Daniel Stern Lighting-headlight upgrade

[madkaw]

Just wanted to give some notice to this guy and his web site. Daniel Stern-the actor- was in the home alone movies and many others, but I guess his sideline is Cibea headlights and wiring upgrade relay kits. I have been dealing with him and he seems to be very eager to help and the web site does a great job of explaining relays and how they work for our headlight upgrades. So if you want to do this job yourself, then I would recommend looking at his site for help.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

[SteveJ]

That site is what I used nine years ago as a starting point for integrating relays into a 240Z. My description is hosted by Carl Beck over at www.zhome.com.

[Darrel]

Jafo?

[madkaw]

WOW, I started this a long time ago. So I have had this lit laying around for over two years-what have I been doing?

So like I said, I bought a headlight relay kit from Daniel Stern Lighting and just recently ordered some Cibie(spelled it right this time) headlights. I had just pulled my motor to fix an oil leak(another story), and I was looking at that empty engine compartment and thought this would be a great time to do this upgrade.

So I referenced the above web site and found another good one;

http://alteredz.com/Headlight_Relay_pg1.htm

and started to get working on it. Pete's site is the best for telling you exactly the right wires to use and a very simple plan on how to do this.

If I were to recommend anything to the DIY'er, I would get some kind of relays and holders that came with wire leads already attached to the holder. I also didn't care for the headlight sockets supplied with the kit, but just my preference. I ran my wires from the relays all the way to the headlights and eliminated the original sockets, again, just my preference.

[madkaw]

I don't have the headlights yet, so no report on them, but I will!

[Persimmon240]

Steve,

You'll like them. I had stock sealed beams and wiring in my 240 and then went with Cibie's (from Daniel Stern) with 55/60W H4 bulbs and my own copy of Dave Irwin's headlight relay wiring harness (when he wasn't making them for a time). Now I am not afraid to go out at night (in the car, I mean). Not sure I can use the expression night and day but I will anyway.

Cibie headlights and auxilary lights have been around for a looong time. Used to be that any rally car worth its Tripmaster had a bunch of Super Oscars hanging all over the front. One of the first upgrades I made to my Honda street motorcycle back in 1974 was a 7" Cibie H4 headlight to replace the stock sealed beam. It is still in my garage with a replacement Cibie after the first one took a rock after 20 years.

Jim

[madkaw]

Well I can't wait. My headlights weren't bad before, I was really wanting to keep from burning up any wiring or combo switches. I'm quite sure I will see the difference and I don't won't night time to be a deterent from enjoying my Z

[steve91tt]

Very nice tidy looking wiring job. I like your fuse block. Where did you get it?

[madkaw]

http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d136_fuse_block_fuse_panel.html

Steve,

This looks like it, but mine is good for 60 amps I think. The lead wire is 8 gauge and I connected it directly to the alternator

[Carl Beck]

Cibie headlights and auxilary lights have been around for a looong time. Used to be that any rally car worth its Tripmaster had a bunch of Super Oscars hanging all over the front.

CIBIE used to spend a lot of money advertising money back then as well. They were one of the supporting sponsors for the BRE team. Today it is getting harder and harder to find NOS CIBIE Super Oscars from that 68-72 period. I wound up getting mine from E-Bay sellers in England.. Expensive to buy and more expensive to ship. They do however "Light Up The Night"....

FWIW,

Carl B.

[madkaw]

Those headlights look like the ones on my locomotives! Wonder how much HP you loose from the alternator when you turn them on.

I have about 1500 amps available so the lights don't effect my alternator -

Edited June 1, 2012 by madkaw

[SteveJ]

1 hp(I) = 745.699872 W

So even accounting for losses, you don't lose many ponies.