Retrofit HID projectors into stock headlights

[Johnstoc]

Has anyone done or considered doing this? I am looking to do so later this year.  Note that this would fit actual HID projectors (not just a plug and play bulb kit) into stock headlight housings. Driving with good HID projectors for 5 years has ruined me. 

I believe this kit will fit https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-retrofit-kits/universal-kits/bixenon-morimoto-mini-h1-stage-3.html#

The biggest unknown is opening the stock headlights, which I haven't been able to dig up any info on. Anyone tried? Typically requires some heat and prying which is scary given the ridiculous price of $500-700 each for a headlight to replace if i break it. Seriously Ford? Have found them as cheap as $250 at a junkyard which is still 5X too high. 

Here is a similar project on a different model Transit: http://fordtransit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=134533

 

I'll report back my progress! Planning to start in December. 

 

[Johnstoc]

Would that be just putting h11 LED bulbs in the stock housing, like this?

http://www.xenondepot.com/H11-Xtreme-LED-kit-p/xt-led-h11.htm

It's been my experience that LED retrofit kits do pretty poor (maybe worse than stock halogen) when it comes to road illumination, the color is certainly different and they look bright if you look into them. I believe H11 HID bulbs in stock housing would be far superior but neither is legal due to the glare they generate. Tons of people do it anyways and I'm not here to judge. 

Factory LEDs headlights are different and can provide great output. 

Im interested in other options as I'm not too keen to hack up my headlights to retrofit projectors. But I believe a full retrofit projector kit will give the best lighting bar none, and better than many factory HID or LED systems. 

[mrtn]

The headlight clusters are not designed for p'n'p HID or LED (HID projectors are not reflector dependent, just need a clear lens). The best legal and cheap option is to get a set of Osram Nightbreakers and be done with it. The factory halogens are yellowish and I'm going to replace them when it gets darker. Have had Nightbreakers in every halogen-equipped car I've had. Big difference.

[Fifty150]

My brother in law and I are constantly having the discussion of LED vs stock halogen.  The facts are there.  When you plug a LED replacement bulb into a stock halogen housing, the reflectors do not work well enough with the LED light.  The headlight housing was designed to "throw" the halogen light.  Sure, everything in front of you is brighter with the LED, but the halogen goes farther down the road.  If you get a LED spotlight or lightbar, your results will be significantly better.  With that being said, I installed LED lamps in my truck, and I am satisfied with the results.  However, your feelings may be different.  Especially since LED in rain and snow is a lot different.  

 

I'm still debating whether I want to change the lights on the Transit Connect.  Obviously, I was hoping that someone had already beat me to it, and that I could come on this forum and read their posts.  I see that we have dust caps on the rear of the light housing unit.  I get it.  Older cars without dust caps tend to have more issues when it comes time to change the lamps.  With any LED drop-in kit, I will need to run them without the dust caps.  The dust caps, even if they fit, will interfere with the extra cooling that the LED lamps require.  The other consideration would be what to do with the ballast.  Ideally, you would want to mount the ballast and/or secure it so that it doesn't just bounce around.  I may have to come up with a creative solution so that my ballast don't come loose and fall off.  Then there is the question of the direction indicators.  I may have to leave the front direction indicators in their OEM configuration.  Either that, or slice into the OEM harness which connects to the entire headlight housing, and run really long wires to the load resistors because those should also be secured, and preferable to metal not plastic, since they get hot.

 

I sure wish there was a Haynes Manual available.

[103west43rd]

Fifty150, why are you waiting for a Haynes manual? Just buy the Ford workshop manual and wiring diagram. Considering the amount of work you do on your vehicle, and the technical changes you design/implement, it is a good investment. They were the second item I bought for my Transit Connect (the first was to replace those ugly panels on the rear doors).

[Johnstoc]

Fifty150 let me know where you end up. I intend to retrofit the TRS projectors that I linked above into the Transit headlight housings, more work but I believe far superior to any other option.

Ill document my work so others can see what it entails. Not going to have time to do this for at least a month. 

Finding a spot for the ballasts should be easy enough. I need to sort out what to do with the aux light that's mounted right under the halogen low beam, (lights up and stays lit when car is unlocked)  as there won't be room for it with the projectors. 

[Beta Don]

16 hours ago, Fifty150 said:

When you plug a LED replacement bulb into a stock halogen housing, the reflectors do not work well enough with the LED light.  The headlight housing was designed to "throw" the halogen light

With any reflector system, the origin point of the light is super critical  -  The reflector is designed to throw a beam of light exactly where desired *if* that light originates *exactly* from the focal point of the reflector  -  If the physical position of the light source is off by even 1/8th of an inch, the reflector is nearly useless so far as putting the light on the road where you want it.  Stock reflectors are designed to work with the halogen filament in exactly the correct position based on the specific halogen bulb the reflector was designed for  -  Any other light source is probably going to be a major step backward

I agree the Osram bulbs are the way to go  -  Nothing else comes close.  I've had Osram bulbs in all my cars and bikes for many years and it's always an amazing change from stock halogens the first time you turn them on.  Easy to tell the difference

Don

Edited September 27, 2016 by Beta Don

[Fifty150]

12 hours ago, 103west43rd said:

Fifty150, why are you waiting for a Haynes manual? 

 

 

I've grown into using the Haynes Manual over the years.  Mainly because of allocated funding.  It's cheap.  I'm cheap.  Bang for my buck.  At the Haynes price point, I receive more return on investment.  I've owned a Haynes Manual for every car and motorcycle I've owned.  

Haynes is not just good for cars and motorcycles.

[Fifty150]

6 hours ago, Johnstoc said:

I need to sort out what to do with the aux light that's mounted right under the halogen low beam, (lights up and stays lit when car is unlocked)  as there won't be room for it with the projectors. 

You could simply extend the positive and negative wires to an aftermarket auxiliary light such as a LED daytime driving light or bolt on foglight.  Or, simply unplug the lamp and tape off the connector.  Nothing will happen.  Just a lamp that isn't on.  But I would take that opportunity to take advantage of extra powered and fused connectors that are already tied into your OEM switching.  

I recently plugged in some little LED lamps that I just happen to have leftover from another project (buddy's Honda Pilot).  

[Fifty150]

1 hour ago, Beta Don said:

 

Osram bulbs are the way to go  -  Nothing else comes close. 

In the days of yore & yesteryear, prior to drop-in HID & LED kits, my buddies & I always got higher wattage lamps.  Hella was the brand that we always went with.  Nobody ever got caught, or had an issue.  Of course, I would never recommend that anyone do something as outlandish as install an 80 watt lamp because the Department of Transportation specifies that you operate 55 watt lamps.  Anything over 55 watts is labeled as "off road only".  So remember that you should only install them once you're no longer on a public thoroughfare, and only use them on the farm, at the campground, or anywhere else where there just isn't any overhead municipal supplied illumination.  Never forget to change them out and drive around all over town, and across the country, with illegal lighting.

[Fifty150]

8 hours ago, Johnstoc said:

Fifty150 let me know where you end up.

From the quick peek that I got under the hood, I am now sure that if I go the LED route, the dust covers have to go.  Some models of LED are direct plug & play, while others require a lighting ballast or LED driver which also powers the cooling fan.  Right behind the low beam, on both driver and passenger sides, towards the body of the van as it leads towards the hood hinge, there is a piece of metal with a hole that I could affix a cable tie to secure the LED driver if there is enough wiring.  And it looks like load resistors will have to tap into the harness which carries all of the lighting control wiring into the headlight assembly.  Now, the big question is how much I am willing to spend, to gamble on questionable results.  Typically, with other vehicles, a quick look at the forums will provide a wealth of information and feedback.  But it looks like with this forum, we will have to pioneer the mods and report back on what works and what doesn't work.  

[Fifty150]

8 hours ago, Johnstoc said:

I need to sort out what to do with the aux light that's mounted right under the halogen low beam, (lights up and stays lit when car is unlocked)  as there won't be room for it with the projectors. 

[mrtn]

5 hours ago, Fifty150 said:

In the days of yore & yesteryear, prior to drop-in HID & LED kits, my buddies & I always got higher wattage lamps.  Hella was the brand that we always went with.  Nobody ever got caught, or had an issue.  Of course, I would never recommend that anyone do something as outlandish as install an 80 watt lamp because the Department of Transportation specifies that you operate 55 watt lamps.

Not only that. The higher wattage bulbs had some more disadvantages:

• hard on wiring/plugs (my Taurus melted contacts and switches even at legal wattage)
• heat damage to plastic lenses, developed haze over time
• nordic climate only problem: thermal shock damage to lenses/clusters when plowing into a snow bank

[Beta Don]

LOVE all your pictures, Fifty150 (you must have a real name, no?) and I agree that whatever bulb you go with, it's very wise to go with the recommended wattage.  Factory engineers always seem to go with very minimal wire gauges and the voltage drop with stock wattage bulbs is often higher than recommended by the bulb manufacturers  -  With the 500 or more miles of wire in an average car these days, going one wire size under the recommended gauge saves them tons of expensive copper every year and don't think they're not aware of the money that saves them

I love LED's and 95% of the lighting in my home is LED and I really wish there was an LED headlight that would make an improvement in the lighting of the van using the stock headlights, but I know better.  I will eventually upgrade most of the other bulbs on the van to LED's, but for now Osram halogens will have to suffice for an upgrade to the stock head and fog lights

I too have used my share of Haynes manuals over the years, but with this van the OEM book of Wiring Diagrams is much thicker than any Haynes manual I've ever seen.  It's got to be 300+ pages . . . . hard to tell exactly because of the way they are numbered, but it was only $16 brand new when I found it on eBay and it's nearly Impossible to do any electrical mods without that book

Don

[Fifty150]

And what is with that battery box configuration under the hood?  I can already see how much of a pain it's going to be when it's time to change the battery.  I suppose if I did things the old fashion way, simply wire my aftermarket accessories to the battery terminals and use a system of circuit breakers, inline fuses, relays, and switches, I could bolt everything right onto the top of the battery box cover.

 

Has anyone added off-road lights instead of trying to mod the OEM lighting system?  Modern LED lightbars can probably supply a better lightsource than any drop-in lamp or projector module.

[G B L]

Haven't done anything with the lighting issue . I Have checked out the battery and the replacement will be no big deal.

[103west43rd]

Fifty150, in response to your off-road lighting question, look at my Gallery, my latest (now a few years old) lighting system turns night into day. Six Hella lights, the largest running 100w H3 bulbs.

[Fifty150]

I moved the smaller lamp behind the yellow lens used as a side marker, and replaced it with a different lamp with more LED pieces.

[Johnstoc]

Has anyone used any HID kit on this van for the low beams? I'm trying to determine what wiring is required to run HIDs with the low beam circuit. I plan to use a relay system, but some cars are finicky and require additional CANBUS or Mopar harnesses to "trick" the car into thinking there is still a halogen bulb.

[Fifty150]

I haven't seen anything in the aftermarket that was specifically made for this vehicle.  So if you're looking to replace the entire headlight unit, you may be out of luck.  The only thing that I see are plug & play H!! lamps.  Those are simple enough.  Only problem, as stated prior, is that you are now placing a HID or LED H11 into a headlight unit with reflectors designed for halogen.  

 

With the LED, the first noticeable difference is that they are bright when you look at them.  They will put out a very bright light.  So if you want everyone to look your way because you have very bright lights, then you will be happy.  The area immediately in front of your car will be lit very well.  Only problem is that the halogen reflectors will not "throw" the light down the road the way you want them to.  

 

Satisfy your curiosity.  Install a plug & play kit.  Report back on how you liked it.  Post some photos.  Your results may be satisfactory for your application.  You may like it.  

Although yellowish, halogen lamps work best in OEM applications, unless you are able to find a complete replacement projector headlight unit.  

I was satisfied with the LED drop in kit on my F-150.  With the high beam and low beams on, there is no need for off road lighting.  Granted, when I'm driving on highways at night, they are already lit, and in my area, overhead street lights are LED also.  In an off road environment, I'm not going very fast, it''s completely dark due to lack of overhead street lighting, and I only need to see my immediate area, as opposed to 100 yards down the road.