Headlight improvements

[Zap]

Well, after having a post get eaten by being logged out I'm going to make this simple. I've done some searching and would appreciate input/feedback from anyone who has been down this road. Living in the country, and having driven the '94 in the dark recently, I realized how poorly the lights on the '97 work.

1. Refinishing headlights - is it worth it, and is there a procedure anywhere to clean up the lenses?

2. HID's - Is there too much scatter in the Gen III housings as stock, and does anyone retrofit the housings with projectors? What are the costs involved?

Thanks for any input that you can offer!

 

[frosho]

First, get yourself a HD wiring harness for the headlights. The stock Gen3 wiring is less than adequate.

http://www.suvlights.com/index.php?cPath=24_73

 

[luigisho]

I used one of those parts stores cheap headlight cleaning kits with good results. Now, good results are several months of clear lenses and better lighting. Not brand new plastic that won't keep degrading as if it were new. You need to clean these every 4-6 months. Each product comes with its own instructions.

 

[danmn1313]

I refinished mine and am very happy with them.

 

[Funmart6]

I use turtle wax polishing compound and a buffer to keep mine clear. I also took my lights apart and painted the inside of the housing black.

 

[SuperHO]

re-finish em, harness em, and silverstar em...or add a couple of airplane landing lights to the roof.

 

[Izzmo]

I have polish'd mine, put silverstar ultas in and put a harness in.

I can tell you this, little to no real improvement in low beams (with silverstar ultra's and no harness to putting in a harness). Putting in ultra's over stock did a little and might it a bit whiter too.

The harness is good for high beams because that's where the extra load is needed to supply more power to the lights. You will not see much improvement on low beams with a harness. (I don't care what people say, they are all stupid if they tell you otherwise and are just trying to compensate for something).

A lot of people have retro'd HID's over at TCCA and have done with very good success and look awesome. Here's a few links:

http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/116...es/160375-98-taurus-projector-angel-eyes.html
http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/116-aesthetics-interior-wheels-tires/160720-my-car-new-lights.html
http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/116...s/155781-my-03-taurus-projector-retrofit.html

If you read through the posts, you will get some good answers on how to do it correctly and see the good results they got.

 

[Vnuk1]

Yank them out and throw projectors and a set of 6000k hid headlights in there..

 

[Zap]

Thanks for all of the feedback - I'm going to ponder this further, but start by getting the headlight polishing kit!

 

[PrestonsSHO]

I just put in the phillips night guide bulbs... they have a tri color look to them... they look nice but I have not tried them at night to much but from the small amount I saw they looked not too bad bt well see

 

[Zap]

Yank them out and throw projectors and a set of 6000k hid headlights in there..

I now have a box full of HID parts - projectors, ballasts, shrouds, bulbs. I just need to find a place to comfortably do the retrofit. My garage is unheated and has too much junk sitting around to pull the Gen3 in, and I'm not sure I want to pull the headlight housings with it sitting outside.

But I will figure out a way to get everything set up, as I could really use the extra performance this time of year with it getting dark so early (not to mention the inclement weather). I will be polishing/refinishing the lenses at the same time too. If I really go nuts, I may eventually get a set of fog lights to install at 3000K for increased snow/rain/fog visibility (which we see to get enough of to justify their presence).

I went back and forth over the color temperature and ended up with 5000K - a more natural white (and more lumen output) for the actual light seen from inside the car, but my understanding is the projectors will appear to have a higher color temperature due to the color shift looking directly at them. All OEM HIDs are at 4300K, and they definitely do NOT look like it from the outside.

If I decide that I wanted the 6000K after all, it is only a simple bulb change and I can probably exchange them if they have low hours.

I'm exited to see how this turns out! I'll try to take some pictures if I remember to bring my camera with me wherever I end up doing the work.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

i been wanting to do this to my sho for some time as well..

just wondering if you could tell me what you bought and form where?

and do you know how much work it is to retrofit them?

thank!

I now have a box full of HID parts - projectors, ballasts, shrouds, bulbs. I just need to find a place to comfortably do the retrofit. My garage is unheated and has too much junk sitting around to pull the Gen3 in, and I'm not sure I want to pull the headlight housings with it sitting outside.

But I will figure out a way to get everything set up, as I could really use the extra performance this time of year with it getting dark so early (not to mention the inclement weather). I will be polishing/refinishing the lenses at the same time too. If I really go nuts, I may eventually get a set of fog lights to install at 3000K for increased snow/rain/fog visibility (which we see to get enough of to justify their presence).

I went back and forth over the color temperature and ended up with 5000K - a more natural white (and more lumen output) for the actual light seen from inside the car, but my understanding is the projectors will appear to have a higher color temperature due to the color shift looking directly at them. All OEM HIDs are at 4300K, and they definitely do NOT look like it from the outside.

If I decide that I wanted the 6000K after all, it is only a simple bulb change and I can probably exchange them if they have low hours.

I'm exited to see how this turns out! I'll try to take some pictures if I remember to bring my camera with me wherever I end up doing the work.

 

[SHOMEX]

just wondering if you could tell me what you bought and form where?
check your p.m. for some info I sent you.

 

[Zap]

With the advent of some of the more recent kits, it appears that there isn't a ton of work or modifications involved in mounting the projector itself, as it was designed for these sorts of applications. I hope to have some pictures in the next week or so, as I would like to undertake the install this weekend. I'll post the details of the entire kit I purchased, with pictures, too.

The remainder involves mounting the ballasts, and plugging in most of the wiring to the existing headlight harnesses.

 

[Zap]

Okay, I'm bringing this thread back from the dead. It took forever for the adapter rings to get manufactured, however I finally got them about a month ago. :woo-hoo:

Over Memorial Day weekend I took to completely reworking the headlight assemblies. I cleaned and polished the lenses, took the housings apart, cut out the bulb shrouds, and did a multi-stage paint job on all of the chrome parts. Flat black with Effex fleck paint. After which I installed the projectors.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to aim the lights soon and I'll take a few pictures.

:swing:

 

[Zap]

OK, this is a much overdue update. I've had the HID projectors installed for some time now. The difference between them and the stock headlights is remarkable. I love the way they look, and after getting them well aimed, the lighting of the roadway in the pitch black of the surrounding country roads is awesome.

I used the Morimoto Mini Stage III (H1) Bi-Xenon kit from TRS (The Retrofit Source) and in addition to product quality, their customer support was impressive.

I'll try and take some pictures when the car is running again (it is currently in the garage and apart, as I'm trying to pull the A/C lines to get them rebuilt.)

 

[intimdatr]

TRS is the way to go! A buddy name Calvin on here has done the same, look some of his post up search for Projectors and you'll see some of the what hes got.

 

[98SF19]

Pics

Zap, how about some pics? The headlight project is on the back burner for me, but the Calvin that was mentioned above posted something about having an upgrade package that he was offering. He was in Germany for a while before coming back to the states. I guess seeing all those Beemers and Audis was his motivation. I'm looking forward to seeing some of his work, especially since I have a new set of headlights sitting in my garage waiting for that special day.

Anyway, pics please.

 

[Zap]

Wow, this took far too long to reply - but hopefully this helps for some of you. I've got a few pictures of the headlights in action! Sorry about the quality, they were taken using my phone, but I think they show quite a bit regardless.

 

[SHOdded]

Look good. Are they installed in a way so that you can use the stock aiming mechanism?