[Midnight00SE]

I know of only one member that had done HIDs to their Taurus and that was Mass97G. But I have not been able to contact him. Pretty much what I am wanting to do is put some HIDs in my Taurus. I do not need the projectors like he had. I'm just hoping that maybe this will completely set my car apart from everyone in the lighting category. Does anyone know what company would be good to go to for this? I've heard good things about McCullouch systems. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Mantioch]

Before I start, this is not a dis, or me being negative or anything of the such...

Before you do any kind of refit, conversion, or whatnot, please take a look at your local regulations regarding automotive lighting. In many places (and they are growing fast), aftermarket HIDs on a vehicle that did not have them as stock equipment are illegal.

The second part of this is that without the exact and proper installation with all the necessary components, you are going to have really cool looking headlights that don't do anything but blind people coming down the road and actually limit your visibility rather than increasing it.

Now... having said all that... I want some, too, and it would be cool as hell to have them. I believe they are illegal in my area, though .

Do a search for "HID" and there are a coulple of threads with good websites.

www.hidforum.com
www.hidretro.com

 

[Midnight00SE]

It is legal in my area. There aren't too many laws on these type of things down here in Alabama. But by no means do I live in the boonies.

 

[jason8225]

Dylan (D Man) has them in his Gen III - somebody else has them in their 95, but I'm drawing a blank on his name right now and I talked to him for quite a while at the Anonda Motorsports meet last month... crap, my memory is failing me already and I'm not even old yet... <_<

 

[EDIII]

Fo had them in his Gen II (they were kick ass...)

 

[jason8225]

Originally posted by EDIII@Oct 18 2004, 11:50 PM
Fo had them in his Gen II (they were kick ass...)

Thanks, Ed.

Yes, his car was very awesome! VERY clean, just plain awesome Gen 2. B)

 

[APhool]

I use the APC 80/100 watt Plasma Super Whites on my TBird and pleased with the results. OEM fit too. They have a very slight blueish tint and the cost is a lot less than a true HID system. This pic was taken on an overcast day around noon.

 

[firespirit]

Tom had them in his g3 SHO, but sold them to someone else (forgot who).. He paid over $1K to retrofit.

The reason why you haven't been able to contact him is the fact that he doesn't look at the boards anymore, he's got his Scion XB, which he's also retrofitted HIDs into. I can tell him to take a look at this thread though, I talk to him off and on.

__________________
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[Midnight00SE]

Please do that if you wouldn't mind. There were some things he was supposed to send me but I never got.

 

[93Bull]

Originally posted by jason8225+Oct 18 2004, 10:54 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (jason8225 @ Oct 18 2004, 10:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-EDIII@Oct 18 2004, 11:50 PM
Fo had them in his Gen II (they were kick ass...)

Thanks, Ed.

Yes, his car was very awesome! VERY clean, just plain awesome Gen 2. B)[/b][/quote]
Yeah. That was me. Thanks for the comments.

To date I have not blinded anyone, and I have not been pulled over for illegal lighting. It's just a matter of aiming them correctly. I do have to replace them with the standard bulbs when I get my car inspected because we have to have working high-beams here in NY. Other than that, I will never go back to regular lighting again.

 

[Racer X]

Tom (Mass97G) sold his kit to Dylan (D Man), for clarification.

 

[95FORDT]

Alright 93BUll Could we see some pics Im quite interstested in seeing better I realy dont like the lights on my car they dont do much currently and Id realy like to upgrade.

 

[RAMdrd]

please take a look at your local regulations regarding automotive lighting. In many places (and they are growing fast), aftermarket HIDs on a vehicle that did not have them as stock equipment are illegal.

Good advice.

And I just saw a blurb on the news today that the NHTSA has spanked Astex USA for selling HID kits that were illegal because they were not DOT approved. No lights or lighting equipment is legal for sale for street use, anywhere, if it's not DOT approved. They've ordered the vendor to recall all the sold kits. Apparently Astex is one of 25 companies so spanked.

This has nothing to do with local ordinances. This goes above and beyond. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Fortunately for a lot of people, most police don't know a lot about lights and lighting.

I'd like to know what percentage of shade tree install kits could actually pass a state safety inspection.

But anything you can get away with is cool; image is everything.

 

[mass97G]

let me clarify a few things ...

yes ALL HID KITS are illegial .. YES retrofitting is illegial ...

but the big difference is that .. when a retrofit is done properly .. the beam pattern will be the EXACT same as the car that the projectors came from

the problem with hid kits is that the reflector of a halogen headlight was not designed for the beam pattern of HIDs.. thats why there is tons of glare and crappy patterns .. and the reason why HID kits were made illegial

the retro i had was composed of ALL OEM HID components.. therefore there was proper shielding and the beam pattern was aimed to the exact specs that it should be..

my beam pattern was no different then the s2000 the projectors came from

retrofitting is the only TRUE WAY to get real hids ... hid kits are junk .. the reliability is junk and the cost of replacing the parts is outrageous ..

I have since sold the SHO and just got done with a retro for my 2005 Scion xB

here are a few pics ...

we used a 60 LED grid for the turn signals.. a Cold Cathode 12" flouresecent tube for the parking light and Eurospec ECE d2s Valeo projectors for the lighting ...

http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retro1.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]
[url=http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retro2.jpg][img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retro2.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]
[url=http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retro3.jpg][img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retro3.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]
[url=http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone1.jpg][img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone1.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]

[url=http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone2.jpg][img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone2.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]

[url=http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone3.jpg][img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone3.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]

[url=http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone4.jpg][img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/retrodone4.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]


also to add ... here is a pic of what the beam pattern for my projector looks like

this is one projector on a wall

[url=http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/ece2.jpg][img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomcranecivic/ece2.jpg' alt='' width='1280' height='857' class='attach' />[/url]

 

[rudedog]

Mass97g, is there a scion club yet?

 

[Mantioch]

mass97g,

So, if I were to get a set of S2000 projectors and mount them in my Gen IV, the headlight housing would not matter at all because I have OEM equipement and all the necessary parts from the S2000, right? The beam eminates from the projector as say an LED would, straight out with no need for the housing to reflect the light to make the beam right, correct? Just trying to get a grip on the technicallities!

 

[mass97G]

Originally posted by Mantioch@Oct 20 2004, 10:55 AM
mass97g,

So, if I were to get a set of S2000 projectors and mount them in my Gen IV, the headlight housing would not matter at all because I have OEM equipement and all the necessary parts from the S2000, right? The beam eminates from the projector as say an LED would, straight out with no need for the housing to reflect the light to make the beam right, correct? Just trying to get a grip on the technicallities! 

the only purpose the housing serves is

1) a place to anchor the projector to (this is something that has to be precise .. not just a "slap it on there" attitude.. the mounting is key as this allows for proper aligment of the projector and proper beam)

2) a means to adjust the up-down/left-right of the beam ... the method my friend uses for his retros allows you to retain full adjustability of the projector via the stock aiming screws on the headlights

the headlight housings themselves can be painted whatever color you want .. though a dark color is usually best as if any stray light does happen to bounce out .. it will be "swallowed" by the paint ... i always go with black as i like the dark housing look but there have been tons of successful retros even leaving the house chrome ...

its all about placement of the projector to make sure the beam is right ,... the housings themselves serve very little purpose besides what i mentioned above

 

[mass97G]

Originally posted by rudedog@Oct 20 2004, 10:17 AM
Mass97g, is there a scion club yet?

there are quite a few diff ones .. though i am not part of any

scionlife.com is a good site for anyone that cares about scions

 

[93Bull]

Originally posted by 95FORDT@Oct 19 2004, 07:28 PM
Alright  93BUll Could we see some pics Im quite interstested in seeing better I realy dont like the lights on my car they dont do much currently and Id realy like to upgrade.

I'll try to get some pics of the setup I have. Anything in particular you would like to see?

Mass97G makes some very good points about the legality of these systems. I happen to have a replacement system that does not include any special housing. However, I have been fortunate enough to not have been pulled over for the HID's. That's why it's very important that the lights are aimed correctly. A few members here saw them up close at the NE meet recently. They can tell you how they looked. I don't have the sharp cutoff that DMAN has (Mass97G's old setup), but they also didn't blind you because they were aimed as best as I could make them. I would prefer to have a system that was properly done like Mass97's but there are none and that one was a custom job. (Great work, Tom).

Another point to be made is that with these systems on our cars, you lose your high-beams as all of the HID kits are low-beam systems. That's why I have to remove them when it comes time for my car to be inspected as it is a NYS requirement to have working high-beams. Any more questions, feel free to ask.

 

[mass97G]

Originally posted by 93Bull+Oct 20 2004, 04:16 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (93Bull @ Oct 20 2004, 04:16 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-95FORDT@Oct 19 2004, 07:28 PM
Alright  93BUll Could we see some pics Im quite interstested in seeing better I realy dont like the lights on my car they dont do much currently and Id realy like to upgrade.

I'll try to get some pics of the setup I have. Anything in particular you would like to see?

Mass97G makes some very good points about the legality of these systems. I happen to have a replacement system that does not include any special housing. However, I have been fortunate enough to not have been pulled over for the HID's. That's why it's very important that the lights are aimed correctly. A few members here saw them up close at the NE meet recently. They can tell you how they looked. I don't have the sharp cutoff that DMAN has (Mass97G's old setup), but they also didn't blind you because they were aimed as best as I could make them. I would prefer to have a system that was properly done like Mass97's but there are none and that one was a custom job. (Great work, Tom).

Another point to be made is that with these systems on our cars, you lose your high-beams as all of the HID kits are low-beam systems. That's why I have to remove them when it comes time for my car to be inspected as it is a NYS requirement to have working high-beams. Any more questions, feel free to ask. [/b][/quote]
thats not totally true .

there are BI-XENON projectors ... tons of cars come with them

its basically a low beam xenon projector with a solenoid .. when you activate the high beam it lowers the shield and allows more light to escape .. simulating a high beam

though you will never see a car with just a bi-xenon projector. they are always accompanied by a halogen high beam

some cars that come with bi-xenons

2002+ 3 series with hid
m3 with hid
04 acura TL
audi A6 2003+
04 Maxima

the reason i didnt use one is because the projectors are not that good .. aside from the 04 TL ... and that was not out when i did the s2k retro.. the s2k projector is by far the best low beam only projector there is ...

the one i am using in my current retro is low beam only as well .. just as good as the s2k .. but concentrates more light in the front rather to the sides.. so its not as wide as the s2k .. but brighter where i need the light more