Headlights, remote start, and such

[Blaze86Vic]

What!!!??? Crashed!!??? WHAT WHAT!!!

We need info! Obviously you are alive....but how bad is it?

[Archangel]

Thanks for the concernt guys, I just rearended some girl with an SUV: without using her blinker she changed lanes right in front of me, realized the guy in front of her is stopping to make a turn, and jumped on her brakes - well, apparently her car stops faster than mine, I hit her at about 30mph. Not too bad, but enough to push her spare tire inside her back door and her back door inside her trunk, shear off my police pushbars, trash the grille, and bend the hood, the header panel, and the sheetmetal wall behind it that supports the radiator. Fenders and everything behind the is just fine, even my external coolers for the tranny and PS developed no leaks. So yeah, if I replace the header panel, the aforementioned metal wall, the hood, and the lights it'll be fine. Problem is she's my daily driver, so I have only the Thanksgiving break to do all that, with junkyards being closed now and tomorrow. Oh, and the garage at work is gonna be used by Ford for some tests or whatever, they just couldn't pick a worse moment :drug: Any suggestions on these repairs - please post them here

[Archangel]

Well, now that my car's back on the road, and the relayed harness is installed and working just fine, I have another question - when fusing the power circuit, how big of a fuse I need to use? Alternator is 3G 130A unit with a 65A pulley (smaller, too keep up with the low rpm range my engine usually operates in), headlights draw power from the link between the alternator and the battery and get 14.7V at idle. Suggestions please?

[Lincolnmania]

i have a 80 amp fuse on my power wire........couldnt gind a 65 amp fuse

[Archangel]

Scott, I was talking about the power circuit for the headlights. The main one I think is either 80A or 100A, don't remember. Do you know how much current would 4 high beams + 4 low beams + 2 driving/fog lights draw if turned on all at once?

[Blaze86Vic]

Put a 20amp.

[Archangel]

Blaze, 20A will be way too little for me, here's why:

Today when driving from work in some waterfall-like rain I realized I don't see shit with mu headlights set on 'low'. Got in the first auto parts store and looked for headlights for my car, and sure enough there are two types that fit the same socket (or whatever the metal lamp holder is called) - ones for a 2-beam system, and ones for a 4-beam system. Of course the lamps for the 2-beam setup are more powerful, we're talking about 70W vs. 55W for the 4-beam ones (that's for the Sylvania Cool Blue, the Silverstars are about 5W less each and about $3 more expensive - go figure), guess which ones I'll be installing :evil: So that means that on low my 4 lamps will be sucking about 25A combined in 'low beams' position of the switch, and I guess double that in 'high beams' (as in high I'll be running 4 low and 4 high at the same time). Hmm, 50A fuse sounds more like it...

And now the question (there's always a question ) - which ones to get, the Silverstars or the Cool Blues? Supposedly Silverstars are brighter, but the Cool Blue are more powerful... tough decision. Anyone that would like to comment please chime in now.

[Paul_]

i used to run cool blues for low beams, and silverstars for the highs. was a very good combination.

[Archangel]

Damn, just read at Daniel Stern Lighting that the Sylvania Silverstars have crappy life cause of the blue filter - who cares about the color of the light, make it bright and long-lasting. Guess I'll be looking for some Philips Vision Plus, or GE Nighthawk. None of which seems to be available in the 24/7 Murray's