Bulb Information for the Newbie...

[CrashTestDummy]

Trying to help Offutt out here. I asked to see pictures, so he emailed some to me. I'll attempt to post them here:

high beam close up 1.jpg (476.81 KiB) Viewed 15106 times

LED high beams daytime.jpg (301.82 KiB) Viewed 15106 times

LED headlights at night.jpg (207.01 KiB) Viewed 15106 times

[offutt0311]

Trying to help Offutt out here. I asked to see pictures, so he emailed some to me. I'll attempt to post them here:

high beam close up 1.jpg

LED high beams daytime.jpg

LED headlights at night.jpg

Hey Gene, I appreciate that. The low beams are now in as well. Will try to post pics or email when I'm done at the dreaded V.A Clinic lol. They look sweet and with the high beams combined with the low beams, I can probably be seen from the moon lol.

[CrashTestDummy]

Well, my Opt7 H7s just arrived in the mail. Hopefully I have a bit of time this week to install them and see how they are. Updates as they occur.

[offutt0311]

Well, my Opt7 H7s just arrived in the mail. Hopefully I have a bit of time this week to install them and see how they are. Updates as they occur.

Nice!

[CrashTestDummy]

My apologies! The guys are right. The bulbs are H7 and H11. I did look up the application, wrote the right numbers down , but I did not convey them correctly to my post.

Maurice

That's ok sir. I have my bulbs here but haven't started installation.

Alright guys, the last few days have been really busy for me. However I do have some pictures for you guys. I managed to go ahead and get the h7 LED bulbs mounted in my high beams. While it wasn't plug and play, it was very close to it and anyone with a dremel can install these in about an hour. These are very nice, quality, beautiful bulbs. They are not too blue, and happen to look just right to me! I believe the exact color temperature is 5800k. It isn't letting me upload pics for now. Will retake pics and post. These would be %100 plug and play if I didn't have to modify the current bulb retaining clips just a hair. Definitely worth the money my friends.

Okay, so EXACTLY what did it take to get the bulbs installed? I pulled the driver's side high beam to do a 'quick' swap, but it was not obvious how the new bulb should go in. Then, I fiddled with trying to get the old bulb back in place and secured for probably a half hour. Sheesh!

It looks like you at least had to remove the entire air cleaner assembly?

ANY help will be appreciated.

[CrashTestDummy]

Any help here would be appreciated.

[CrashTestDummy]

Okay, I finally got my LED high beams installed, and have the bloody knuckles to prove it! After some directions from Offutt311 (thanks, Adrian!), I was able to figure out what was needed. The high beam LEDs come with a plastic collar that's supposed to be used for mounting the bulb in the headlight bucket. The Caprice has a metal flange that locks against some pins at the back of the bucket. So this part is needed to attach the bulbs to the light bucket on the car. But for these to work, you have to open up the part that the light fits in, so the plastic collar will fit so you can mount your light.

Here is a picture of the metal piece. I have started grinding the inner portion out so it fits around the collar. The two square notches start out as square holes punched in the metal. You grind out into those holes, and then some. Note also the two metal clips that also have to be removed/bent out of the way:

metal bracket starting modifications.jpg (95.48 KiB) Viewed 15025 times

Here is the bracket after some fitting. Note the two clips that stand straight up from the metal bracket. These still have to be cut off or bent. I chose to cut mine off.

modified bracket with plastic collar.jpg (62.37 KiB) Viewed 15025 times

After many iterations of grinding and fitting, I got things put together and ready to install:

LED with bracket fitted to it.jpg (90.04 KiB) Viewed 15025 times

Now you can install the light. It's a chore to get this thing located and locked in place. After futzing with it a fair amount of time, it seems the bracket is keyed, so that if you're fighting things, you are 180-degrees off. Rotate the bulb 180-degrees and it should pop right in.

NOTE: Test the bulb/connections first!

The lights are quite a lot brighter. I haven't had an opportunity to see how this looks at night, but can't wait to test. Here's a picture of the LED in the driver's side bucket, and the incandescent light in the passenger's side:

front view 1 LED.jpg (104.85 KiB) Viewed 15025 times

And when the lights are in place, you have an interesting red-anodized rod sticking into the light bucket, as shown here:

headlamps close up.jpg (95.35 KiB) Viewed 15025 times

Now, on to ordering my low-beams!!

[xcidmigs]

Are you guys able to reinstall the factory dust cover piece after putting these LED bulbs in place? I had ordered a set of H11 low beams which I thought looked good however I can't put the cover back on because the rear of the LED housing is too large and sticks out past the ring for the seating area of the cover. I didn't think it was a good idea to run without the cover and also was thinking that if its completely covered and sealed in there then the fan that the LED uses isn't really getting a chance to work at pushing air out. I then decided to install the same LED bulbs into out Subaru which uses a dust seal that has a center hole to it and works just fine. The bonus was that I had previously installed standard H9 bulbs into the suby which drop right in place on the caprice H11 low beams and provide a decent upgrade there.

[CrashTestDummy]

I haven't installed the high beams yet, but Offutt has. I'd PM him and see if he brings more directions to the table. He mentioned that the high beams were a plug-and-play job, but may have been that it was a lot easier than the low beams.

I thought I read somewhere where it was mentioned that a hole somewhere had to be opened, but that might have been in the directions that came with the bulbs discussing some installs. Sorry for not being much help here.

[xcidmigs]

I was asking about the dust cover on low beams?