Conversion to halogen headlamps?

[Kevin H]

I needed to replace a sealed beam headlamp on my 411 today and had a look at converting to halogen lamps. The only ones the shop stocked had a much flatter lens profile. I brought a pair home to see what they would look like on the car, but they wouldn't fit without modifying the headlamp housing to accommodate the park light. That wouldn't be difficult but I didn't really want to do that just to see how they suited the car so I returned them to the shop and fitted a standard sealed beam unit which was a third of the price.

However, if one goes down the halogen path it is possible to fit higher wattage bulbs which may be of interest, but I am a bit concerned about how the flat lenses would look on the car.

Has anyone converted their headlamps to the "semi sealed" type with a separate halogen bulb?

If so what did you use, and was it worth the change?

Can you get non sealed halogen headlamps that look like the original lamps?