Tutorial: HID conversion, bling headlights

[MikePL]

I assume that you want the photos because you are looking for some flaws or out of the ordinary looks. There's nothing like it. The front part of the headlights was not touched so the lens looks like OEM

Here are some pics.

 

[MikePL]

And now comes a teaser...

Many people think that this is where I stopped. Well, no.

I began being frustrated by the 55w high-beams. When I turned them on there was basically no difference in brightness, only a tiny bit more light above the cutoff line. This only shows how bright yet safe can good HIDs be.
I was thinking about putting HIDs as high beams but I am rarely in such a situation when I can turn the high-beams on for longer than a minute (due to oncoming traffic). So flickering the HID high-beams on and off would be deadly for the bulbs and ballasts.

This is when I thought that I needed a so called bi-xenon setup. These are special projectors which have a moving curtain. When in low-beams the curtain is closed and creates a cutoff. When you switch to high-beams the curtain is raised and light goes far down the road.

The advantages are that you have very strong HID high-beams and you can turn them on and off as you want. The same bulb functions for both types of beams.

This would also enable me to put HID bulbs into the usual high-beam reflectors and I could use them for off-road or in situations when I can turn them on for longer.

Light output of a single HID bulb is three times biger than that of a typical halogen so if I turn both lights on it is as if I used 6 halogens per side (a total of 12 halogens in the front).

For the same light output there is a different power consumption:

12 x 55w = 660W with halogen bulbs
4 x 35w = 140W with HID bulbs.

So I began by buying the proper HID dual beam (bi-xenon) projectors. Here's the teaser part....

 

[MikePL]

Here are some animated GIFs of the solenoid which raises the curtain and of the cool curtain which lets you set up the cutoff patern.

Oh, and don't ask me when it's going to be finished. I need to send my wife to her parents for a few days. It's going to happen in January probably.

 

[bpassmore]

subscribed.

and, do you take paypal?

 

[Sanchez]

Hey Mike,

Are you gunna run quad projectors?

I purchased some bi-xenen projectors for a Tacoma I used to have but I sold it and never did the install. I think I might put those on the ebay ones I currently have for my cruiser.

-Juan

 

[MikePL]

No, I will just have bi-xenon projectors for the lows and highs abd the inner reflectors for off road lights.

 

[vladi80]

X2 on Paypal.. can't wait to see the finished product

 

[sandcruiser]

Thanks for the unlit photos. Not looking for flaws at all! I'm planning to drop some non-HID projectors into my truck and wanted to see how it looks with the lights off before moving forward.

they look just fine. Maybe someday I'll follow your footsteps and add the hid. time will tell!

 

[Sanchez]

Cool Mike,

I'll be watching you!

 

[citadel]

what Bi Xeon setup are you going to run? some of the bi xeons are pretty large so ensure you get the measurements... as you know the clear lens halo headlights dont have a ton of room for bigger projectors.. that why I had to stick with Valeos

 

[MikePL]

Here's a comparison of the ones I currently have and the new ones. Don't worry about the dimensions but in general it's a good point because many people don't take it into account.

ta-daaaah!!!

 

[MikePL]

Hey guys, a great idea with the PayPal donations

My wife just got tired of my projects and cut my funding for an unknown period of time. So I'm kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere. If you really like to get rid of them lovely dollars then give me a PM

 

[sandcruiser]

mike: what hi beam does that lamp have? ie: what style of bulb?

I'm going to order some of the housings, but thinking about getting a bulb upgrade at the same time.... no HID in the lows (yet!) but always interested in more light

 

[MikePL]

I am currently away from home for a week, but I'm sure that the hi beams are H1 or H7, so these are quite standard bulbs and there are many replacements and 'upgrades'. I think that the only good upgrade are HIR bulbs. All those funky 'supa dupa xenon laser' bulbs are expensive and basically useless. So either do nothing or get HIRs. Obviously the ultimate upgrade are HIDs.

 

[diesel2k]

Great Job on those lights !! I've always wanted to get projectors for my 97 LX, but where did you get the housing on eBay? I only see aftermarket projectors being sold for 91-97 land cruisers. Aren't they a slightly different shape than the LX450 that would require changing the lexus grill to the toyota grill in order for the new projector head lights to fit? Do you know the name of the manufacturer that makes those head ligth housings for the LX450 model?

Hopefully your wife loosens up her reigns and lets you have fun with your bi-level projectors

 

[motelcambodia]

I waiting to see this finished.
Good job

 

[MikePL]

Work is in progress, finally. Bi-Xenon headlight lenses are installed and are bright as hell. I've also decided to be creative and installed a LED strip instead of my corner bulbs.

 

[mot]

Hey Mike,

I would love to see both to/on the wall pic (for cut-offs) as well as on the street low/high pics (for distance and the spread).

No rush, whenever you have the time!

BTW, nice LED mod!

 

[joedm]

yes, lets see those pics...

and some closeups of the led strip install. please

 

[joedm]

hmmm.. 1 post and already a link???