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Which Headlight Bulbs??

STLVett

New member
Joined
Oct 7, 2001
Messages
4
Location
St. Louis, MO USA
Corvette
1981
I have a 1981 Corvette built in St. Louis for expot to Canada. Can anyone tell me if Canadian cars had diffrent head light bulbs I have talked to the last 2 owners I am the 3rd and they never replaced the bulbs. I have a lowbeam that went out the local dealer & my manual say I need Delco replacement bulb 4000 low beam. The car seems to have come from the factory with Power Beam 2c1 as the lowbeams and Halogen s for high beams. The dealer here in St. Louis tells me halogens were not an option in 81. Anyone else out there with a late model Canadian Car??
 
From the Registry..

STLVETT,

I've looked through the GM Service Manual, GM Assembly Manual and my owners manual, and it doesn't reference specific sealed beam lights except to say to use AC replacements, but it doesn't give any part #. It also gives the same informatiion we have on the Spec pages of the Registry:

Headlamp - Low Beam 60(watts@12.8Volts) 4000(Trade #)
Headlamp - High Beam 37.5(watts@12.8Volts) H4001(Trade #)

I replaced all four of mine with Halogen sealed beam headlights. When I drive at night I want every advantage I can get ;)

I'll keep looking in my 1981 stuff and see if I can find something more. Best of Luck!
 
hood light

Sorry to get off topic but since we are talking about bulbs... Can anyone tell me the bulb part number that fits in the engine bay (underhood light)? I have not had a light in there in a year or so and I cant find what size/make in my repair manual... Thanks for any help.

-Tatortot
 
Tatortot,

Good to see ya here! The bulb you are looking for is a "Trade #93" it's a single element bulb. ALL parts house and places like PepBoys, Kragen's etc should carry them. Look for the bulb #93 ;)

BudD
:bu
 
I'm going to get the '81 out and warm it up after while. I may even run down the river road and back. I'll check the headlight numbers. I know that these are all the factory installed bulbs.
 
The originals were AC Delco Power Beams. Power Beam was in a circle in the center of the lens. They were not halogens. I have a pair of halogen high beams that I'm sure were listed as '82 high beams. That would be the first use of halogens in Corvettes.

Tom
 
Bulbs

I just took out my bulbs to clean up the contacts and the bulb # is 4000. I hope it helps
 
:eek :eek PS,
Bud brought this to my attention.
This from the model year highlights section of the '79 specs in the Model Center.

• Tungsten-halogen lights replaced the high beams lamps on the 1979 Corvettes and were gradually introduced early on in production.


Original Delco lamps didn't use the aftermarket 4000 number. I was wrong about the '81s not being halogen but I'm right that our '81 has all 4 of it's original light still in it. After looking at them closer they are halogen high beams and tungston low beams. I'll take a picture and post it if you want.

Tom
 
Hi,
I read somewhere that the L81 had halogen sealed beams for the high beam & non halogen for the low beam. I checked mine & that is exactly what is fitted.
As for replacements, if you are in a country that drives on the "wrong" side of the road (& this is where I'm going to get annihilated by the NCRS :) ), if you take your old sealed unit to a garage that does parts for old Brit cars they should be able to give you a replacement. I've been told that the lights from a late 60's Triumph (Dolomite?) are exact matches & another C3 owner has just fitted Halogen lights originally destined for a Mini!!!! He says that night driving is better as the light beam is spread correctly towards the side of the road & not at oncoming traffic.
Paul
 
You are so right Paul. Using US lamps in the UK would throw the light beams directly at the oncoming traffic when you use low beams. The only logical solution would be to install lamps that would throw the light beams to the left side of the road. I wonder where NCRS in the UK stands on this? It would have to be overlooked as a safety item mandated by the local laws. Then again the points deduction may be so minor as not to really matter.


I meant to say in my previous post that the high beams only were halogen but after re-reading it I discovered I stopped typing too soon. Thanks for the clarification.

Tom
 
Side marker bulb

I have just noticed that my left rear side marker light bulb has blown out, does anyone know the trade # by any chance? Thanks for any help.


-Tatortot
 
Tatortot...

Check out this page from the L81 Vette Registry The trade numbers are there ;)

BudD
:bu :w
 
oops

Oops, guess I missed that, thanks for the link, it will come in handy in the future I'm sure.


-Tatortot
 

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