When I did mine I do see a difference. ..maybe 20%? I was expecting a bit better but this is better regardless. It sure isn’t xenon? The replacement Harley headlamp bulb was $800 when I first came out… no idea now though
Best FJ40 Upgrade Ever
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FloridaLife
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- #383
$20 is a great price for an upgrade like that! Where did you get them?
My local Toyota Dealer.
FloridaLife
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Are they LED, halogen, or xenon?
Xenon they ain’t.!
Halogen. The kit comes with the wiring harness with relays, fuses, glass light fixtures with supplied stk bulbs and probably over $20 of zip ties. It's plug and play, but i think most folks shorten the harness. A lot of the improvement is from suppling 12 volt power from the battery instead of going thru the headlight switch.
FloridaLife
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- #389
After installing that smart LED headlight on my motorcycle it sold me on LED. These are not $20, but if they throw as much light as the pics & illustrations show then it is tempting, and they have DRL (daytime running lights) and turn signals built in too if you want to use them along with your normal turn signals:
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Heres a pretty good thread on headlight upgrades. Im sure some of it is outdated. There's a lot of options out there these days. I can only comment on my experiences and can't say one's better than another. I've owned and wheeled my 40 since the mid 80's and can say the kit is infinitely better than halogen sealed beams and are at a fair price. It's your 40 make it your own. The link starts in the middle of the thread.
@pb4ugo that’s a great spot to mount those fuses…
I altered a CB microphone holder I had laying around, so they just clip on.
Oh I'm sure it will be better than the lamps it replaced, but I guess I was expecting a lot more. For example, I have two Vanagons and in my Westy, I installed a Go-Westy South African round lamp kit in place of the OEM square and it was about 3 times as bright, with a much wider pattern. Then on my Wolfie tin top, I found a bulb-only LED upgrade that seemed twice as bright as the originals, but still had the crappy pattern inherent with the square design. I'll report back after I've driven it awhile at night.
You got a great deal at $20! I paid $51 after including shipping!
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FloridaLife
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Following up on my post...
I received my lamps today and installed them. But I gotta say, they aren't much better than the OEM yellow duds they replaced!. Maybe I was expecting more of an eye-popping difference.
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Maybe your alternator isn't putting out enough juice. Before I decided to do the LS swap, I was planning to take my alternator to a local shop to have them rework it to 100 or 150 amps.
If you're asking me, the answer is no. Because my buckets had a large opening at the back of the bucket. I know one of the only videos on YT regarding Koito FJ40 headlight upgrades showed a puke green 40 that didn't have an opening and wires going through the grommet. I was expecting the same when I started the work but my buckets were wide open.
I think @wngrog has done it b4. I think he de-pins the plug and feeds the wires thru the fixture.
FloridaLife
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What I had planned on, and may still do, was back many years ago (remember I'm an old Street Rodder getting into the FJ40 Scene) we would cut a large hole into the back of the headlight bucket, which you would never see, and run flex hose or whatever and do a cold air intake that way, and it was completely hidden. I'm still seriously considering doing that. That's how we did it on XJS V-12 Jaguars back in the day.
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EPS (Electric Power Steering) + LS Swap
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FloridaLife
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If anyone out there reading this thread decides to do an LS swap and EPS (Electric Power Steering) like I did, then you will want to delete the power steering pump on your LS or LM7 (truck & Tahoe cast iron block version of the LS) engine. I did some searching and called a company named ICT Billet. They make brackets for anything you can imagine. Below is a link to the correct part number needed to delete the power steering pump and adds an idler pulley to get more belt wrap around the water pump rather than just removing the power steering pump and putting on a shorter belt (which does not give you as much belt wrap around the water pump), for a Gen 3 LS (or LM7) found in a Tahoe, Silverado, and so on:
LS Truck OEM Location Alternator Bracket - PS Delete - https://www.ictbillet.com/products/ls-truck-oem-location-alternator-bracket-ps-delete?variant=47267501703398
AND, they no longer make the bracket & idler pulley that allowed you to use the original factory serpentine belt, so the belt number that you will need it: k060755
LS Truck OEM Location Alternator Bracket - PS Delete - https://www.ictbillet.com/products/ls-truck-oem-location-alternator-bracket-ps-delete?variant=47267501703398
AND, they no longer make the bracket & idler pulley that allowed you to use the original factory serpentine belt, so the belt number that you will need it: k060755
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