P51's HID Headlight (Projector) and Fog Conversion (PICS) | Page 4 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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P51's HID Headlight (Projector) and Fog Conversion (PICS)

Here is my writeup for doing a Bi-Xenon HID Projector Retrofit for 96-01 Explorers, and HID Fog Light conversion for 99-01 Explorers.

Parts:

Clear Housings
E46 Bi-Xenon Projectors
3" Projector Shrouds
D2S HID Kit @ 5000k (Now 4300k)
H1 HID Kit @ 5000k (Now 4300k)
High Beam Controllers
3 Relays (30amp)
2 Diodes (3amp)
Fuse block (or inline)

To start you need to open up the headlight housings
First remove all the mounts from the housing
IMG_0042.jpg


Then put the light on a baking tray with tinfoil in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. put the headlight in the oven and wait about 5-10 min, CONSTANTLY MONITOR IT and make sure it doesn't get soft.
IMG_0045.jpg


Now its time to modify the housing to fit the protector
IMG_0050.jpg


Cut out all the plastic from the inside of the circle. I found that the barrel sander Dremel attachment worked the best.
IMG_0051.jpg


Now cut along the bottom to make room for the projector solenoid
IMG_0054.jpg


The Projectors (Note: They are upside down)
IMG_0048-1.jpg


Fit the projector into the housing
IMG_0056.jpg

IMG_0057-1.jpg

IMG_0058.jpg


Now onto the High Beams, I didn't have the actual wires, so I desoldered the connection off the board and soldered on my own leads.
IMG_0059.jpg


Mark and Drill the holes to mount the Projectors
IMG_0062.jpg


I used some of my old LEGOS as spacers, and used Plexiglase to seal the light back up. (NOTE: Cut the excess screw off it will interfere with installation later.
IMG_0089-1.jpg


Done (No shrouds at the moment)
IMG_0068.jpg


Now This isnt necessary but its a nice touch. I put 3 LEDs in to come on when the mirror lights come on. When you click unlock on the key fob these come on and do give off quite a bit of light. Cover with silicone.
IMG_0113.jpg


These are the LEDs not the HIDs
IMG_0116.jpg


Pax side Ballast locations
IMG_0084copy.jpg


Driver side Ballast locations
IMG_0085copy.jpg


HIDs vs Friends Subaruaruaru Stock Halogen
Lights-1.jpg


Fogs

The only major modification needed to do the fog conversion is to modify the bulb socket. Cut out the center of the ring and thats all. Sorry about the piss poor pic but all I had was my cell phone camera.
0229081730a.jpg


Seal up the socket with some silicone and splice into the pigtail wire that goes from the chassis to the bulb, and connect that with the power in lead of the HID ballast.
IMG_0088dcopy.jpg


Close up of Pax side Fog Ballast
IMG_0083.jpg


Done, Getting ready to go Skiing behind the Explorer :)
IMG_0075s.jpg

NOTE: The all Ford fleet.:thumbsup:

Wiringdaigram.jpg


Good Luck

EDIT: Daytime Pictures and Pics with shrouds installed on post 27
EDIT: Cutoff Pictures added on post 109
 



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for some one that has never done this sort of mode about how much time in hours would you say this would take? I wanna do it but looks like quite the under taking. Which go figure i work on computers all day for my "real" job and working on headlights freak me out.

It took me awhile to do this. I spent about a month getting all the parts I needed, but the actual work only took a few days. If you want to break it down into hours. I would say I spent about 6 hours modifying the housings and installing the projectors. 2 hours installing the headlights on the vehicle. 2 Hours on wiring, (plus the sleepless nights beforehand trying to figure out how to wire it). After all that it took me about a weeks worth of driving to aim the lights just right.
 



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thanks Ryan and Vroomzoomboom i think i will start this late summer. may need to pm or email you guys for some help.
 






So how is it driving without having true high beams, I'm really interested in doing this, just I am still sitting on the fence about losing "high beams", since it seems like you keep the same light output, just the whatever you want to call it drops down and the cut off is removed. Has anyone ever tried/had the idea to put in HIDs for low beams and keep/move/do something to retain halogen high beams?

just curious =P
 






look at post 50. i have a picture with low beam, and a picture with high beams on. ryan also has a picture with low, and high beams as well. as for how dose it look while driving, you can tell when you have your high beams on. with the bmw projector, you can't run one bulb for low beam, and one for high beam.
 






So how is it driving without having true high beams, I'm really interested in doing this, just I am still sitting on the fence about losing "high beams", since it seems like you keep the same light output, just the whatever you want to call it drops down and the cut off is removed. Has anyone ever tried/had the idea to put in HIDs for low beams and keep/move/do something to retain halogen high beams?

just curious =P

Not quite sure what you mean by not having true high beams? Even if you have separate halogen High beams, the projectors with a single light source still put out more light then a halogen bulb
 






Not quite sure what you mean by not having true high beams? Even if you have separate halogen High beams, the projectors with a single light source still put out more light then a halogen bulb

For example the LS 460 has HID lows and halogen high (seperate projectors but it has both) same with the Lincoln mkx.

In regards to the other post... I see what they look like, prob went through this thread 5 times hahaha. But to
the pics it looks like the brightness is the same just the amount that gets out is different, basically what in asking is that in the 07 X sport trac (what I have, and love) hi and low beams are one bulb, so if I did this would I miss having the high beam or would the brightness of the HID greatly make up for it?

Thanks in advance =P
And sorry for any werid formating or spelling i'm using an iPod :rolleyes:
 






For example the LS 460 has HID lows and halogen high (seperate projectors but it has both) same with the Lincoln mkx.

In regards to the other post... I see what they look like, prob went through this thread 5 times hahaha. But to
the pics it looks like the brightness is the same just the amount that gets out is different, basically what in asking is that in the 07 X sport trac (what I have, and love) hi and low beams are one bulb, so if I did this would I miss having the high beam or would the brightness of the HID greatly make up for it?

Thanks in advance =P
And sorry for any werid formating or spelling i'm using an iPod :rolleyes:

5000k HIDs are 3 times as bright as 55w halogen bulbs so yes i would think they make up for not having a second bulb for the high beams. Plus Projectors use the light better then any reflector, or refractor housing.
 






5000k HIDs are 3 times as bright as 55w halogen bulbs so yes i would think they make up for not having a second bulb for the high beams. Plus Projectors use the light better then any reflector, or refractor housing.

Alright. Sorry if I sounded uninformed, I was just curious as to what someone who has actually done this thought. Thank you very much =P. I'm even more interested, now all I have to do is manage to get together the money. Haha
 






can you by the clear lense seprate or do you have to buy the whole light housing?
 












can any late model headlights fit on my 1999 ford explorer xlt????
 






anything will fit anything it just depends on how ambishish you really are and if you know anything about bondo!!!!!But honestly the newer 06 and up housings shouldn't require to much work.
 






Nice retrofit there. What bulbs are you running? Kit bulbs or Philips 85122CMs? Good to see a few people on here do retrofits.
 






See, now I'm wanting to do this, lol. One quick question, did you use 35w ballasts?
 


















could this be done to a 99 mounty headlight? there would be more room to work with too, so maybe less removing of material from the shrouds as well?

it seems the installation of the bulbs/projectors is basically dremelling out the back of the headlight housings to make them fit. is this correct or am i way off?
 






could this be done to a 99 mounty headlight? there would be more room to work with too, so maybe less removing of material from the shrouds as well?

it seems the installation of the bulbs/projectors is basically dremelling out the back of the headlight housings to make them fit. is this correct or am i way off?

No you arnt way off. If there is room for the porjector, all you need to figure out is how to mount it in the housing.
 






Would this work on an 05 explorer?
 



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Yes you can add projectors to an 05, its alot easier though because they have separate bulbs for high and low beams so you will not need bi-xenon projectors.
 






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