So I’ve read through this and I’m a still a little nervous installing H4 in my S-I. Below is a pic of the fixtures and lamps I have available (virtually unused from a previous British car.) Lucas LUB314 lamps and B0472F 60/55w bulbs.
I have stock wiring in the E-type.
Is it safe to put these H4 bulbs in my car in terms of the current draw or do the H4’s pull too much for the stock wiring, switches etc.?
My fixtures would seem to fit, right? It looks like it’s barely 3" from rim to base of bulb.
Or should I just bail on the H4’s an buy something completely different? This thread is older. Perhaps there have been some good developments in the past two years addressing this problem. I would seem LED’s are the way to go in my situation, but it looks like many of the LED “H4-style” bulbs don’t throw a sufficient pattern for many of the lamp fixtures available to fit the S-I buckets. I called a few places but the answer I seemed to get was “Jaguar people like to stay original.”
I’m not opposed to going with a relay kit if necessary, but is that necessary in my situation?
I’m mainly concerned about safety and if I’m replacing them anyways, I’d like them to really throw a “Close Encounters” beam although I want the headlights (when turned off) to look at least close to the original sealed beam units when viewed from a few feet away. In other words when they are turned off, I don’t want them to look like they are from a 2019 Wrangler!
Headlamp relay’s are the way to go. Easy to do and you will end up with better lights than any LED conversion. My E-Type has the relay’s and H4 bulbs and the night time performance is as good as my Range Rover Sport - I have the photos’s to prove it. Wiring diagram and step by step instructions can be found on J-L or in the Upgrades section of the E-Type UK Forum.
Is there a specific branded current relay kit that I should use? I checked with British Wiring but thy said they unfortunately don’t have a stand-alone kit add-on kit (although they will build relays into a new harness.)
Or do I have to build my own with wiring and the relays themselves? If so, are there high quality relays recommended over the cheap ones on eBay?
I like the idea of mounting the relay kit under the sugar scoops.
I used Daniel Stern Lighting (http://www.danielsternlighting.com/) for my H4 lights and relays. I mounted the relays below the sugar scoop on the driver’s side which gives you access to the buss bar for making your connections. Pretty straightforward once you understand the logic of how the relays work. I ran a wire directly from the battery (fused, of course) to power the lights, and used the existing headlamp wiring to power the relays.
Bob, mine is a series 1. See above. I talked to Daniel to verify the lights would fit.[quote=“bobgthomas, post:87, topic:365958, full:true”]
For those installing these H4 bulbs, is anyone doing this in a series 1 car, with its flat-back buckets?
If so, what fixtures are you using ?
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H4 bulbs were standard Factory fit on all S1 4.2 cars for the UK and Europe. It was only the US that mandated sealed beam units. So providing you buy the correct headlamp units the H4 bulbs will fit the sloped buckets. Only problem is finding the correct headlamp units as they need to be shallow and measure no more than 3" from the edge of the reflector to the tips of the installed H4 bulb. For the relay conversion pretty much any make of automotive relay will do. Full details of the conversion with photo’s, step by strep instructions, part numbers, parts list, choice of headlamps, choice of H4 bulbs and before/after/modern car comparison is in this thread: http://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4919
I also put all these details on J-L if you can find them. The installation is easy (although helped by having the correct connector crimping tool), foolproof, elegant, tidy and totally reliable. It is what Jaguar should have done back in the day!
