Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Yes, it turns the original wiring into a relay supply feed, with the current for the lights being supplied directly via the relays.

Series two 944s run their power through the switch too, but its a massive 928 part and it doesn't include the rheostat so they don't over heat and melt, but the lights still only see 9v-10v which isn't enough.

If you wire them directly and re-earth then there'll be a massive improvement. Cleaning the lenses can make a surprising difference too, but replacement will be better. Easy on a 1976-1987 car, but far dearer of your 944 has adjustable lamps, unfortunately.

FWIW, I bought one for my 924S, literally arrived yesterday, but I won't have time to fit it until probably weekend-after-next.

I'll post my impressions when I get it fitted.

FWIW, on my previous car (a Mazda MX-5, rather younger than my 924S) I also fitted a heady duty headlight harness. And even on that (less than 10 years old at the time), the voltage at the headlights was down to ~10.8v - and the standard MX-5 wiring already uses relays in the headlight circuit.

Fitting the harness saw the voltage go up to 13.6v and a very obvious improvement in light output.

My loom has just arrived. I will be fitting ASAP. However, just one technical question for anyone who might know:

The instructions are very clear, and the whole thing is easy to understand, but it insists that I remove the ballast resistor. So, what is this? Does the 944 have one? If so, where?

A ballast resistor is something in the wiring or a unit that reduces the voltage.
Sometimes its 10 volts to run the instruments.
On Triumph cars the ballast resistor brings the ignition coil down to 6 volt which is what the car runs on once started but this is bypassed when starting so that the 6 volt coil gets the full 12 volts which gives a whacking spark to start the car.

Before dropping real money on upgrades do yourself a favour and properly clean your lights. Use a plastic pan scourer and really give them hell.

I did this and then replaced all the bulbs with Osram products, Nightbreakers for the main dipped/full beam. You may be surprised.

If that doesn't make you happier then it's time to rewire the lights properly as mentioned above. Mine were just the same measuring 10 some volts at the lights. A proper rewire (done the right way) means I now get 14 some.

These two things combined essentially doubled my forward facing lights.



I also used Gtechniq on all the front lights so they don't muck up as quickly. The £20 odd set will happily do the entire car plus all lights, mirrors and registration plates.

If you're still not happy then do what I'm doing this week and wiring up the pod!

What lamps are you using; and do you intend to replace the bulbs with HIDs? Cheap (and you can use far cheaper lamps units too), easy to fit and youll almost half your current drain whilst getting far more light.

I completely dismantled all the lights and cleaned them inside and out when I first bought the car.

I thought the reason that these extra lighting looms are so popular, is because ripping apart the main loom, and getting behind the dash and the fuse box is a major headache. Certainly one that I would rather not endure.

Simon, HIDs are verboten in historic rallying so the lights are all stock halogen items. The pod will be receiving some nice PIAA lamps that work with the regs.

As for the wiring - yes, its a bitch, that's why I paid an electrical engineer to do it for me!

Naïve of me to expect otherwise. I have heard that some organisers tut and mutter when they see digital stopwatches.

Heh, you're not wrong there! I run a Brantz Int 2 in the 944 with a Nicky Grist red LED master stopwatch permanently mounted, plus 2 digi stopwatches attached to centre of steering wheel (for me) and on a magnet on the passenger side (for nav).

When the old blokes mutter I just tell them to get f****d and shower them in gravel. Life moves on! Using one of my old Heuers with a headtorch while going sideways through a forest at night is fun but not particularly safe at the speeds we carry now.

I recall a similar problem on an old Passat I had in the early 80's - there was a resistor in the lighting circuit that affected both main and dip, but was bypassed when you flashed main beam. I assumed it was exactly for that purpose - that you can be on main beam and still give a flash when you need it ... Absolute bollocks of course and made the normal lighting complete rubbish.

HID's - yes they are great but yes they also come at a cost. Whilst they don't burn the reflector as such, they do damage the reflectors of more modern headlight units. I think it's something to do with the absurd amount of UV light they produce attacking the plastic that the shell of the reflector is made of. This makes the shell release free radicals (don't ask me!) and degrades the reflective coating. The coating is these days much much thinner than it would have been 'in the olden days' and is created by vapour deposition rather than plating so it doesn't take much to f*ck it up completely. I don't know if it would have the same effect on an older reflector as the plating method and material is likely to be very much different to that used in more modern counterparts but I don't have a spare to try it out on. The following pic shows what it did to my F800GS headlight...



Bear in mind that the projector systems they are designed to work with don't have a reflector so you can see why those systems don't suffer the same problem.

G

I have boxes full of Heuer stopwatches, but I started buying Heuer Microsplit digitals when I was looking for a 931 and considering historic events. Theyre in-period, after all.

I've got a couple of Heuer mechanical stopwatches that I had properly calibrated etc, accurate to a few seconds over 24hrs.

The main problem with them (and in fact all handheld watches) is that they just don't offer the kind of instant ability to tell the time that you need to be competitive on rallies. At night they're also useless.

Imagine being a driver, doing XXX mph along a tight country lane at night and being told you need to pass that farm gate up ahead at precisely 23.48:31 - you need to be able to glance at a stopwatch and immediately know a) what time it is and b) how long you've got to get there.

For 99% of modern rallying that means you have only one option, something like this (which is exactly what I have plumbed into my 944:



Hardwired, red on black so it doesn't mess with night sight. Job jobbed.

There were 3 of these in the DeLorean in Back To The Future.

UPDATE and a problem:

Today I meticulously fitted the upgrade loom, zip-tying the loom neatly to existing wires and metal brackets, and keeping it out of the way of anything important. I even used heat-shrink tubing over any connectors.

Firstly, I had a choice of whether to wire the new loom to the popups or the bumper lights. I chose the popups as these are bigger, and I would consider them the "main lights".

However, now neither full and dipped beam works on the bumper lights. I assume they need a feed in series of the popups somewhere? I'm prepared to wire this in, and splice it to the new loom, if only someone could point me in the right direction.

I have the Haynes book of lies, but I can't make enough sense of the wiring diagram. To confuse matters further, my car was registered in early '85, but in technical aspects appears to be an '84MY.

cliddell, have you fitted your loom yet?