Club 80-90 Forums

I would say 20 - 25 years ago the general standard of parts was pretty high. There seemed to be fewer manufacturers and most that made automotive parts made for the car manufacturers themselves so were required to uphold quality. Since then we seem to have opened the flood gates to cheap Eastern block and Chinese imports that just don't have the same quality control.

You really do have to buy on brand when it comes to parts now....I should have known better.

Martin.

I've used some ebay 40 amp relays on mine, could be best to change over to some 53s then?
What problem did you get Martin?

I wouldn't worry mate....in the 6 months since I fitted mine the full beam stuck on about 3 times (going from full back to dip beam it remained on full beam and required a couple of dip/full operations to go back to dip) To be honest, the first time it did it was a couple of days after I'd upgraded so if yours have been fault free I wouldn't bother.
It really wasn't a biggie, I just aquired a better quality relay so thought I'd spend 15 minutes swapping it over.

There are some new/ better quality brands out there like Durite, Nagares, Tyco, Ripaults for anyone wanting to do this and then of course used VW/Audi etc.

Martin

VW 53 relay is rated 40A, usually made by Bosch or Hella,in Germany. 'nuff said..

Got a few here if you're struggling.

syncroandy wrote:VW 53 relay is rated 40A, usually made by Bosch or Hella,in Germany. 'nuff said..

Got a few here if you're struggling.

thanks both of you, got a couple coming for a £1 each. I'll swap them over and keep mine as spare's. Havent really used the van since ive done the relay upgrade due to breaking the trailing arm bolt. Been doing lots of electrical upgrades in the 3 weeks or so the vans been sitting there. Infact, been testing it so much i managed to flatten the battery to much starting the engine then turning it off.
Must say though, the lights are SO much brighter!

California Dreamin wrote:I would say 20 - 25 years ago the general standard of parts was pretty high. There seemed to be fewer manufacturers and most that made automotive parts made for the car manufacturers themselves so were required to uphold quality. Since then we seem to have opened the flood gates to cheap Eastern block and Chinese imports that just don't have the same quality control.

You really do have to buy on brand when it comes to parts now....I should have known better.

Martin.

Oh no mate...the car manufacturers use ting tongs car parts as well nowadays.....when I started at vw the warranty parts bin was very small and most of the stuff in it was either dodgy claims or stuff that had nowt wrong with it! Different story these days....ecus and gearboxes virtually never failed in the late 80s and 90s...common everyday occurrence now...electronic stuff just goosed all the time, no diagnosis is possible...just fit new blocks of compressed smoke and hope it works is the norm!

Emissions regs are partly to blame...but so is cost cutting, quality is a thing of the past, a nostalgic memory...


Such a shame...

lloydy wrote:

syncroandy wrote:VW 53 relay is rated 40A, usually made by Bosch or Hella,in Germany. 'nuff said..

Got a few here if you're struggling.

thanks both of you, got a couple coming for a £1 each. I'll swap them over and keep mine as spare's. Havent really used the van since ive done the relay upgrade due to breaking the trailing arm bolt. Been doing lots of electrical upgrades in the 3 weeks or so the vans been sitting there. Infact, been testing it so much i managed to flatten the battery to much starting the engine then turning it off.
Must say though, the lights are SO much brighter!

Another member to Champion the light upgrade....I was the same as you Lloydy, Sceptical about how much better the lights would be! gotta be the best £25 and two hours spent on the van.

Martin

ROB!! me names Lloyd

What's that you're saying lloydy?

Heh, martins edited it. He called me Rob, now it says lloydy and I look crazy!

Sorry mate....don't know what i was thinking....lol.


Martin

@ California Dreamin, thanks a million for the pics. They really simplify things and make the job so much easier for those of us with less experience. Looking forward to doing mine now that I have my maestro headlamps. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to acquire a n/s lamp - tonnes of o/s lamps!!! Thanks again, Mitch.

I take it that Maestro headlamps use just one H4 Halogen bulb each side?......so specs could be downgraded slightly.....you will only need two standard 30 amp relays (one for dip one for full) as there will be a maximum of 10 amps flowing. Also, the two main feed wires will only need to be 3.00mm2 (27.5amp)
Fuse both circuits at 15 or 20amps....

Obviously a 4 headlamp T25 has 230 watts of light when full beam is used so 20 amps flowing..thats why yours (120 watts on full beam) doesn't need as heavy wiring and relays.

Martin

But i like a simple life and as there is already a shopping list for the bits, i'd like to follow it rather than nag for an updated 'maestro' version!!! This shouldn't pose any problems - should it?

No mate...no issues at all, just the components and wiring would be a few quid cheaper.

Don't forget the bulbs....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OSRAM-Night-B ... 588fba32e3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Martin