Ok so the headlights suck.
I replaced them with the now equivalent Sylvania 5001/5006.
They still suck.
Does anyone have a suggestion on what I can upgrade to (not HIDs)?

Thats kinda an oxymoron, I'm afraid. I do believe Sylvania makes a HID retrofit for the 5001 but you dont want that route. I think dremeling the base of a bulb out and epoxying a modern socket in it'* place is quite possible. Would be a cool project.

Awesome. Thanks, I had not thought about that yet.
I thought about buying the cheap plastic headlight housings off ebay and placing high intensity bulbs in them but not sure if it would work and not sure if the housing would melt.
Anyone have any experience with them??
HIDs would be ok but with 4 headlights it would run over $1k to do.....

what are you talking about 1k? my father and i both bought brand new H.I.D. kits off ebay, bulbs and ballasts included for $60(per set) i got the 1200k kit and he got the 4300k and we couldn't be happier with them. very well made.

Also: H.I.D. bulbs run ALOT cooler than regular bulbs so they're not likely to melt those housings

Really? I would be interested in looking into these. I have been told there are real kits nad fake kits, but I dont know the difference.
Do you have a link to the item of similar items? What ballasts did you get?
I got the $1k from some HID companies that I called and asked about when I was building a corvette that had 4 headlights. They wanted almost $1k for all 4 housings, lamps, and ballasts.

It'* the custom housings that set you back.

this page would work.. but really i think they're all about the same. just read the store reviews and see what the buyers are saying about the seller and product.

HID Xenon CONVERSION KIT H1 H3 H4 H7 H11 9005 9006 9007 - eBay (item 370189186252 end time Apr-26-09 21:26:44 PDT)

Nah they werent too bad, just standard 5 3/4" round housings only like $25-50 each depending on plastic/ glass.

Awesome, thank you. I will look into it and try it out soon.

Ok so I got the HID system for about $250 for all 4 including housings, ballasts, low beam kit and a hi/lo beam kit. I will be installing it soon after I get the engine swap done and the tranny back in, I will keep you posted.