ALFAGTV6.COM

[KevinR]

Hi guys , does anyone know if it's legal in EU to run higher than 55W on headligh lamps . I'm currently using Osram night breakers H1 but my lenses are a bit sandblasted so possibly looking for 70W . I have installed a full relay harnes with new wires to all the headlights and new earths so I won't be overloading my switches .
Cheers

[maxiboy]

I don't think its legal but loads do without issue as long as they are adjusted well. might be worth getting the light lens machine polished too.

[KevinR]

Thanks for that . Do you think it's possible to polish pitting out of glass . I tried with T cut and hand but did not do to much . Has anyone been successfull at this ? I prefer to keep my lenses as they are genuine Carellos with good reflectives inside . The reproductions are not the greatest either .

[Steve R]

Hi Kevin, how's things.

I presume you are already running all 4 lights through relays and are looking to upgrade the dipped units?

The "mains" can easily take 100w bulbs, but I never found a truly satisfactory solution for the "dips" using the factory lights. The design flaw seems to be that the bulb fits inside a metal shroud that completely masks about 70% of the bulb filament, the 30% left gives out the woefully poor lighting, the remaining energy input just turns to heat. If you remove the shroud then the beam pattern becomes illegal, so it has to stay. I've tried 100w in there, but they last about 30 mins before cooking and burning out.

Best option I found still using the factory Carello's was to wire a relay for the dipped beam, taking the power feed direct from the alternator output post and using heavy gauge cable for that, plus the relay to bulb feed, plus the bulb to earth feed. That way the bulb sees about 13.7 to 14.0v with no drop voltage drop in the loom. In conjunction with a decent bulb like night breakers gave the best I could get that lasted.

One other option might be to remove the shroud and have it heavily chrome plated inside and out, at least that way you should reflect more of the useful light out ! This should work unless or until it heat discolours, but to be honest I never tried.

Must admit I gave up on the factory dips, I bought some modern design compound reflector units of the right diameter off ebay, cut the outer adjuster rings off some old rusting Carello's and epoxied the adjuster rings to the lamp bodies. As a bonus these take H4 bulbs, so I now have 2 dip beam filaments plus 4 main beam filaments. This plus the 14volt trick works just like a modern car. I can always pop some Carello's back in if I want to look stock again.

[jamal555]

Can u put a picture up of your headlights?

I always wondered what the front would look like with projector lenses inside the headlights...

[Steve R]

There are reflectors, not projectors. Here you go:

[arguti]

Steve

would be interested in the exact spec of those lights - as you say, the factory output/beam is not that great.

[Murray]

Arguti
Yes you can safely assume that the stock Gtv6 headlights are not great at least in Canada - same as Usa.They're 30 year old sealed beam technology.I've seen much worse but they can be radically improved.I turned to Daniel Stern lighting in the Usa.He sent me Cibie high and low with some vastly overrated Narva bulbs.By far the best automotive lighting I've ever experienced and reliable > 8 years.I also installed relays by the way to keep the voltage up.Keep in mind my last 2 Audi's have had Xenon lighting which is good but not close.

[arguti]

Thank you !

[4SFED4]

Put LED bulbs in my Cibie Z-beams and could not be happier. Tons of light and very little draw. The newer LED H4's maintain the original pattern as well so no worry about light scatter. Changed the dash bulbs to LED too!

[Murray]

4SFED4 If ever you get the urge to post a detailed report on how you went about your Led conversion project,I'm sure it would be pretty popular around here.I'm a huge fan of this technology.I have had Audi's since 1997 and I've pretty much forgotten how to change a bulb - almost.

[4SFED4]

Murray, I am not sure it is write-up worthy as all I did was source H4 and H1 bulbs for the headlights. They are direct plugins for the halogen bulbs, even the wiring is just plug-n-play.

The dash lights (and the headlights) I sourced here https://www.superbrightleds.com/

dash lights used: https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... /227/1065/

6 white, 5 red, 2 green, 1 amber, 1 blue.

I did not use the amber for the fan speed as the LED is not dimmable so only shows one level of brightness.
The gauges are much clearer at night.

This shot is overexposed but you get the idea.
https://goo.gl/photos/CGK3cc2cjimN5kTJ9

Parking lamps and turn signals are now... functional!
https://goo.gl/photos/Y4N3UsPbhgtrQ2GB6

Don't think I can add attachments.

[Murray]

4SFED4 Thanks for the info, very helpful.From your photos I'd say it looks like a good upgrade and not too expensive.Think I'll go for it.

[4SFED4]

You probably know this but just in case, with LED's get the bulb the same color as the lens, otherwise the color gets filtered out.

[KevinR]

Took some pics of my relays and 60A four way fuse box for my headlights . Job is nearly done as I would like to use the cibie lights .
Some pics of my plug in harness . No cutting off any existing wires as I have used the exact same plastic connectors and terminal . These are readily available here .