>From experience...
I have seen what the stock plastic Lucas 3 position headlight switch looks
like when it fails, which it will do eventually even with sealed beam
headlights. As the switch ages, the contacts in the switch corode,
increasing the resistance through the switch, creating heat. Add higher
wattage bulbs, more heat. Do the math... plastic switch, metal contacts,
heat, switch mounted in grounded metal dashboard, no fuse in circuit, melted
switch, hot contact falls against dashboard. Fill in the end to this story.
This is not a long shot. These cars are a minimum of 26 years old, built
with 50 year old technology.
>From a functional standpoint, the reason to upgrade the headlights is
for...more light! The voltage drop over the length of the stock wiring
harness is about 20%. Measure the voltage at the headlight with the
highbeams on, and it is about 11 volts. If you add a relay, and run a
larger than stock gauge wire, you can deliver your headlights a full
13.8-14.5 volts. More power to the light = more LIGHT to the road.
David Riker
davriker@pacbell.net
http://home.pacbell.net/davriker/
http://community.webshots.com/user/fool4mg
----- Original Message -----
From "David Lieb" <dbl at chicagolandmgclub.com>
To: "Bob Kitterer" <bkitterer@mac.com>; "Spridgets"
<spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 6:13 PM
Subject: Re: headlights
>> Unless you go to a significantly higher wattage bulb this should not
>> be a problem. The electric circuit is designed for 40/55 watt
>> headlamps. For this wattage tungsten or tungsten/halogen makes no
>> difference except for the amount of light that comes out.
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