dc5720 Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 does any of you guys had a retrofitted headlights ? Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 Welcome :) What do you mean, changing over to round headlights? does any of you guys had a retrofitted headlights ? Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 ret·ro·fitverb \ˈre-trō-ˌfit, ˌre-trō-ˈfit\ : to provide (something) with new parts that were not available when it was originally built H4s HIDs maybe? Quote Link to comment
84720FourWheel Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 I put H4 conversion lamps in my truck. Wasn't really worth it. The light is whiter, but the hassle isn't worth it. You have to swap the pins in the harness around, or you get highbeams always partially on. The lights fit terribly in the retaining ring, I meant to dremel the lights down but I never got around to it. Then if you decide to put in a brighter bulb or replace a burnt out one, the screw holding the retaining clip on will strip out of the hole 90% of the time. YMMV depending on the ones you buy. I've never put HIDs in though. Thought about it, but I didn't want to wire up ballasts and such. Quote Link to comment
Gradyfest Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 does any of you guys had a retrofitted headlights ? :rofl: I'm holding back... (barely) 1 Quote Link to comment
Gradyfest Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 I'm sorry man. It's not a grammar thing. It's just hilarious to say that back to yourself in like a southern yah accent. But honestly, you have to more specific if you want help. What exactly are you doing man? Someone on this glorious site can help I guarantee! Welcome! Ratsun members are nicer than they seem... Except that one prick. Quote Link to comment
dc5720 Posted December 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 this is a retrofited headlights B) Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 Trouble is they don't look right during the daytime compared to stock. Round are not bad as they look like a BMW swap. Rectangle were never this way. The results at night are great though and that, I do like. Quote Link to comment
JoeCool Posted December 5, 2014 Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 Just get GE Nighthawk sealed beam headlights. They are a lot brighter than stock. I put them in my 720 and I live in the country, I never have to use my high beams. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 5, 2014 Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 Might want to run relays and heavier wires to reduce voltage losses. Quote Link to comment
dc5720 Posted December 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 im already had my relays and wiring reflectors going to be black and the ring its going to be chrome Quote Link to comment
85"720 Posted December 5, 2014 Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 Post Pics. I want to see how these trucks look with those lights Quote Link to comment
dc5720 Posted December 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 still in progress once they're done ill post pictures Quote Link to comment
720DEBORAH_OWNER Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 What did that light come from? I just made the jump from Toyotas(had 5 22r and re celicas) to the Nissan/Dastun world. Feels like home. Reminds me of Mopars. Lots of awesome but highly underrated engineering... Anyway, I digress.. I just rescued an '84 720KC 4X4 some redneck kid was bent on destroying and was pondering doing an HID retrofit. Its been 10years since I've built a car or really followed the new tech much. Anybody have a line on what JY parts are gonna be approximately sized/built to do this retrofit easiest? How much current do these HID setups draw? What about durability with rough terrain? Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 I don't know of any rectangular 4 lamp HIDs. The best ones have the large projector lens in the front to flip the beam upside down and a razor sharp cut off to the light (which shields oncoming traffic) You can get HID bulbs for H4 lamps but there is no light cut off pattern... we've all experienced them... they're the cars with twin arc welders coming at you in the dark. These would make excellent high beams. The one in the picture is two joined together. An HID bulb draws about 40 watt which is less that the usual 55 watt low beams. Quote Link to comment
dc5720 Posted December 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 The projector its from an acura tsx Quote Link to comment
720DEBORAH_OWNER Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 I don't know of any rectangular 4 lamp HIDs. The best ones have the large projector lens in the front to flip the beam upside down and a razor sharp cut off to the light (which shields oncoming traffic) You can get HID bulbs for H4 lamps but there is no light cut off pattern... we've all experienced them... they're the cars with twin arc welders coming at you in the dark. These would make excellent high beams. The one in the picture is two joined together. An HID bulb draws about 40 watt which is less that the usual 55 watt low beams. No offense taken or intended back at cha in saying this... I'm well aware that is two systems melded together. ;-) I'm new here so a bit of background on me is probably in order to save us all some time discussing the obvious. I've been building cars for near 25yrs now. Was involved in my first frame off/full tear down at 14. I do all my own work. I grew up with a guy who now teaches automotive refinishing at a university level tech school. I am fully tooled for anything from engine building to welding/cutting frames to upholstery to custom sheet metal...... Hope that doesn't sound like braggin, wasn't intended to be.....I was just lucky to have inherited most of it and happened to grow up down the gravel road from the right guy. My buddy's dad was like a mad scientist. Back to HID'S... Does that 40w figure include ballast as well or bulb alone? Im a audiogeek who prefers the old school high current amplifiers to these new digital switching amps (I think they sound very dull compared to a classic AB design) consequently I am very carefull about adding electrical load on a sub 100a alternator. Sounds like an HID system might save me load overall...unless the ballasts are very power hungry/inefficient, which I doubt. As for my fitment question, im thinking more along the lines of using a standalone HID lens/housing that would occupy the same approximate amount of space as the orginal high beams. Doesn't have to be rectilinear, necessarily. My 720 is barely better than a rough parts truck. Lots of mods will be made. Its already trashed anyway. I bet there are generic HID kits out there., now that I'm writing this and thinking on it. The projector its from an acura tsx That makes me feel better. I would rather an Acura part on my truck than a Bring Massive Wallet part any day of the week.... 1 Quote Link to comment
720DEBORAH_OWNER Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 Here's a decent site on automotive HID'S. http://www.hidretrofits.com/ Has a bit of sales speak in it, but alot of info on general theroy and construction. After reading this, I think im gonna go with Bi-xenon's where the low beams are now and then a HID pair with yellow fog bulbs mounted in the high beam location. Gonna have to make custom bezels to mount them in, but thats no hill for a climber....that would complete the updating of the lighting systems on the truck as I'm using LEDs everywhere else. Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted December 10, 2014 Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 HIDPlanet is the best forum on the internet for hid tech, upgrades, and understanding the best ways of building them. HIDs will reduce your overall draw by quite a bit. They do have a power spike to boot them up, but I've installed a few sets and have buddies who have done so as well and never blown a stock fuse with them. You can wire them through a relay and get better boot up with them, and if you go with high watt versions (they come in 35w standard and 55w crazy bright), then you could risk a fuse, so they recommend the relay. My buddies and I have always used DDMTuning.com for our products and been really happy. I have no connection to them, just a happy customer. I've been considering building basically the exact units posted here, but my truck has other work it needs worse. 1 Quote Link to comment
720DEBORAH_OWNER Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Well, ask and ye shall receive. Mentioned my retrofit idea to a buddy who rebuilds wrecked cars for extra cash....and he offers me a pair from a 98 gs 300 for free.....woo hoo!!! Quote Link to comment
dc5720 Posted December 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 Well, ask and ye shall receive. Mentioned my retrofit idea to a buddy who rebuilds wrecked cars for extra cash....and he offers me a pair from a 98 gs 300 for free.....woo hoo!!! the 98 gs300 doesn't have projector the 97 does but they're halogen imo if you are going to do a retrofit go with a xenon projector you can retrofit a TSX projector they're a good size and they have a lot of performance on light once you color moded with clear lenses your pattern will look like this or go with FX-R you can buy them at http://www.theretrofitsource.com/ 1 Quote Link to comment
720DEBORAH_OWNER Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 the 98 gs300 doesn't have projector the 97 does but they're halogen imo if you are going to do a retrofit go with a xenon projector you can retrofit a TSX projector they're a good size and they have a lot of performance on light once you color moded with clear lenses your pattern will look like this or go with FX-R you can buy them at http://www.theretrofitsource.com/ The Platinum Edition of the 98 GS does have a HID projectors on it. This was a big problem for my buddy who bought that Platinum Edition car a parts car to rebuild a normal GS that had been spun on ice and smashed all four corners of the car. Headlights were one of the parts he needed from the Platinum Edition car. He was PISSED that he had to buy headlight assemblies after buying the parts car amd later realizing it had a different assembly. Hence the reason he is willing to part with them for free...he is still pissed off about it and wants nothing to do with them. I have a pic of his lamps,ballasts and autoleveling controls.. Its definitely a projector with a fresnel lens. Havent figured out how to post pics easily yet or I would share it. Quote Link to comment
Spiff Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 I've done retrofits on three cars, all parts have been bought at theretrofitsource and they have never failed. Plus they have excellent customer service. If you want really good lights then do it, but if you want your truck to look period correct then don't. Unless you have round headlights, they might pull it off. :-) Quote Link to comment
JoeCool Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 Another alternative is early model Maxima lenses. They are a single, long rectangular plastic lens that take four "normal" bulbs. Quote Link to comment
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