The Golf (definitely H4) headlamps are a good upgrade. I use LED sidelights and tail/brake lights. Decent quality halogen H4 in Golf units for main and dipped beam.
https://www.vwheritage.com/941vag265led-led-bulb-382-12v-21w-with-ba15s-contact-clear-vw-spare Or would this work as led?
If you’ve got the old tungsten globes in there which were 45w then yes. If you still have p45 style H4 tungsten to halogen conversion bulbs (the base is different to fit an older headlight unit) then they’ll be of the standard halogen variety. Proper modern H4s have a different base and come in lots of 130% etc. brighter varieties and are better. It all depends on what light units you have, which will depend on the year of bus and whether it has single tab fixings or three tabs (which will take a Golf headlight unit and proper H4s) on the bowls in the front panel. If your reflectors are rusty, the connections poor or your alternator/voltage regulator isn’t kicking out enough voltage it all detracts from the light you get. Some more info here if you have a pre-74 front panel: Headlights - pre-‘74 reflector bowls https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...--pre-‘74-reflector-bowls.74748/&share_type=t Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
So these are the ones I bought from @yorkieman a few months ago. They are H4. Can I just put these in as direct replacements with h4 bulbs? I'm sure someone mentioned something about a sidelight. Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk
Me too. OK I bought them a year ago and the bus is still little more than a bare shell but I'm sure they're great.
Somewhere out on the huge and scary World Wide Web there is a company that sells plastic collars to fit around standard H4 bulbs that mean they will fit our original headlight bowls. If you don’t want to immediately get new headlight inits, this is a good fix. Quick and easy if I recall correctly from a techenders a few years ago.
I tried a pair of those but the repro reflector bowls I had on my ‘73 were so poorly made the adapters were too thick for the sprung retaining ring to fit over and engage with the tiny tabs. If you have originals they might work. I ended up cutting the base off a P45 and then adapted an H4 to fit into that. Then I just got the above beetle reflectors with H4 fittings. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Pre-74 single tabs like mine originally took p45s like these: Which can be replaced with these halogen upgrades also misleadingly called H4 conversions: Whereas later buses I believe have or can easily take a light unit with these proper modern H4s which have a different base: The plastic adapter rings are supposed to allow the use of an H4 in a p45 fitting as you can see below. . But as mentioned they didn’t work for me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If your bus has three tab fixing headlights (single screw on the chrome trim) they should be fine AFAIK. If you have an earlier pre-74 bus you might have single tab fixing units (three screws in the chrome trim). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hmm... My bus is 73. I guess that means these may not fit after all. Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk
Check the chrome trim. You may be ok. Mine is Feb 73, a bit of a crossover period. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Fair enough, I’ve got a 74 model bus with the single screw in the chrome. The adapters fitted okay and have been in use for 2 or 3 years, but the bowls probably were originals.
Later ones were H4 as stock, I believe. My one had one tungsten and one halogen headlight, but it had been owned by Johnny Bodger...
In the UK you need white front sidelights...somewhere. Either in the headlights or elsewhere on the van.
That me that said about side lights, I found when I changed my head lights the stock sidelight lamp holders wasn't a good fit for the new lights.
