Headlights

[Fibber2]

I assume pix 4 is low beam, pix 5 is high beam operation. Were you able to still fit in the 9005 high beam bulb below the HID projector enclosure, or are those HIDs bi-Xenon? I cannot tell from pix 2 & 3.

I've been running low beam H1 Philips Vision+30 & Vision+50 bulbs that I bought from Autolamps-Online in England for years. Recently I found that CandlePower (from a link on Daniel Stern's page) was selling the newer Vision Xtreme H1XV for comparable money and no importation issues. These are ECE bulbs, a little whiter and a bit brighter than the stock US DOT 1,000 lumen products. How much brighter? My guess - maybe 1300 or so, but with the same spread pattern and cutoff as stock. The cutoff is probably actually better, as the filament placement is guaranteed to be spot on by sort.

On the subject of HIR bulbs - I'm not really sure if they are worth the premium price. REAL Toshiba brand with the round bulbous chamber surrounding the filament are no longer available. Searching for an upgrade to the 9006 low beam bulbs in my Toyota, I ended up buying the modern replacement made by Philips (HIR2 9012). It looks externally like a conventional bulb, although it might have some of the heat reflective coating that made the Toshiba such a powerhouse. Subjectively, there is an improvement in output, but it isn't as substantial as i would have expected.

I run regular 9005's in my OBW fogs (replacing the 9006), tipped up slightly. They still work great as fog lamps - keeping the reflection that the high beams produce in snow and fog at bay, while illuminating the deer and other hazards off to the sides and slightly wider and further down the road than the low beams. I do not run them all the time for show - only when I really need them. It isn't my intention to torture other drivers. I got really tricky and added a relay so that the fogs also come on with the high beams (dash switch defeatable), so I get tons of light out there on dark, lonely country roads.

[Fibber2]

To give you an idea of what I achieve with these mods, here are some pictures I took prior to the snowfall this past year. My driveway is about 500 ft long and lined with bushes and trees. To keep the snowplow from running astray I edge it with reflectors paced out every 30 ft. About 250 ft from where the car is stopped, the driveway drifts left and descends down a slope. The very last dot in the bottom photo - low and centered in the image - is at about 350 ft away. The car is sitting with a set of markers to the left and right around the front doors, so the first markers visible are around 25 ft away.

[cardoc]

The projector is both high and low beam. There is a motor in the projector that moves the light reflector within to alter the light angle. Works off the high beam switch, plugs right in. The projector from Retro Fit had the necessary plug for connecting to the high beam, the bulb is just a 5k HID with the slim ballast.

High beam bulb was done away with.

[Stoic Guardian]

Which projectors did you end up with, and what HID'S?

[Crossgolf]

Very nice. What projector did you use exactly? Mini D2S or Mini H1? What mounting method did you use? Did you have to modify the original reflector?

[cardoc]

Mini H1 and HIDs I got from a guy i work with.

[Stoic Guardian]

WOW I thought just the housings would run between 500 and 1k, or at least that's what i was told. I could get new reflector housings and everything to install HID projectors for about 400.

[cardoc]

I paid a total of 300 for the HIDs and the projectors and it only took 2 hours to change it up.

[Crossgolf]

It would be totally awesome if you could take and post more pictures of your headlights. Particularly the inside from behind and more pictures of the front inside the housing would be awesome. I would be really really thankfull for that.

[cardoc]

The car is at the transmission rebuilder, again. When I get it back, I will remove one of the covers and get a pic of the back of the assembly.

I did have to trim out the back where the old light mounted to mount the projector to the housing. It was gravy. The projector just goes in the new enlarged port and is tightened down. You can't go wrong with aiming, the projector is marked up and which side, left or right. The installation instructions are posted on Retro Fit Source's website.