P51's HID Headlight (Projector) and Fog Conversion (PICS) | Page 7 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

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
 






Thread bump. Its been sevenish years since this build, how are these retrofits holding up?
 






Thread bump. Its been sevenish years since this build, how are these retrofits holding up?

They have held up miraculously well. The projectors still produce a crisp cutoff, and the high beam shutters work, but the left now opens ever so slightly slower than the right. The housings have weathered but held up well over 110,000 miles and still leak free. Bulbs were replaced once, not due to failure but to change color from 5000k to 4300k (I'm pretty sure I covered that in this thread). The ballasts are definitely the weak link in an aftermarket HID kit. I have replaced the right ballast twice and the left once. I never once had an issue with the fog lights other than again replacing both ballasts.

This retrofit was the best modification done to my Explorer. I only hope the retrofit I did on my 4th gen holds up as well as this did!
 






Back
Top