So...its really dang hard finding a pair of headlights for an 87/88 tbird (obviously)...the reflective paint on mine is worn pretty bad. Is there a legit way to get this repainted specially? Something like that, just to get them shiny again. Bulbs are fine, lenses are already cleaned..I'm talking about the housing. I've heard some say it can't be done and others say there is a method that has been done by a few folks..or is my best bet on HID's? I'd like to see at night.
I have tried repainting the inside of the housing with a reflective/chrome type of paint, while it looked better it didn't help the performance much. You might be able to send them to a chrome shop to have them chrome plated but I have no idea if it would have the same reflective quality the original aluminum vapor had.
Putting HIDs into a headlight housing designed for halogens has several drawbacks. The bulbs have very different lighting patterns and will cause a great deal of glare thrown into the eyes of oncoming traffic because our OEM housing wasn't designed for HIDs. The housing just isn't capable of controlling the light produced by the HIDs.
The best solution I have seen for our headlights are installing aftermarket projectors that were designed to control the light pattern and put it onto the highway where you need it. I used these and they are amazing. http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=3181
Here is the finished project.
(http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee367/T-BirdX3/photobucket-1752-1330102822001.jpg)
(http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee367/T-BirdX3/photobucket-4125-1330110747076.jpg)
Stock low beams.
(http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee367/T-BirdX3/photobucket-4849-1330056228371.jpg)
Projector low beams.
(http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee367/T-BirdX3/photobucket-4761-1330056228893.jpg)
Here is the thread to the build.
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?33121-%28New-Goodies%29Need-Your-Opinion-on-Headlight-Color!%28Lots-of-Pics%29
Hope some of this helps!
Chrometech USA. They can chrome plastic, and have done some great work for me.
How in the heck do the cops not pull you over for that? That is an insane amount of light, directed or not.
Why would they pull me over? It just looks insane because the output from the stock car is so poor. These are the same type of lights that come in many of the new upper end cars. The light is very controlled so if you are above the cut off they are no brighter on the eyes than a marker light. If you look at the picture you can see the cut off on the doors on the building and you can see it is well below the mirrors and windshields of the surrounding cars.
Here's how it usually works: If you don't blind the officer, he either doesn't know you from any car that CAME with bi-xenon lights, OR he doesn't care. I did a really clean retro for a county deputy 3 months ago on his 2004 Explorer, he loves it. I was apprehensive at first, but he was cool. What I have told you is what he told me.
I did a quickie retro with halogen projectors in my Bird with parts I had laying around, but I'm still working on my final goal of LED projectors, and they will be nicer than what I'm running now.
I would be afraid that late at night when the cops are just looking for someone to mess with, and I had 3 beers....etc.
Who needs the aggrevation, not me.
I will stick with my NOS headlights and relays in the wiring. Good enough for me.
I heard theres some reflective foil type thing that you can get from craft stores, not sure how well it will hold up but ive seen some and it looks like chrome.
Well if I'm tearing apart my housings I'll go with the projectors! Hardly anyone here does the projectors, so if I do that I'm ahead of everyone else already! Dang! :) how much did the projectors n stuff cost?
woah your thunderbird is blue too!!! mine too!! Late night comments makes me overly excited about this!!!
Also, which projector kit did you buy?
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=227
This is the kit I ordered. You will also need to make some clear lenses to replace the factory lenses. The factory lenses have light diffusers in them, the diffusers will not allow your projectors to perform properly or safely.
The alternative to making lenses is grinding the diffusions out of your old ones, and polishing them til they're clear. That's how I did mine. X3's method does produce a better finished product though, and it might be less work.
those are awesome!
That makes complete sense and I thought of that after I said that..okay well I have an extra set kicking around here! I'm just missing one of those clips on the back that adjusts it so..maybe I'd have to buy a new set or something cuz it was hard to take the clip off and put it on the one I'm using now...how would I make a new lens?
How would you make an aftermarket lens for this? I could see it probably on headlights from an 83-86 cuz u can find aftermarket lights for those anywhere it seems..but for the 87/88 would i have to go to a specialist to make them or...if i made them myself theyd turn out awful ha
This may be a way to do it and still pass a state inspection. The DOT stamping could stay intact.
It is a process called vacuum forming, it involves heating plastic and then using vacuum to mold the heated plastic around the outside of the OEM lense. The way I learned was by watching a lot of Youtube videos on vacuum forming and from there it was a matter of trial and error. There is plenty of information out there about this process, lol sadly alot of it is only used in the Star Wars population to make there own masks and stuff lol. But, none the less it is still the same process. I had about two weeks into leaning how to make a really nice set. IMHO the final product is just about perfect, outside of a few specs of dust that seem near impossible to keep out, but they really aren't noticeable.
I will be glad to help you however I can if you decide to make your own. There is a good bit of info in the thread that I posted earlier should be helpful and here was my original thread on NATO linking to Kevs first attempts at making clear lenses. It is kind of cool to look back and see how the plans changed and progressed.
http://natomessageboard.com/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=024363;p=1#000000
I have not tried this method but I would think this would be very time assuming and you would still have the yellowing issue that comes with a twenty year old lense, I think I remember (?) thefoeyouknnow talking about there being tiny cracks inside the OEM lense that you can't get out.
If you live somewhere with strict state inspections, no matter what changes you make to your headlights, you will be better off just having some OEM housings to swap back in when it comes inspection time.
It is a shiznit TON of work. And because my lenses were old, there were years of micro-cracks from years of thermal stress. I didn't see them until I powered them up the first time. I haven't had to go back and polish off any new yellowing, though. I retro'd my 05 Escape the same way using 03 headlights (single bulb reflector buckets just work out better when mounting projectors), problem was that the 04 and older housings use diffused lenses. I started with new Chinese housings, so I didn't have to work on the outside of the lens and there were no micro cracks in them, also, I used BiXenon projectors harvested from a wrecked 10 Flex. I had a thread with it over on HIDPlanet. http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?38325-E55-projectors-halogen-hid
I wish this was an option for our Tbirds! lol
Thanks for chiming in, I thought I remembered you saying there was some cracks in them but was too lazy to look to make sure! lol
Some states like cali will crush a car for running modified components without dot and carb numbers. In my opinion you can only use lenses off another car or "downgrade" to 83-86 header panel, or attempt a 87-93 mustang front end swap.
Or, as I've posted before, DON'T LIVE IN CALIFORNIA. CALIFORNIA IS A STATE THAT HATES CARS. The people of California love cars, the state government hates cars.
Yeah cali is pretty horrible with cars and modifications. When i cut my ler off I got a ticket for sound violation and having no exhaust when I still had my cats, was going to get written up for clear turn signals too but i showed the cop it had yellow bulbs. It's BS. I found this write up on how to do the process and looks quite simple so I might be trying it out. http://www.instructables.com/id/E8RW98YF3C4XLCQ/
Around here in utah, they pull people over for not having mudflaps on lowered cars, and people with aftermarket head and tail lenses to check for dot numbers. On of my freinds had a honda impouned for having aftermarket tail lights without a dot number, and couldn't get it out until he re-registered his car and put stock lenses on.
On and we pay taxes everytime we register our cars, and not having a dot number is an automatic registration suspension.
That's stupid but government needs to make money someway.
I don't think Washington laws are very tough on cars. I'm only running a cat since my ler fell off somewhere.....many ppl drive their cars with HID's in halogen housings (or used to at least). Here they don't seem to give a as long as it isn't hazardous or if it's way to loud then they give a warning. Smog? nope. The only incident I heard of a cop pulling someone over was for lights out or my friend had a straight pipe rx-7 for a day. Heck, I drove around 2 days with only one light. I like that lens idea...contemplating this..i just need a housing or one of those clip things for the adjusters.
As much as I hate the boxy look of an aero fox stang fron end, I think that would be the best way to go if you want good hid's. They make everything for mjstangs. Next would be a 83-86 front end.
I would love to make my own hid lenses, but I like to pass saftey too. Funny thing is I think stock 87-88 lights are probably worse off then aftermarket hid's would be.
Eagle eyes!!!
I found the same thing so check this out. Need to read what I did trust me it helped out tons. http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?31504-Headlights-were-SO-DIM!&highlight=headlights