Has to be a way to do this

[CB350]

If I understand correctly, the headlight on my Honda 71 CB350 Twin is a sealed beam and needs to be replaced if the bulb goes out. That is distinct from replacing just a bulb inside the light housing. So, that started me thinking, there has to be a way to replace the sealed beam with a non-sealed version that will allow me to pay $3 for a bulb next time instead of another $40 for a new sealed beam.

Right? I looked through the Dennis Kirk catalog and found a couple of items that are a direct answer to the problem. They will fit in the housing, the bulbs meet DOT requirements, even the bracket, etc seem to be compatible.

What am I missing? Why doesn't everyone do it this way? I'm also making a wild assumption that the bulbs have gotten more effecient over time and would, therefore, help the well known weak CB350 charging system.

I can give the exact part numbers out of the Denis Kirk cat. if people want to look at the exact item. I've seen the same thing in the Iron Pony cat. among others though. It's more the theory than excecution that I'm concerned with.

Thoughts?

 

[Cafe_to_go]

I had a similar question and here is the response I got:

The 3 connectors of the original sealed beam bulb works the same way as the H4 bulb, high, low and ground. You'll just have to figure out which wire is which and connect it to the correct harness wire. You may need to do some soldering.


Have you checked JCWhitney yet? I ordered one, but it was the wrong size, they are not expensive plus they come with a H4 bulb. Just don't order the 7" light.

 

[CB350]

CafetoGo, thanks. I think we've been on the same path a few times for on our bikes. I'm just mad I missed the answer when I did a search which I try to do before asking questions.

I'll probably try to look locally for something to play with, and yes, one of the few things I can do is use a soldering iron.

 

[Cafe_to_go]

I have seen sealed beams (L/H) at Pep boys for around $17.99, I was thinking of getting one, but then I decided to H4 bulb, to put in a wanna be HID bulb.

 

[CB350]

I'm going to make the rounds tomorrow on my way back from work. From Autozone, to Advance Auto to Napa and whatever else I can find. Worst case, Greg with Ohiocaferacers.com, gave me the right part information through Dennis Kirk. But, I'm intent on changing this out. Doing the work isn't an issue, I've done it before. Finding the right part is the issue. I'm even willing to remount the light itself if that is what I have to do.

All I want to worry about is a bulb in the future.

 

[DrJ]

I use an H4 conversion kit on my headlight. Works really well. Yeah the Honda sealed beam is about $40 which is quite expensive. But GE may make a similar one that will fit, just have to look into the auto parts stores.

 

[CB350]

Took a stroll through Autozone today and found that everything exists to do what I want. Now I'm going to pull the headlight and actually walk it in there to make sure I can make it work with my parts.

Thanks once again for all the pointers.

 

[CB350]

So, my trip to autozone with the headlight in hand came up empty in finding a light in stock that would fit. Instead of buying an entire new light I took the stock sealed beam and cut a hole in the back of it just big enough to fit a new halogen bulb. I then connected an adapter to the three wires that would connect to the sealed beam. To hold the bulb in place I cut an old rubber gas line (that never was used on the bike, it was a scrap piece I had lying around) lenght-wise and used it to make a "grommet" around the hole in the back of the sealed beam. Then I pushed the bulb in so that the rubber would hold it in place, plugged it in and it worked perfectly. I saw the same set up on Ebay being sold as a "halogen light conversetion" for the CB350s.

So, I now have the halogen conversion done, but the light looks stock.

Fun stuff. ;D