The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

Close! I did custom design the grill for lights behind it. But instead of the Hellas, these in Driving pattern:
https://www.kchilites.com/gravity-led-pro6-single-pair-pack.html

Though I had considered the Hellas with either a +150 bulb swap or a 100w swap.

 

Hmm... I bought the letters awhile ago thinking my winter project would be a winch bumper with pods utilizing my factory fogs. Then I could mod my fog light harness to feed some halogen behind the grill lights. I’m digging the grill you designed. I wasn’t really wanting a plain all mesh grill or for that matter making it look like a Ford grill. I’ve been kicking around ideas all summer and actually got around to painting the letters this afternoon. I about pulled the trigger on the SS mesh grill insert today too. So... I’m glad you gave a little teaser

 

I've asked the manufacture to store a part number for the grill, so others could reorder it without having to pay for the custom design fees I did. I should receive it in a few weeks. I didn't really like anything I could find on the market and wanted large negative space in the grill for optimal air flow and light penetration. But I still wanted it to be Toyota branded as well. Many of the modern trends have been to go large with the logos, but I wanted something a little more retro that was smaller. I intend to initially connect the Pro6s to the unused high beam circuit on the passenger side (since the headlights are run from the standalone harness), meaning no custom switches or wiring to the battery. However, I do plan on removing my elocker axle and going to a standard 8.4 with a truetrac soon, at which time I may use a factory switch next to the OEM fog switch to override the high beam setting, so I can run lows and driving lights at the same time, and have my lighting controls all in one location. TBD.

 

I like where your going with this. I all really have some Hellas laying around I bought cheap at a garage sale. My dad has been a Ford salesmen for close to 27 years. We were out and about and saw a nice Tacoma with a Raptor style grill complete with the maker lights and he made the snide remark “Still not a Raptor, you know Ford nailed it when the Toyota guys copy us.” That being said I think you style grill is what I’m looking for.

 

I'm definitely a Raptor fan, though the size is to impractical for myself. But I really hope they bring the Ranger Raptor to the US. Ford just kills it with those trucks. But while I think the Raptor grill looks great on a Raptor, or even Ranger Raptor, I feel it looks out of place on a Tacoma. Way to gaudy on a truck that doesn't at all fit the persona. Personally for Toyota, I like classic. Here is my 89, regeared F&R truetracs, performance 22RE engine build by me and of course the ultimate headlight upgrade. The grill is the simple "Toyota", before they switched to the modern logo. This was the look I was going for, which is the same look the designers of the Pro grills were going for, but I made mine just a little smaller than the Pros.

 

I have 5:29’s, a truetrac in the front and a spool in the rear of my classic. Along with some other gaudy experimental things that were done in a time before the internet. I also put 4:56 a truetrac and a spool in my 96’. I’ve been very happy with them. I’m curious how the trac control in my 13’ would react to a truetrac in the front. Lol, sorry I’m kinda getting a ways off topic. They all do have headlights though

 

I was running 4.88s on 31s.

No off the shelf truetrac for the front of a 2nd Gen unfortunately. There is a thread that someone took one out of the rear of a Scion FRS and modified it in a machine shop to fit the front end of a second gen.

 

The grill manufacture has agreed to list my grill design and in addition provide a 10% off code for the upcoming thread. Should be available late October-ish.

 

Still rocking these. 100% zero issues!

 

Here is an output comparison between those Philips and the Osram upgrade covered in this thread.

Ultimate headlight upgrade on the left, Philips LED on right.

 

Interesting. I don't see the Phillips Ultinon LED bulbs in your test results, did you take any readings when you compared them?

 

Admittedly at the time I only took high beam readings, where the halogens come in 30%+ brighter. Low beams will be substantially larger difference as the halogens do a better job of focus which will drive higher lux numbers, whereas high beam is more spread pattern so the focus loss isn't as emphasized in the reading. The Philips LEDs were not included in this thread, but I do have them on my workbench along with the newer Philips H4 LEDs.

 

Did you ever take amp draw readings for the Ultinon? What's the newer version? I have not seen them.
All I can say is I've been really happy with what I've done. Ultimately, I didn't want to modify housings or wiring. What I did may not be better than your Ultimate Upgrade, but it was still a drastic improvement over stock and all I had to do was mount the drivers.

 

I did not. At the time I only did vehicle based testing. It isn’t as scientifically comparable across products and is more time consuming. With the amount of products I cycle through now I’ve invested a bunch in more gear and moved to bench testing where tests are standardized and easily comparable and readings like current draw are as simple as checking the power supply.

Old Philips vs new Philips (and lots of mess)

 

Not that guys in this thread running the ultimate upgrade need more high beam power, but that unused passenger side headlight plug is begging to power some SAE J581 driving lights, and these have best in class distance projection.

 

Some quick aux SAE high beam headlight testing:

 

I did this upgrade about three weeks ago. After driving around for three weeks, I can definitely say that the low beams do not bother other drivers. I drive country roads, with no street lighting. I purposely drove with low beams only. On coming drivers would switch from high beams to low means and never flash me. The cutoffs are very noticeable and exactly the same as with stock bulbs. I have a stock truck and didn't have to do any head light adjustments. Low beam output has increased so much, that I no longer need high beams. I still use the high beams, only because I want to see, any wild critters coming towards my truck. High beams really light the road up intensely and the distance is far. The first thing I noticed, was how much low beams increased during the day. When it rains, we have to have our lights on. I noticed I was lighting up street signs and the back of other cars during the day. I never noticed this with stock setup. This mod was really worth it for me. Using high beams on country roads, was my main reason for doing this upgrade. I use high beams more than low beams. I'm super satisfied with this upgrade. There's no need for me to do the upgrade amplifier or fog light mod. I did do the reverse light mod. I did that first. That's what got me to move on to the headlight mod. I thought that was great. The headlight mod is greater. Every taco should do both upgrades. Thank you for these excellent mods. Also thanks for taking the time, to give me advice. I first went with the Phillips racing vision, but never installed them. You advised me, I would of down graded my high beams and talked me into the wire harness. Thanks again.

 

Glad you're happy with how it turned out! For a high beam user, the Superbrights definitely put out outstanding output.

 

I ordered a wiring harness through Headlight Services on Monday. Have had no notification of them receiving my order or shipment.
When I call it goes straight to VM. Left a message. Sent an email with receipt. Nothing.

Anyone else faring better than I?