# Impala Headlight Relay Upgrade



## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

I remeber seein about a year ago, a kit to upgrade the headlight wiring in a 58-64 impala. It was a pretty simple concept, rather than have the power for the headlights go into the car, through the headlight switch, then back out to the headlights which causes a good amount of voltage drop along with stress on the switch, they made a kit that used relays that ran off of the horn relay (essentially directly off the alternator) to power the headlights.

Now i know i could do a chop-chop job on my headlight harness to do this upgrade, but i remeber seeing a kit that was plug and play for this upgrade. I thought classic industries had it but I cant find it. Has anyone done this upgrade? Does anyone know where i can get this kit? :biggrin: 

I have already upgraded to H4 headlights in my '59 but I know they could be brighter with this upgrade.

I found this but i was hoping to find the plug and play kit http://www.lategreatchevy.com/product.asp?...39&dept_id=1171


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

well looks like i answered my own question. Ecklers wants 80+15 shipping. so i called them and asked who the supplier was of the product and went straight to them. I found it from them for 65+7 shipping http://shop.americanautowire.com/headlight...relaykit-1.aspx

Ill prolly order it sometime this week and ill def fill this thread with the install and results


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## slo (Jan 12, 2004)

good info keep us posted for sure, as i used to drive my 64 daily i would def want in on this when it gets put back on the streets. 

if you could when you do get it get pictures of teh schematic and dificulty level of install etc...

i had heard of something like this but never saw or read anything else on it didnt even know what to look for it under..

:thumbsup:


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

> _Originally posted by slo_@Nov 14 2009, 08:11 AM~15662503
> *good info keep us posted for sure, as i used to drive my 64 daily i would def want in on this when it gets put  back on the streets.
> 
> if you could when you do get it get pictures of teh schematic and dificulty level of install etc...
> ...


  will do homie. I hope it improves my lights, cuz my '59 is my daily and im struggling at night. Im waiting till Monday to order it since they're having a 12% off sale the 16th-dec. 25th so that 12% will cover the shipping.


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## slo (Jan 12, 2004)

good deal

i know the feelnig of it being a daily , props for that.


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

ordered it today. I realized this place is only about a half hour away from me, but since i gots to work today, i just had it shipped. should have it by tomorrow. wish i ordered it b4 this weekend, sunday would have been a perfect day for the install. anyway, ill keep every1 updated with my progress.


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

i got the kit today. Looks like it may be a little pain in the ass to install but i need to really take my shit apart and take a look at it.

heres some pics


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## slo (Jan 12, 2004)

seems pretty straight forward


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

> _Originally posted by slo_@Nov 20 2009, 09:43 AM~15724851
> *seems pretty straight forward
> *


yah, that diagram is a bit misleading tho. I hafta splice alotta wires together. I mean its not gona be ridiculous, but not plug and play


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

I think im gona tackle this 2morrow. I already pealed back my wire loom and shit so i know what wires are what. And i put a volt meter on the low beam, round 11.7 volts. Im curios to see what it gets too with this puppy installed. Hopefully 14


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## slo (Jan 12, 2004)




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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

well the kit is in. Im postin pics in a min. In all id say it took about 3.5 hours. 

My recommendation would be *DO NOT BUY THIS KIT* if you are doing the upgrade in an Impala. The wires werent long enough to go from the driver side to the passenger side. For $65 bucks, I think I could have gotten the 10 guage wire, 4 headlight plugs and 2 relays. But maybe I couldnt....

anyway, heres the pics. Ill prolly take some night pics later on today. They def look brighter. Went from gettin around 11.7 volts to over 14


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

well wen i bought the car the headlights werent hooked up... and the grounds in the headlights were taped down. So it was pretty mangled. As you can see, i need some new headlight buckets but as any '59 owner knows, they are very hard to come by and when a decent set does come around, they are top dollar. So i havent gotten new ones yet, if anything I would probably put a Mercury grill/headlight setup in cuz it would cost about the same but give a custom look.

I decided to mount the relays right where the original wires used to go through the wheel wells. 









So i just cut the end off to get the power for the relays


























Heres the jumble of wires that was back there...

























So i mounted up the relays so i could start runnin the wires

























Then i just started puttin the wires in the headlight plugs


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

Then i ran the wires back through to go to the pass. side


































Heres the passenger side jumble



































And you can see, that I needed to use the left over power(Red) and ground(black) wires to extend the wires going to the pass. side, cuz like i said it wasnt long enough

and heres some finished pics. Ill snap some night shots later tonight.


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## slo (Jan 12, 2004)

so all 4 always lit up? or is that what this did....imnot diggin so much the inside non original bulbs ...

also by headlight buckets do you mean the whole housing for both headlamps or just the cups? is 59-60 same? if so i might have some decent complete buckets...


btw very informative write up. your prob right this "kit" could prob be out together at home


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

Nah, all 4 arent always lit up, I just took the pic with the high beams on.

And yah, i mean the whole housing. '59 and '60 arent the same... if you had ones for a 59 id be pretty happy! haha


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## sickthree (Apr 4, 2004)

Thanks 4 the info


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## Guest (Nov 25, 2009)

I did the upgrade to my 79 t-bird and 70 El Camino. I hated the yellow stock dimmed light... And put Hid's in them.. Went to Pepboys and got a roll of Black wire and Red wire. Think it was 14g. And then bought two relays for like 6 dollars each.. Total was like 20 dollars...
Then followed this pic 








Installation:
Disconnect the battery before starting.

Find the two circuits that go to the headlights. One high beam one low beam, these will become the relay triggers. Select a good location for the two relays.
Run a minimum 14 gauge FUSE PROTECTED wire from the battery or positive side of the alternator to the relay. Run another 14 gauge wire to the relay area to serve as a good ground. Attach a grounding bolt to the radiator suport area near the relays to serve as a good ground distribution point.

The relays usually follow the same standard in regard to their pin layout. You can either connect directly to the relays using the slide on connectors or purchase a relay socket to simplify the installation. I prefer the relay sockets.

Relay pin layouts
86 is the relay switching (control) circuit input.
85 is the relay switching (control) circuit output (ground)
30 is the power circuit input. 
87 is the power circuit output. 

Headlight socket pin layout
56a is the high beam feed. 
56b is the low beam feed. 
31 is ground
Following the above diagram...

Relays
Attach the high beam circuit feed from the headlight switch to the 86 terminal on the high beam relay. 
Attach the low beam circuit feed from the headlight switch to the 86 terminal on the low beam relay. 
Attach the new high power feed wire to the 30 terminal on both relays. 
Attach the 85 terminals to the new ground source. 
Lights - NOTE: It may be easier to remove the headlights and their bezels to work on the inside grille wires.

Attach the 56a wires to the high beam relay. 
Attach the 56b wires to the low beam relay. 
Attach the 31 wires to the new ground source


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## Guest (Nov 25, 2009)

Heres another links to a chevy kit... This is when i did my 70 Elco... I had the same problem..

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/howto/4417/index.html


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## slo (Jan 12, 2004)

good info


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## Tuna_Sammich (Aug 27, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Fine59Bel_@Nov 20 2009, 05:37 PM~15729442
> *I think im gona tackle this 2morrow. I already pealed back my wire loom and shit so i know what wires are what. And i put a volt meter on the low beam, round 11.7 volts. Im curios to see what it gets too with this puppy installed. Hopefully 14
> *


Was your car running when you took that reading?


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## Tuna_Sammich (Aug 27, 2003)

I have some pics floating around my computer of a mod I did to the light switch to keep the parking lights on when you turn on the headlights. If that interests you guys at all, let me know and I'll put em up.


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Tuna_Sammich+Nov 28 2009, 07:12 PM~15807299-->
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Id be interested in that info. thanks


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2009)

> _Originally posted by Fine59Bel_@Nov 29 2009, 04:31 PM~15814347
> *I dont remeber
> Id be interested in that info. thanks
> *


You can also upgrade ur Ground and Power from your alt. to Battery. And Ground from the engine to frame... Big Improvement... My votage gauge never drops now....


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## slo (Jan 12, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Tuna_Sammich_@Nov 28 2009, 06:16 PM~15807335
> *I have some pics floating around my computer of a mod I did to the light switch to keep the parking lights on when you turn on the headlights.  If that interests you guys at all, let me know and I'll put em up.
> *


yes please do even if a sketch i can CAD it up and color code it if necs.


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## sickthree (Apr 4, 2004)

ttt


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## rob-63ss (Jun 28, 2004)

Nice I like the info you are putting out there for people that want to do this :thumbsup:


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

> _Originally posted by rob-63ss_@Jan 26 2010, 06:37 PM~16419443
> *Nice I like the info you are putting out there for people that want to do this :thumbsup:
> *


 :biggrin:  I dont want all my topics to be me asking questions.... sometimes i like to give back to the LIL community :cheesy:


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## elphoenixquetzal (Oct 7, 2010)

TTT!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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## Chevillacs (Oct 26, 2004)

mark!


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

> _Originally posted by elphoenixquetzal_@Mar 14 2011, 01:26 PM~20087595
> *TTT!!! :thumbsup:  :thumbsup:
> *


 I should be installing some HIDs in the next few days, I'll post up some pics when they're in


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## elphoenixquetzal (Oct 7, 2010)

> _Originally posted by Fine59Bel_@Mar 25 2011, 02:51 PM~20179732
> * I should be installing some HIDs in the next few days, I'll post up some pics when they're in
> *


NICE :biggrin:


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## sickthree (Apr 4, 2004)

ttt


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## Fine59Bel (Apr 16, 2004)

just saw this back at the top and realized i didnt post any HID pics


















and these are the new headlight bousings


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