I was going to upgrade the lights on my 1989. I have installed Kelley's cables
(Great IMPROVEMENT), with new ground straps too.
I was not really thinking of a wiring harness, maybe just use stock wattage in the European headlight. Got to be better than the silverstars in my 1990.
Thanks for the advice.
Bpb
Reports from the field have been that headlamps respond very well to a mains upgrade, so that makes sense.
As far as the lamps themselves, the E-codes do work well, but you have to pay a bit more attention to aiming them (upside? Since you don't replace the bowl & lense anymore, you usually don't have to re-aim them when you change bulbs.)
The E-codes with the stock wattage (50/55W) bulbs will be an improvement - mainly due to the improved beam pattern you'll get with the better-made lense and the Euro (German, really) beam pattern. Say what you want about the Germans - they do build things well (the problem with BMW and MBZ isn't the car proper, just the I-D-ten-T that buys the thing and can't drive worth a damn.)
The next step would be to improve the wiring - not only is there about twice as much wiring than there needs to be (it goes from the battery, to distribution, to the fuse block, to the headlamp switch, then to the headlamps. And the switch is the principal bottleneck...) Installing a relay harness will improve stock lamps simply by reducing the length of wire used in the circuit - which will significantly reduce I-squared-R losses (due to conductor cross-section and length. Anytime you run current through a wire, you're going to lose some. Period. Using a larger wire will reduce this loss.)
Once you've upgraded the wiring, then the stage will be set for running a higher-output lamp.
Example? In my 88, I've got E-codes, a 12AWG relay harness, and 90/130W bulbs. I've run that way for years - putting the effort into aiming has kept me from being bothered by the local constabluary, but when I hit my full beams it's like bloody
noon! I have 100W bulbs in my pencil beam driving lamps (the headlamps are fed with 10AWG, and the driving lamps with 12AWG,) and that will extend the reach of the lamps. The fog lamps are 55W bulbs with an amber bowl (I won't go any higher than that, and I'll probably go a bit lower next time I have to replace those,) so you don't have to get too nuts there - I think I fed those with 14AWG (mild overkill.)
However, if you're going to replace your #6054 sealed beams with H3 bowls,
don't be afraid to spend money on good bowls! I prefer Hella for regular work (excellent compromise on price and quality - I paid $40 each for my bowls, and got my money's worth,) but you can go with PIAA or Cibie - but I tend to reserve blowing that much coin for situations where it will
really matter. All three of those brands use a metal (usually polished CRES) bowl fused to a cut/ground glass lense (cheaper lenses are moulded, cheaper bowls are usually aluminum or aluminised glass) - which is what gives you such a good pattern.
Note that a good bowl will complement a bad bulb far better than a bad bowl will complement a good bulb!
And the principal "legal" problem you're likely to run into would be getting an "Equipment Violation" (read: "fix-it ticket") if you get pulled and checked. E-code bowls don't have DoT approval, and therefore don't have "DOT" moulded into the lense (all DoT-approved lamps and housings must have DOT moulded into them. Headlamps, taillamps, running lamps, ... Any lamp that does
not have "DOT" moulded into/onto it is
not DoT-approved, and therefore a violation of FMVSS. Regardless of how good - or how much better - it is.) Easy enough to deal with - keep your old sealed beams on the shelf. If you get a ticket, swap the sealed beams back in (the wiring upgrade isn't a problem,) get the ticket signed off, and swap the E-codes back in.
