I have spent a LOT of time working on my headlights. For the last few years I have run HID bulbs in a H4 adapters in various 7" round headlights. If the headlight has a mask in front of the bulb, like the Hellas does, it's not too bad. If it doesn't, it's really bad!
By "bad", I mean it puts out a lot of glare. This glare is uncontrolled light that REALLY bothers other drivers. There are lots of pending laws about this problem in many states. Basically, a headlight reflector designed to work with a filament bulb cannot control the globe shaped light source of the HID bulb. There is a lot more information about this on
www.HIDPlanet.com.
I am planning to run the Total Recall Rally on June 27th in my Cobra. I also plan to run the STELLAR LUMINESCENCE RALLY in November which runs from Santa Barbara to Las Vegas. These are
all night events and good lights are absolutely critical. I bought a set of HID projector lights from a Nissan Morano on eBay for about $60. I bought a set of 7" round headlights with clear lenses on the Internet for $25. I used a saber saw to cut a 2 3/4" diameter hole in the back of the headlights and used JB Weld to attach the projectors into the back of them. This made the assembly 7.5 inches deep. So, I had to cut off the back of the headlight buckets and welded steel ducting (from Home Depot) to the back to make longer buckets. My HID ballasts are mounted in steel boxes (for weather protection) on top of the frame, under the fenders (the HID power wire is only about 14 inches long).
The light this setup produces is GLORIOUS. You get a very wide brilliant white beam with a distinct cutoff which I set to be at curb level, 150 feet in front of the car. When I activate the high beams, a little shutter in the projector snaps down (the reflector reverses it) and raises the cutoff about 10 feet (at the 150 foot mark). It took me about 6 months to collect all the parts and figure out how to put it together. I wish I had taken pictures of the process. I did take a few pictures of the finished light in the car. There is a lightweight clear plastic bubble in front of the headlight for protection from rocks.
I also purchased a set of 8" HID Driving lights from Kragen Auto Parts. I wired these to come on with the high beams. The headlights draw 35 watts and the driving lights draw 35 watts. My old halogen headlights were 100 watt high beams and 80 watt low beams. My old halogen driving lights were 140 watts each. So, the overall current draw is much lower and the light output is much higher. Sometimes my old setup would make the fan belt squeal because of the alternator drag. Sometimes, they would actually run the battery down. I bought a 108 amp alternator to fix that.
So, putting HID bulbs in a standard 7” round headlight will work, but it doesn’t work well and it could get you in trouble. Might as well go all the way. I will post pictures in my gallery. You are all welcome to join us on the ITN Rallies. There is more information here:
http://carzero.freeservers.com/
RallySnake
