E-code housing/H4/wiring upgrade 87 pickup
#1
E-code housing/H4/wiring upgrade 87 pickup
Ok, gonna try my first "how I did it" post with picks! I hope it is helpful to some. First I have worked on aircraft, heavy truck & automotive wiring for the last 27 years. I am NOT an expert but I know where problems usually occur and have learned to avoid most of them.
After my wife and a friend of mine both telling me "your headlights are AWEFUL you need to do something" I did a bunch of research on YOTATECH.com and found a workable solution.
Several guys built nice harness/relay combos and since I wanted to get all the light I could out of what I was gonna buy I built a harness. I buy all my electrical "stuff" from Del city wire (delcity.com). Their prices are awesome and they ship quickly. Through the process of looking for headlight housings I realized I HATE the "diamond cut" reflectors. The pattern of light they throw was, IMHO, worthless. I settled on a pair of Autopal units (eBay) and Sylvania Ultra H4 bulbs. I drive the GROUND side of the relays with the factory headlight wiring (that keeps my low beams on with my high beams). Power runs from the battery, through a fuse block I had laying around, to the relays and then the headlights.
Stock "crimp" conections on the headlight plug didnt thrill me so I soldered them and covered with heatshrink.
Teflon wire strippers make a great extra set of hands when soldering!
The 2 relays (high and low beam) will be next to each other so I built these wiring jumpers.
soldered and heat shrinked connections for the high and low beam feeds from the factory harness to the relays.
Good, soldered connections are the best way to ensure any electrical system works at its best. Ring terminal attaches to the fuse block. ALWAYS put a dielectric grease on all clean metal connections to reduce the inevitable future corrosion.
Fuse block mounted to inner fender by the coil.
The Pair of relays wired up and ready to mount.
final mounting spot on inner fender beside my side-swapped battery.
Light pattern is AMAZINGLY brighter than the sealed beams/stock harness. I know some people don't like the Sylvania Ultra's but @ $20 for the pair new I thought I'd try them. and yes, I know that the E-code housing are NOT DOT approved but Mississippi isn't a Socialist state that inspects that careful so I'm good!
After my wife and a friend of mine both telling me "your headlights are AWEFUL you need to do something" I did a bunch of research on YOTATECH.com and found a workable solution.
Several guys built nice harness/relay combos and since I wanted to get all the light I could out of what I was gonna buy I built a harness. I buy all my electrical "stuff" from Del city wire (delcity.com). Their prices are awesome and they ship quickly. Through the process of looking for headlight housings I realized I HATE the "diamond cut" reflectors. The pattern of light they throw was, IMHO, worthless. I settled on a pair of Autopal units (eBay) and Sylvania Ultra H4 bulbs. I drive the GROUND side of the relays with the factory headlight wiring (that keeps my low beams on with my high beams). Power runs from the battery, through a fuse block I had laying around, to the relays and then the headlights.
Stock "crimp" conections on the headlight plug didnt thrill me so I soldered them and covered with heatshrink.
Teflon wire strippers make a great extra set of hands when soldering!
The 2 relays (high and low beam) will be next to each other so I built these wiring jumpers.
soldered and heat shrinked connections for the high and low beam feeds from the factory harness to the relays.
Good, soldered connections are the best way to ensure any electrical system works at its best. Ring terminal attaches to the fuse block. ALWAYS put a dielectric grease on all clean metal connections to reduce the inevitable future corrosion.
Fuse block mounted to inner fender by the coil.
The Pair of relays wired up and ready to mount.
final mounting spot on inner fender beside my side-swapped battery.
Light pattern is AMAZINGLY brighter than the sealed beams/stock harness. I know some people don't like the Sylvania Ultra's but @ $20 for the pair new I thought I'd try them. and yes, I know that the E-code housing are NOT DOT approved but Mississippi isn't a Socialist state that inspects that careful so I'm good!
Last edited by worshipmentor; 12-26-2011 at 03:52 PM. Reason: misspellings
#3
have to draw up a schematic (its in my head).
Parts listed are all part #'s from Del City Wire (delcity.com)
Terminals for relay connections:
Item: 193005
Description:Female Push-on Terminal, .250", 12-10 Ga (100 MIN)Price: 0.05310
Terminal for fuse block connection:
Item: 153085
Description:Ring Terminal, 8 Stud, 12-10 Ga (100 MIN)Price: 0.05790
Terminals for positive and negative battery connection:
Item: 153145
Description:Ring Terminal, 1/4" Stud, 12-10 Ga (100 MIN)Price: 0.08240
2 Relays:
Item: 73980
Description:Change Over Relay, 12V (1 MIN)Price: 3.08
Fused block:
Item: 73897
Description:ATC/ATO 6-way Fuse Block w/ 8 AWG Hot Wire, (1 MIN)Price: 9.92
Heat shrink tubing:
Item: 98032505
Description:4 ft. Black Single Wall Shrink Tubing, 1/4" (1 MIN)Price: 0.78
Red wire:
Item: 8121DL
Description:Red Thrifty Spool, 12 Ga, 15-ft (1 MIN)Price: 5.34589
Black wire:
Item: 8125
Description:Black Thrifty Spool, 12 Ga, 15-ft (1 MIN)Price: 5.35
Like I said, I'll have to draw up a schematic (NO LAUGHING ALLOWED!!!!)
#6
Yes, its a new harness that only connects to the stock wiring. I terminated the passenger side headlight wires and drive the relays that feed the headlights NOW with the drivers side factory harness headlight wires (that's the connections you see in the above photo with the battery in it)
I'm gonna try to figure out how to draw this up for simplicity.
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