Too many choices HID kit.
- Thread starter HopefulAcres
- Start date
HopefulAcres
LVC Member
So your saying that I will never be able to drive at night anymore and the HID kit being sold on this site is illegal. Even a currenly manufactured HID single beam is illegal?
I won't pay Ebay prices for a used lightbulb only to have the same problem a month later. Here in New Mexico all classic cars made after 1955 can only be sold with modern headlight bulbs so clearly there are ways to have useable headlights. Seriously if anyone on this site has figured out how to fix a low beam I would love to hear once and for all how they did it.
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
Look get a bulb that looks like this and a ballast like this and follow the directions on that car domain link i posted earlier and you'll be good to go legality aside you will at least be able to see at night i'm unfamiliar with ford as a whole and i only just got our mark viii in may but i've been wrenching on cars since i was about 13 years old this is as much help as i can provide right now i'll be able to take better pictures once I get paid at the beginning of next month when I order an ebay header panel to properly mount the new to me headlight assembly its held in by zipties and prayers and I'm all out of zipties otherwise I'd take better pictures for you right now
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
And here later next month I'll be ordering a set of opt7 bolt ac 55w 9006 hid kit on amazon and testing them out the company has the best reviews on every website ive come across til I can afford a set of morimotos
joegr
Dedicated LVC Member
I'm saying the same thing I did before. Your two legal, proper, and plug-n-play choices are:
1. Used HID bulb from ebay. I don't know why you are so adverse to even trying it. HID bulbs if not physically damaged usually last a very long time.
The factory ones in my 06 LS are still going strong at over 200K miles. I had to replace one on my 04 LS (about 240K miles) due to impact damage. I bought a new one on Amazon that was supposed to be the real OEM bulb. It was counterfeit and failed in a couple of months. (paid $80 for it). I replaced it with a $5 one from the local junkyard, and a year or two later it is still going strong. We do a lot of night driving, and we park in our garage, so the automatic headlights come on at least once a day, often more.
2. The halogen retrofit hit that Ford made that replaces the entire headlight assemblies and has the correct harness adapters.
Technically, there is a 3rd legal choice, replace the car.
Your non-legal (but you will probably get away with it) choice is some aftermarket HID or LED kit (will say for off-road use only). It will not be plug-n-play. You will have to do custom wiring and maybe custom bulb mounting. You may blind some people like me, but it can work.
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
Joes right HID's last a very long time
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
Its worth mentioning that when I bought my mark someone had previously replaced the HIDs with an aftermarket set and they worked great up until the accident the drivers side still works but only barely so
mustpaike
LVC Member
I replaced my stock headlight bulbs with a 35w 9006 HID kit and honestly the performance is way worse than with one light having a factory bulb and the other one with an unknown HID bulb, no matter how I adjust the bulb or the headlight. They don't blind other drivers, but they also provide less usable light than halogens so they're essentially only good for DRL use. In pitch black dark with no streetlights they're useless.
The only good options I see are to go back to using factory bulbs and start building up my own stockpile or convert the whole assembly to a projector LED or HID setup. Sth like the Morimoto M2 bi-led. Since I live in Europe and the local rules stipulate that anything factory is fine regardless of light output, but anything aftermarket over 2000 lumens need washers and a self-leveling system, I am hesitant to have my headlight assemblies altered to hope that optical and thermal losses bring the M2 bi-led's 3600 raw lumen theoretical output down to 2000 or less measured.
Also, aren't the factory halogen replacement assemblies out of production for at least a decade by now? I have seen no signs online about availability or anybody having ordered and installed them in recent years. (I might be wrong. After all, in 2011 I managed to get a new eurospec headlight to my eurospec 1994 Cadillac Seville for the pricey sum of 650 euros).
The only good options I see are to go back to using factory bulbs and start building up my own stockpile or convert the whole assembly to a projector LED or HID setup. Sth like the Morimoto M2 bi-led. Since I live in Europe and the local rules stipulate that anything factory is fine regardless of light output, but anything aftermarket over 2000 lumens need washers and a self-leveling system, I am hesitant to have my headlight assemblies altered to hope that optical and thermal losses bring the M2 bi-led's 3600 raw lumen theoretical output down to 2000 or less measured.
Also, aren't the factory halogen replacement assemblies out of production for at least a decade by now? I have seen no signs online about availability or anybody having ordered and installed them in recent years. (I might be wrong. After all, in 2011 I managed to get a new eurospec headlight to my eurospec 1994 Cadillac Seville for the pricey sum of 650 euros).
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
No the headlight assemblies have been out of production for 2 decades everything I've read says the stopped building them when the last mark rolled off the line
SwedishMark
Well-Known LVC Member
I've ordered a set of IPF LED bulbs for my '95.
It was definetly not cheap, expensive as hell for just two bulbs. But those seemed to be the most serious LED manufacturer on the market I could find and only great reviews.
Hopefully I'll get them this week and I'll try to post the difference of non-existent lighting and maybe a little? $250 for two LED bulbs.
It was definetly not cheap, expensive as hell for just two bulbs. But those seemed to be the most serious LED manufacturer on the market I could find and only great reviews.
Hopefully I'll get them this week and I'll try to post the difference of non-existent lighting and maybe a little? $250 for two LED bulbs.
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
Post pictures too like this is what ours looks like at night granted they aren't the best images
Sapperfire
Dedicated LVC Member
Sapperfire
Dedicated LVC Member
Sapperfire
Dedicated LVC Member
Put a 5-Ohm Resistor on the Bulbs positive wire
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
This kid shows how you wire it up as long as you have the backing plate to hold the HID bulb in the housing you should be good to go
SwedishMark
Well-Known LVC Member
Here's pictures of IPF LED in my 95.
It is a fully plug and play, no wiring like the HID and control modules or such.
Just like replacing any HB3 bulb, and I didn't even need to clock the LED filaments as they were spot on from factory.
Cost? A LOT. I paid equivalent of $250 for my two low beam bulbs.
Worth it?
Every single penny.
Now I can see. Before I could not.
Is it good? Yes. Great? I wouldn't say that.
It's no Xenon projector headlight, and it will also never ever be that.
But it's good enough for what it is, a useless headlight housing.
I have more light exactly everywhere and the width is amazing.
The length, not much of a difference.
But this definitely beats cutting the wiring, cutting the housing etc to mount a china made projector.
Total light output on low beam is greater than stock Halogen high beam, tho the high beams have longer light throw.
I will upgrade high beams to LED aswell but no $250 IPF. I'll stick to something around $150 as it is good enough for high beams. The low beams are the important light.
Stock Sylvania Halogen
IPF LED on the left, Sylvania Halogen on the right
Both bulbs LED
A pretty useless pic of the light while driving.
It is a fully plug and play, no wiring like the HID and control modules or such.
Just like replacing any HB3 bulb, and I didn't even need to clock the LED filaments as they were spot on from factory.
Cost? A LOT. I paid equivalent of $250 for my two low beam bulbs.
Worth it?
Every single penny.
Now I can see. Before I could not.
Is it good? Yes. Great? I wouldn't say that.
It's no Xenon projector headlight, and it will also never ever be that.
But it's good enough for what it is, a useless headlight housing.
I have more light exactly everywhere and the width is amazing.
The length, not much of a difference.
But this definitely beats cutting the wiring, cutting the housing etc to mount a china made projector.
Total light output on low beam is greater than stock Halogen high beam, tho the high beams have longer light throw.
I will upgrade high beams to LED aswell but no $250 IPF. I'll stick to something around $150 as it is good enough for high beams. The low beams are the important light.
Stock Sylvania Halogen
IPF LED on the left, Sylvania Halogen on the right
Both bulbs LED
A pretty useless pic of the light while driving.
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
This one is of the garbage HIDs currently in the car, I'm saving up for a set of morimoto elite 35w.
Edit: fixed punctuation
HIDs
Edit: fixed punctuation
HIDs
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NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
HID conversion kit help please.....
Bullymong88, you just so happen to have the adapter rings that Jay made, and still might be making. They're needed for Gen 2 Marks. 9006 bulbs. I have HID's in my low and high beams. Been working for over a decade now. Some like 35 watt and some like the 55 watt kits. Neither one will burn the housing chrome. They don't produce enough heat. Go through the link above and you'll find Jay's username 98lsclin..... can't remember it but he was also a member of the Facebook site named "Lincoln Mark VIII Enthusiast Community", if it's still on there. I quit FB back in 2015 but his name is Jay and he can be trusted. I believe he lives in North or South Carolina
Bullymong88, you just so happen to have the adapter rings that Jay made, and still might be making. They're needed for Gen 2 Marks. 9006 bulbs. I have HID's in my low and high beams. Been working for over a decade now. Some like 35 watt and some like the 55 watt kits. Neither one will burn the housing chrome. They don't produce enough heat. Go through the link above and you'll find Jay's username 98lsclin..... can't remember it but he was also a member of the Facebook site named "Lincoln Mark VIII Enthusiast Community", if it's still on there. I quit FB back in 2015 but his name is Jay and he can be trusted. I believe he lives in North or South Carolina
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
Nolimit95 I assumed they might have been aftermarket but wasn't sure, one of these days I'm gonna get a 3D printer and make them too its not a complicated adapter its quite clever really. I assumed the 55 watt might melt the plastic I hadn't even considered the chrome melting, I noticed today when I put tiny auxito leds in the brake light that the plastic in the reverse light is bubbling really bad so I'll have to put dimmer ones in place there, sorry off topic.
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
A lot of the guys went with the 55 watt and none ever experienced the plastic melting. This even goes for the Gen 1 housings, which are smaller and closer to the plastic. Gen 1's originally came with 65 watt halogens, which produce too much heat and they eventually burned the inner chrome. I went with 35 watt as soon as I bought both new housings and like I said, this has been 10-11 years ago. They're still crystal clear and no inner burn inside. Kensun was the brand I went with for both sets. No adapters required for Gen 1, unless they were the clear HID housings. The low beam in that case would need to be 9006 and high beam 9005. Mine are halogen housings which take 9005 in high and low. I know you don't need the adapter rings but some on here do. Jay used to sell them on eBay. They're made from Derlin. Anyway, that link will help others understand what they're getting into, especially for Gen 2's, but it is worth the swap. Even if one blows, it's super cheap to replace, or even have a spare pair on hand. 5K or 6K are brightest. I like the 6K best but everyone is different. 4300 suck IMO because to me, it looks like factory color. As for the LED's, I've never tried them. I'm just of the opinion, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Nice talking with all of you.
Bullymong88
Well-Known LVC Member
I provided a link way earlier in the thread to a cardomain post which showed op a step by step how to on how to replace the headlights but that's when I thought the delrin adapter came with the car, eventually I'm gonna get a set of morimoto elite 35w hids and call it a day and I totally agree 6000k is the best I used to say 5000k but that's before I saw a good 6000k