Hey Guys,

I just purchased some new 6 volt halogen bulbs for my headlights, My lights are the old bosch type lights with the bayonet bulbs, the new bulbs should arrive here on Friday.

When I took the lights apart i found and did a couple of thing..

1.) I found the reflective cones are pretty ratty..


2.) There was a little black plastic / rubber notch in the side of the light, its to keep the light in place, when I was pulling the light apart, I snapped the notch in half.

If I want to replace the reflective cones, do I need to replace the whole assembly ? or can I just get the cone ??

Can i replace the rubber notch ?

Thanks.. Ben.

Ben get the reflectors rechromed as no matter how good the globe the reflectors will not do their job as they are. I use Hamilton Chrome in Newcastle but I assume there are chrome platers in your area. The little rubber tit locates the reflector,a piece of vacuum tubing works well.

ha i was thinking about your lights tonight!........just did mine up and they were like 6volts performance even with the 12v conversion done......i intended to tell you the results

i polished the reflectors (gently) and painted the buckets with chrome paint. not only do they look clean, the performance was 100% better!

i havent bothered with the halogen bulbs despite having them sitting on the shelf ready, such was the improvement!

you can get the reflectors re-silvered, if you are not happy after a clean up, this is the only real option cause even the best "chrome" paint wont cut it on the reflectors.

i'm going to chuck the relays i have there on it before going to the halogen bulbs to finish the lighting experiment

un sure about the tabs you speak of, look different to the 60's versions im used to playing with.......but yeah can relate to the problems of them breaking, it's a right pain in the backside!

Go with the rechromed reflectors, if silver paint worked VW would have done it originally.This coupled with headlight relays and halogen globes will give you good lighting.I also run a new power wire (5 or 6mm) direct to the relay from the battery to eliminate voltage drop.

grumble

i didn't say to paint the reflectors silver, in fact i also recommened it not be done.......just the buckets.

but a clean up of the reflectors made the difference and they looked worse than the ones pictured above

Thanks guys,

I have to make a trip down the coast on Friday night.. so I hope the halogens will at least make the headlights usefull ... at the moment I have to use them on high beam and they only light up white areas on road signs and bounce back a little light off reflectors.. They are completely useless.. I will try and give them a clean too anything will help at this stage. have disconnected the light assembly and taken it out till I find a solution for the notch I broke, I have some fabric braided fuel hose that might be able to fill the hole .. Not sure what vacuum tubing is.

What do you suggest I use for polishing / cleaning the cones ??

sounds so familiar!!.......i couldn't believe how crap mine were either!

clean very gently with kitchen paper and glass cleaner. i had enough spares to risk getting harsh with autosol and 0000grade steel wool .....a careful lick around those edges with paint will improve the look until you get them RE SILVERED

the wire clips pop out from behind the chrome rim to release the mounting buckets for a quick lick of chrome or even aluminium paint......also allowing the glass to come out.........the factory may not have chromed that section, but i'm sure those buckets were NOT tarnished by 52 years of weathering then either. take a look at the areas that haven't deteriorated and you will see what i'm saying, be them the metal or plastic versions!


run a ring of insulation tape around the outer edge of the glass before putting it back in and ready for your road trip. although the rubber seal/oring is available and obviously better when you get the time and $$$ for it!

good luck with the trip!

Quote:

Originally posted by hellbugged sounds so familiar!!.......i couldn't believe how crap mine were either! clean very gently with kitchen paper and glass cleaner. i had enough spares to risk getting harsh with autosol and 0000grade steel wool .....a careful lick around those edges with paint will improve the look until you get them RE SILVERED the wire clips pop out from behind the chrome rim to release the mounting buckets for a quick lick of chrome or even aluminium paint......also allowing the glass to come out.........the factory may not have chromed that section, but i'm sure those buckets were NOT tarnished by 52 years of weathering then either. take a look at the areas that haven't deteriorated and you will see what i'm saying, be them the metal or plastic versions! run a ring of insulation tape around the outer edge of the glass before putting it back in and ready for your road trip. although the rubber seal/oring is available and obviously better when you get the time and $$$ for it! good luck with the trip!

yeah done a few sets like this now

They only lit up about 8 ft in front of the car on high beam!....no need to dip em lol

Was stoked to get a flash from on coming traffic the first time out!

Yes always good for a thread to be finished with results, so tell us your findings. You must have mentioned your lights in another post and it got me thinking which step would see the most improvement

Just looking for some before and after shots now