Headlights: in progress

We recently received this dispatch in from Richard Henley, who recently ran an article on installing daytime running lights and who is now rewiring and replacing his headlights in accordance with instructions from known lighting expert Daniel Stern.

I got the additional wiring built and ready to wrap into the harness, as well as getting the circuit breaker mounted and the location for the relays figured out so all that’s left to do is mount them once I get the final two wires for them out of the factory harness.

I’m doing part of it like Dan mentioned in the article, about hiding the wiring and components for a classic car install, the relays are going to be in sight but for the most part the new wires are going to be in the stock harness. It requires some unwrapping and rewrapping, but it’s not impossible to do it that way. I practiced on the battery cable install so I would have some knowledge of what I was doing so the headlight harness will look right.

I thought I had this all planned out but it’s looking as if I’m going to have to figure out some splices on the ground for the rest of the factory lights, as they all splice into the headlight ground at the back of the bulb. I’ll work up a solution once I get the factory wiring unwrapped and can see for sure exactly what the best way to work it is.  It’s been a real treat building a wiring harness with all new wire and terminal ends. Usually half the time I’m working on wiring is spent scavenging old harnesses for appropriate lengths of the right size and color wires and trying to get the old connectors apart without destroying them.

I did get volt drop readings before I started and some pictures with my camera on a freshly paved and painted dark stretch of road south of town, and will do the same afterward. If all goes as planned I should have it finished up in the next two evenings after work.

I also got the relay the other day to hook the DRLs up so they are only on when the car is in gear, I’ll try to get that done so the article can be updated. It should be fairly simple, the hardest part is running a wire into the car from the park/neutral switch, every thing else I need to tap into is easily accessible under the dash.

The real safety problem is the loose nut behind the wheel

You could ram every conceivable safety device (and a few currently inconceivable ones) into a car, and it won’t change the fact that someone out there will figure out how to get themselves killed in it. No matter how hard you work to idiot-proof something, the only thing you’ll really achieve is an improved idiot. I’m sure there’s someone out there who could figure out how to kill themselves in Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T. when the car was driving it for them.

As nice as all these wonderful safety items are, despite all they’ve achieved in terms of saving lives, they’ve also served to increase the road-going I.Q. (Idiot Quotient). Remember what Einstein said – “The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genium has limits.” Ron White added his own corollary to this – “You can’t fix stupid.”

Now, I’m not against adding safety features – I’ve been buckling my own seat belt since I was strong enough to overcome the spring in the retractors, and I never leave the driveway without it on. ABS, airbags, TMPS, stability control, they’re all very clever and nice to have, but does that mean I think every car should be forced to include an electronic nanny?

You know, it used to be that folks actually knew how to drive, and could actually get around in bad weather in a rear-wheel-drive vehicle with little to no weight on the back end (like the 1978 Farimont wagon my mom had years ago – it fishtailed going in a straight line down a dirt road in the middle of summer). We didn’t NEED four wheel drive, front wheel drive, fancy traction control systems, or any of that. As my father used to say, just because you can GO in the snow, doesn’t mean you can STOP. Sadly, too many people are too stupid or oblivious to realize/remember this.

The two main problems these days are:

1. Driver education in the U.S. is a joke (I’d be willing to bet that anyone who actually took the time to read the owner’s manual for their car and pay attention to the signs when riding in the car with their parents could pass the licensing test in most states without taking any of the courses). Also, graduated licenses for teenagers don’t seem to be doing much except generating repeat business for the DMVs every time the kids change to a different license level. Why can’t the behind-the-wheel training and test be like the Bridgestone Ice Driving School and the Skip Barber Racing School? At least people would know how to handle their cars in bad weather.

I spent an entire quarter year in driver’s ed, and I could have just read the driver’s manual, cut class, and still passed the test. I also fervently disagree with the idea that a kid with a learner’s permit should be prevented from driving at night – rather, I think they be REQUIRED to take some of their behind-the-wheel training after dark. The first place I ever drove myself after getting my license was to an evening Jazz Band rehearsal in High School (rural area where it actually gets DARK at night), and let me tell you, it’s a whole different ballgame when you’re depending on those two bulbs on the front end of the car to see by instead of the big one in the sky.

2. The other big problem is people not staying off the roads when the weather is too bad to drive in, and that’s because their employers refuse to close. Where I work, they never close for engineering folks (like me). There have even been times when the state has been hit with a snowstorm severe enough to declare a state of emergency and a travel ban (meaning if they catch you on the roads, it’s an arrestable offense). The last time that happened, 50 people drove to work at my company. When coroporate policy is that “we don’t close. If you are not comfortable on the roads, you can stay home but it comes out of your vacation time”, people feel pressured to go in anyway, and then you get roads clogged not only with the weather, but people who can’t handle the conditions but are out there anyway, and the result is chaos.