I came over from NHTOC, I tried this couple days ago with a different type of HID kit " from a BMW " basic same style and all. But It ended in bitter tears, I didn't cut a hole like you did but only holes for the screws just in case I messed up I could salvage the headlights. My big question is, when you make the holes, did you alight the projectors? or how did you alight the projectors ? this lenses have cut offs that would look really bad if they are off center? any thoughts?

 

Well done! Good to see more people doing the HID thing right.

- NCSU

 

Nice man! I was looking into fleabay projectors to do this... I didnt realize I could easily use the Lightning heads and not have the tacky look of the aftermarket projectors.

Also, I'm about to do a TSX swap into my wife's 2007 Mazda 6.

 

Thats the beauty of ford headlights. In 12 years of working on fords, i've only seen maybe 3 that the bottom of the headlight isn't "level" with the car.

In the case of these headlights, the horizontal "shelf" under the reflector is level w/ the side/side axis of the truck. So to get them aligned horizontally, i just eyeballed the bottom of the projector frame (its pretty flat as well) and drilled the holes. You also have the flange at the top of the FX-R projectors that is perpendicular to the vertical axis of the projector as well, so you can use that to level it.
As far as the aiming of the projector left right, with this particular projector, as long as the mounting flanges were resting on the headlight reflector they were aligned correctly left right.
Again, that is with the TRS FX-R projectors and with the bulb hole of the projector in nearly the exact same spot as the factory bulb.


To give you an idea of how well the retrofit went as far as re-aligning everything. The passenger side needed to be brought down 1 turn, and the driver side was brought up 2 turns The left/right aiming was perfect.

 

I've been blinded for years by buddies w/ their "HID kits" and i hate doing things 1/2 @$$ed

 

Glad i could help. I to was put off for a year about doing the retrofit b/c i didn't want to buy those horrid looking ebay projectors. I bought the L headlights and silverstars hoping for a drastic change, didn't get it.

Then decided to the hell with it and bought the HID retrofit kit. Now that i've done it, I wish i would of done it a year ago.


I'll be doing a FX-R swap into my wifes 04 Pontiac Grand-am in the next month or so.. Then if i buy another mustang, i'll be doing one to that to.

 

I see, my retrofit didnt have a flat part on the bottom or the flange on the top. Pretty much it's all rounded.

I was afraid that it wouldn't be alight correctly and end up with them looking off. Thanks for the pics and tips I will try again. Just need to buy the shrouds.

 

ahh ok. With those projectors, once you have them fit to the headlights, i would mount the headlights and projectors back into the truck (just dont have the projectors hard mounting to the headlights). Then align go through the process of aligning the projector cut off lines, then once the cut-off lines are aligned, you can drill the mounting holes for the projectors through the headlights and finish the retrofit. Then at the end of it all, go ahead and do the final alignment.

Another option, is to build in a rotational alignment, so you can twist the projectors in the headlight before closing it up. but i would personally go with the first system.

 

For your turn signals.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ap...itchbacks.html

 

Now that is cool.. will definitely have to order those later on.

 

X100! Finally someone did HID's right! Best I've seen on the site!


I'm so tired of being blinded by those stupid "plug & play" HID kits. There's a reason I keep a 5 gallon bucket full of baseballs in front of my passenger seat... They usually end up with one through their windshield.















Joking! But I wish.

 

Awesome build and its great that you took a step outside of the HID box and incorporated them in the right way. That is a very nice cutoff on those FXRs.
I have been patiently waiting for the right set of projectors to cross my path for a while now at the right price. I have a parts list and mod list for it waiting! The only thing I dont like is that our 04-08 Model trucks have such a HUGE reflector in the headlight. At 6 1/2 inches in diameter, i am having a hard time finding a round shroud that will compliment and make the projector look right in the housing. After seeing your retrofit i think i may just have to get all my parts and let my creative side take a stab at making them "look" right. I even thought of getting rid of the turn signal bowl and adding a bixenon projector there with a modified Navigator reflector based LOW only HID in the main area but having it stay on when the projector moved to the high position and doing custom LED turn signals above the projector. Oh one can dream, i just wish i had the time for all these projects.

 

Here is what I have always envisioned for a correct OEM-looking projector headlight for the 04-08 trucks. I would put the projector lens in the turn signal housing and just put the turn signal in the main housing. Use a bixenon HID setup and you're set. I've thought of this before, but your post inspired me to do a quick photoshop

 

^do want

 

Yall have got me looking into the 04+ headlights now..

I'm not sure how deep the headlights are around the big reflector and the small one, but it could be setup to use a lowbeam only mini-projector in the small area, and then the FX-R Bi-xenon projector in the larger area. It would be price, as that combo would run $725 in just the complete kits for the 2 HID setups.

If you didn't want to do that, and you like the black-out look, i would inlay some carbon fiber cloth over a smoothed chrome reflector and then install the FX-R projectors into the normal place..

Either way, would be fairly easy to incorporate (the first really depends on how much free space their is behind the headlight bucket). The 2nd option, would be the cheapest and best bet for those guys who like carbon fiber and the blacked out headlight look. Oh, and I have everything to do either in my possession, except for headlights and HID kit

I think my next upgrade is going to be a carbon fiber fan shroud w/ E-fans made to fit my truck. I want E-Fans, but not sure if the 2010 setup will fit or not.. but dont want to go with something that looks.. Plus i need to do the E-Fans before i do the L blower swap..