If your local auto sparks didn't recomend a QH upgrade then he isn't doing either you or his business any favours. It's not horribly expensive or difficult to do yourself & a competent auto electrician should be able to do it in an hour or so if he has all the bits on hand.

DIY is more satisfying & economical.

B210sleeper
That's the way I have done it for many years on quite a number of cars [without the ignition-on feature, & thanks for the tip] but this time I thought I would see how hard to make it look more 'factory' & at the same time incorporate some extra features with the extra relays while utilising low cost, but 'genuine' relays from wrecking yard donors.

What you saw in the pictures cost me $20 while two new aftermarket relays alone were priced at about $28.
Yeah, I know, Im a bloody perfectionist, a glutton for punishment & a damn cheapskate. Guilty as charged.

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Dodgeman, I option is to head to pick n payless ( or another friendly wrecker with an N13 ) and strip their wiring to track what you need.

Re the QH upgrade. I went along to repco and the quote for the kit was $160, none in stock.
Then I went to super cheap $12 each for the semi sealed lamps and then anwhere from $10 for the stocko bulbs to about $27 for the fancy pants bulbs in glossy boxes.
Any suggestions on which way to go and what the pitfalls are ?
The guys at the two shops said that there was no need to change any wiring as the existing bulbs are high, low beam (three pin connection) and drawing the same current.

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This would be true if the low / high beam wattage is the same as what you have now.. If you intend on putting brighter [higher Wattage] bulbs then the current draw will be higher. P = V I where P = watts V = volts and I = current.

see link for more info

Power, Volts and Current

According to my original 120Y owners manual, the headlights in these cars were rated at 50/40 when they left the showroom, but lord only knows whats in there now.

If we assume a 'nominal' 12.5 volts in the electrical system, then the lights draw a paltry 4 amps each & there's two of them, so there's a nominal 8 amps flowing through the switch for the headlights.

Now Datsun engineers are not fools, they know that using wiring & switchgear that handles much more than this is only going to cost more money, so the system is engineered to safely handle the current draw needed by a stock lighting system, but not much more.

Next, we switch to the QH lights with the standard 55/60 bulbs. The current draw is now only 4.8 amps per light with a new total of 9.6 amps. Doesn't look like a lot more, but it represents a 20% increase in current flow.
The system would handle this just fine when the car was new, but after 30 years many electrical connections have developed a little corrosion & the electrical resistance may not let all the current reach the headlights. The end result is less than satisfactory performance & sometimes a switch or fuse connestion that gets a bit hot.
Many people, like me, don't mind a further upgrade to 100/90 bulbs & the resulting 16 amp draw is going to send the lighting system into a [metaphoric] meltdown.

The recomended fix is the relays, but for the store bloke to say that the current draw is the same shows a lack of understanding of both the subject, & of 30 year old cars from the low cost end of the market.

Just make sure that the bulbs get all the current they need, & make sure they have a good earth & as I have said before, even those standard QH lights will really light up your life.

Oh yeah, check the voltage across the battery terminals with the engine running at about 2,000 rpm & headlights on. You are looking for more than 14 volts. If it's down, then have your regulator checked [if you have an adjustable regulator] to ensure that the system is running at full rated voltage. That should brighten things up.

my 7" H4 lights cost me $55 for the pair for Mark Gibbs Panel House in Slacks Creek, they are glass not plastic. plus bulbs

yeah pretty much what they cost from repco, 30 bucks each, and globes were like 22 bucks or somethin, the wire and relays came from work and took stuff all time to wire up.

A Hella H4 100w conversion kit used to be about $100 Trade,
3 of my 1000's have them now, I didn't bother with fitting relays, and had no stress, although it would be a good idea...
makes a huge improvement from the sealed beams..

here is a Narva link as i couldnt see them on the Hella website..

Here's the Hella link.
Click on the 'Auxiliary Lighting' tab, then scroll down to Headlamp Conversion Kits.

These babies are probably about as good as you will find, but don't come cheap.
The Narva ones would probably come a close second & at a fair saving in cost too.

Why pay $100 for Hella H4 when you can recycle some from the same wrecker you got the wiring loom. Most 7" round headlighted commercial vehicles have h4 inserts, my favourite is the Toyota Liteace. For the people with Square headlights (late Sunnys) Navara's or Nissan Praries/Pulsars usually have them too.
Then it's just some aftermarket globes. Stupid Cheap used to have 80/100's which i always went for, always wanted that little extra on low beam. They don't seem to carry them any
more, the fools.