Headlight R + R

[garyinwestoz]

Ive been communicating with Sean at FCP euro, as they have Osram headlight units - which are sealed beam H5001. I am wondering if these are an American market lamp, as it appears tha the globe/bulb is integral with the lamp housing, whereas the ones I have on my cars, the globes/bulbs are a separate item, which are clipped into the rear of the unit and have an adaptor covering cap (No5 on diagram)







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invesgitating further, a local supplier has a prokit sealed headlamp, so I went and purchased one to try out for $23

https://www.prokit.com.au/sealed-beam-5 ... 2-pin.html


so it appears that these can be used - just dont need the additional adaptor at the rear, as it has 2 pins required for the plug.

The semi-sealed prokits did not fit the tabs layout in the light support bracket.

[garyinwestoz]

and it looks like you can buy a similar unit at Walmart ( we don't have Walmart here)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sylvania-H50 ... /467491344 for $17 US.

[528i-1981]

... sealed beam H5001. I am wondering if these are an American market lamp

Gary, yes these are the US market integral bulbs, where the reflector and lens are hermetically sealed and the filament is inside. These were required in the US until 1984, when composite lights were first allowed - separate lens, reflector and bulb like in Europe. Lock just upgraded his sealed beams to Hella composite units and says it's a big upgrade. I can't imagine you'd be happy taking a step backwards. I use the Xtra Vision and they're OK as sealed beams go, but compared to my modern cars the light is nowhere near as bright.

[garyinwestoz]

"hella composite unit" is that the same as what I originally have - Hella 1053 - semi sealed which takes a separate H1 globe/bulb ?

[528i-1981]

Gary, I'm not sure what you have in Oz. We yanks can buy conversion kits that fit into the original buckets:

http://www.myhellalights.com/index.php/ ... n-headlamp

Lock has done this conversion. Evidently there are electrical differences between US and Euro ights, but the retrofit isn't complicated. I would assume that if you stay on your side of the divide you'll be plug-and-play.

One other thing to mention, which I'm sure you know, is that the outboard lights (5001) are both high and low beam and in the US have three-prong connections. The inboard lights (5003) are high beam only and have two-prong connections. It strikes me that a two-wire replacement bulb should be plug and play whether sealed beam or composite at the inboard location.

[Mike W.]

Realoem shows the headlight bucket assemblies as the same between euro and US, which in turn suggests that the separate bulb H1/H4 headlight bulbs will interchange with the sealed beams that came standard here, unlike the special H1 headlights that came on euro E28s.

US style sealed beams may have gotten a bit better over the years, but I think still pale in comparison to the better H1/H4 headlights. I first put H4s in my first BMW, a Bavaria (E3) back in '82 and was just stunned at the difference and how much better they were. I've been using them ever since.

When sealed beams first came out it was for a reason, the non sealed beam headlights weren't well sealed and the reflector often deteriorated giving poor performance. And we're talking about when the average lifespan for cars was only 5 or 10 years.

[garyinwestoz]

... sealed beam H5001. I am wondering if these are an American market lamp

Gary, yes these are the US market integral bulbs, where the reflector and lens are hermetically sealed and the filament is inside. These were required in the US until 1984, when composite lights were first allowed - separate lens, reflector and bulb like in Europe. Lock just upgraded his sealed beams to Hella composite units and says it's a big upgrade. I can't imagine you'd be happy taking a step backwards. I use the Xtra Vision and they're OK as sealed beams go, but compared to my modern cars the light is nowhere near as bright.

I've installed one of these sealed units - just to compare with semi sealed hella units - I'll take a photo so you can see if there is a difference.

[528i-1981]

Inspired by this thread, and while cleaning out my parts stash, I came upon the original fog light lenses. I replaced them shortly after buying the car with URO lenses, which were cheap and clear, as one of the Bosch lenses was badly hazed.



The one on the left had been replaced with an original Bosch lens by the previous owner. The enameled back of the reflector is brown, whereas the original is a greenish grey.

I read on another board that pitted lenses can be repaired with clear-coat, which fills in the surface defects to re-create an optically consistent lens. I used 2000-grit sanding discs for my dual-action polisher to prepare the surface, cleaned it with Prep-All, then sprayed the lens with Upol clear #1.



Can you tell them apart? The formerly hazed one is on the left.

[Lock]

Gary, I'm not sure what you have in Oz. We yanks can buy conversion kits that fit into the original buckets:

http://www.myhellalights.com/index.php/ ... n-headlamp

Lock has done this conversion. Evidently there are electrical differences between US and Euro ights, but the retrofit isn't complicated. I would assume that if you stay on your side of the divide you'll be plug-and-play.

One other thing to mention, which I'm sure you know, is that the outboard lights (5001) are both high and low beam and in the US have three-prong connections. The inboard lights (5003) are high beam only and have two-prong connections. It strikes me that a two-wire replacement bulb should be plug and play whether sealed beam or composite at the inboard location.

Yes I didn't post about it here but recently I upgraded from the sealed beams to the Hella H4 units for low beams (you need to swap two of the three pins around), and put in e34 inner high beams because they fit with slight modification. The difference is huge and highly recommended, you can clearly see the road and beam pattern even with the standard bulbs that come with the Hella units.

The high beams with all four is now like a lighthouse beam, makes for much better winter driving.

[garyinwestoz]

I went NAPA Auto parts ( they bought out Conventry's), and managed to get the. inner high beam 63 12 1 356 409 a Hella product (1K3 114 155-001) No 1053 for $87


Delving deeper into the inter web, It appears that, Hella s no longer making the Low beam unit
bmw part no 63121356415
Hella product 1M3 114 178-001
https://web.tecalliance.net/hella/en/pa ... ;groups:88



one my of lamps is a Bosch
so looked deeper

0 301 303 028 (high beam) seems you can get them still
0 301 303 030 (low beam)
https://www.uniqueautoparts.com.au/inse ... &car=13608

[garyinwestoz]

I took my assembly to Napa auto parts who supplied me with the Hella 1053 for the high beam

Yep as sorta expected - Hella 1054 (low beam) no longer supplied. They said they can supply a similar unit by NARVA - so thy have ordered one in for me to test - nice of them - a set of 2 costs $200.

In the mean time I have been cleaning up my units and painting them in preparation for the new lamps.

here is some before photos




the products I used


The rust converter ICT's R-10 is a locally made product - it turns all rusty metal/metal to a dark purple/black colour - https://www.ictproducts.com/r-10-rust-converter.html

Anyway
I first scrubbed the rusty metal with a green scotch bite pad, then sprayed the rust converter, waited 24 hours, washed the converter off , repeated (for bits I missed)
dried then rubbed over with sand paper, washed, wiped with grease remover, then sprayed with flat black - 2 coats, then 2 coats of black semi-gloss

I also steam cleaned the plastic adjusting nuts .







then started reassembly and got this result.







for comparison with 2x high beam lamps installed
old at top, new below

[garyinwestoz]

I sent an email to Hella Australia about the low beam H1 lamps (1054). They emailed back ( like the next day!) saying they don't supply or make them anymore! nor do they have any direct replacement for this now defunct lamp.

Hella 1053 H1 high beam is readily available.

So I wonder about the US solution which seems to be 2 x Hella ? H4 high beam lamp. ( is my guess)



https://www.classiceuroparts.com/produc ... 2-528-530/

"528i-1981" wrote
"The outboard lights (5001) are both high and low beam
The inboard lights (5003) are high beam only"

however I gather these are LHD centric thus not suitable for RHD cars! as our numbers are Hella 1053 and Hella 1054. - which I guess pertains to the lens pattern, so that light scatters onto your side of the road, not onto oncoming traffic.

[Mike W.]

I did some digging. Amazon.au might have some options, kind of hard to tell, you might need to contact the vendors or ask a question.

Then there's this place I ran across for something else recently. Being UK they "should" I would think be RHD beam pattern. Cheap even considering shipping. https://www.buycarparts.co.uk/bmw/5-e12 ... ght-insert

https://www.wallothnesch.com/en/lightin ... 3-002.html seems to have low beams, but not cheap.

I would also give these guys a call, or email, a long shot but they kind of specialize in headlights and one of their brands, Neolite, is from India which is RHD. Good people, I've dealt with them several time though not recently. https://classicgarage.com/neolitelamps.html