Headlights or candles in the wind!

[AustinTaff]

Well its that time of year again and my headlights are as effective as candles in the wind.

I have been meaning to upgrade them for some time but this year they seem worse than ever.

Can anyone suggest a suitable upgrade for a fairly standard 1990 998cc mini city.

Im just planning the headlights for now and do not want to stay to far from the standard look. Angel eyes are not my thing i just need something that lights the road!

Thanks

Taff

[joan or ark]

HID head lights. can you fit them to a mini? some one will clear this up

[Fatboy]

It was done here a while back.

Not that I've got around to doing anything about it though

[annodomini2]

Halogen conversion kit on minispares:

Halogen Conversion kit

[FWDRacer]

Replace the sealed beam units. They are dire.

I know the Wipac Halogen conversions have been damned by some on here, but they are a decent cost effective upgrade.

[Cooperman]

I have to say that I did try Wipac Quadoptics in my rally car and took them straight out again as, even with 100w main beam bulbs they were very poor.
I now have a pair of Bosch headlights which are excellent.
For a low cost but effective headlight, I have used the 'Autopal' units. A web search will point you at a stockist. They are much cheaper and far better than the Wipac, or at least they were, and with 100w main beams they really are excellent.

[Bish]

Do minis have the same headlights as Defenders????

If they do, I have a clear lenses with an HID conversion and the light they give off is incredible!!!!

[JC T ONE]

The ONLY way to get good light out of a MINI, is to put relayes in, the 2 biggest problems are the connectors in the dip switch, and the light switch in dash rail, if you take the plus right from the starter relay (both types), dont forget a good set of fuses, or you will burn out your car if shorted out? and put relays on, you will actually have 12 volts on the bulp socket . How many times did a car not come with a burnt out light switch becourse H4 was fitted, and this coursed the light switch to melt, as it is SO bad quality, and the dip switch goes next.
So before anything else put 2 relays in, and you will see that light actually comes out
I have been renovating minis since 1975, and I love them but the "joke" Joseph Lucas -- King of Darkness dont come out of nowhere. All the cars that had this change to the light system newer failed a MOT again--

[Cooperman]

Absolutely agree about fitting relays. In fact, if you want to run high wattage bulbs there really is no option. I run 100/80w headlight and 100w Cibie super-Oscars on my rally car and I have 4 separate relays just for reliability. Never had a lighting problem, but I do have to have a 65 amp alternator.

[Snake the Sniper]

Cooperman said:

Absolutely agree about fitting relays. In fact, if you want to run high wattage bulbs there really is no option. I run 100/80w headlight and 100w Cibie super-Oscars on my rally car and I have 4 separate relays just for reliability. Never had a lighting problem, but I do have to have a 65 amp alternator.

That's pretty much how my car is wired up. The normal lights are 100/80W lamps, but I also have 2 100W driving lamps, and a 130W spot light, with every light running it's own relay. So that's 530W on full main beam!! All perfectly legal on a pre-oct 1983 car too, as they don't need E marked bulbs, although it does involve a fair bit of extra wiring! And yes, I did have to fit the 65 amp alternator. But at night it was brilliant, I could see for a good 300 yards at least!

[JC T ONE]

Cooperman said:

Absolutely agree about fitting relays. In fact, if you want to run high wattage bulbs there really is no option. I run 100/80w headlight and 100w Cibie super-Oscars on my rally car and I have 4 separate relays just for reliability. Never had a lighting problem, but I do have to have a 65 amp alternator.

Sounds awesome and I can only agree to opt for a 65 amp alt.
And to you people who dont have the facts/history of the Abingdon cars---not ewer was there a car to have a fault on the wireing, infact the Abingdon cars were regarded as owerbuilt, when it came to the wires/relay setup, so you can see it pays to put some work into this.