1997 Mercury Mountaineer, 5.0L V8

[YoungMounty]

HID and KC issues

With the addition of my new headlight housings + the HID install I know have a predicament. I have really weird shadows in the light output, at first i thought it was my brish guard then realized it wasn't. Is this the new headlight housings? Did I mess something up? Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

On to the KCs. I installed the KCs and they were working fine, love the brightness and all but I went to mount my switch after a week of it just hanging out where ever and i routed the wire through the firewall rather than through the door (lol, i know this was a bad idea at first but i was pressed for time.). When i went to mount the switch my KCs would not turn on. Nothing happened. I checked all my fuses (had to replace one) and re-did my positive and negative battery terminals just because it needed to be done and with all the wiring to the terminals i needed something more heavy duty. i can't figure out why the lights still aren't working....? could it be grounding issues (one ground is on where the hood closes and the other for the switch is on a screw under the cubby hole, both "seem" to be fine) also, any advice/suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, our first big snow storm came this past week (no school for a whole week thanks to a mere 6 inches) and the mounty handled amazingly well. The Duratracs performed amazingly and my brush guard helped in one incident with a trash can the AWD was found to be useful but I see a BW 4406 swap in the future

 

[Sbyrne97]

thos aftermarket housings aren't all they are cracked up to be...The reflective piece gives off strange patterns, thats why I switched back to stock housings they work fine for me, though they look a little old...it sucks too cause I loved the look of the clear housings...I used them for about a year but couldn't take it anymore, the stock ones give out great output for not being clear I don't have HID but with silverstars they are good enough for me

 

[dreddog47]

The shield in there is made to reflect halogen, not HID... HID bulbs are designed to send light forward, halogen sends it in 360 degrees... thats why in reflector housings, HID's have funky patterns.... If you want to keep those housings with a good output, you need to do a projector retrofit....

How about some output shots with the HID's? set the camera ISO to 100 and take some 20ft from a wall, then some in an open parking lot or on a dark road....

 

[YoungMounty]

thanks for the info! and i'll get those shots on as soon as i get the chance. would removing the shields help (if that's possible...?)?

 

[YoungMounty]

KC lights fixed.. replaced the switch and a 3 amp fuse. all is well.

about the headlights, i'd really like to get some info on if removing those little shields will help out my beam pattern at all as i would like to get this done sometime soon.

 

[BrianDye]

Looks great man, I hear ya' on the hubs! I just had todo mine, my drivers side bearings had been ground to dust! Im onto ball joints, UCA's and tie rods myself.

Those headlights look amazing on there too If you can afford it, keep the clear housings and retrofit a projector in there for the HIDs. I havent seen a retrofit in real life yet, but the results I see in pictures compared to the eBay 1 piece housings, and diamond cuts like you have are astonishing. My dream over the summer is to get rid of the projector in my housings and get a real one and fit it in there.

 

[sport97]

Nice mounty. I think the soft 8s look great on your truck. I'm picking a set up this spring. I'd like to get a roof basket like yours as well, but we'll see i guess.

 

[YoungMounty]

the cragars are possibly one of my favorite upgrades. i hated the tear drops, everyone has their own opinion but i despised them. i had to get rid of them and these definitely compliment the look i was going for. i really picked up a deal on the roof rack from a guy i knew. it was used but looked just like new.

 

[YoungMounty]

ok, huge breakdown of the mounty this weekend (1/21-23) (well huge in my eyes ):

taking apart the the new headlights; removing the shields. haven't had any input on this so someone please stop me if this is the wrong thing to do, if not I'm gonna go ahead and whatever happens happens. I can always clean up the stockers right? and a final aiming of the headlights.

major cleanup of the truck; the mounty is in need of a huge clean inside and out, may try something new with my subs to increase cargo space.

Reverse lights install; gonna strategically place two reverse lights on my roof rack to aid in reversing (badly need it with the dark tint on the rear).

switch panel addition. probably gonna take advantage of the cubby hole space and add 4 switches, even though only one is in use right now, but might as well plan for the future right?

begin searching for a spare tire; i'm in need of a 31" spare seeing as how i've been driving around for half a year without one and no way of fixing a roadside flat (i know, really dumb)

anymore ideas will be added to this post and i would also like some suggestions, what do you have that i don't?what are your favorite, most necessary, or useful mods?

also, i'm going to begin looking around (and saving) for a 4 inch suspension lift and bigger tires but that will be sometime this summer.

 

[YoungMounty]

Follow-Up on Big weekend

got the shields out of the headlights, minor improvement. still have some bugs to work out before i decide to replace them.

the mounty did not get it's major clean-up that it needed; this will have to wait lol

bad money situation kept me from getting any reverse lights installed (identity theft, traffic court, etc.), but they will come eventually!!

did not get my switch panel thing made this weekend cause of the time it took to "fix" my headlights; but i did find a thread a sketched out some plans for my switch(es)

may have a lead on a used 31; again the money situation is keeping me from acting on this right away

still researching the lift plans/ideas. with 4" suspension along with my 2" tt/shackles what will i have to replace/worry about??

 

[Sbyrne97]

just get a pair of stock lights...they put light out pretty well...I know they don't look good though, but compared to the aftermarket ones I got which were ($89) there a lot better

 

[dreddog47]

Bah, wish i read before...

Pulling the shield out is probably going to cause more glare for oncoming drivers, just saying

and I know how you feel about the output, I just put HID's in a friends 00 XLT with the euro headlights and diamond corners, and his output is absolute crap... but it does look awesome though

 

[YoungMounty]

yeah, these suck! i'm definitely going to look into a different type of housing. and when these lights go out i'm getting the DDM kit, which i should have in the first place.

new idea i'm look at, true cold air intake and maybe some more performance stuff seeing as how i'm pretty content with my setup... right now.

 

[dreddog47]

yeah, these suck! i'm definitely going to look into a different type of housing. and when these lights go out i'm getting the DDM kit, which i should have in the first place.

new idea i'm look at, true cold air intake and maybe some more performance stuff seeing as how i'm pretty content with my setup... right now.

DDM stopped selling HID kits, they still have the raptor kits up but the digital slims are gone, they are moving into other areas....

just put a mac intake on my friends 00 V8, made it a hell of alot louder

 

[YoungMounty]

that looks bad ass! i will definitely look into that! i'm digging it big time. what are the pros and cons of this over, say, the KKM kit... or the K&N kit?

what are the differences between the Raptor kits and HIDs?

and i believe i have an exhaust leak. when accelerating there is a tick coming from the right front. sounds like an escaping air, ticking noise if you get what i'm trying to say??

thanks for alll the replies, you've been extremely helpful dred

 

[dreddog47]

that looks bad ass! i will definitely look into that! i'm digging it big time. what are the pros and cons of this over, say, the KKM kit... or the K&N kit?

what are the differences between the Raptor kits and HIDs?

and i believe i have an exhaust leak. when accelerating there is a tick coming from the right front. sounds like an escaping air, ticking noise if you get what i'm trying to say??

thanks for alll the replies, you've been extremely helpful dred

I think K&N's you are paying for the name, and the only experience with KKM i've had is on a first gen, which was 100 dollars for a filter and MAF adapter

The ticking is probably coming from the manifold, they have a tendency to crack or leak... either that, or its the EGR pipe, or exhaust manifold gasket....

 

[YoungMounty]

i really like the look of the MAC CAI but it is like 170... and the KKM is like 90 now. i'll probably be going with the MAC though, it looks like a more in depth, complete kit.

and about the raptors? whats the difference between them and just a regular HID kit?

 

[steve101]

sexy mounty. im running 3 in body lift on 31 bf goodrich all terrains
i live Virginia beach VA and i swear theres only 2 lifted mountys here sucks

 

[YoungMounty]

haha i feel your pain main. i'm the only one around here in alabama i think. how was the body lift gettin it on? i'm looking into putting one on this summer and trying to run some 33s

 

[steve101]

haha i feel your pain main. i'm the only one around here in alabama i think. how was the body lift gettin it on? i'm looking into putting one on this summer and trying to run some 33s

It was pretty easy i had to use one for ranger but it wasent that hard the only thing is your going to have to cut your front bumper brackets lol i had mine on for 5 years and still havent done it yea i wanna add a 3in suspension lift and 35s but dont have the money for that lol. Oh i have something werid umm when my heat is on the car chokes down and then revs back up any ideas? Ty in advance