right and up/down. So, mark your starting points. Jnaki Remember, a normal car has the light adjusted so as not to flash it in the face of the oncoming cars. But, when the car is loaded with a couple or more people, then the angle of the light is lower, creating a darker sighting. Adjusting it just a little higher is not flashing it at oncoming drivers, the side adjusting screws can be moved to center the beam where you want it to go when driving. The headlight adjusting process was also repeated for our 65 red El Camino. But, after driving the El Camino out to the So Cal desert areas for our 100 mile Hare and Hound Desert Motorcycle Races, those roads necessitated brighter beams, as it is pitch black. The normal 3rd and 4th stock high beams were adjusted as high as allowed, but it was still dark. So, an alternate was necessary. I did not want to bolt on an off road set of accessory lights on the bumper or below it. The high intensity bulbs set at the normal high beam settings was plenty of light for nighttime driving. And, they fit the stock opening. Why drive at night? Well, the usual Red Rock Canyon Desert Area was a two plus hour drive from Long Beach. By the time we got there, it was a tiring drive, and then getting up for the 100 mile race was daunting. So, we drove at leisure in the late night, slept comfortably as possible, to get up refreshed and ready to race in the early morning. By the way, if you decide to add in any accessory lights, they have to have a separate switch to be legal. they cannot be hooked up to the normal car headlight system, including the stock factory high beam switch. The CHP told me that I had to take out those high intensity light bulbs or put in an extra switch. YRMV
When some unknown has already messed with things,some times,got to start from factory wire drawing. I did run in to a crazy thing,way back in 1960,that took me near a full week to find of off and on trying stuff! I had no high or low=just on! The switch did nothing! I replaced the switch( was foot one ]. But nope,, Turned out,I found what was screwed up, more by try an try again,. I checked with one side{ with no sealbeam an other with them } first try=still same crap. Next took out other side/and put back first>>> Wow,now with the other side,it worked as it should ? So checked all the wires=all both sides= as they should be. So then added bulbs from right to left,nope still messed up. Again took one side out,found; Came to find out one sealbeam bulb had made its self be the prob. by high beam side of filament{the part of wire that gets hot an makes light}had broken,but then welded it's self to the low beam side< this inside the bulb! Added a new bulb and all was good. After and now knowing the bad bulb,I could look inside at the filament an see what had happen by by looking through carefully. Very crazy thing,never saw that again,but a thing too keep in mind,anything can an dose happen.
Not to make comments about folks like me that have vision issues but recall a "Tool Time" tv episode where a couple of Tim Allen's retired Ford assembly line buddies paid him a visit one of whom with crossed eyes (Jack Elam) opposite Ernest Borgnine claimed to have aligned the headlights for decades.
I had taken my headlight buckets completely apart and cleaned/lubed all parts. The nylon parts were all good which was a surprise. I rough aligned them against my garage door then did the final adjustment at a friend's shop. With the sealed halogen bulbs, I have no problems seeing at night.
@Crazy Steve are you still looking for a Hoppy kit. Does it need to be for round only?. I have a kit at work, it's usable but the case is broken. It's a Hoppy kit made for Chrysler (round and square headlights). I used to get them pretty cheap at swapmeets and use them at work, now I don't use them except on my cars. You can have it for whatever shipping would be. PM me if you want it.
The Jalopy Journal
