Decent price for stock HID housings? (Gen I)

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martz0r

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Welp, I have been toying with the idea to either get new two new stock halogen housings, because my passenger side housing is flopping up/down freely, and the driver's side is missing the leveling indicator and they are just in horrible condition.

Then I thought, why not get the Morimoto H1 projectors and do a retrofit? Turns out there's a bit of extra modification needed and even then I wouldn't have the slightest idea on how to make a Lexan mold.

There's a pair of good condition first gen HID housings for $355. Is that a decent price? I already have a DDMTuning HID kit from my last car, but with 9006 bulbs so all I would need to buy is the housings and the 9005 bulbs for them.

I assume the ribs on the halogen housings can't be sanded down? Thanks.
 
I thought about sanding the prizm effect out of the stock lenses. But if I ruined a set, Id be pissed. I paid 250 for some nice first gen HID housings out of texas. They vary really. If you don't have the cash, find a fair set of halogen housings and send them to Jamie and have them rechromed he does an excellent job. I MIGHT have a set of headlights that would make for a nice set to be restored by him.
 
That's the thing... I was spoiled with HIDs on my last vehicle. I found a pair of halogen housings for $145 shipped and they have clear lenses and chrome in-tact... After having HIDs for 3 years I really want to have them on this car. I think I will message this guy and see if he'll make me a pair of clear lenses lol

Lincoln mark VIII BIXENON HID - YouTube
 
I wonder what he paid for his thermo mold, I called a plastics place here in Waco and the guy said it would be around $3000 to have the molds made. I was wanting to have clear side lenses to match my HID housings

I was lucky enough to find my HID housings in a U-Pull-It salvage yard. I had purchased a set of Halogen housings a few weeks prior on a half off day, and with a frequent customer discount, I got that set for $5, when the 96 LSC showed up at the yard, I just did a warranty exchange for them :)
 
if i restore a set for you, and you install hids into restored halogens you will be blown away how awesome the output is. i have done it soooooo many times. i just put hid's in my 96 silverado, i bought brand new headlights for it and put 9006 hids in them, 5000k bulbs and my god its insane!! all my old gen 1's had hids inside my restored housings and its totally awesome compared to the stock garbage bulbs in old housings. i am working on 2 sets of headlights currently in my garage.
 
Sapperfire said:
I wonder what he paid for his thermo mold, I called a plastics place here in Waco and the guy said it would be around $3000 to have the molds made. I was wanting to have clear side lenses to match my HID housings

I was lucky enough to find my HID housings in a U-Pull-It salvage yard. I had purchased a set of Halogen housings a few weeks prior on a half off day, and with a frequent customer discount, I got that set for $5, when the 96 LSC showed up at the yard, I just did a warranty exchange for them :)
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Hope you mean $300 and not $3000! $5 and an exchange for the HID housings... damn good deal lol

BAD97LSC said:
if i restore a set for you, and you install hids into restored halogens you will be blown away how awesome the output is. i have done it soooooo many times. i just put hid's in my 96 silverado, i bought brand new headlights for it and put 9006 hids in them, 5000k bulbs and my god its insane!! all my old gen 1's had hids inside my restored housings and its totally awesome compared to the stock garbage bulbs in old housings. i am working on 2 sets of headlights currently in my garage.
Click to expand...

Thanks I'll keep that in mind... I had 9006 5k HIDs in my Crown Victoria's halogen housings, but I really either want housings designed for HID bulbs or projectors this time around.
 
I said it right, $3Thousand for the guy to make MOLDS in order to make a lense

It didn't take me long to find the Hang Up button
 
Well I got a couple headlights with clear lenses and good chrome for $140 shipped off fleabay... Absolutely need them as I get off work at midnight usually. This car is SCARY to drive at night. No time for sending the headlights for refinishing (stockers were broken anyways) and bought a couple 9005 HIDs to transfer my kit over. Plan on doing a projector retrofit pretty soon.
 
if you plan on projectors plan on cutting out the radiator core support behind the headlights because you have zero free space behind them.
 
Alright. The kit I plan on using is the mini H1 morimoto that is linked in my first post and the same one the guy in the YT video used. He sent a really detailed message about the process but didn't mention anything about the core support. Those projectors are pretty small (hence the name) so that may be true of other larger projectors but I will have to ask him if he did any mod to the core support on his.
 
martz0r said:
Alright. The kit I plan on using is the mini H1 morimoto that is linked in my first post and the same one the guy in the YT video used. He sent a really detailed message about the process but didn't mention anything about the core support. Those projectors are pretty small (hence the name) so that may be true of other larger projectors but I will have to ask him if he did any mod to the core support on his.
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No, when he says there's no room behind the headlight he isn't kidding. Trust me, I just got finished doing a 96 HID swap on my 95. The back of the housing is flush with the header panel and behind that is about 3 inches of space in between the header panel and the steel core support. I barely had room to mount my slim ballasts from the aftermarket HID kit i put in. If you're looking to get better output and don't want to spend alot, find a nice set of halogen housings with good chrome still and put in some aftermarked 35w 9006 HIDs with your choice of bulb color. Don't spend anymore than 200 on halogen housings cause HIDs can be had for 300-400 on the bay. I spent 500 on a perfect set with original working HID bulbs..but like i said i put an aftermarket kit in instead. I would just religously check the bay for HIDs and be quick on bidding.
 
I didn't realize the HID housings were going for that much, but then again, I haven't seen just the bare HID housings for sale (I'm not on E-Bay enough anymore). I've been wanting to pick up a pair of HID housings to add to my parts room I've got set aside for when I find another Mark VIII. I really just need a good passenger side housing. I think I know where I can find a driver's side. No hurry, though. I don't even have a Mark VIII to put it on yet.
 
keviiin said:
if you're looking to get better output and don't want to spend alot, find a nice set of halogen housings with good chrome still and put in some aftermarked 35w 9006 hids with your choice of bulb color.
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+1
 
keVIIIn said:
No, when he says there's no room behind the headlight he isn't kidding. Trust me, I just got finished doing a 96 HID swap on my 95. The back of the housing is flush with the header panel and behind that is about 3 inches of space in between the header panel and the steel core support. I barely had room to mount my slim ballasts from the aftermarket HID kit i put in. If you're looking to get better output and don't want to spend alot, find a nice set of halogen housings with good chrome still and put in some aftermarked 35w 9006 HIDs with your choice of bulb color. Don't spend anymore than 200 on halogen housings cause HIDs can be had for 300-400 on the bay. I spent 500 on a perfect set with original working HID bulbs..but like i said i put an aftermarket kit in instead. I would just religously check the bay for HIDs and be quick on bidding.
Click to expand...
Why not use 55W 9006s, More lumens, brighter?
 
ghost said:
Why not use 55W 9006s, More lumens, brighter?
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More heat and really not that much brighter. The less heat you have inside the small housing space, the better off the chrome will be. 35 watt barely puts out any heat at all. My housings are right at a year old and they show no sign at all of any burning. I have also heard that 55 watt didn't have the life span of the 35 watt but I don't know how true that is.

This was taken when I was working on aiming them. 6K lows and 6K highs but this pic is the lows only and still not properly aimed.

Lights004.jpg


This was 8K lows and 6K highs on at the same time in a parking lot.

HeadlightsAimed003.jpg


HeadlightsAimed001.jpg


Tested 12K lows out.... Not for me!

Lights002.jpg


Inside the garage, 6K lows only.

HIDs006.jpg


Lows and highs. 6K

HIDs005.jpg
 
It's common sense, the hotter the filament burns, the shorter it's life span will be
 
Its funny to think my first set I bought was right around $1000. That was a good deal back then.
 
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