Headlight upgrade - '90

Hella makes a replacement for round 7" sealed-beam lamps which have replaceable halogen insert bulbs. I used something similar way back in 1969 on my Fiat and found them to be superior to the available stock units. Replacement H4 bulbs for that should fit these units are available at least up to 100W/80W so if your circuit and fusing can handle the added load you could get a lot more light output. You should note that, depending on where you live, you might have troubles with state vehicle inspection so it would probably be advisable to find out first whether you will need to keep the old lamps to replace before you get inspected every year.

there are aftermarket "conversion" headlamps that fit precisely into the miata standard h6024 style 7" round sealed beams. though the conversion headlamps look just like the sealed beams they are not, and instead accept a user replaceable h4 lamp in the rear. the quality of these conversion 7" round lamps vary wildly. many are complete junk and are made of plastic and some have what are called 'city lights' inside that are a cheesy blue light inside the lamp that turn on when you turn on your running lights (irrelevant for a 89-97 miata whose headlights are down when just the running lamps are on). the defacto best are lamps made by hella but they are quite expensive at about $90 each. an excellent inexpensive alternative that are a quarter the price of the hello are by empi. the empi are also glass, have a flat front for a slightly more modern look, and, like the hella, have a clear horizontal cut off. check out ebay item number

370182744366 for some great detail on them (good pictures in this auction - but i have no affiliation with the seller and am neither recommending him or not). the difference between these lamps and standard sealed beams is dramatic, even with the supplied 55/60w lamps. i ran some 90/100w bulbs for a while and they melted the wires on one side (thanks to pat for a replacement socket and lead removed from his parts car). I bought hello 55/60w h4 bulbs and am still happy. the 90/100w bulbs were brighter but occasionally angered oncoming traffic or a car directly in front. one other thing to consider regarding visibility for your now 19+ year old miata is the windshield. at 10 year old and 100k my '95 windshield was cast in glare from bright lights, setting sun light by day or headlights by night. it was unsafe so i replaced the windshield. it was the best upgrade i did on the car and as i recall only cost $200. since the car is so low, lots of debris skate across the windshield and scratch it over time, and there is no solution other than replacement. the brightest headlamps in the world won't help you see more clearly out of a scratched windshield.

one last point, the empi are not marked dot approved. so i suppose it is possible that the car could fail inspection. i am not sure if the hella are dot approved or not, but given their price i suppose they would be. just thought you should be aware in case it is a concern to you. ps. thanks to my spellchecker, hella was 'corrected' to hello in a couple of places in my last post.

SNIP

Another choice is made by Bosch, and, like the Hella ones, use the H4 bulbs. The Bosch kit is complete for two headlights, and is item SBQ7, and retails for CAN$139 (about US$120) from

On both of my previous NAs I had the Hellas, and ran the 80/100 bulbs in the first one with NO problem at all. Got stopped in Colorado for speeding and put through a roadside safety check, and passed with flying colours.

My current car is a '91 JDM Eunos Roadster. The headlight had to be changed for driving on the right in Canada as part of the upgrades to pass the licensing inspection (Out Of Province Inspection). The Hellas were perfectly acceptable for that.

They are sure worth the money, even in our Canadian Pesos!

Stuart H.

Spruce Grove, Alberta