HID Projector Light Retrofit -Heavy Pics

Ryushin · 09-23-2008, 11:13 AM

My Retrofiter finished up my lights and I got them installed. I wanted to get HID lights done right and have the absolute best product available. After months of researching, I choose my retrofiter and the product I wanted installed. I took Taz's Cobra as an example and researched from there.

Here are some reasons why putting HID bulbs into a halogen reflector are a bad idea.

The Details:
I chose Caesar at LightWerkz as my retrofiter. After researching his quality of work and attention to detail it was clear there was no other choice. You can see some of his projects here.

The light setup I chose was what he calls a TFX setup. This is a hi-bred setup that uses a Infinity FX35 Bi-Xenon Projector and a Lens from a Acura TSX. This is a more expensive setup since two projectors are consumed into the making of one But it's small and Bi-Xenon so High and Low Beam still works and it just fits in our light housings.

For bulbs themselves I chose the 55 watt ballasts instead of using the OEM 35 watt. Originally, based on what I've been reading, OEM bulbs and ballasts are the highest quality and are consistently superior to most aftermaket HID bulbs and ballasts. However, the new 55 watt Digital HID ballasts are on par with OEM in quality and the light output is the best there is.

Originally I drop shipped brand new true Ford OEM light housings from Late Model Restoration to him to use for the retrofit. These cost more than the aftermarket, but I considered since I'm only doing this once, I want it to be the best. Well, after Caesar got them, the sealant used to hold the base and the lens together is some of the worst kind and it would take him hours to separate them. He just went through a Ford F-150 project with that type of sealant and it was a bear to separate them. So back went the Ford OEM housings and I dropped shipped the same factory look non-OEM light housings (a lot cheaper) from Late Model Restoration and returned the OEM ones. The part numbers from Late Model Restoration on the non-OEM housings are LRS-13008J and LRS-13008I. Once Caesar got the new housings and inspected them he said that the sealant was the correct type and the project could move forward.

So it's taken about two months to finish this once I initiated it. Most of the delay was due to getting the correct housings to Caesar, back order delays from Late Model Restoration, and getting on Caesar's waiting list. When he receives half of the funds for the retrofit up front, you go on the waiting list. There were 15 people ahead of me when this project started. By the time he had the correct housings he only had one person ahead of me and he could devote his time to my lights. Every new light project has it's unique challenges and the Cobra's lights proved no different. He spend about week or so working on my lights but now has his design down so future 99-04 lights won't take as long.

Costs Involved:
Retrofit Labor: $325.00
FX35 Projector with TSX Lens Swap: $350.00
E46 Replica Shroud: $100
Digital HID 55 Watt Kit D2S 4300K $220.00
Plug 'n Play Wiring Harness 9007 Bi-Xenon $100 (Click here for Harness Quality)
Housings from Late Model Restoration $130
Plus Shipping costs.

Total Costs: $1,225.00

You can save about $220 on this setup by going with the OEM ballasts and bulbs.

Here are the initial pics that Caesar took.

Here are some pics of the projector that I took:

Pics of the stock headlamp:

Pics of the Stock Headlamp and the Projector side by side:

Pics of the Harness and Ballasts:

Pics of the car with the HID lights installed:

Pics of the rest of my car:

Here come the pics and movies. I took the pictures and the movies in the same places so things should be comparable, just a couple of days apart. I had trouble with the camera that I borrowed. I had to get the exposure out to 1 and 2/3 seconds to get anything that looked half way decent. Even then, I don't know if you can see much of a difference between the HID and stock lights with it as the quality of the pictures aren't that hot. It also didn't help that I left the fog lights on for the stock shots and I remembered to turn them off for the HID shots. The two videos that camera was able to produce are fairly decent. The stock ones is on Saturday morning at 5:30 am with next to no traffic, and the HID ones are Monday morning at 5:30 and there is quite a bit more traffic. I've uploaded them to google video. If you want the original AVI's PM me as they are 41 MB each and my poor DSL line will die a horrible death with everyone sucking them down at once.

Stock Light: Next To Car - Low Beam

HID Light: Next To Car - Low Beam

Stock Light: Across From Car - Low Beam

HID Light: Across From Car - Low Beam

Stock Light: From Headlight - Low Beam

HID Light: From Headlight - Low Beam

Stock Light: Next To Car - High Beam

HID Light: Next To Car - High Beam

Stock Light: Across From Car - High Beam

HID Light: Across From Car - High Beam

Stock Light: From Headlight - High Beam

HID Light: From Headlight - High Beam

Stock Video 1:
Mustang Cobra Terminator Stock Headlamps 1

Stock Video 2:
Mustang Cobra Terminator Stock Headlamps 2

HID Video 1:
Mustang Cobra Terminator High Intensity Discharge HID Headlamps 1

HID Video 2:
Mustang Cobra Terminator High Intensity Discharge HID Headlamps 2

Pictures of the installation in the order that I took them. I'll flesh this out later into a general installation document:

Red Gorilla · 09-24-2008, 03:56 AM

It seems like HID lamps #2 (HID VIDEO 2) was where I could really tell a difference. Good write up. I have been wanting to get a set...

Ryushin · 09-24-2008, 08:11 AM

Caesar of Lightwerkz said he was open to a group purchase. Perhaps with here and svtperformance, enough people can be brought together to bring the costs down enough so that more people could have the benefits of a true HID setup.

After driving with these lights for the last few days, I can truly say that our stock lamps leave a lot to be desired. The HID's are clearer and provided better definition on the road. Some people consider these too expensive. I thought is what is safety worth and that was my motifated reason behind getting them. An extra 1 to 2 second reaction time can mean the difference between a accident or not.

I'll see if I can get Caesar to figure out what his costs would be and get him on here and svtperformance to set up a group purchase.

BlownCobraGirl · 09-24-2008, 09:09 AM

Have him shoot me a pm and I'll be glad to get him setup as a vendor for the GP.

Very good article by the way.

Ryushin · 09-24-2008, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlownCobraGirl

Have him shoot me a pm and I'll be glad to get him setup as a vendor for the GP.

Very good article by the way.

I sent him an e-mail and let him know. I actually expected a few more questions about the setup, but maybe I detailed everything possible and everyone's questions are answered. Or interest in a HID projector setup is not what I thought it would be. Maybe if I said the HID lights create a photonic wave ahead of the car which aligns the air molecules to create a low drag coefficient which adds an equivalent of 50+ HP at 100 mph there would be more interest.

BlownCobraGirl · 09-24-2008, 09:47 AM

LOL!! You are probably right...hehe.

Actually, the HID topic has come up many times here, there is definitely interest in it.

SpectorV · 09-24-2008, 04:40 PM

I wonder how it would look if the part of the projector housing that shows was painted to match the back ground so basically you really only see the lens

Ryushin · 09-24-2008, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectorV

I wonder how it would look if the part of the projector housing that shows was painted to match the back ground so basically you really only see the lens

Caesar at Lightwerkz offered to do that. Actually it offered to paint it DSG to match the car. I decided I'd rather have a little bit of chrome for the snakes eyes.