My Expedition Modifications and Write-Ups

Cool! Looking forward to pictures and a write-up!

I am installing the same kit into my DD Accord..

bricekin said:

My motorcycle is sold and I paid my A4 off this morning.

That means that I now have a few extra dollars to play with. I called up the guys at The Retrofit Source this morning and have a full Morimoto Mini 6000K kit on its way to me. As per the usual posting, I'll have pictures of the modification up this weekend/early next week.

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Cant wait for pics and your write ups. I want to do mine as well as I'm currently running 5000k hids in fogs and head lights. I'd probably have to order another set of headlights to work on though.

TEASERS

I stripped the chrome off of the shrouds and painted them body color. For those that don't already know, Easy-Off Oven Cleaner works pretty fantastic for getting rid of chrome. I sprayed it on a couple times over a period of 45 minutes, rinsed, and no more chrome. Called up my local NAPA and they mixed up a batch of spray based off of the color code which is DX. I think it looks great out in the sun but might be a little dark otherwise.

Hoping to accomplish the whole retrofit in between the hours of 7-12 tonight. Wish me luck!

Ok... time to talk about what went down last night. I started around 7:30 and finished up on the passenger side and the wiring at about 12:30. I ran into some things I wasn't expecting (gee, when doesn't that happen) and was forced to walk away from it for from time to time.

Let's start with getting the lens off the housing. This is my first time attempting anything like this and let me be the first to say GET SOME HEAT RESISTANT GLOVES THAT ARE EASY TO MANEUVER IN. I thought the nerve endings in my hands had enough heat damage over the years and didn't feel it was necessary to use gloves. I was wrong. Holding something over 200 degrees for a few minutes at a time absolutely sucks. So get gloves and be careful.

Again, since I've never done this before, I experimented with different techniques. Set the oven to 200-215ish. I was afraid to go higher than this. You might have more experience and think higher is fine. Go for it, but if you muck something up, it ain't my fault... Got it? Good.

Headlight prep - Take the headlight out. If you can't figure this out, you probably shouldn't be doing this modification. Twist all of the bulb retainers out of the housing and remove the rubber boot/shield for the headlight bulb. Once the headlight is removed, you might see the adjuster on the back and a bolt and think that they may need to be removed before you start. Do not attempt to remove either of these. DO NOT TOUCH!

Lens removal - Don't be impatient. It won't get you far and you're lens will probably look like shit in the end. I started with leaving the headlight in the oven for about 5-6 minutes. The glue is a pain in the ass. The glue is a pain in the ass. The glue. Is. A. Pain in the ass. I don't feel like there is a real good method here. I started by wedging a screw driver in between the housing and the lens. This helped break the primary part of the seal I believe. Got about 6 inches. Back in the oven for about 7-8 mins. Got about 8-10 inches. Back in the oven for about 5-6 minutes. Another 8-10 inches. Repeat till ya get all the way around the seal. Then prepare for the hard part, which is actually getting the damn thing to separate. Since I've never taken one of these apart before, it is hard to say whether the next part is true, especially taking into consideration that I've never seen anyone use anything to try to break up the adhesive's grip. I used a product that we get from our installation accessory company, Metra Electronics. Their part number is INSTAUN. After getting the screw driver all of the way around in between the housing and the very outside of the lens, I placed it back in the oven for a few minutes. After removal, I focused on an area to work on and applied the INSTANT UNCURE product into the gap that I had created. Now, I'm not saying that this works. I am saying that this SEEMED to work for me. It didn't make the job go light speed but it seemed to help it along a bit. If you've got access to something of the sort, maybe even like a paint thinner, try it out if you're not afraid and report back.
Once your headlight looks like this:

You'll have to get creative and find a way to remove the screw that holds the halogen bulb reflector to the bowl. I chose to drill a 1/2 inch hole directly below it. Quick, easy, effective.

Now that you're this far, this is the point of no return to the land of halogens. You get to cut the mount that the bulb reflector was attached to. Keep the cuts as close to the bowl as you can without hitting it. Be prepared to get dusty. Very dusty. I believe it is ceramic that you're cutting into. Once it is cut out/broken out, you'll be left with this:


Now... here is the part that probably took me the longest and I still probably could have done this better, but it seems to be working, so I'm going with it at the moment. I ordered the Morimoto Mini H1 V6.0 retrofit kit. The box that contains the projectors have various adapters for various housings. The projector itself ships with the lock down nut and the bulb holder attached with one screw. Loosen, do not remove, this screw and remove the bulb holder. Thread the nut off.

HERE IS THE PART OTHER MAY CHOOSE TO DO DIFFERENTLY. There are a couple of different options as far as mounting these things go. I chose to wedge fit it using the bulb holder. This is how my assembly went. Feed the high/low solenoid wiring through the hole where the bulb reflector was. From the base of the projector bowl-small silicone spacer-large silicone spacer-insert the threaded pole through the Ford reflector bowl-H4 adapter plate (I modified this by cutting out the little tit in the hole so it would fit over the threaded shaft easier)-the H1 bulb holder screwed all the way in. This made a tight enough fit that the projector barely bounced and seemed to have good rotation resistance. I'll drive it like this for a week or so to get final alignment down, then possibly glue the two sections together.

This is the back of the housing after I got the projector tightened up.


Stand back and look at what you've accomplished up till this point.


Get your wiring prepped for your first test. Put the housing back into the truck and check to make sure the beam is horizontally level.


Once you've got that taken care of, make sure that you've got as much of the original glue holding the housing together off of it. Lay down your silicone or butyl rubber sealant into the groove on the housing and press the two pieces together. If using the butyl rubber, you may have to throw it back in the oven to heat the rubber up.

BOOM! ONE DOWN!


I added a lil somethin' somethin' to set mine apart.

I got the second one finished after work on Saturday. This one only took about 3 hours from start to finish including clean-up.



My impressions - Absolutely amazing. Hard to believe that a simple headlight upgrade can make the difference in feeling like being in a $10k vehicle vs a $40k vehicle. I've long wanted this truck to have the kind of output that my A4 does, but now this setup just kills the A4. So much so that I've begun thinking about installing another set of these into the A4. High beams are very entertaining and impressive. The first time you drive down a country road at 2AM and kick the high beams on, if your jaw doesn't drop, you did something wrong. For this kind of difference, I would've gladly paid twice as much. It would've taken longer to do due to funds, but I would have gladly paid it if I knew this would be the result. The cutoff is clean and absolutely beautiful. I give this setup a solid 3 thumbs up. If you have the means to do so, get it done. This setup does make me wonder how much better a harder to retrofit projector setup like the FX-Rs would compare. I'm happy with it the way it is, and HIGHLY doubt I'll change anything.

Looking great! One thing that I noticed in your write-up, is only having it in the oven for 5-6 minutes. I have heard ranges of 20-27 minutes.. I just did my Accord ones, and 20 minutes was just plenty. I could see why at 6 minutes, however, you'd have a hard time getting them apart.


You know now I'm going to have to consider this on my 04.. It isn't my DD, though, so I may have a hard time justifying the cost, when the current lights are plenty bright.

kmh1596 said:

Looking great! One thing that I noticed in your write-up, is only having it in the oven for 5-6 minutes. I have heard ranges of 20-27 minutes.. I just did my Accord ones, and 20 minutes was just plenty. I could see why at 6 minutes, however, you'd have a hard time getting them apart.


You know now I'm going to have to consider this on my 04.. It isn't my DD, though, so I may have a hard time justifying the cost, when the current lights are plenty bright.

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The reason for the large number of times in and out of the oven at short time frames is because of the kind of glue that Ford uses. It doesn't get very soft. It is a form of PermaSeal. Look up some of the retrofits on the new F150s. Biggest complaint is about getting the housings apart unless purchasing aftermarket housings to modify.

This is how I'll be spending most of my evening tonight...

Truck looks great!!

I'm considering adding remote start - why did you go with the Autopage over Viper or Clifford?

tojohnso said:

I'm considering adding remote start - why did you go with the Autopage over Viper or Clifford?

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The company I work for is an Autopage dealer. So I got a really good deal on it. The other reason is that I've had so many of their 933mhz systems in previous vehicles and in my A4 that I've got an abundance of the 1100 series remotes laying around to use between the two vehicles.

I was planning to go with the Viper/Python/Clifford 5904 but I ended up not replacing the A4 with something else so purchasing a matching system was kind of a requirement for the Expedition.

Okay - thanks!

Oh dang, all this is recent, didnt bother to look at the date until i read the whole posts, keep up the good work & keep us updated

iTSGEEZUS said:

Oh dang, all this is recent, didnt bother to look at the date until i read the whole posts, keep up the good work & keep us updated

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It is all very recent! I am going to get my hands on a set of factory 20s or 22s this weekend since my tires are about worn out. Pics will obviously follow!

i have viper 5704...love it...over 2 million codes so no one can unlock ur car...when they unlock theirs

FREEWAY said:

i have viper 5704...love it...over 2 million codes so no one can unlock ur car...when they unlock theirs

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All good systems have rolling code operation now. Biggest reason they did it was because of the code scanner/repeater systems. With a different code every time the system is armed/disarmed, the same code wouldn't be recognized if it were repeated to the system.

Someone told me that aftermarket alarms couldn't use all the anti theft features that can on the truck stock like the immobilizer. Us this true? I'm looking at an autopage system also. I was thinking about adding a glass break and an internal siren. What are your thoughts?

The Stinker said:

Someone told me that aftermarket alarms couldn't use all the anti theft features that can on the truck stock like the immobilizer. Us this true? I'm looking at an autopage system also. I was thinking about adding a glass break and an internal siren. What are your thoughts?

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Too much to say without an actual keyboard. What I will say is that certain someone was/is wrong. I'll come back to this when I can sit in front of a computer.

Sounds good. My buddy knows quite a bit about cars, but he is speaking from his exp from 10 years ago. I wonder what has changed in 10 years. I look forward to your reply on this.