Copyright 1997, 1999 Arne Berglund. All rights reserved.

The lighting of the Euro-cars is one of the most obvious differences between our cars and the US-spec cars. (The other is bumpers, but that's a topic for another article.) It is also, judging from the cars I've seen, one of the parts of these cars that is most often not as it should be. Aside from the cars owned by our Canadian friends, most of our cars had their lighting systems modified when they were certified. These modifications ranged from merely adding side markers (such as the 2002 markers on my car), to the complete replacement of the front lights with US-spec systems. It would seem that the biggest share of these cars had the complete system swap (of the 6 cars I have personally seen, one car, a 316, had no changes; one car, my 323i, had only side markers added; and four cars, three 323i's and one 320/6, had the complete swap). The complete swap was the simplest way to ensure certification and it allowed spare parts to be easily acquired. But the European lights add a subtle visual difference and provide much superior lighting. With the changes in US regulations allowing non-sealed headlights, in most states your car can be converted back to Euro-spec without being bothered by the local authorities. It's not to difficult, requiring basic tools (like those in the trunk toolkit if they're still there) and a crimping tool, or maybe a soldering iron and some heat shink tubing for a really neat job. If you can install a stereo, you can do this job.

By the way, this article is written mostly for 320/6 and 323i's, i.e. the twin headlight cars. Single light cars are similar.

First, we need to establish a baseline. What is different about the original lighting compared to US-spec? Refer to the picture below.

The light referred to as 'A' is the turn signal (blinker). Unlike the US-spec cars, it does not have a dual filament bulb and is not used as a parking light. The lens is smaller and more faired in to the body lines when compared to US-spec. Both the lens and reflector/socket are different from US-spec.

The light referred to as 'B' is the low beam/parking light. (If you have a four cylinder car with single lights, it is the high beam also.) It uses a small 4 watt clear bulb for the parking light, and a single filament 55 watt H1 for the low beam (55/60 watt H4 on four cylinder cars except the 315). The low beam light stays on unchanged when the high beam lights are switched on (again except on single headlight models).

The light referred to as 'C' is the high beam light. It also uses single filament 55 watt H1. It operates the same as on a US-spec car with one exception: when you use the high beam flasher, only this light flashes, not the low beam ('B').

Now, to figure out how to convert back to euro-spec, we need to understand what was done when it was converted to US-spec. Unfortunately, this part will be a little generic as these cars were converted by many different people, and I'm sure that there are a lot of little differences from car to car. For the sake of this article, we are going to assume that all of the front lights were changed to US lights. So in the case of the turn signal (light 'A'), the base and lens would have been replaced with US parts and the lead from the parking light in light 'B' was wired into the second filament in light 'A'. The headlight buckets are the same as US parts, so the then-required sealed beams fit right in. The high beam (light 'C') was replaced, but the wiring was not changed. Now, with the low beam (light 'B'), there was a choice in how to wire it. Since the parking light circuit was moved to the turn signal, we are left with only 2 wires, low beam and ground. The quick and dirty way would be to hook those 2 wires up to the proper terminals on the sealed beam and let it roll. Doing that would make them work like the euro-lights, i.e. the low beam lights would stay on and not get brighter when the high beams are switched on. This would be the easiest to do, so I assume that many were done this way. To make the lights work like a US car's lights, a wire would be run from the high beam lead (on light 'C') to the high beam terminal on light 'B'. Then a relay would have to be used (or a US/four cylinder fusebox installed) to turn off the low beam circuit to light 'B' when the high beams are switched on. Since this is so much more involved, I doubt that many were done this way.

Now, to convert your car back to its original spec, you will need parts, quite a few of them. This part is a little tricky, because I haven't seen your car to know how much was changed. The parts list below is everything you would need if your car had everything changed to US-spec. Your car may not need everything on this list. Again this list is for twin light cars. The following part numbers and prices are courtesy of Maximillian Importing, (800)950-2002 and were accurate as of Dec 5, 1997 but are (of course) subject to change due to exchange rates and availability.

• Left turn signal assembly w/lens, 1 each. BMW #63.13.1.365.377, $39.00
• Right turn signal assembly w/lens, 1 each. BMW #63.13.1.365.378, $39.00
• Left Complete ass'y w/inserts & adjusters. BMW #63.12.1.362.681, $245.00
• Same as above w/yellow lights (France). BMW #63.12.1.362.685, $325.00
• Right Complete ass'y w/inserts & adjusters. BMW #63.12.1.362.682, $245.00
• Same as above w/yellow lights (France). BMW#63.12.1.362.686, $325.00

Parts listed separately for repair or replacement.

• (2) low beam inserts. BMW #63.12.1.356.412, $41.00 -- OR --
• (2) low beam inserts with 'Staged Reflectors'. BMW #63.12.1.371.329, $41.00
• (2) high beam inserts. BMW #63.12.1.356.409, $41.00
• (2) low beam rear covers. BMW #63.12.1.373.321, $14.00
• (2) high beam rear covers. BMW #63.12.1.372.732, $14.00
• (2) parking light sockets. BMW #63.14.8.680.130, $1.50
• (4) 55 watt H-1 bulbs. Available locally.
• (2) parking light bulbs (same as side-marker for 2002s). Available locally.

Once all the parts are in hand, it should be fairly easy to see how it all goes together. This last list will be the wiring colors and where they connect to. I can't guarantee that this is correct for every car, but it is correct for mine, and BMW is very consistant on this type of thing.

• Each light has a single ground wire, BROWN in color.
• Left turn signal - BLUE w/RED stripe.
• Left parking light - GRAY w/YELLOW stripe.
• Left low beam - YELLOW w/BLACK stripe.
• Left high beam - WHITE w/BLACK stripe.
• Right high beam - WHITE w/BLUE stripe.
• Right low beam - YELLOW w/BLUE stripe.
• Right parking light - GRAY w/WHITE stripe.
• Right turn signal - BLUE w/BLACK stripe.

Using these parts and info it should be fairly easy to restore your car to its original spec. The part numbers can be referred to for normal replacement of broken or corroded lights, too. Finally, if you own a US-spec 320i and want to improve its lighting, that's OK too. Just remember that you'll need to add a couple of relays to keep the low beams lit when the highs are switched on.

Once again, my thanks to Paul at Maximillian Importing, (800) 950-2002 for his help in reseaching the prices and part numbers.