HID Headlight conversion.

[DM75Hurst]

As anyone done one? I'm thinking of doing a 6k xenon upgrade. That would give me the ultra bright whites without any annoying blue/yellow coloring.. trying to think outside of the box to add a little something different to the olds.

[Firethorne77]

I have been thinking about doing the conversion this year. I wrote about this a while back on a thread and know it would be a huge difference maker driving at nite. I have them in my daily driver.
The 5k would be a pure white and you can buy the kits online for reasonable money.
On my car, its the quad set up, and I have seen the headlights for about $100. Then buy the kit for another $200, install the bulbs, run the wires, the ignitors.

Look up Zola's car on the forum here, he did it in his '75. Looks sharp.
I'll keep ya posted, as I am itchin' to do it, but you loose the factory Sylvania look to the lenses when you change over.

[442_ExpreSS]

HID is a funny thing. The problem with HID retrofit kits is 1, they are not street legal, & 2 HIDs were never designed to be used in a reflector style housing. While there are conversion housings available, most don't have the correct cut off point as would a factory style projector, & they tend to scatter the light & produce hot spots (a bright patch of light followed by a shadowed area) & also a fair bit of glare. You can only aim them so much but the will still have some glare no matter what you do. Spitscraft is the only known manufactuer of projector 4x6 housings, but at $1000 a set, out of mosts price range. You could try this http://www.lt1engine.com/tech/93-97-firebird-camaro-bi-xenon-projector-conversion/

Then, there is also the odd look the projectors give on a otherwise classic looking car. Futhermore, HID tend to produce a large pool of light on the road directly in front of the vehicle causing your pupils to close down, worsening your distance vision & giving the illusion of being able to see better.

Now that I've given the known negatives of such a conversion, I will say I have converted several vehicles & will NEVER run regular halogens on any of my vehicles again. HID produce about 3x the light intensity of regular bulbs. I have not once ever been flashed by a oncoming driver with any of the converted cars, but I did take the time to aim the lights correctly.

I would not recommend going any higher than 6k as the light just gets bluer & you actually loose light output in the higher kelvin range.

You will need a set of 4x6 h4 conversion housings & a h4 based HID kit. The basic kits can be had for as little as $25 on Ebay, but that will be analog ballasts & single beam (no high beam function) kits. If you would like to retain the high beam function, you will need a bi-xenon or Bi-Lux or Hi-lo kit, (all the same thing) where a shield covers 1/2 of the filament during low-beam, and then moves based on electric charge to allow light from both sides to reflect for high beam function.

Also, if you would like to retain a stock style housing, look into the autopal housings as they look very similar to a regular sylvania halogen.

HTH

[DM75Hurst]

75 H/O uses 7" round lights :) but i've looked into what i'd need, looks fairly straight forward.. Going back to the legal issue, have you had any issues with your converted cars? I've seen lots of little imports running around with them, and a few sport trucks.. Don't see why OEM would be legal and aftermarket wouldn't be.. thanks for replys!

[442_ExpreSS]

Doh! sorry didn't mean to leave out the 7" round light cars, I was thinking along the lines of our 76 :)

No, never a issue with the law, but that could vary depending on where you live. Mainly it would be the issue of the glare blinding oncoming drivers. If aimed properly, it will help alot & *should* keep you out of trouble.

[74hurstolds]

HID is a funny thing. The problem with HID retrofit kits is 1, they are not street legal, & 2 HIDs were never designed to be used in a reflector style housing. While there are conversion housings available, most don't have the correct cut off point as would a factory style projector, & they tend to scatter the light & produce hot spots (a bright patch of light followed by a shadowed area) & also a fair bit of glare. You can only aim them so much but the will still have some glare no matter what you do. Spitscraft is the only known manufactuer of projector 4x6 housings, but at $1000 a set, out of mosts price range. You could try this http://www.lt1engine.com/tech/93-97-firebird-camaro-bi-xenon-projector-conversion/

Then, there is also the odd look the projectors give on a otherwise classic looking car. Futhermore, HID tend to produce a large pool of light on the road directly in front of the vehicle causing your pupils to close down, worsening your distance vision & giving the illusion of being able to see better.

Now that I've given the known negatives of such a conversion, I will say I have converted several vehicles & will NEVER run regular halogens on any of my vehicles again. HID produce about 3x the light intensity of regular bulbs. I have not once ever been flashed by a oncoming driver with any of the converted cars, but I did take the time to aim the lights correctly.

I would not recommend going any higher than 6k as the light just gets bluer & you actually loose light output in the higher kelvin range.

You will need a set of 4x6 h4 conversion housings & a h4 based HID kit. The basic kits can be had for as little as $25 on Ebay, but that will be analog ballasts & single beam (no high beam function) kits. If you would like to retain the high beam function, you will need a bi-xenon or Bi-Lux or Hi-lo kit, (all the same thing) where a shield covers 1/2 of the filament during low-beam, and then moves based on electric charge to allow light from both sides to reflect for high beam function.

Also, if you would like to retain a stock style housing, look into the autopal housings as they look very similar to a regular sylvania halogen.

HTH

Time to vent: I can't stand the bright lights on the newer cars. I'm blinded every time one passes me head on. I don't flash my brights anymore because I'm used to every car having them. The funny thing is when these started comming out I had my 442 as a daily driver and kept my brights on all the time. I didn't get flashed at all. Sometimes in my Monte I'll leave my brights on by accident and still don't get flashed. IMHO its ridiculous to have lights that bright at a normal factory setting. That's why there is a 'brights' setting!!! It must be obsolete now. Also I do not see how it makes viability 'safer' when you have a blinded driver head on. Obviously there are stats to prove that these lights are now 'safer' because they are on almost every new car now.

As for the conversion, if you want to do it ironically I say go for it. I'm sure it would be cool. There isn't anything I can do about how things are now but deal with it. :D

[442_ExpreSS]

Time to vent: I can't stand the bright lights on the newer cars. I'm blinded every time one passes me head on. I don't flash my brights anymore because I'm used to every car having them. The funny thing is when these started comming out I had my 442 as a daily driver and kept my brights on all the time. I didn't get flashed at all. Sometimes in my Monte I'll leave my brights on by accident and still don't get flashed. IMHO its ridiculous to have lights that bright at a normal factory setting. That's why there is a 'brights' setting!!! It must be obsolete now. Also I do not see how it makes viability 'safer' when you have a blinded driver head on. Obviously there are stats to prove that these lights are now 'safer' because they are on almost every new car now.

As for the conversion, if you want to do it ironically I say go for it. I'm sure it would be cool. There isn't anything I can do about how things are now but deal with it. :D


I'm sure more than half the ones you are getting blinded by are people who have done the conversion, & they are not OEM HID lights. The factory stuff has a distinct cut off line, usually right below the hood.
However, yes, you are right alot of them are extremely bright. Of course anything will seem bright compaired to the candles mounted on the front of our Olds. :)
Trust me, if you converted your car, you wouldn't be saying it's rediculous to have lights that bright. You'd never want to drive a car without them at night again.

[DM75Hurst]

Of course anything will seem bright compared to the candles mounted on the front of our Olds. :)


Yeah no S#$% eh? I'm afraid the wind will blow the suckers out some day.. Still trying to find the fill tube for the lamp oil..

My car was built 6 years before i was born.. Which is strange because I thought the world started the day I was born :P

[74hurstolds]

I'm sure more than half the ones you are getting blinded by are people who have done the conversion, & they are not OEM HID lights. The factory stuff has a distinct cut off line, usually right below the hood.
However, yes, you are right alot of them are extremely bright. Of course anything will seem bright compaired to the candles mounted on the front of our Olds. :)
Trust me, if you converted your car, you wouldn't be saying it's rediculous to have lights that bright. You'd never want to drive a car without them at night again.

They are all modern cars. I doubt any of them have been converted. I have no problems seeing in the dark with the head lights my cars have.