Some of us are starting to get “older” and our nightvision is starting to fail us.
So I’ve wanted to upgrade my headlights to the composite type that use a 9003 bulb for a long time but could never convince myself to spend the money.

You can find a pair of them on ebay for under 30.00 bucks shipped, but I have seen the bulb melt the plastic housing on the cheaper ones so I didn’t want to be too thrifty.

So I sourced these from Truck-lite. P/N 27009.
trucklite 27009



Truck-lite is one of the big 3 that make lighting for fleet applications and they are a high quality product, so I feel safe that they wont melt.

Should cost 30~35 each from anyplace that sells truck parts.

Glass lenses, plastic housing, comes with the required 9003 bulb. DOT approved. no wiring modifications

As an added bonus, the next time I need to replace a headlight bulb, it will take about 30 seconds, and no tools. How cool is that!!!

And now for a side by side comparison.

Can you guess which side I changed?


it might be worth it to you if you do a lot of night driving.

[This message has been edited by buddycraigg (edited 08-04-2006).]

PS cant wait to try the highbeams

Looks really good, I'll have to bookmark this or add to favourites

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quote Originally posted by buddycraigg: Can you guess which side I changed?

Damn! Definitly gonna do this one!

I guess part of why I bought my first Fiero four years ago was as an age check. When I can't get out of it anymore, I'm officially OLD.

quote Originally posted by sspeedstreet: . When I can't get out of it anymore, I'm officially OLD.

I thought it was when you couldn't get into it!!!

Thats Awesome! Thanks for the tip!

Jason

quote Originally posted by xlowes: I thought it was when you couldn't get into it!!!

Nah. That's downhill.

quote Originally posted by buddycraigg: As an added bonus, the next time I need to replace a headlight bulb, it will take about 30 seconds, and no tools. How cool is that!!!

That alone makes it worthwhile! Bright idea!

Very nice, you may have saved me a lot of work. I was goingto dom my lights to use two of the smaller brighter twin units on each side and mod the lid crank so it only cam up a few inches. But looking at what you have there... I'm going to go that ropute with my daughters GT first. As an old dont-see-good at night guy, I need to do something. Oh, and then I used my son's S-2000 one night, holly sh%^& are those lights great!! But they also cost heck of a lot. Thanks for the info, great thred.

Pretty Cool Buddy , Wonder if they have them at regular auto parts stores. I am getting old, I`m excited over lights... Now take the pliers off the hood of your car, and put your headlamp lids back on. (just kidding)

thats a standard h4 bulb right?... i switched so i can go hid when i get a few extra bucks
side note: dont use the apc hyper white(blue colored) bulbs they are ssssssssooooooooo dim you cant see more than 20 feet in frontof you

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i put in the sylvainia silver stars and they were quite a big improvement. i do half of my 100 miles a day in the dark and was looking for an up grade,at murrays auto parts they are 19.95 each and i even got a 5.00 rebate

well I went down to order the lights from my local parts store, they called the distributor and they said they couldn't find them under the part number given.

We checked the book for Truck-Lite and found the part number to be 27006 and not 27009 like the web site lists, I've got mine ordered, can't wait.

Steve

[This message has been edited by fierohoho (edited 08-23-2006).]

Well I have finally installed my Trucklite upgrade ala BuddyCraigg and have taken some pics for you.

Here's a pic of one of the two lights I bought, as you can see it doesn't have all the stuff molded into the face glass like the sealed beams do.
It has a glass front mated to an aluminium rear housing and came with installed lights and a rubber seal at the rear.


The install was going OK until I test fit the first lamp into the stock location and found that the rear was too tight for the headlight to sit correctly.


Here is a pic of the lamp bucket sitting on the lamp after I removed my headlight assembly from the car and then removed the bucket. You can see the gap on the right side where the rubber seal causes the lamp not to sit well in the bucket.

quote Originally posted by fierohoho: We checked the book for Truck-Lite and found the part number to be 27006 and not 27009 like the web site lists, I've got mine ordered, can't wait.

there is a cataloge error with a HUGH price difference. i hope you didn't pay too much for them

As buddycraigg states, this is a very simple installation and with a tiny bit of trimming of the metal backing plate on the stock Fiero headlamp support structure you can really change your viewing pleasure.

I live in a very dark wooded area, am admittedly getting older, and my night vision isn't like it was 40 years ago. I have installed these headlights in every vehicle that I have that originally took the sealed beam type headlights. I originally bought them from JC Whitney 20 years ago when the H4 bulbs were just out. JC Whitney offered the replacement bulbs in a 80/130 watt unit for off-road use. I installed these and thought that I could see forever until the original relay got too hot from the high amperage flow and shut itself off. I was in the middle of a straight highway late at night and could still see the side of the road and was able to get off the road and stop until the relay cooled and would come back on. I dropped the wattage back to the stock appearing 55/60 watts and never had another problem.

Whenever one of the lights would burn out, and they don't just burn out quick. (I have an 86 GT that has the original set of bulbs in them that have lasted over 12 years) you can just reach in from the back, remove the wir plug, pull the rubber boot off and twist the bulb right out. Each of the 5 Fieros that is in use at my place carries a spare set of bulbs with it.

These lights are getting so common, I bought the last two sets off eBay under a listing similar to this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/82-93-Chevrolet-S10-Diamond-Cut-Euro-Headlight-Chevy_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33710QQihZ014QQitemZ330035744704QQrdZ1

The price is low and the shipping is pretty high but the overall cost is still very reasonable. You get two glass housings that require just a bit of trimming where the bulb inserts into the glass housing and no wiring modifications. I tend to add a bit of rubber padding on the forward section of the glass housing to absorb some of the road movement if the housing is loose in the stock Fiero support structure.

Another positive side of this install is that if the bulb gets a rock chip or cracks, you don't lose the sealed beam gas like you would have. The internal bulb will still stay lit and functions just fine with no glass in front of it if necessary. Bulbs now come in so many types of light that you can carry spares and try out anything you like.

When I come home late at night in my wooded area and must really keep an eye out for deer and other wildlife and hit the highbeams, I swear people two counties over could reasonably complain about the light...

This is a great upgrade and takes just a few minutes to modifiy the stock Fiero headlight bucket to accept the new bulb housings. really make changing a bulb a snap.

quote Originally posted by buddycraigg: there is a cataloge error with a HUGH price difference. i hope you didn't pay too much for them

I ended up forking out about $45.00 each for the lamps, not a bad price in my opinion for the whole assembly.

Can't wait to get em aimed and take a night drive.

I think for sealing purposes it was worth the extra work to trim the bucket so the rubber gasket can be used.

Thanks BC,

Steve