My driver side low beam bulb has been out since Friday, and I need to repair it ASAP as I can not drive my car at night. This is the third thread I've made since then.

I currently have Hella 78316 80w low beams epoxied in the stock housings.

The first step is ordering new bulbs, (yes bulbS), as they don't make those Hella's anymore, and I want both lowbeams to match. I saw some Konya 80w 9006's for about $20 a pair. Are these good bulbs? I want WHITE light - NO BLUE!

The next step is getting the old bulbs out, since I can't afford to pay $300 for 2 new housings from GM. Someone suggested microwaving, others say use a soldering iron to soften up the epoxy, or put it in the oven.

Any recommendations? Ideas? Thoughts? I need all the help I can get.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

 

Well Matt,

I tried ordering the same bulbs you used in an attempt to get good lighting out of the stock housing. After getting a disappointing email from rallylight's or whatever found out the same thing, they dont make them anymore. The highbeam replacements are like $65 and the lowbeams replacements are under going a new manufacturing process which could take months. The problem with Hella's bulbs was the production of the filaments being defective, so they ceased production. That came straight from rallylights. So to make a long story short I calculated some costs and found that you can buy the Hella FF75's for $37.99 a pair on ebay from offroad911 with FREE shipping. Which considering the high quality and reputation of these driving lights is a tremendous deal. xxsaint69s described the Hella FF75's as being about 50% better than the 100w bulbs he has implanted in the stock housings. I odered the FF75's at 11pm and the next morning I awoke to a message from offroad911 saying they had been mailed with a tracking number. Good luck on your quest for sustantial lighting from LT1, but from what I understand you wont get decent lighting from the stock housings simply because the design isnt as good as say the FF75 version. Its cost effective, performance driven, and hell we can walk each other through it,

-Dustin-

 

Thanks for the reply Dustin. I have looked into getting the FF75's in the past, but never really considered it. I think now I'm just going to consider doing that instead of killing myself trying to get epoxied bulbs out of the stock housings. I'll post my progress here. I'd like to hear how you're doing with the install as well.

 

Sounds good, I was going to go your route with the Hella bulbs, but since they are basically unavailable the Hella FF75's were the next step. I really didnt want to do the fabbing but looks like I dont have much choice. BTW Are you still interested in the Transgo, the other dude bailed out.

-Dustin-