HID's in a turbocoupe

Topic: HID's in a turbocoupe (Read 2796 times) previous topic - next topic

HID's in a turbocoupe

June 20, 2010, 05:28:21 PM

I have 8000k hid's in my mustang and 6000k's in my truck, so driving the turbo coupe sucks at night because it basically seems like a I have two candles strapped to the hood.. Has anyone here put hid's in a t-bird before? Just wondering if the stock old wiring can take it. I get my kits from ddm tuning and it comes with everything.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #1 – June 20, 2010, 06:01:36 PM

Looks like they've got a good price.

HIDs are going to work better w/ the factory wiring since they draw less than incandescents - except maybe at startup. Not sure about that time, got a meter to measure draw?

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #2 – June 20, 2010, 06:28:00 PM

Quote from: t3skidoo;326036

Looks like they've got a good price.

HIDs are going to work better w/ the factory wiring since they draw less than incandescents - except maybe at startup. Not sure about that time, got a meter to measure draw?

Well the kits come with the ballasts to ignite the lights and thats where the shock to the wiring comes from, just wondering if there was a larger draw once they're going since the wiring is from 1988 haha. My mustang has four ballasts since I have hid foglights too, it's like driving during the day its unreal how much better you can see over the stock lights.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #3 – June 20, 2010, 10:06:04 PM

You might not want to hear this, but you'll get the best visibility with 4300K HIDs, which is what I put in my aftermarket fog lights. The websites that sell them tend to show a yellowish image, but I can testify that they're actually a very pure white light (for comparison, Sylvania Silverstar bulbs are 4000K).

White light excites the rods in your eyes as well as each of the cones. High- temperature, bluish light doesn't excite the red and green cones as well. They probably don't excite the blue cones any better than lower-temperature lights do, but even if they did, the loss in stimulation of the red and green cones probably outweighs the benefit. Likewise, rod stimulation peaks along the blue wavelengths, but what's really important about it is where the break-even point is between biasing stimulation toward blue cones and and increasing rod stimulation vs. the falloff of red and green stimulation. If nothing else, I would expect your vision to suffer as you wold be less able to distinguish color with high-temp lights. A neurologist would have to explain how that might affect your ability to gauge motion and distance, but I would expect it to be less than optimal.

I'm not a biologist -- I'm a physicist-turned-software engineer, but I know how to use Google :D

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #4 – June 21, 2010, 02:34:13 AM

Quote from: Quietleaf;326065

You might not want to hear this, but you'll get the best visibility with 4300K HIDs, which is what I put in my aftermarket fog lights. The websites that sell them tend to show a yellowish image, but I can testify that they're actually a very pure white light (for comparison, Sylvania Silverstar bulbs are 4000K).

White light excites the rods in your eyes as well as each of the cones. High- temperature, bluish light doesn't excite the red and green cones as well. They probably don't excite the blue cones any better than lower-temperature lights do, but even if they did, the loss in stimulation of the red and green cones probably outweighs the benefit. Likewise, rod stimulation peaks along the blue wavelengths, but what's really important about it is where the break-even point is between biasing stimulation toward blue cones and and increasing rod stimulation vs. the falloff of red and green stimulation. If nothing else, I would expect your vision to suffer as you wold be less able to distinguish color with high-temp lights. A neurologist would have to explain how that might affect your ability to gauge motion and distance, but I would expect it to be less than optimal.

I'm not a biologist -- I'm a physicist-turned-software engineer, but I know how to use Google :D

Yikes my head hurts after reading all of that;) but yeah i'm sure the whiter the light the better, especially in stock housings rather than projectors.. But the stock lights are horrible, I would't even say they're yellow, more of a gold haha. I know one thing for sure though I loooove the hid's in my mustang and truck.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #5 – June 21, 2010, 07:06:54 AM

Of course, HIDs in a housing not designed for them will probably do more to blind the other motorists then it will aid the driver.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #6 – June 21, 2010, 08:03:05 AM

Quote from: Silver88tc;326105

But the stock lights are horrible, I would't even say they're yellow, more of a gold haha.

Are you saying they're weathered/faded? If so, fix this first, before you do anything with any HID's or other aftermarket bulbs. Yellowed lenses and/or faded reflectors will prevent light from hitting the ground no matter what the source of that light is.

Protouring442's got a point too - HID's in a housing not designed for them will only serve to blind other drivers...

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #7 – June 21, 2010, 12:16:19 PM

Quote from: Thunder Chicken;326115

Are you saying they're weathered/faded? If so, fix this first, before you do anything with any HID's or other aftermarket bulbs. Yellowed lenses and/or faded reflectors will prevent light from hitting the ground no matter what the source of that light is.

Protouring442's got a point too - HID's in a housing not designed for them will only serve to blind other drivers...

I've buffed the hell outta the lenses and they still suck, and yes I know ideally you're supposed to get projector housings but I don't have them in my mustang or my truck and they don't blind anyone.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #8 – June 21, 2010, 06:24:58 PM

Quote from: Silver88tc;326120

I've buffed the hell outta the lenses and they still suck, and yes I know ideally you're supposed to get projector housings but I don't have them in my mustang or my truck and they don't blind anyone.

I'm guessing the reflectors are shot, at which point you need new headlights before you convert to HID or you'll have really bright bulbs that don't light up the road.

I run good headlight assemblies with slightly higher than stock bulbs and relays that pull their power through heavy duty wire directly from the battery. The lights are terrific and they aim properly.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #9 – June 23, 2010, 10:10:56 PM

I posted this in another spot about trying to build my own custom lights and it seems to be right in line with what you're thinking.

I'm thinking about building a one piece housing to mount on each side of my XR7 and then place the projector lights accordingly and replace the factory lenses with the black out lens covers.

thoughts??

If it were to be done, Id be interested in trying to wire up some HIDs too.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #10 – June 23, 2010, 11:17:17 PM

it would be difficult to use those particular lights in our cars. But take a look at what cougars_2_go did to his cougar. They look mean and are done right. Plus i think running hid's would possibly melt the housings due to the higher temps.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #11 – June 23, 2010, 11:34:47 PM

Their Mustang set is three-piece...

http://www.k2motor.com/2lbclhp-mst87-apc.html

Edit: Anzo is the manufacturer, K2 just resells them.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #12 – June 24, 2010, 12:20:46 AM

Quote from: Cougar8775;326321

it would be difficult to use those particular lights in our cars. But take a look at what cougars_2_go did to his cougar. They look mean and are done right. Plus i think running hid's would possibly melt the housings due to the higher temps.

difficult is an understatement, and yes, his lights look great, but what do you mean by "done right"?
Also, if I do/did decide to build a custom housing, it would be mostly fiberglass resin or some sort of bondo like material with a high temp resistant gloss black insides.
for $60, i'd be more than willing to experiment. it costs money to learn from your own mistakes. Id rather chop up a frankenstein set and hope they work, than chop up a stock set and waste them.

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #13 – June 24, 2010, 12:41:46 AM

some just hack up the stock units and can never get them to look like they belong on the car. And with the way the header panel is on our cars it would be hard to get the correct depth. Plus i could do my own experaments with it since i have alot of materials at my disposal. (father in law owns his own shop and i can do anything i want within reason)

HID's in a turbocoupe

Reply #14 – June 24, 2010, 03:14:26 AM

This is a car I bought for a dd for 800 bucks, i'm not looking to make custom lights haha but if they work out for you good deal. I just wanna be able to see and having hid's in both my 2001 mustang and my 1997 dodge dakota it's hard to drive with the horseshiznit halogen lights.