The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Xenon projector retrofit headlights for our bolts

Guys,

I think nothing would be cooler than having a set of "projector style" housing fixtures that could retrofit into our older vehicles that will also allow usage of high intensity discharge (HID) headlights.

I think it would be a very cool aftermarket option, if someone dared take the risk on it selling. Of course the price would be out of reach for many of us (and those of us who would be able to afford them probably wouldn't buy them anyway).

If someone sprung for such a thing I think it would be cool, and CERTAINLY very unique.

What do you guys think? Xenons on my '66 short stepside would be killer (and cost at least half what the truck's worth! ).

-ftyler

Uhhh, are they expensive then?

go for it... and everyone will be flashing you!!!

My new car has Xenons. They are really great, but they also have an autoleveling setup to keep from blinding other drivers. This seems to work pretty well, as I am driving I see the sharp cutoff line always staying right below people's rearview mirrors. I don't think the DOT will ever approve them as aftermarket, for this reason.

Hella H4 conversion housings with 130W bulbs work just as well. I have one on my motorcycle with just a 55W bulb and the light is pretty nice.

Popular crime up here in WA is to steal a car and reip out the headlights as fast as you can.
A Lexus they showed on the news had $3K damage plus the $1,200 cost to buy the lights and their drivers.

To outfit a bolt would cost a lot, and it's money that could be spent on huge spinning wheels and neon in the fenderwells.

You can already upgrade to HID or H-4 pretty easily. There are kits available in FLAPs or online (ie e-bay) for the h-4 conversion, which is nothing more than a headlight lens that you can change the bulb in without changing the lens. Then you can buy a HID conversion which includes the ballast and the special bulbs- I think the h-4 kits are less than 50 and the hid (xenon) conversions are around 150. I have even seen projection style lenses in the diameter of the bulbs in these trucks. I think h-4 is plenty. HID probably requires you to upgrade your alternator to something with a little higher output.

The HID's actually use less power than regular Halogens, but they require a 2500V converter to make them light up. The headlight fuse on my RX-8 with HID's is 30 amps, for both low and high beams. The high beams are regular halogens.

I didn't know HID/Xenon used less amps than Halogen!

I guess the ballast used by HID/XENON headlights is the 12v to 2,500v voltage converter.

4onthefloor,

Are you in line to get that RX-8 engine replaced (recall)?

LMC sells a kit to upgrade to a better bulb, I don't think that they are HID but they are pretty slick looking. They are clear glass and you can get them in the two sizes of the 60-66 trucks. They might sell them for the other body styles? I want to get a set but I need four bulbs for my 61 and then I would need the headlight wiring beefup kit too. Anyways they look cool and you can even get blue bulbs for them to get that "Xenon" look. Check them out at: www.lmctruck.com

Good Luck

Kyle

I got a set of h-4 convertions from Jimmy Carter's
in my 51 chev. work great.

No, I don't think my car will need a new engine, although I'll go in for the new flash when it comes out. It had to do with an earlier version of the software not squirting in enough oil at part throttle loads. (Rotaries have an oil injection pump that lubes the seals) In extremely hot weather this wore the apex seals and causes a compression loss. My car only has 1400 miles on it and runs great. Mazda is extending the warranty out to 5 years/60k for all owners and the recall is good for any car regardless of miles.

Very few cars will even need a replacement engine. After reading the rx8club forums I'm not worried at all.