Hi,
 All 2002s had alternators, but the E21 and E30 alternators had a voltage regulator built into it. The stock 02 alternator has the regulator mounted in the nearside inner wing and it's an oblong box with 3 wires attached via a plug to the underside of the regulator.
Some people change to the later style due to parts availabilty and some models have a higher amperage output. This does not effect the brightness of your lights unless the battery is flat or the alternator is not charging.
To get decent headlights, you need to check the condition of the reflector in the headlamp unit as the silvering slowly burns off after a few years. You can buy replacement ones or even get the old ones replated but it is costly.
You can put a higher wattage bulb in and it will make the lights brighter but the problem is that the higher wattage bulbs give off more gas which 'eats' the reflective coating quicker than the standard bulbs.
The later 02's had a different lens that has H4 marked on the outside and a black metal rim that covered the outer edge of the headlamp. This was done to colour code the visible part of the headllamp with the black plastic grill. The lens is a slightly better design than the earlier headlamps.
 
To convert your headlights to a newer style is very difficult. I have used VW Golf Mk1 lamps and welded the VW base to the 02 headlamp unit, but when you fit the grills back, the lens do not follow the contour of the grill.
 
The reason why is that the headlamp beam adjustment on the original BMW lamp is done by moving the reflector in the headlamp base unit. When you fit a modern headlamp such as the VW Golf unit, you need to be able to adjust the whole lamp assembly to give you the correct beam postion.  
 
In America, due to their headlamp requirements, the headlamps must be the typical 6 inch units and the lamps are different to the European ones.
I have used the American 02 headlamp holders which bolt straight in to the stock position and then used Bosch/Hella headlamp units with a left hand dip. The lens still does not follow the contours of the grill, but at least I can see in the dark.
This is the area where a lot of confusion is generated about replacement lamps as in America, it is easy to change as they have the base units that accept standard 6 inch lamps allready fitted to their cars as standard.
Your other option is to fit a pair of driving lights to the bumper and that will help alot. 
Hope this helps to clear up a lot of miss-information etc.
Cheers,
John.

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Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:46:34 +0000
From: ...
To: ...
Subject: [bmw02] Alternator question

I have a 73 touring which has an alternator. Was this a standard fitment or were they Dynamo? The reason I ask is that my headlights are totally useless! I have read about the H4? conversion but apparently the grill then doesn't fit properly. I've also read about an alternator upgrade (E21 or E30?) but how do I know if this has been done already & is it a straight swop? I have checked the obvious earth connections & put new bulbs in. Any help would be handy, thanks, Kev.

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