Hey guys,

I have been throwing up and down the idea of pursuing HID headlights. From my research, I can see that the quick and easy route would be to replace the stock headlights with a sealed beam conversion kit (external seller) and then simply get an HID bulb/ballast kid (external seller) for a total cost of ~$200 and a few mins of your own time.

Pros:
- Moderate Install (worst case scenarios)
- Low cost
- Bright Lights and improved visibility

Cons:
- Illegal (in some states/provinces)
- Blinding on-coming drivers
- No-cut off

The alternative, obviously is to pursue the projector retro-fit style HID's. This requires significantly more work but the end result is much more rewarding and professional looking.

Pros:
- Professional
- Bright lights and improved visibility
- True cut off

Cons:
- Significant work required
- High Cost

What about meeting in the middle with a projector sealed beam conversion headlight such as this: http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/6/8/5...10313146_o.jpg

Would this be a viable solution to be 'in the middle' of both worlds, having HID's and yet also having projector style headlights?

Thoughts?

 

Those headlights are not true projectors and will not produce a cutoff even close to what you are looking for. They are neat looking and will work with various HID kits, but the performance is not going to be what you may be looking for. These housings follow your low-end description you gave above.

Unfortunately you are kind of stuck if you want to choose something in the middle. I've seen a few vendors selling sealed beam housings with true projectors but know of only one person using them...and they are also not cheap (~$500/housing).

-Brian

 

Check out these recent threads:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearance-detailing/916927-hid-projector-use-hella-90mm-e46.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearance-detailing/849199-93-97-firebird-bi-xenon-fx-projector-retro-fit-updated-w-write-up.html
(Thanks Blackbirdws6)

Check out the Lighting FAQ for some other projector installs:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearance-detailing/710357-lighting-faq.html

Check out www<dot>hidplanet<dot>com/forums/ for plenty more info on retrofits of all sorts. I'm on there with the same screen name too.


Here is what mine look like:
(Hella 90mm H9 projectors and H9 HID kit)
http://www.fadingarrow.com/images/headlightshroud02.jpg
http://www.fadingarrow.com/images/43...es-Preview.jpg
(The pic is a bit blurry, but you get the idea. Check out the Lighting FAQ for more pictures ---- notice how they compare to the stock high beam )

If I were to do it again, I'd take a second look at the FX and TSX projectors and possibly use one of them instead.

 

Did you get anywhere with your upgrade?