S2 Lights

[Phil]

I have found that the lights on my S2 are rather poor. Have managed to find some brand new original carielos, but without parking light hole.

I als notice that my outer beams seem to be single filament and that when I switch on the high beam, the outer lights don't get brighter, onlt the middle lights come on as well.

Is this normal, or has someone fiddled with the outer units and globes?

[Huib]

All 4 headlights on the S2/3 Fulvia coupe's and berlina's are single filament (H1 bulbs).
The outer ones are for low beam. The inner ones for main beam. Because the main beam units produce a long narrow beam the low beams remain on to also lilluminate the road just in front of the car as well as the side of the road.

If the outer one is without parking light you may have a problem with the local regulations

[Phil]

Thanks Huib,

This is what I suspected. So I should leave 55W globes in the outer lights and I can fit 80W to the inners.

The local authorities probably would probably believe me if I told them the car didn't have parking lights when it was manufactured.

Phil

[P. de R. Leclercq]

In the UK S2/3 Fulvias have double filament bulbs in the outer lamps; the ineer ones have H1 bulbs and are controlled by a switch marked "FOG" There is a special realy under the dashboard and the supply comes from an add-on wire to the battery with an in-line fuse.

Paul

[Huib]

There are 3 brackets at the rear of the light units which go into slots in the mounting base. The ones at roughly 2 o'clock and 6 o'clock are in the same position on main beam units and low beam units. The one at roughly 11 o'clock is different for low beam and high beam.

If your lights fit without having to remodel the positioning brackets you have the right units in the right place.

I made an earlier posting on wattage. See www.viva-lancia.com/lancia_fora/read.ph ... amp;t=1319 and the other postings in the chain. I just read the posting again. It may not be entirely clear to everybody. I am sorry for this. My experience is in technical work not in explaining it to others. I use this forum to practice explaining.If there are any questions, please, ask.

[Huib]

Interesting. I did not know that. It is logical for the ones with the raised head lights. Was this on all S2's and S3's?

[Tony Kovacevic]

Its not difficult to drill a headlight to the appropriate size and fit a grommet and then the parking light. I have done this on a number of occasions with no long term problems.

[P. de R. Leclercq]

Hello Huib.

Well of course my experience is almost entirely with English specification cars.

Every standard one (S2/3) I have seen has the double-filament bulbs in the outer lamps and the H1 inner lamps with separate relay etc.

As a matter of interest, the English spec. 1.3S (S1) that was my second Fulvia, had as far as I can remember double filament bulbs in th outer lamps, but the inner lamps came on with main beam as normal. Unfortunately my memory is not what it once was!

Best wishes

Paul

[Huib]

The series 1 cars have double filament bulbs in all 4 head lights but these are not halogen bulbs but the old fashioned tungsten ones also called duplo bulbs. The main beam filament is 45 watts and the low beam filament 40 watts.

The outer ones switch between low and main beam thus both filaments are used.

The inner ones only use the main beam filaments. The low beam filament was not even connected. It was the only way of getting a powerful bulb as single filament 45 watt bulb did not exist.

This was a good arrangement with the technology available at the time.

The inner ones were optimised for a long narrow main beam (for the period). They cannot be used for low beam even if you connect the low beam filament. The outer ones were optimised for low beam and produce a short wide main beam. The 4 head lights thus had a combination of long range and wide beam in the main beam position.

[alan cooper]

as far as i recall ref uk spec s2/3 cars the outer lamps were non-halogen dual filament i don't think that dual filament halogen were available in the early 70s, there was a switch for the inner lights marked fog in the centre console i used to rewire this and use them as main beams with a relay not many police in the Uk are ever likely to measure if your lights are below 24inches and in any case after suspension settlement i don't think the outers were high enough either despite the eyebrow style wings, years ago you could get halogen conversion bulbs for the original tungsten bulbs which was a big improvement over the equivalent of a couple of dim candles! always thought that the carello lamps were very good when new but in regular use they always seemed to corrode lack mad and last no time at all