Hot Rods 1926 Model T Headlights- Conversions?

I bought a set of repro headlights for my '26T coupe. Also bought the halogen conversion. . Think I have $350-$400 total in them. They look good but don't work for shit. If I set the low beam high enough to see, the high beam is shining the tops of the trees. Both lights the same. I have played with them 'til I'm blue in the face. There is no happy medium. The angle between high and low beam is just too large. I have rotated the reflectors, then the bulbs, no help.
So, I've pretty much had it with these lights. Does any body know of a sealed beam conversion for the T lights? Hate to spend an arm and a leg for new lights, but damn I gotta see! Right now I have the high beams set where the low beams should be and run with the high beams on all the time.

OH by the way if you have ever ridden in a T coupe you know the reflections in all the windows can throw you for a loop, let alone with bad headlights.

I'd appreciate any info, especially a home brew solution to better lights using the T buckets and rings.

 

So, is it a two bulb reflector? My repro '28 headlights have one socket, and use a double filament halogen bulb. If the low beam is set right, the high beam is right as well. What make are your lights? I've never seen a sealed beam conversion that looks worth a shit in a T or A headlight. Your car is too nice to do that to.

 

Yeah, that's the problem. It's one socket with 2 filament bulb, but when you set the low beam right , the high beam is not right. Way too high. The angle is set in the bulb I guess. Both bulbs are the same way. Do you reckon I could have 2 bad bulbs (wrong angles)?
I hate to change to some non original light, but I gotta have light!
These lights came from Mac's. Right now they are tilted top back 10 degrees to get the dims to be usable and the brights are at the top of telephone poles and looks like hell. If I set the lenses vertical the lights shine about 6 feet in front of the car. Pain in the ass!
And thanks, I'm glad you like my car.

 

Bulbs don't sound right to me. I would try a couple of bulbs from Bob Drake.

 

I came across this a while ago. Interesting: http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/online-shop-for-led-bulbs-and-light-boards-etc.php

 

Hot rods never used the old fashioned bulb lights. They started using sealed beams as soon as the came out right around 1940

put sealed beams on the car, and not behind old lenses.

radials and tube shocks showing, but archaic lights?

.

 

Sealed beams were the beginning of the rot which led to crap we're getting now. Europe was going to improved bulb-and-reflector set-ups which generally outperformed the US sealed beam. I know American sports car guys at the time snuck in European headlights as far as they could.

 

This is a traditional Hot Rod site,. Your negative opinion on what we used for headlights belongs on some other site.

I don't care if that is not good enough for you.

I get really tired of people bashing/trashing the OLD ways on the Only traditional site, that was created for US not YOU haters. Go away
.

 

Possibly the repop buckets / reflectors are either too deep, or even too shallow. Many years ago I converted early Mopar headlights, using the Mopar reflectors. Disaster. Just made a very bright, but shortsighted light. Adapted Ford reflectors (about 1/2" deeper if memory serves) and they were fine. Maybe you could just try to shim the reflector back a touch and see if things change. I bought my bulbs from Ron Francis back then.
Hope it helps. Looks good with the lights. I have a bunch of original buckets and reflectors (reflectors VERY dull) if you need any measurements.
The bulb needs proper distance from the diffuser (lense).

 

Because sealed beams were mandated by federal law from 1940, all improvements in the design of American headlights presupposed sealed beams. If hot rodders used them it was because the headlights which were both generally available and better than the old ones were sealed beams, not because there was any specific advantage intrinsic to sealed beams. I think given the choice they might have gone for Lucas P700s or any of the other cool headlights the rest of the world had in the '50s and '60s. 'S all I'm saying.

 

Here is some USA fact: When "gray market" cars were being imported to the USA by service men overseas or travelers, Cars like 50's to late 60's VW bugs with Hella/Bosch bulb headlights were not legal here, and would not pass our inspections here in my State of Connecticut. That inspection was mandatory for new registrations. We had to replace those with Hella/Bosch sealed beam assemblies like the USA destined VWs made in Germany.

They were inferior. Period. I ran newer halogen bulbs in my 55 VW with the original bulb reflector assemblies and the reflectors were genuine NOS Hella. The lenses were correct OEM. I took them out after a few months of using it as my primary car in the early 2000's. The sealed beams were a night and day difference.

Please don't go there with the typical BS statements of "what a rodder would have done IF" It's not what hamb is about. Hamb is about what was used, and when.


.

 

Make it safe. Sealed beam should be the best way to go, unless it it a restored vechile, which it isn't

 

I think you are on to something there, MCS. Since you said that I remember from physics classes that the reflector is a parabola and the bulb has to be centered in that parabola. The focus will be disturbed if either the bulb is not in the center and/or the reflector is not a proper parabola. I will try some adjusting of the reflector if it is possible. Thanks for turning MY light bulb on.

 

You might look at the Bob Drake website. He sells a new reflector that has better optics than the original cone shape. I have used them for a couple years and really like them.
Remember, the original stuff was made for vehicles that cruised at 40mph, when the road was good enough for that speed.
Phil

Sent from my Nexus 7 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I hopefully will be picking up a pair of period hot rod lights for my T Tudor this weekend, 100-101 King Bees. Gennie Arrow 775's would be another good choice, although they are a little meatier than the King Bees. The King Bees are nice on a T because they are slimmer, and don't visually overwhelm the rest of the front end components.

 

I'd be calling Mac's where you got them from, and let them fix the problem...

 

Sealed beams became mandatory here for multiple reasons, but the big one was owners would get a rock chip in the lens, water would get to the reflector and dull the silvering, and while the light still 'worked', actual light output went in the tank. There were no uniform state-to-state safety inspections, so many owners wouldn't replace defective reflectors. A secondary reason was that the designers of the day would give styling more importance than optical performance, so not all designs worked equally well. Interestingly enough, now that the manufacturers are again allowed to 'style' their headlights, complaints about headlight performance are resurfacing; I saw a report a while ago that some new SUVs have poor factory lighting. I know that recent late-models cars I've owned or driven didn't have the best lights, even with halogen or HID lamps. Lens and reflector optics matter....

With that said, I'm a huge fan of Cibie lights. The convex-lens versions still look 'traditional' (at least in the 7" version), will fit where a sealed beam will, use optical-quality glass lenses for better light transmission (as opposed to 'standard' glass, or worse yet, plastic lenses) with much less 'scatter'. I replaced the 'modern' halogen sealed beams in my avatar with Cibies and the difference was dramatic. Being an old guy, and driving a lot of roads with little or no street lighting, getting the most light on the road is critical.

I don't like 'conversions' that reuse existing reflectors or lenses. While changing a reflector can improve lighting focus, keep in mind that the lens material and fluting aren't designed for modern high-output lamps. Excessive scatter or incorrect lens focus can be distracting at best or blinding to oncoming drivers; hardly a good thing. This is the reason why the DOT uniformly refuses to approve any 'partial' conversions. Those that choose so-called 'traditional looks' over safety are endangering not only themselves but possibly others... and if the powers-that-be notice that, we'll be the losers.

 

Traditional HOT ROD (theres the key phrase that seems to be lost in translation on here) looks ARE sealed beams. King Bees, Arrows, BLC 682-J's, Deitz, these ARE the traditional hot rod headlights. What you see on the HAMB aint it. The HAMB is in real time, and its 2016. Figure it out.

 

Halogen sealed beam headlights are just fine and I used them for many years in different vehicles.
If they burn out or break you replace them.
Not rocket science

 

I have 12 volt "Brite Bulbs" from Ron Francis Wire Works, https://www.ronfrancis.com, (800) 292-1940
in my Avatar and they are every bit as good as sealed beams. Of course I wouldn't recommend using poor reflectors or 6 volt bulbs. He may not make anything for the T's.

Charlie Stephens

 

And that is the true story. You saw OEM or weird aftermarket lights pre-war, but after the war up until the 'resto-rod' thing in the late 60s, sealed beams were pretty much all you saw except for the occasional Lucas Flamethrowers on customs....

Just like vintage-OHV-powered rods with 19" wire or artillery wheels; yes, all the parts are 'traditional', but the mix isn't....

 

Very well said Steve!! Especially the part I took the liberty of bolding. Words to live by there.

 

That's a 'burr under my saddle' so to speak; using all 'trad' parts but mixing eras with abandon. Depending on the degree of 'mix', most of these cars never look right to me, no matter how well executed. And a pertinent comment in another thread made by Ned Ludd was striking; the seemingly prevailing 'obsession' with only vintage parts to the exclusion to fabricated stuff or 'out-of-the-box' thinking. I'm not talking about billet or custom-cast wheels or other high-$$ parts either, but well-designed-and-or-built bits (with owner fabricated parts getting extra credit so to speak). It sometimes seems like it's forgotten that hot rodding got to where it was at different points because of the innovators, and I still believe that it's possible to be innovative while still being true to tradition. If endless copies of what's come before is all there is, what's the point?

 

"A gentleman does not motor about after dark....." Sir Joseph Lucas

 

So says the 'Prince of Darkness' ! LOLOL!

I'll make one more comment; one other reason I like the Cibie lights is their lens fluting (even though it's a state-of-the-art design) is 'different', hence your 'eye' doesn't see it as the typical mass-produced modern design. Installed on a vintage vehicle, you 'see' it as 'older', even though it isn't. Very few notice mine, and the few that do ask where I got the 'vintage' lights.... then choke when I tell them the price! ($75 each)

 

Damn right. I get tired of guys waving the traditional flag and condemning anything they don't agree with. My first RPU ran Arrow 441's with sealed beams. The latest runs '28 Ford lights with Halogen bulbs and chrome reflectors. My low beams now are brighter than the old sealed beam high beams ever were. Why are you guys bashing style, and arguing traditional when the guy only asked for help with getting his headlights set right?

 

I don't care who you are or what you use for lights and if you think your;s are better


this is the hamb, it was created to spread the gospel. Then some tool comes in and says sealed beams were the beginning of the crap we have today.

You tools don't like the old ways, go elsewhere.

I am soon to be gone from this misunderstood site that Ryan tried to build/banned or quit

Take your big ass goofy clown car lights to where ever you want, they are stupid looking, on a so called 50s build.


How do you all drive with those big shoes?

 

What's more important? Traditional? Or safe night time driving?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Both can be done ^^^, and again, one can do whatever they want, but if it doesn't fit in here dont post it, simple really.

 

Frank, when I read this post, I thought of your advice to me a few days back...

"George, calm down
You cannot change trends. Trends fuel the masses like they always have. Caveman one saw what caveman two was wearing...a bear skin, so he had to have one too. Then soon, everyone had one....... Nobody could recognize anybody anymore. he.he"

Don't leave me here all by myself Frank, some of these windmills are awful tall...