HID headlights (1 Viewer)

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WarDamnEagle

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After quite a bit of searching, both in and out of mud, I have concluded that there are no plug and play HID options, irrespective of price. The closest I find is this thread:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/182029-tutorial-hid-conversion-bling-headlights.html

Hardly plug and play.

Is this the best that anyone has come up with? (Not knocking the effort as Mike did a fantastic job but it's more effort than I want to invest and I would prefer a more stock appearance.)
 
9006 hid, Car & Truck Parts & Accessories, Other Vehicle Parts, All matching items for sale.

I find that the availability is there, but getting good products is more difficult. The main issue is the light pattern. The aftermarket bulbs do not place the bulbs fillament in the right place to get proper reflection. This causes the pattern to be all over the place causing dark areas and blinding on coming traffic. I bought billet adapters for my H4 HIDs which fix most of that, but I have not found any for the 9005-6 bulbs. I only use factory Toyota bulbs and ballasts for my trucks also. I have been paying about $150 for the set from various vendors.
G
 
Are you looking for the 'look' of HID headlamps to update your 80? Because if you're not, but actually interested in improving the performance of your 80's lighting system then get the plug and play John Deere headlamps. Can't say enough good about them, and they're dead reliable plus you can still put an ordinary 9006 bulb in if one blows on a long trip in the middle of nowhere.

DougM
 
Not looking for the look. Strictly interested in the performance. I do plan on going with HIR bulbs, such as the John Deere, but wanted to make absolutely sure that there wasn't a plug n play HID solution. I recently acquired a car with HID headlights and I am very impressed with them....which is what prompted the search and subsequent question about the 80.
 
A factory HID system is hard to argue with performance wise, but I honestly feel like a good portion of the aftermarket stuff is crap in terms of beam pattern, etc. So I feel there's a gap between a factory HID system and what they're selling for retrofit in general. The trouble is, most people who install an aftermarket HID system are not a good judge of whether they have a quality beam. They're just excited they got that blue color and therefore it's better. It takes a very rare person to spend the money, then deal with the hassle of an HID conversion and still be honest about whether it's 'better' than what they started with versus merely different looking light in a questionable pattern. Even reviews in rice rocket magazines of HID retrofits don't go into any depth as to better light versus "we got the look and it's blue therefore it's the shizzzz......".

DougM - opinionated lighting enthusiast
 
Ranma,

If what you're saying is true - that you'd need to alter the lense or adjust the light downward then this system is exactly what I'm referring to. In factory headlamp design (or any light for that matter), one of the most important things is the focal point. The focal point is the exact spot in 3D space in the headlamp assembly that the person who designed the lense expects the bulb filament to be. It's the point that the entire reflective surface (reflector) was shaped for. A filament at the focal point is 100% efficient. A filament slightly away from it would lose huge efficiency. Many aftermarket bulbs are very casual about exactly where their filament is, which is incredible to me as there literally is no more important design criteria for a bulb than precisely locating the filament. You could design a generic bulb with twice the output that will fit many different types and miss the focal point by only a tenth of a mm on the 80s headlamp and end up with LESS light down the road than a cheap factory bulb whose filament is in the exact correct spot.

This HID kit seems to be exactly that case. The depiction of the bulb also shows NO black masking on the tip, which a correct low beam bulb MUST, MUST, MUST have to avoid glare on a dipped beam for driving in foul weather or with oncoming traffic.

Ranma, I applaud that you specifically refer to this for show or for offroad use. That is honest and I appreciate it. Other sellers do not mention this key fact.

I think it is hard to beat the value of the HIR bulb in the 80s factory lamps. That bulb puts out WAY more lumens than the stock bulb, and the filament is properly positioned to make maximum use of the 80s already excellent beam pattern. Great mod. I've driven behind them at night for tens of thousands of miles and consider the lighting system on the 80 the best I've ever owned when paired with the big Hellas. Beautiful even patterns devoid of hot spots or dark spots for fatigue-free driving at night on our rural roads.

DougM
 
Doug,

I'm in full agreement with you that the right solution is not to install HID ballast and bulbs into a reflector not designed for them. Again, I will go with the HIR bulbs and keep everything else stock (although I will probably upgrade the wiring harness with Slee's).
 
Ranma,

I think it is hard to beat the value of the HIR bulb in the 80s factory lamps. That bulb puts out WAY more lumens than the stock bulb, and the filament is properly positioned to make maximum use of the 80s already excellent beam pattern. Great mod. I've driven behind them at night for tens of thousands of miles and consider the lighting system on the 80 the best I've ever owned when paired with the big Hellas. Beautiful even patterns devoid of hot spots or dark spots for fatigue-free driving at night on our rural roads.

DougM

Doug: it's "legal" to drive there with the E headlamps instead of the DOT ? Would it be noticed right away or you could pass the inspection since the E looks very similar to the DOT if you don't look too close ?

I guess we are blessed to have the E headlamps which use H4 and H1 bulbs since we have a wider choice of bulbs (unfortunately no HIR is manufactured for the H4 bulb base) and our headlamps have a more defined pattern.

We have many DOT spec Blazers, Tahoes, Explorers, Wagoneers, etc and I agree with you, none provide such a great lighting system as the one we got in the 80's ( with the exception of the less expensive trim which came with low and high 4X6 single lamps)
 
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This is the only way to install HIDs into our 80 series housing and get a decent pattern. I have this guys H4 adapters in my Tacoma, and the pattern is really close to stock. When using factory Toyota Ballasts, you have very close to a plug and play system. After lots of homework, I found that the bulbs in the 3800-4300k range put out the most light. They are not blue or purple, but very white. These guys also sell the wiring adapters, ballasts, etc. Not affiliated, just a happy customer.

HIDEXPERT
 
Rob,

No, its not legal to drive here in an 80 with E code lamps sourced from somewhere. The 80 never came into the country with E codes, so nope. Recent models of some cars are arriving with E codes by prior arrangement with DOT, however - different kettle of fish.

Would you be caught? Not likely if the E codes came from a proper left hand drive country, more likely if they're not. We don't have a very strict inspection in the US generally and the police have better things to do. But an unshielded HID low beam with a lot of 'overspray' would be far more likely to irritate a police officer and have him look at your lights.

DougM
 
I 2nd what IdahoDoug is saying.... We have alot of that going around here.... they have their low beams but look like freaking High beams.....!!!!!!:mad:

& yes... on some headlights, you can get away with aiming them low but around here they think they look cool.... :doh:

I retro'd some acura projectors in my 60:cool:
here's the thread
https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/212455-getting-bling-acura-projector-retro.html
DSC02655_small.jpg


mainly for info and links to comparable pics of diffrent projectors. these are for 60's though... the longer/slender projectors are good for 80's.

Yes! this is illegal. But I am using DOT approved OEM projectors... so I don't get unwanted attention as well as not blinding the driver in front of me.

use 3500k-4000k bulbs! nothing higher... IF you want that rainbow flicker just modify the shield abit to get that only on the top cut off & keeping bright white light for the rest of the patter. LOOK @ THE PIC:cool:
 
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Rob,

No, its not legal to drive here in an 80 with E code lamps sourced from somewhere. The 80 never came into the country with E codes, so nope. Recent models of some cars are arriving with E codes by prior arrangement with DOT, however - different kettle of fish.

Would you be caught? Not likely if the E codes came from a proper left hand drive country, more likely if they're not. We don't have a very strict inspection in the US generally and the police have better things to do. But an unshielded HID low beam with a lot of 'overspray' would be far more likely to irritate a police officer and have him look at your lights.

DougM

Setting apart the HID upgrade and after what you explained, then replacing the DOT headlamp for a left side driving E pattern as ours would be a better improvement, although a bit expensive, that going for the HIR bulbs ? Unfortunately ours lack the bubble adjustment.

In the long term make sense since H4 bulbs came in more flavors and are cheaper than the HIR.

I put on mine a 80/100 W H4 bulb for the L/H and a 100W H1 for the high beam providing me with a nice and way better illumination without blinding the oncoming drivers.

Since our E lamp came with the shade it could be interesting to put on the bench a E headlamp, and test it with a single HID bulb with a adjustable base and fine tune it, moving the bulb front and aft, until getting the best location as to minimize strey rays, and since we got the separated high beam, we could let the HID allways on when doing the change over. That could provide the best of both worlds, HID for lows and a powerfull instant on halogen for the highs !!!!!!
 
I haven't looked that up, but used to be pretty familiar with DOT lighting codes. As I recall it, after a certain year, the US began allowing some E code lights into the country but these had both the E symbol and the DOT symbol molded into the lense. So they met DOT standards as well. I don't think that allows older E code lamps that were not built to DOT standards to be brought into the country and used on a road car. I'm curious, so I'll look into it but it would be both uncharacteristic and unwise for the DOT to allow such unregulated lighting by saying "all E codes are now allowed". There were some pretty crazy E codes built with near-rally level output, so...

DougM
 

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