HID Retrofit Log 99 Explorer *LOTS OF PICS*

Ive always loved the look of HID and aftermarket lighting on cars. On my old explorer, I had the diamond cuts with high temp harness and hyper white 80 watt halogen bulbs. On my new explorer, I wanted to do something new and go beyond what I used to have. Eairly on I decided to buy one of those 9007 HID kits on ebay that are plug and play but after doing some homework I found that they are actually illegal and dangerous to operate due to the amount of glare and stare light they give out. I then decided to fork out the extra money and do it the right way. (Plus I love the way projectors look!)

I bought a kit off ebay that consisted of the projectors, 4300k D2S bulbs, ignitors, and ballasts. ($350 shipped) I also had to buy a new set of diamond cuts because my old set on my old truck got smashed in the wreck ($100 overnighted, Thanks sideswiped for the awsome deal

Now to the pics

It was a friday nite and instead of going out with my friend and such, I decided to stay home and work on this project. I started around 8 and ended at 12 so i got 4 hours in of measuring, cutting, recutting, and playing around in. Heres what I have so far...

Diamond Cut with projector sitting inside with lense on, this will be about what it will look like when it is all done (Plus the shroud)

Halo Eyes from Advance Autoparts

Shoud that will go around the projector, had to be trimmed at the top

Lense on again with projector inside

Lense off, projector inside...test fitting

....

Rear before trimming

Rear after

A lot more trimming to go, the whole inner circle needs to be cut out.

BMW Projectors I am using

Ballast and ignitors with 9006 plug. I already have a 9007 high power harness so I will just cut off the 9007 plugs and splice these 9006 in and bam...power to the ballast. The only easy thing to this project!

More to come tomarrow night when I get more progress! I will try and show I mount the projectors and seal everything up

 

[huskyfan23]

If you payed any attention to his write-up you would know he had to chop that off.

Well..... double posting is worse than not reading Doesn't look like there's enough space for another projector anyways.

We don't take too kindly to Heeps over hea. They make fun of Explorers and then use our parts

 

[Afboy143]

Yes I had to chop the highbeam solenoid off that opens and closes the shutter. I did buy this so I could have hi/low beams but unforntually due to space difficulties it could not happen. You live and you learn...

Bauer- The headlights are not as big as you think, it was a very very very tight fit. I bet the projector could have stayed in the housing without me mounting it due to me ramming it in there. I do realize there is a big gap but what can you do...its a retrofit. I like to think it likes kind of like a Land Rover....not a jeep.

To be honest, with HID you dont need high beams. These lights are so much brighter than halogen you will never want to go back. So much easier on the eyes and you can see everything

 

[99-5.0explorer]

wanna make me a set??

 

[Afboy143]

wanna make me a set??

Sorry for the crazy delayed responce LOL

Just buy urself some diamond cut headlights and projectors, ballasts, and ignitors off ebay and have at it.

 

[00XLS]

Wht about those halos? Did you decide against them?

I was wondering the same, do you have a part number for them? i'm thinking about a set myself...

 

[Afboy143]

just found them at advance auto parts in the ricer section

Decided against them because
1) they shined blue
2) they were too big for the housing and i did not feel like melting them down to the correct sie
3) I would have to change the blue LED to white if I even considered using them

If you want them, you can have them. They were like $20 + tax, ill ship em for $5 lemme know

 

[mweiss]

Ive always loved the look of HID and aftermarket lighting on cars. On my old explorer, I had the diamond cuts with high temp harness and hyper white 80 watt halogen bulbs. On my new explorer, I wanted to do something new and go beyond what I used to have.

Excellent work! What year is that Explorer?

I've been looking for an HID solution for my '98 Explorer, but I wasn't aware that you could get a whole new type of headlight assembly with a clear lens like that!

Where do you get the new style lamp assembly? And what about the projector HID kits? The prices sound decent too. I was quoted $1500 for just bulbs and ballasts by some local auto parts dealers and I would still be stuck with old lens/reflectors which suck big time.

That setup you've got there is exactly what I would wish for, but didn't know was really available. Great job!

 

[Afboy143]

Im bringin my post back from the dead

This was actually a retrofit, cost about 600$ total for the diamonds, ballasts, ignitiers, 4300 and 12000k bulbs on ebay

hidplanet.com is a good place to search

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Did you post pictures of your 12000 bulbs illuminated?

-Drew

 

[Afboy143]

sure did, they are the mccolluch bulbs which tend to be a lot darker purple than other brands. Mcculloch's HID bulbs are darker in colors than other companies. The pics in the followin link should explain what I mean...its more of a darker purple where at other brands at 12000k are a light purple

http://www.afsupplements.com/expo/lights/

 

['97 V8]

im brinin this puppy back to life. I have a question for ya. Theres a great deal on ebay for a set of bmw 740 projectors...like the light like you have. Now also i saw this bi-xenon kit for the 9007 system (the ones we have) but it doesnt come wth the projectors. Will i be able to take those bimmer projectors and insert the kits xenon bulb in it? To make it in more understandable terms, can i take out all that circuitry and what not and just keep that lens and its carrier to use?

 

[Afboy143]

[QUOTE='97 V8]im brinin this puppy back to life. I have a question for ya. Theres a great deal on ebay for a set of bmw 740 projectors...like the light like you have. Now also i saw this bi-xenon kit for the 9007 system (the ones we have) but it doesnt come wth the projectors. Will i be able to take those bimmer projectors and insert the kits xenon bulb in it? To make it in more understandable terms, can i take out all that circuitry and what not and just keep that lens and its carrier to use?[/QUOTE]

To do a projector retrofit, you will first need diamond cuts or a headlight with a clear front to start off.

The bixenon kit will not fit in our headlights due to space issues and you will need to cut off the shutter for bi xenon so dont waste the money like I did.

The 9007 kit is actually a HID bulb made to fit in a 9007 halogen socket headlight. In order to retrofit the projector, you will need to open the lense up, mount the projector inside, and seal it up. Projectors use a bulb called "D2S" bulbs which is totally diff than 9007. Your going to have to run some sort of relay from your stock 9007 socket to a 9006 socket. The reason I say 9006 is because thats what plugs into the ballasts for the HID kits which then turn on the HID d2s bulb.

Here is a kit that comes with EVERYTHIGN and is cheap. All you need to do is get diamond cuts, mount the projectors, and wire it up.....plus its NEW and comes with gen 3 ballasts !


http://www.hidplanet.com/package.html

The top (bosch) comes with
(2) Bosch Projectors

(2) Hella/Philips LVQ-212 G3 Ballasts

(2) D2S HID Bulbs

(2) Ballast Covers/mounts

(2) Ballast connectors
at $400+ shipping.

The Valeo kit is $45 more and I think the difference is the Valeos give off more color. (Look at the new corvette which I believe is Valeo VS. BMW which is Bosch)

 

['97 V8]

what about these kits that i saw on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...90011749794&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1000...3QQihZ017QQcategoryZ36476QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Afboy143]

1st=crap
2nd= ok

those are 9007 kits that go in your stock housing, they arent HID retrofits like I have. I actually took a projector that was out of a wrecked BMW and put it inside of a explorer diamond cut lense.

 

[Cue]

Bringing this one back up again

I ordered some E46 Bi-Xenon projectors and clear lenses and plan to start on my conversion next week. I want to keep the high beam as to pass state inspections here you have to have it, plus being able to flash for passing or whatever.

Do you think it is possible to cut the headlight lens on top so the solonoid can stick out and then make a new cover for it to keep the elements out is possible? I haven't taken my lights out yet so I don't know what kind of room there is on top of the lens.

 

[Abom]

Whatever. Jeeps are awesome.

No one said Jeeps weren't awesome. Jeeps are cool, but their lighting isn't very favorable.

 

[Afboy143]

I'm telling you the fit is TIGHT, I mean so tight that anything more wouldnt fit. What I would recomend if you HAVE TO have high beams and cut a hole somehow and try to rig up a halogen bulb where you hit the highbeams and it turns the bulb on. The TSX's and other cars with HID just have a halogen bulb that flips on for the high beams. You could also try this stunt as shown below

Notice you see the HID bulb, then beside it there is a h4 Halogen blue coated bulb for when the high beams are switched on.

The way mine worked was you have the ballast and there a special plug that hooked up to the shutter on the projector that would activate the shutter to open when high beams was switched to allow more light out. This would be hard to fit the top-mounted solenoid because in order to cut the top of the projector, you would have to cut the bottom of the side blinker. You could check on hidforums.com to see what other people did that was in your shoes with tight fits. All I know the easiest route is to hook up a halogen bulb

Bringing this one back up again

I ordered some E46 Bi-Xenon projectors and clear lenses and plan to start on my conversion next week. I want to keep the high beam as to pass state inspections here you have to have it, plus being able to flash for passing or whatever.

Do you think it is possible to cut the headlight lens on top so the solonoid can stick out and then make a new cover for it to keep the elements out is possible? I haven't taken my lights out yet so I don't know what kind of room there is on top of the lens.

 

[Afboy143]

No one said Jeeps weren't awesome. Jeeps are cool, but their lighting isn't very favorable.

I hate ALL lighting that isnt in the diamond cut housing or HID. Halogen is just so dim for me, Im suprised all cars arent HID

 

[Cue]

I briefly looked at the headlights in my Explorer and it looked like there would be room on top of the headlight lens to cut it and have the solonoid on the top, it didn't look like it would hit the turn signal lens but I haven't taken them out yet. I have searched HIDplanet and a few other forums and havent found anyone that has done an explorer.

 

[Afboy143]

I briefly looked at the headlights in my Explorer and it looked like there would be room on top of the headlight lens to cut it and have the solonoid on the top, it didn't look like it would hit the turn signal lens but I haven't taken them out yet. I have searched HIDplanet and a few other forums and havent found anyone that has done an explorer.

Yeah thats the problem, you got to go at it yourself basically like I did because no one else has really done it. Ive seen the new explorers done but thats it. If you want, just pull the stock lenses out and mess with them. Are you planning to retrofit the stock housing or are you getting diamond cuts?