LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Just released by Holley(designed and manufactured by Morimoto), available from Holley, Headlight Revolution and The Retrofit Source: 5x7(82-90 Firebirds) and 4x6(82-92 Camaros, 91-92 Firebirds) headlights in the style of "classic" sealed beams. They're also available in 5.75" round and 7" round, for other classic cars. All are bi: low/high beam.

5x7 and 4x6 modern headlight upgrades, such as Morimoto and JW Speaker LED projector headlights, and Vision X, Truck-Lite and Philips LED reflector headlights, are too modern in appearance for the tastes of many classic car/3rdgen owners, so these Holley headlights are likely to be more appealing.

Apparently, they were a huge hit at SEMA 2021, and they're already sold out, but the next run is on the way.

These come with a short-length H4 re-pin adapter harness in case the H4 plug is pinned incorrectly for the car. And there are 4x6 installation videos that cover how to wire-up a 4-headlight combination, for which a specific harness is also included.

Checkout Headlight Revolution's youtube channel to see other videos about these, specifically, as well as hundreds of other demonstrational lighting videos.
Headlight Revolution - YouTube

Holley RetroBright Classic LED Sealed Beam Headlights | 5x7 (headlightrevolution.com)
Holley RetroBright Classic LED Sealed Beam Headlights | Low High Beam |4x6" Rectangle (headlightrevolution.com)

These are available in modern 5700K Bright White, 3000K "Classic" White, and there's a yellow lens option, too. Output appears to be excellent and so is the beam pattern. For people who want to keep their 3rdgen's classic headlight appearance, but want better output, then these will do it and look "right."

Price point is lower than the other modern upgrades I mentioned in a previous paragraph, but still high, which will probably disappoint people. But high-quality, American-made products come with high-quality, American-made prices. And "American-made" IS what people say they want, right?

However, Headlight Revolution and The Retrofit Source always have promotional discounts available for every occasion, so another one will be just around the corner.

FYI, Headlight Revolution, The Retrofit Source, Morimoto and Xenon Depot are all under the same roof, one large operation, yet each business retains its own identity, so purchase with confidence from the vendor of your choice. Mine happens to be Chris Nelson(that's him in the videos above) and Headlight Revolution, which is why I recognize HR when I post about lighting. I've had Chris' GTR Lighting HID projector retrofits in my Formula for 9 years now.

But even HID is old tech. Adapted to cars in the late 80s/early 90s, but it dates back to the early 60s. Outstanding output, still the brightest, as well as great modern styling, but not energy efficient, and its popularity is "fading," as the industry has begun favoring the efficiency of LED. And for older cars, such as 3rdgens, with barely-adequate electrical systems, even by yesterday's standards, switching everything to LED, especially the headlights, seems like it could be one of the best modifications we can do.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

These are, as evidenced by the DOT designation on the light module. And the other name brand sealed-type headlight products sold by HR and TRS are too: Morimoto, JW Speaker, Vision X, Truck-Lite, Philips. But few, if any, of those "no name" ebay, amazon products are legal. And none of the plug-n-play LED kits are legal either, hence the "off road" designation on the products' packaging, which is why those types of products are bright af, so of course people see better with them. But HR/TRS/Morimoto go the distance to achieve legal status when manufacturing and choosing the sealed headlight products they offer.

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

I saw a bunch of emails from holley announcing these. clicked on the links and was kinda bummed out to see the price tag (per light). I would MUCH rather buy these as opposed to those cheezey euro/rice-y style modern lenses, but still, the holley price is too high for my current budget.. so maybe later on. I'll see how others like em too.

Swapper

i think i might have to buy them but maybe one at a time.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

As bright as these are, compared to stock halogens, as you can see in the videos above, they should be very effective up the road. But the vendor seems to be as impressed by the spread of the beam pattern, and that there actually IS a beam pattern, which stock sealed beams don't really have. So these have a pattern that more closely resembles that of reflector headlights, than sealed beams. And they appear to provide a nice cutoff, too, for headlights of this nature.

For Camaros, yeah, 2 pair of 4x6 headlights would be quite expensive. But since these resemble stock sealed beams, people could probably get away with just 1 pair to use as their main headlights, Classic White, to look similar to the color of the stock high beams and keep their stock high beams. Whereas, with the other types of LED headlights that look very modern and radically different, you couldn't get away with that.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

I saw these all over FB/Instagram. LOVE LOVE LOVE that they LOOK like a normal halogen. As mentioned above, I do NOT like the euro/modern wonky looking lights. They just look silly to me, however you can't argue with how they perform. ...and as mentioned above, I think you could easily get away with only running these for the outside Low/high beam, and not converting the actually inner high beam. Price? Well....yeah, they're high, but ya gotta pay to play right?

battmann

iTrader: (9)

What size headlight does the Firebird use? No match comes up when I search by car type for a 1984 Trans Am. Does Holley not make the right size headlight for thirdgen birds yet?

Buddy

Does the '82-'90 Firebirds/Trans Ams all not take a 5x7?? I thought they all did... Basically the same lights as large trucks do. The good thing about a 'bird and the looks thing is if you don't like the looks of the modern lights, they are hidden all the time until you need the light, then you can't see the looks part of them too much anyway. You can grab great deals on the 5x7 lights at alot of truck centers, Kenworth, Peterbuilt, etc and they are all DOT legal. I got my Truck-lites from a local one. Way way better light than the lights and options we usually had. I had Silverstars before these and thought they were a decent jump. These blew them out of the water.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

I've edited the original post to be 3rdgen specific with regards to size.

5x7 for 82-90 Firebirds, battmann.

4x6 for 82-92 Camaros and 91-92 Firebirds.

I'm in a lot of truck stops across the US, Buddy, and because I've seen you mention them as a source for modern headlights, I always look, but they don't carry such new headlights down here, just standard halogen sealed beams, but in brands that aren't typically found in auto parts stores. So evidently truck stops in Canada are more progressive, which wouldn't surprise me.

Buddy

When I was looking before I bought mine I went to JW and Trucklite sites under their distributor searches to find local shops. I know the Kenworth dealer sold JW. I bought my Trucklites at a local truck center (Malmburg). I should clarify by truck center I actually mean truck supply type centers... parts, etc., not truck stops. If that is how it came across I apologize, I meant supply and parts centers.
Trust me, US is more progressive than Canada. Our Prime Minister's vision of progression for the country is to simply destroy the country. He's got such nice hair.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

"hold my beer" -Joe B.

Buddy

I will admit when you got him in I told my American friends that I see we both now have the worst people in the highest position ever in both these countries histories. Just hold'in on to this devils drop of a ride these nations are on. Ouch.

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

I am curious to see what the actual light looks like directly next to a "factory style" sealed beam. Both light off and light on. That will help me decide if I will buy them. If the new Holley lights look almost indistinguishable from a sealed beam, than maybe I will buy just two and run them for the headlights only. Then keep the glass sealed beam style for the high-beams to save some $.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

A spot-on match in physical appearances, lit and unlit? Probably not, IROCZman, but very similar, I'd think.

In the videos, camera on Chris, headlights on the table, there is a difference in appearance between Holley and Sylvania. But that might also be apparent between two different brands of sealed beams.

Looking into the lights ON, will the color of the new LEDs look different than the color of the halogens? I wonder about that myself. On the wall, the colors look pretty similar. But installed and illuminated, the 3000K LED headlights in the videos look more yellow than I remember halogens appearing. But here, again, you might get slight differences between brands, and you'll definitely get differences between hew halogens and aging halogens.

The only way to know for sure is to get a pair, or hope that TGO members who get these will post up.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

I think 95% of the "difference" is all the weird lenses and dark spots, and LED reflectors, etc. etc., sooooo.....these should look REALLY close to any other sealed beam, and as mentioned, there are slight differences already from brand to brand.

...as for color....3000k does seem a bit yellow. I might've gone a little higher as they do look yellow, although maybe it's just the video. My Sylvania's didn't look yellow at all....UNTIL I swapped out my fog lights for 5700k LED's, then yeah...you could see the difference. At least for me....my biggest gripe has been the lens appearance, not the color. Assuming these work as advertised, I'll be happy to buy the 5700k.

...for what it's worth, I decided to pick up a pair (just 2) however they're out of stock. ...as I don't really NEED them, I've decided to wait and upgrade later on down the road.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

It's occurred to me that 3000K isn't likely to match anyone's halogen high beam color, unless those high beams are plain old standard/basic entry level halogens.

Many colors are available off-the-shelf, and several brands, each with a range of offerings. Standard/basic, Extra, Silverstar, Ultra, "Super Mega Max," etc., and all have different color temps, ranging from 3000-3200K to 4000-4300K and everything in between. Most common is probably the 3200-3500K range.

And the low beams on these are going to be as bright as the halogen high beams, so when the LED high beams are activated, they will be crazy brighter than the halogen high beams. So whether or not 3000K LED is much of a match at that point isn't likely to be relevant anyway, in the real world. Close, at best. 5700K will be very different.

In that regard, this really shouldn't be about color authenticity, because that won't be easy to match. So it should simply be about an excellent, new, safer headlight that looks like your crappy old headlight, fits the car like a factory headlight, retains the car's period-correct stying, designed and built with modern technology, available with a brighter, cleaner, modern light color that wasn't available 40 years ago.

Yes, currently out of stock, but I believe it stated a due date of December 8? Right around the corner! And they should know, they're also the manufacturer lol.

5700K would be my choice too. And knowing myself, after installing only 2, I'd probably be so stoked that I'd immediately order the other 2 lol... if I had a Camaro, that is. And can you imagine with that included wiring harness mod, 4 low beams that switch to 4 high beams? Insane!

A couple of years ago I suggested wiring-up the inner headlights independently, to be used as daytime running lights, and I still like that idea. With such excellent new headlights like these, 2 will be more than enough for main high/lo headlights. So converting the inners to DRLs would be interesting, IMO.

Then add amber/white LED switchbacks in clear front turn signal housings, and nighttime, here I come!


Now, if someone *cough* Hawk's *cough* would reproduce 82-90 Firebird front turn signal housings with CLEAR lenses...

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

Well for me it's not about matching or authenticity, but rather just a dim looking color, even if in reality they're plenty bright.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

That wasn't geared toward you. I was just making a generalization for people who might think or hope 3000K will match the color of their current sealed beams. But due to the variety of brands and colors out there, these probably won't match, so people should probably just be thinking, close enough will be good enough. Or just go all out with 5700K.

StevenK

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for posting, I've been looking for replacement headlights for about a year now and I never got over how all the other upgrades look. This is exactly what I want, and on sale to boot!

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

If i were to ever go this route id get just the low beams (57k) and put sylvania silver stars in the hi-beam.

blacksunshine'91

iTrader: (10)

Those look pretty cool. Might have to get a pair for my '92 down the road when its actually running again. A little cheaper than the Morimoto set I have on the '91.

vorteciroc

I consider swapping-out the Original Stock Sealed-Beam Headlamps...
for Composite Bulbs to be one of the Mandatory-Upgrades for Third-Gens.



Hella 4" x 6", or 5" x 7" Glass Headlamp Housings should be approximately $60 to $65 EACH.
Do NOT pay more than that for them.

A set of H4 or H1 Composite Bulbs can be purchased for $10...
There are many options for these types of Bulbs, and are available from very cheap to extremely expensive.

Plus they do not look like some weird designed Lamp, or cheap Fake-Projector Euro-Junk.
Use them for regular Composite Bulbs or expensive HIDs ...or even Uber-Expensive LEDs!
There are so many options when getting away from the horrible Sealed-Beams.

vorteciroc

One of my earliest Projects for Third-Gens...
Was to revamp and Update/ Upgrade the Entire Exterior Lighting System.
(Interior System came nest).

All exterior Bulbs, Sockets, and Connectors were Updated/ Upgraded to modern Parts.
For example, Front and Rear Parking Lights ... as well as Signal/ Stop Lights...
changed to 3056 and 3057 Push-In Bulbs (No more Push-and-Twist Bayonet Bulbs):

and of course Sealed Delphi Mixed Metri-Pack Connectors (most are re-buildable: Wire Seals, Terminals, Sockets, and Socket Seals):



I absolutely LOVED making entire New Harnesses for the Exterior Lighting System!

Neil350

iTrader: (1)

I bought some cheapie AFeax off ebay, less than a $100 for the pair. I like these Holleys more due to the factory like appearance of them

scfbody

Just added these to our website and have them in stock (1982-92 Camaros and 1991-92 Firebirds), we will also be getting the 1982-90 Firebird headlights soon. We will be installing them on our 1991 Z28 in the near future and do some in car videos. We also have other headlight options available for Camaros and Firebirds. We are Holley and Morimoto dealers, just added Holley but adding more of their products soon. We have been Morimoto dealers for 4-5 years and have been very happy with their products.
1982-92 Camaro/Firebird Headlights (screamingchicken.com)

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Here's a video that a Porsche 944 owner posted last week of the 7" round Holley Retrobrights. It's the first video of real-world performance that I've seen on these. Driving comparisons with stock sealed beams vs new Holley, begin at 2:21. Definitely blows away the stockers. The owner is very impressed and happy with them, but I suspect there will be mixed opinions here.

Buddy

Thanks for posting this!! I love the led lights out there, the quality ones that is. It's very very apparent the upgrade in light output but mostly light spread in the Holley. These level brands of lights are expensive, definetly. But my take on it is look what we spend on our cars in other areas, performance power, suspension, looks, stereo, etc, etc. And alot of the time we only actually get to use alot of the upgrades (at least in the performance catagory) a small % of the time or we would be in jail, lol.
But with quality lights you use them EVERY time you drive at night. So an expensive upgrade for sure, but you get to benefit from it so much of the time behind the wheel. For myself I love the upgrade.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

I'm not sure what's NOT to like! The two things that always kept me from seriously considering this mod was the appearance of the part itself, which in this case is no longer an issue, and the lack of safe, legal cut off so as not to blind oncoming traffic, while still having it adjusted properly for YOU as the driver. It appears this is also not an issue, as you can clearly see the cut off.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Not sure, but I'd guess 3000K, only because it said it matches his fog lights.

If so, 3000K output looks bright, then 5700K will look even brighter.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Here's another customer installation video.

Something else I've done is set the videos to full screen on my laptop, then I screenshotted frames of the drive test videos, comparing images of their halogen sealed beams to the new Retrobrights.

This is the 944 in the video four posts up:

Halogen low beams.


Retrobright low beams. I couldn't find the color mentioned anywhere in the description, during the video, or in the comments. The only hint I noticed is in the video, when he says they match the fog lights. So I'm guessing 3000K. And while the appearance looks brighter than that, the color still looks less "white" than the 5700K in the video of the truck.


Retrobright high beams.

Next set is the truck in the video in this post.

Halogen low beams.


Halogen high beams.


5700K Retrobright low beams.


5700K Retrobright high beams.

And here are a couple of the truck showing the beams against a wall.

5700K Retrobright low beams.


5700K Retrobright high beams.

Buddy

Those above pics really do show a nice difference. I just noticed HR's site and see they have Morimoto's older 5X7 on clearance, anyone debating on an LED change but don't like the prices can take a look at these maybe, cheaper price of entry.
https://www.headlightrevolution.com/...LED?quantity=1

1989karr

-adds to cart-


-looks at price-


-removes from cart-


Man...I'll have to wait to buy these. They look really good though. That Porsche / truck video has me sold.

LAFireboyd

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, I saw those too. They've had them for a couple of years, since all of the companies consolidated. Morimoto's first go-round, trying to mimic JW Speaker. They're even pictured in a 3rdgen Firebird. But I think they were a fail. Worked well but didn't fit well. They claim it's a stock fit, and it looks like it in the Firebird pics, but I remember some reviews saying they're too deep. They look deep in their pictures, and their dimensions are deeper than the new Morimoto Sealed5. But for less than half the price, they might be worth the, probably minor, effort.

Buddy

I figure the biggest hurdle for folks and LED lights is the price, thats understandable. So this could be a cheap entry fee??? LOL. Like you said, might be worth it.

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

Pretty neat stuff. I can't get over the price though. Given a choice between $500 light bulbs versus $500 of cool tools for my garage..... I'll take the tools.

scfbody

We have been selling these headlights for 1982-90 Firebirds and they work great. The Holley lights are more stock looking in appearance, but also more than double the price. I use the same brand headlights in my Camaro and have tested the Holley lights, they seem very similar for the price difference.
1982-90 Firebird Conversion Headlights (screamingchicken.com)

1989karr

I just recently got some of those Hella housings and ut soe LED bulbs in


They look almost stock

1989karr

LiquidBlue

Wow, those are bright. What did you end up putting on, are these the Holley RetroBrights? Is that a high beam you are showing, or low beam?

1989karr

I wanted those originally but the price is ridiculously high! I don't like the look of the other types of LEDs either cause they don't match the 80s halogen designs.


I got the Hella housings off of Amazon.

Then I got some "Seal Light" brand 100 watt H4 bulbs (50 watts each). I use the 9005 / 9006 variations in my camry and they are excellent.
Sylvania Silverstars are 55 watts each so I figure these at 50 are ok. Wiring stays cool etc. I ran those without issues........but they really arent that bright and burned out fast imo


I still need to see about that switching the wires for H4s but plugging it in stock seems to work fine as you can see. But they say to swap the pluggings....... im gonna use an adapter so i dont fudge my harness lol


Thats low beam only on the driver side in both pics.

Camera pics make LEDs look super bright, but it is a bit better than the halogen on the right i assure you!


I think the opnes in my camry are rated at 20,000 lumens and these are rated for 19,000 lumens

LiquidBlue

Very cool. So far this is just plug and play as far as the wiring goes? Did you feel the wiring to see if it gets warm?

1989karr

Yup! Plug and play. best part is you can easily go back to stock if needed.

They seem to work fine but others have stated the highlights will work weird without the wiring pinning... it does seem a little off IMO, but I could be overthinking it. . But I hardly never really use highlights so I could technically leave as is lol but I wanna see how it works with the pin out / wiring change....i'm going to plug the stock harness into the adapter and pin the adpter to the tech article here. I heard thats just how it is with any H4 conversion. Its really simple though it seems. basically move the ground to one of the other two pins and move those as well. that'll make it easy to go back to halopgens for whatever reason.


You could also use any halogen H4 bulbs with this method too.


The LED bulb I got also has a fan integrated into the actual bulb so that helps the bulb itself stay cool There's virtually no heat from the actual bulb vs the old halogen.
I let it run with the lights on and what not for a good hour and the wiring was actually cooler than it was with the H6054 silverstars. in fact i didn;t feel / notice any heat off the wires and connector at all.


I;m planning to put a set in my old S-10. If I cut the stock headlight bucket a little, I can easily swap any bulb from the back vs removing the whole unit!

LiquidBlue

Great info, so basically, the adapter brings a ground wire to another one of the pins on the LED ?

1989karr

I beleive so!

It hasn't arrived yet but the one i ordered.......... it looks like basically just an extension that plugs straight into the stock harness that connects into the old H6054 bulb.
Theres another connector at the other end that I will..... I assume..........be plugging the wires into in the order that i choose as that piece appears to be separate. that wil lthen plug into the LED bulb with the h4 pins.



this is the write up on upgrading headlights..... There's one wiring diagram for the upgraded beefed up headlight wiring and relays. on the actual article, then there is a link to the same diagram but the pin outs for the h4 swap. Basically it looks like the connectors all get moved one over.

www.thirdgen.org/headlightupgrade/


I didn't do the wiring upgrade though since I think they are doing that for the high draw / high watt h4 bulbs that are like im guessing around 100 watts each...thats over 70 watts more than stock h6054!

The LEDs im using are 50 watts each side and under the 55w per side sylvania silverstar. H6054s i' ve been using, so I think its ok. plus i checked and the wiring remains cool.





So if all goes well...


1. Hella housings (there are a DOT and EU housing available.....depending which model you get $80 - $100 for both.... you can get the kit with halogen h4 bulbs too but those are low watt units).
2. LED bulb $45 (there are lower watt ones as well)
3. Wring extension / adapter $7 (not necessary but I didn;t want to mess up my stock harness0



$150 ish.. .not bad. Still high but it looks stock and I can choose which bulbs to use and its cheaper than the Morimoto units by a lot


I wonder if the morimotos are wired for a true direct plug and play.

LiquidBlue

Here is a good drawing of the pin-outs, haven't confirmed it is correct. It would be nice to see it directly from the manufacturer drawings. https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/sea...ation.1012504/

1989karr

I beleiove thats the same one i came across before lol .


Anyway, connectors came in, and depite getting confused becuase i had to look at it from the wire side....I did it yesterday and it works great. The Stock H6054 wiring works, but as someone else said before, the low beam kinda stays on when you turn the high beam on...now they work just like stock....although Im not sure if the other way was bad either....


The adapter allows you to re-pin it anyway you want, and it connects to the stock hosing then into the LED connector.


To Install the LED, you do have to remove the headlight door for easiest access but thats; just 4 10mm bolts.



What I'm thinking of doing is cutting the backs of some old headlight buckets so that you caqn remove the bulbs with the doro off and you don;t have to remove the whole headlamp like a stock H6054.... that way, just pop off the bezel / door and the reach in and remove the bulb and you can replace bad bulbs or switch back and forth to halogen if you choose as necessary without disassembling everything.

scfbody

With the lights we sell you don't have to do any of that, plug and play. Using the led bulbs we sell you don't have to move pins around. The headlight also seals up better on the back compared to the Hella which is why we sell the United Pacific lights over the Hella brand. The United Pacific headlights are also cheaper compared to the Hella lights. Both companies make great looking headlights that are about half the price of the Holley lights.
1982-90 Firebird Conversion Headlights (screamingchicken.com)

1989karr

what do the united pacific lights look like? Do they look like the stock halogen glass?

1989karr

hh i saw it.

im not a fan of the clear more "modern" look though

scfbody