FYI - 328 Lighting upgrades

Recently, I purchased a 1987 328 GTS. In the process of my typical obsessions, I have decided to upgrade the lighting - primarily for saftey considerations. The better I can see and the better others can see me, the safer I am. After reading all the threads I could find as well as other miscelaneous information, I found the information provided by Daniel Stern to be accurate and useful - www.danielsternlighting.com. I even spent time verifying the recommendations he provided with other sources. He has been gracious and prompt in every way with his e-mail correspondence. In summary, the lighting upgrades for the 328 are:

speedometer lighting - upgrade W1.2W to W2.3W (two bulbs)
tachometer lighting - upgrade original 3W bulb to T4W (two bulbs)
fog lamps - upgrade to H3 55W CPI universal gold - yellow is better for fog lighting (one bulb each side)
brake lights - upgrade to p3496 (2 bulbs per side)
reverse light - upgrade to 796 (1 bulb per side)
rear turn signals - p3497 (2 bulbs per side)
interior light - mine was already upgraded from a 5W to 10W bulb and has worked well (1 bulb)
side marker bulbs - upgrade from 4W to W5W bulbs (1 bulb per marker)
trunk lighting - upgrade to R10W bulbs (one each side)
3rd brake light uses two 577 bulbs (no upgrade recommended)

The front turn signal/parking lights above the fog lights have three bulbs under the yellow/orange plastic cover horozontally from medial (toward the center) to lateral (toward the side). The medial bulb only comes on when the parking lights are on. It plays no role in the front turn signal operation. These are R5W bulbs and no partucular upgrade is needed. The lateral bulb only operates as part of the turn signal, this should be upgraded to p3497 (one per side). The center bulb in the row of three functions both as a parking light and turn signal. Upgrade this to p3496.

All of the above lighting upgrades require no wiring harness upgrades (will work well on the stock wiring). Daniel Stern also noted that typical american bulbs with a brass base may induce or accelerate corrosion in our connectors. Make sure your upgrades are with nickel-plate base bulbs. Several of the bulbs that had been replaced in my 328 over time by the previous owner were not optimized and with a typical american brass base.

Finally, the headlights. There has been much discussion about specific lamps/bulbs. I defer to those threads for rational. In short, upgrade the lamp to Cibie 7" Convex/Dome-face H4 high/low beam. However, any meaningful bulb wattage upgrade requires a wiring harness upgrade. Daniel Stern can fabircate a custom harness to accomplish this. Not only will you have more power (less voltage drop) for the headlights and can run higher wattage bulbs without risk of a meltdown, but you will significantly reduce the wear on the light switch/stalk possibly avoiding a costly repair. With the harness upgraded, you can upgrade the bulb to a higher wattage. Ultimately, I will upgrade to the 100/90W Narva bulbs.

I hope this is a helpful summary. You might just visit www.danielsternlighting.com to ask other questions or purchase supplies - I am a big fan of loyalty to those that go out of their way to help me. For the skeptics out there - he did a lot of work with no sale "in-hand" as I only placed an order after my questions (many not addressed above) were answered to satisfaction.

peter