Hid Projector Retrofit in 2011 Expedition Completed

[rayt]

Started the hid retrofit in my 2011 ford expedition, as it turns out, it has so far been easier then expected, so far, my alignment is off by .5mm - 1mm on one projector, but i think that might be acceptable, since the risk of messing it up more is greater.

Using a FX-R 3.0 projector, same as the one from theretrofitsource. Will be driving philips 85122 bulbs at 50watts in this.

Have to say the reflector bowls are made of a metal/plastic mixture, but they are brittle as heck!!



nearly ran out of space in behind my headlights, projector protrudes out quite a bit !




testing everything, hoping that my silicone gets cooked enough not to gas. alternated between 35w and 50w ballasts, to test temperature differences and such. ready to remount in car very shortly. ~20f difference between the 2 ballasts, in a opened environment. probably way more when sealed

but after this set of ebay projectors, i realized that there is a casting mark on the lens, do yourselves a favor and stick with TRS! no more ebay projectors for me from now on.

asides from being stuck in HIGHBEAM MODE! i am done



matchbox projectors with 3000k morimoto h1 bulbs, had this done about a month ago - installed it before i got my hands on any shrouds, some glare, will eventually add shrouds.




slightly sad, driver side projector is slightly off, lesson learned, do not silicone stuff on, because i wont be able to get it back off. going to try to shim everything into place. Hope it looks ok after fixing it up

 

[rick chitown]

keep us updated on how they work running down the road... really interested!! Here's a side business for you, we'll send you all the parts, you do the work, charge us a premium, send them back!! I have set of HID bulbs I'm running right now, and I just still don't care for them. I feel like I'm putting off too much glare blinding people! In fact, don't even like driving car at night currently... need to take them out. Projectors are the way to go!

 

[rayt]

keep us updated on how they work running down the road... really interested!! Here's a side business for you, we'll send you all the parts, you do the work, charge us a premium, send them back!! I have set of HID bulbs I'm running right now, and I just still don't care for them. I feel like I'm putting off too much glare blinding people! In fact, don't even like driving car at night currently... need to take them out. Projectors are the way to go!

there are plenty of people that do that work, i inquired with some listed people that do retrofits, and one told me ~550 for labor another told me ~1100 for labor.

it is crazy!, i do not think i will be doing this again anytime soon, maybe to open it up eventually and fix the slight alignment issue.

Do it yourself and save yourself the money! if you get aftermarket TYC brand lights, you can be done real quick, the oem lights i used took me many hours to figure out how to open, then some more time to clean off all the permaseal left over. Projectors are the way to go, i have oem projectors on my other 2 vehicles, and i decided i wanted to add projectors onto my newest vehicle.

 

[GAINMOB]

i got mine done for $600...projectors/shrouds/ccfl's...

 

[rayt]

i emailed around saying i had my own projectors, shrouds etc, and told them i had oem headlights from ford, and those were the prices i received for labor alone, if it was 600 and included the projectors, shrouds and ccfls, i would gladly send it off to someone to do!

 

[walnuts4x4]

i would love to do this but feel like this is one mod that i would butcher... how much you have into the parts to do this?

 

[rayt]

~300 in parts + bought a extra set of oem headlights = 750 or so.

 

[GAINMOB]

i emailed around saying i had my own projectors, shrouds etc, and told them i had oem headlights from ford, and those were the prices i received for labor alone, if it was 600 and included the projectors, shrouds and ccfls, i would gladly send it off to someone to do!

sickhids.com...zombieland or zombiesoldier does it too...

 

[GAINMOB]

http://youtu.be/yGd45hpQ4QM

 

[GAINMOB]

i cant post vid from you tube to save my life

 

[Toyman]

i cant post vid from you tube to save my life

The link worked for me or was this after you edited the first try.

 

[GAINMOB]

i want the player to show...not just the link

 

[FlyBoyd]

That looks great man!

 

[WHOISMOOTOO]

looks sweet!

 

[dariod]

Its just sad that $50000 truck and year 2011 does not have factory projectors :-(. My other car is 1993 Lexus GS and it has projectors plus it 20 years old.

 

[rayt]

the expedition will probably only get halogen projectors at best, there has to be some distinction between ford and lincoln.

 

[GAINMOB]

they start with high end/luxury vics 1st and then eventually make it to normal everyday cars...lol

 

[rick chitown]

Its just sad that $50000 truck and year 2011 does not have factory projectors :-(. My other car is 1993 Lexus GS and it has projectors plus it 20 years old.

I agree with with dariod, it does seem a shame that we can't get as at least an option... my car stickered at $56k, and not even an option for decent lighting, ridiculous. When you can get on other Ford products ala Edge's and Focus' these days. I just think the Expedition is really, really old technology that they are trying to keep band-aided together. Don't get me wrong, I love my Expy, just want factory HID's!!

 

[rayt]

i'm actually very happy at the way my lights came out, definitely, shimmed it a bit, and my beam is nearly perfect, only thing left is to find a level surface to finish it up. The light pattern on this is definitely up there, clear cut off, and bright.

hope more people do some retros in the future, maybe ford will catch on if they see enough people doing it.

 

[AngryBird]

Nice Job rayt! Those look like they could be factory which is perfect IMO.