HID conversion.

T

Too Many Cars

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This past weekend I went to a car show/swap meet at Raceway Park in Englishtown New Jersey. One of the things that I bought was a HID conversion kit for cars that uses 9005 headlight bulbs such as the first gen MK8's. Actually it was a very hard decision because someone was selling a dual quad tunnel ram with twin 750 Edelbrock aka Carter AFB carberaters and a really nice polished aluminum intake scoop for a 4V 351 Cleveland and I didn't feel like buying both in the same weekend. As I haven't run the 82 Mustang much during the year I decided on the HID kit. The HID kit came with two ballasts (aka high voltage supplies) and two bulbs that plug into the original socket in place of the original 9005 halogen bulb. The total price for the kit was $150. Well after setting it all up it in the car it didn't work! After thinking about it I figured that since incandesent bulbs are non polarized it stands to reason that there probably isn't a standard for the polarity of the connector. I decided to bench test these assemblies and sure enough they work with the positive on the blue wire and the GND return on the black wire. Thank god that they seem to have reverse polarity protection on these kits because otherwise I would have blown out the ballasts! I can only assume at this point and I will confirm that the MK8 has the opposite polarity than this kit requires.

I was told by the guy selling the kit that he sells these things on CraigsList. Have any of you tried these HID lights out (I can't find a brand name but the instructions are written in definite Chinglesh! and they come in a real nice metal case) and have you had good luck with them? Replacement HID bulbs run about $75. One thing that bothers me about them is that they are ROHS compliant. That means that if they have fine pitch Ic's in the unit they will fail in a relatively short period of time due to "Tin Whiskers" developing in the reletively harsh automobile environment! Maybe I should reflow some SN63 solder on the joints and call it a day!
 
Interesting. Have you been able to find an INTERNET site for them; part number for the kit?

How does it work (brightness compared to OEM)? I have a mostly blind Mark VIII at home that could use cataract surgery (REDHOT).
 
HOTLNC said:
Interesting. Have you been able to find an INTERNET site for them; part number for the kit?

How does it work (brightness compared to OEM)? I have a mostly blind Mark VIII at home that could use cataract surgery (REDHOT).
Click to expand...

You can greatly improve your lights right now for around $50.

HIR bulbs. More people are switching to them.
 
Too Many Cars said:
This past weekend I went to a car show/swap meet at Raceway Park in Englishtown New Jersey. One of the things that I bought was a HID conversion kit for cars that uses 9005 headlight bulbs such as the first gen MK8's. Actually it was a very hard decision because someone was selling a dual quad tunnel ram with twin 750 Edelbrock aka Carter AFB carberaters and a really nice polished aluminum intake scoop for a 4V 351 Cleveland and I didn't feel like buying both in the same weekend. As I haven't run the 82 Mustang much during the year I decided on the HID kit. The HID kit came with two ballasts (aka high voltage supplies) and two bulbs that plug into the original socket in place of the original 9005 halogen bulb. The total price for the kit was $150. Well after setting it all up it in the car it didn't work! After thinking about it I figured that since incandesent bulbs are non polarized it stands to reason that there probably isn't a standard for the polarity of the connector. I decided to bench test these assemblies and sure enough they work with the positive on the blue wire and the GND return on the black wire. Thank god that they seem to have reverse polarity protection on these kits because otherwise I would have blown out the ballasts! I can only assume at this point and I will confirm that the MK8 has the opposite polarity than this kit requires.

I was told by the guy selling the kit that he sells these things on CraigsList. Have any of you tried these HID lights out (I can't find a brand name but the instructions are written in definite Chinglesh! and they come in a real nice metal case) and have you had good luck with them? Replacement HID bulbs run about $75. One thing that bothers me about them is that they are ROHS compliant. That means that if they have fine pitch Ic's in the unit they will fail in a relatively short period of time due to "Tin Whiskers" developing in the reletively harsh automobile environment! Maybe I should reflow some SN63 solder on the joints and call it a day!
Click to expand...

Are these REALLY HID's or are they HIR's or even Silverstars? H=High, I= Intensity, D=Discharge
 
HIDs bulbs/ballasts are only about $100-150 so it doesn't make any sense to get HIR bulbs.
 
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Thes are definitely H.I.D lights. They came with two HID ballasts and two HID bulbs. The problem is when they are installed in place of the low beams I am still blind. They are much more white but from inside the car you can barely tell that the lights are turned on. When they are installed in place of the high beams it actually looks like I have my high beams on . Since I have owned this car I have been driving around with the high beams on and I have never been flashed by anyone to signify that I was indeed driving with the high beams on. I was able to see much better with the high beams but still not like a normal car.

I guess the next step is to look into the head light lenses. I know that they are definitely foggy, and I bet the reflectors are very dull. Does anyone know how to restore some effectiveness to the headlight lenses. I suppose that you can't buy new ones from Lincoln and if you could they would be prohibitively expensive.
 
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Ebay... I got a set on my vette... you can get em as cheap as $80 for a set... fantastic light out put... at a great price... PIAA are worthless in comparison.

hid2.jpg


hid1.jpg
 
Your lights seem to be pretty bright!

Your lights seem to be pretty bright!

Your lights seem to be pretty bright do you ever get people flashing you because they think that the high beams are on? As I said I got by with the headlight lighting because I was using the high beams all of the time. The HID's in the low beam housings doesn't give enough light; however at least I can tell that the lights are on now. In the high beam housings they worry me that I will be stopped because I am drivng with the high beams on. I presently don't have a happy medium. After seeing your picture it seems that your headlights are on the bright side. If what you are showing is acceptabbe to the police I may drive for a few days with the HID's mounted in the high beam lenses to see what happens! It is a good thing that I don't drink and drive anymore!
 
Well keep in mind that camera does create a bit of false flaring in the first pic... that said I have yet to be flashed... but the vette is super low to the ground... SUVs with stock HIDs are much more annoying to ppl than this.
 
Too Many Cars said:
Thes are definitely H.I.D lights. They came with two HID ballasts and two HID bulbs. The problem is when they are installed in place of the low beams I am still blind. They are much more white but from inside the car you can barely tell that the lights are turned on. When they are installed in place of the high beams it actually looks like I have my high beams on . Since I have owned this car I have been driving around with the high beams on and I have never been flashed by anyone to signify that I was indeed driving with the high beams on. I was able to see much better with the high beams but still not like a normal car.

I guess the next step is to look into the head light lenses. I know that they are definitely foggy, and I bet the reflectors are very dull. Does anyone know how to restore some effectiveness to the headlight lenses. I suppose that you can't buy new ones from Lincoln and if you could they would be prohibitively expensive.
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If you have true HID lamps, the Halogen lens are screwing up the beam pattern/or the back reflector has darkened. The HID lamps will want a clear, flat lens. Not a Fresnel lens.
 
logres said:
You can greatly improve your lights right now for around $50.

HIR bulbs. More people are switching to them.
Click to expand...
Who has the HIR bulbs? I can find Silverstar bulbs but no HIRs. Which are better?

REDHOT needs any help it can get.
 
HOTLNC said:
Who has the HIR bulbs? I can find Silverstar bulbs but no HIRs. Which are better?

REDHOT needs any help it can get.
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HIRs are better than everything except for HID.

You can get the HIRs from the site below:

http://hirheadlights.com/

Remember when ordering, the Mark's used high beam bulbs for both high and low beam lamps. I think the guy that runs that site already knows that.
 
maxmk8 said:
Well keep in mind that camera does create a bit of false flaring in the first pic... that said I have yet to be flashed... but the vette is super low to the ground... SUVs with stock HIDs are much more annoying to ppl than this.
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I get people flashing me in my H2 with normal halogen lamps. It's because the thing sits so high.
 
logres said:
HIRs are better than everything except for HID.
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I have the HIR bulbs for high beams in my factory HID conversions. They are awesome.

Given the current situation with our factory HID bulbs(in the Gen1s), if I had it to do over again, I would've bought new halogen lenses and HIR bulbs instead of the factory HIDs.
 
As an update I have been driving with the HID's conversion headlights for over a week in the high beam position (nobody flashed me to remind me that I have my high beams on!). I tried to use them in the low beam position but I guess that my housings are in really bad condition! In the high beam housings the HID's are a definite improvement! Stop signs seem as if they are lighted instead of being illuminated by the headlights! License plates look kind of strange because the blue part of the plate really stands out! My consensus is that it was a good change; however I kept my old 9005 high beam bulbs for inspection time. I believe that the HID conversion is DOT illegal!
 
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people, you must realize that you can put any bulb in the world in a 93-96 halogen housing, incandescent or hid, or hir, whatever, it doesnt matter, if the chrome reflective material is shot inside the housing, throwing hid's inside it is like pissing in the wind, its useless, you will not get any light output if the white hosuing material is soaking up your light. before spending money on any kind of miracle light bulb, you must have a set of headlights that are worthy of bulb investing. take a lamp in your house, put a white lamp shade around it and then look to the ceiling above it. now take the lamp shade off and line the inside of it with aluminum foil and look up at the ceiling, you'll see a huge difference. well, that lampshade is the inside of your housings, if the chrome is gone and the inside is all white, you wont see anything in front of your car. putting hid's in a standard halogen housing isnt the best idea, unless you buy brand new housings, then your hid's will work great, but the best thing to do is find 96 hid housings, and expect to pay some serious green for them. there is no doubt the headlights on the first gens suck, but trying band aid fixes is only going to get you more frustrated, you have to spend money to make them worthy, or, invest in a new car. you can only try some many fixes before you give up, or break down and refinance your house just so you can see in front of your mark VIII!
 
My next step is to see how to fix the housing! My Lincoln is not my only car and as an engineer I am curious! When I get the time I will find out how to make the headlights work. Polished aluminum foil isn't that bad of an idea; however I don't know what kind of aluminum it is yet! Some aluminums hold up well such as 6061 aluminum and others don't.
 
jamies98lsc said:
people, you must realize that you can put any bulb in the world in a 93-96 halogen housing, incandescent or hid, or hir, whatever, it doesnt matter, if the chrome reflective material is shot inside the housing, throwing hid's inside it is like pissing in the wind, its useless, you will not get any light output if the white hosuing material is soaking up your light. before spending money on any kind of miracle light bulb, you must have a set of headlights that are worthy of bulb investing. take a lamp in your house, put a white lamp shade around it and then look to the ceiling above it. now take the lamp shade off and line the inside of it with aluminum foil and look up at the ceiling, you'll see a huge difference. well, that lampshade is the inside of your housings, if the chrome is gone and the inside is all white, you wont see anything in front of your car. putting hid's in a standard halogen housing isnt the best idea, unless you buy brand new housings, then your hid's will work great, but the best thing to do is find 96 hid housings, and expect to pay some serious green for them. there is no doubt the headlights on the first gens suck, but trying band aid fixes is only going to get you more frustrated, you have to spend money to make them worthy, or, invest in a new car. you can only try some many fixes before you give up, or break down and refinance your house just so you can see in front of your mark VIII!
Click to expand...

I would agree with him here. For HIR bulbs to be effective (as with any bulb), one must have good housings.
 
logres said:
I would agree with him here. For HIR bulbs to be effective (as with any bulb), one must have good housings.
Click to expand...

But dollar for dollar the HIDs are better in a "Good housing" and they run cooler!

You can now purchase them for $75.99 shipped.
 
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