European e-code headlights

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Jeffrey M Copeland

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I live in the USA and want to upgrade to the glass European e-code headlights and front turn signal units on my 1990 Volvo 740. I want to get rid of the pathetic plastic lights which were foisted upon the US-market cars. After a long online search, I have come up with nothing. Does anyone know where I can purchase these lights?

Also, I have noticed that the European front turn signal lights, located next to the headlights, have both amber and clear lenses. Are there two seperate bulbs inside these units and, if so, what do they do? (US-spec version has a single, double filament bulb for marker/turn light) BTW, I already have the Euro turn repeaters behind the front wheels, so I won't need those.

Finally, how difficult would it be to install the headlamp wiper/washer units which were available on Euro-spec (post-facelift 1990 and later) 740's? Also, did Euro-spec 740's have a headlamp beam adjuster located on the dash and, if so, how difficult is this to install?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

J.M.Copeland
Nashville, TN, USA
1990 Volvo 744 Turbo, 173K miles
 
Jeffrey M Copeland said:
I live in the USA and want to upgrade to the glass European e-code headlights and front turn signal units on my 1990 Volvo 740. I want to get rid of the pathetic plastic lights which were foisted upon the US-market cars. After a long online search, I have come up with nothing. Does anyone know where I can purchase these lights?

Also, I have noticed that the European front turn signal lights, located next to the headlights, have both amber and clear lenses. Are there two seperate bulbs inside these units and, if so, what do they do? (US-spec version has a single, double filament bulb for marker/turn light) BTW, I already have the Euro turn repeaters behind the front wheels, so I won't need those.

Finally, how difficult would it be to install the headlamp wiper/washer units which were available on Euro-spec (post-facelift 1990 and later) 740's? Also, did Euro-spec 740's have a headlamp beam adjuster located on the dash and, if so, how difficult is this to install?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

J.M.Copeland
Nashville, TN, USA
1990 Volvo 744 Turbo, 173K miles
Click to expand...

I got mine from a guy in Finland, though you can get them from Germany and other places as well. There's a German company that sells new ones but I was able to find nice used originals. You will need the turn signals too as they're different than than the US ones. They're configured exactly like those in a 240 where the upper clear lamp is the parking light/front marker and the lower amber section is the turn signal. Like the 240, they use dual filament bulbs in both but only power one filament, I'm not really sure why. If you can find the correct sockets and do a bit of wiring, the upper clear lamps also will function as daytime running lights, with the 21W filament running when the headlamps and parking lamps are off, but it goes out and the 5W filament comes on with the park/headlamps.

Wiring is fairly simple, the plugs for the turn/marker lamps will plug right into the euro sockets. The headlamp harness is different though, the headlamps for my '87 had covers over the back with 3 pin sockets on them, I found mating connectors in a junkyard from wrecked 240's, they're the ones that connect the turn signal assemblies. I could have just snipped the headlamp connectors that were in the car and spliced those on, but since I wanted to run high powered bulbs I installed relays and wired them up with new heavy wiring, that's what I'd recommend doing but either way will work.

The guy who sold me the lights said the headlamp washers often break and are more trouble than they're worth so I took his word for that. Definitly get some protection film to keep rocks from breaking your expensive glass lenses, I used a product called RockIt that I've been happy with. Volvo headlamps are quite large though so I had to buy a roll of the stuff, the precut sheets weren't big enough. You clean off the lenses very well and apply the thick plastic film. When done it's virtually invisible and even improved the look of the lights as it completely covered some minor pitting in the glass.
 
James, do you have any more of that protective film that you'd like to sell? I've just installed e-codes on my 740 and will be installing them on my 240 as soon as the wiring harness arrives this week. I've never lost a headlight to a rock, but there is always a first time...
 
don hodgdon said:
James, do you have any more of that protective film that you'd like to sell? I've just installed e-codes on my 740 and will be installing them on my 240 as soon as the wiring harness arrives this week. I've never lost a headlight to a rock, but there is always a first time...
Click to expand...

I'd have to look, if I have enough though I'd like to use it on my 240 as well, it's not horribly expensive to buy it new, a roll should be just about enough to do both your cars.
 
don said:
James, do you have any more of that protective film that you'd like to sell? I've just installed e-codes on my 740 and will be installing them on my 240 as soon as the wiring harness arrives this week. I've never lost a headlight to a rock, but there is always a first time...
Click to expand...

There are a few plastic refinishing products that really work on the old lenses, though.

http://www.novuspolish.com/

There is nothing better made than this product. It will make your old plastic lenses look as new as humanly possible. Just stunning results. This is what all the pros use on pinball machine playfields and other plastic parts. I used it on my old lenses until I was ready to do the Euro-swap.
 
Joseph Oberlander said:
There are a few plastic refinishing products that really work on the old lenses, though.

http://www.novuspolish.com/

There is nothing better made than this product. It will make your old plastic lenses look as new as humanly possible. Just stunning results. This is what all the pros use on pinball machine playfields and other plastic parts. I used it on my old lenses until I was ready to do the Euro-swap.
Click to expand...

The old lenses are pretty much junk even when new, I haven't bothered messing with them, it's easier to just convert to european lights.
 
Headlamp wipers do seize after a period of inactivity. The trick I've heard is to use them as often as you can. I bought a pair of them used from Juha and fitted it to my 740. My Australian model is pre-wired so installation was quite straightforward. Even though they're primarily designed to wipe snow and slush off your headlights (and where I live it NEVER snows), I've found them quite useful wiping off dead bugs too - I've done some late night rural driving where the entire front end of my car was covered with dead bugs!!!

Electronic beam adjusters were quite rare back in 1990, the only market to receive them as standard was the German market (West Germany at the time). If you get a set of used Euro headlamps from Germany it should come with them, I'm trying to get a pair myself. Some later model 850's did come to Australia with them, and I have heard from my Volvo mechanic that they are prone to shorting out, resulting in uncommanded adjustments when you're driving. Will '90 Volvo 744 GLT B230F converted to B230FB (531 Head & VX3 Cam)
 
And IPD http://www.ipdusa.com

Cheers, Peter.

www.oem-volvo-parts.com

--
"We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail"
------President George W. Bush------
September 20, 2001
: > I live in the USA and want to upgrade to the glass European e-code headlights and front turn signal units on my 1990 Volvo 740. I want to get rid of the pathetic plastic lights which were foisted upon the US-market cars.
After a long online search, I have come up with nothing. Does anyone know ...
Click to expand...
 
Both these sources seem to only carry the plastic US-spec headlights. Anyone know of a good Volvo scrapyard in Europe?

J.M.Copeland
1990 Volvo 744 Turbo, 173K miles
 
Jeffrey M Copeland said:
Both these sources seem to only carry the plastic US-spec headlights. Anyone know of a good Volvo scrapyard in Europe?

J.M.Copeland
1990 Volvo 744 Turbo, 173K miles
Click to expand...

IPD sells glass european lights for 240's, but not 740's, there's a German company that sells those though.
 
Ask Juha, his website is http://www.jpstyling.com/ you can find his e-mail there. According to his website there's still 1 set available for '90 740. I've purchased a pair of headlight wipers from him before and he's quite reliable, I'm happy to buy from him again. Will '90 Volvo 744 GLT B230F converted to B230FB (531 Head & VX3 Cam)
 
Also E-Mail D Stern he runs a lighting web site he may be able to help you
 

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