Hi all,

I have a 1987 Volvo 740 GL here in Australia. It is the euro spec; it has the standard square headlights such as in the UK and Europe. I like the U.S. spec quad headlights very much and would like to replace them with those. They are readily available for online order, so that's not a problem. I am wondering if this is a simple job i can do my self by simply removing the old headlights and reconnecting the wiring harness, or the wiring harnesses are completely different and an auto electrician would need to re-wire the wiring for the new headlights to work? Below is a photo of my car:


These are the headlights i would like to install:


If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know. I'd really appreciate it

Thank you.

 

thats hilarious, everyone in the US wants to dump the awful DOT (US Department of Transportation) spec headlights and use the superior ECE lights, which have a better crisper pattern that puts more light where you want it....

do note, US headlights are /all/ setup for left hand drive, and throw more light higher on the right side than on the left, this will be in the face of your oncoming traffic.

there's some rewiring but its nothing you need an electrician for.

the outside headlight on the dual setup has 3 pins, both low and high beams, while the inside head light is highbeam only. Its been so long since I've had a car with dual squares, I don't remember if they have 2 pins or 3 pins on the highbeam light, but basically you wire a 2nd plug in parallel with the first plug, and connect it just to the highbeam signal and ground.

actually, some dual headlight setups, they are all 2 pin, the outer ones are high only, the inner ones are low only, and I forget which setup dual rectangular used on these volvos. kinda depends if they are 200mm or 165mm lamps.

you'll need all the mounting hardware and trim from the US car, including that reflector strip, the side light, and the adjustment stuff that bolts up to a metal body panel behind the lamp. make sure the US 740 is pre-1989, as they started changing things then. Ideally, the donor will cut the wires behind the headlight plugs so you can splice them onto your harness.

your ECE headlights probably have a 'parking light' or 'city light' bulb in the bottom of the reflector, the US lamps don't have that feature, so you'd just tape off that wire.

oh, I think you call them main and dipped. main is our 'high' beam, while 'dipped' is our low beam.

 

Thanks for that info.

Everything seems to be down under here in Australia... U.S. spec lights are quite wanted here. We never got them, so people like them for their 'novelty' and 'unique' effect. I personally like them just because its something different to everyone else, though i was aware that they were worse in terms of actual lighting.

 

The US lights are also relatively complicated as a unit since they were made especially as a conversion. That lower turn signal part seems prone to fail too often.
I am sure you'll find plenty of US owners ready to swap you AND pay for the shipping just to get your lights in place of the awful US version... I certainly would but all my cars are newer.

 

actually you can find 4x6 Hella H4 lenses that fit the US style 4 lamp buckets. Not "legal" in the US as they are an e-code design from the 80s and are better than the factory euro headlamps. I actually have a pair of the high beam Hellas new in the box which I'd be happy to ship (they were supposed to go in an 84 Audi but that project never got done)

 

I dont have 740 diagrams prior to 1991... but in a lot of ways, teh 240's are very similar.

diagram 1 is a EU/World 1984 Volvo 240's single modular headlight. diagram number 2 is the USA version. These have the dual rectangulars. I note that there's a 3-wire high/low and a 2-wire high only, and the 2-wire is paralleled to the high beam side of the 3-wire. Noote that "E" the bulb failure module, acts as a direct connection of the 3 wires, grey in, 2 blue outs are all tied together. Pretty sure the 740 even uses the same color codes, red for high/main beams, blue for low/dipped beams, black for ground.

I think the 3-wire connector you have now plugs right into the US sealed lamp, and you can use the same style 3-blade connector for the 3-blade high/main only lamp, just don't connect the 3rd wire which doesn't exist.

 

Just to mention, I've got 4 ECE headlight spares that I'd be willing to buy/trade for the U.S. kit. 2 are completely brand new, 2 are slightly used but nevertheless in very good condition. They are all complete. So if anybody is interested, I'd be happy to help.

 

Do you have a full kit, or just the highbeams? So in addition to this i'd also need to get the low beams, indicators, lamp frame etc?

 

sorry, SLT16, but i for one would not mess with that gorgeous car of yours. we would pay dearly for such an animal here, IF we could even find one...

 

oops, thought I'd posted this already. here's the parts diagrams for the US stuff. I'm pretty sure the grills are the same, but the grill page also has the surround and mounting clips... the left and right turn signal pages had the same diagram so I just pasted the right side parts list. on the headlight assemblies page, the #4 part bolts up to the body panel behind the headlights, on either side of the radiator mounting frame.... note the quantities of the various parts...

 

can you give me your email or somthing i can contact you i’m really wanting to buy US lights can swap with other lights if you want !