• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

Finally got my lights mounted, check em' out!


Mtrhd0024

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
High Point/Thomasville NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
So after getting four Hella 700ff's for Christmas last year, I never got around to mounting em!

Originally I was going to make a custom tube bumper for my truck, and mount them to that. But after some discussion and debate with my father, plus the expense of building a bumper like that, I opted for something slightly different!

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, but I just finished this up tonight, and this is the best I can do until daytime! I'm only mounting two for now, but let me know what you think!


They're mounted flush in the grille, via mounting brackets I made that bolt to the frame. They're both made out of 1-1/2" by 3/8" thick flat steel stock, and those suckers are STOUT! I didn't want them flexing while I was driving down the road (causing my lights to bob up and down) so I over-engineered em a bit! :D



The inside of the grille is going to get painted satin black, and the edge of the grille (the chrome bit in the front) will get painted metallic silver, since its dulled a bit in 20 years! I have yet to wire them up, but hopefully that will happen tomorrow night!



And a few extra pictures from during construction:





I've got some more pictures I'll put up later, but I cut the grille so that the plastic "Hella" light covers will still fit on the light! :)



Opinions? Questions? Its something relatively different, so I want to know what you guys think!
 


r1hatman

New Member
V8 Engine Swap
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
1,915
Reaction score
4
Points
0
Location
Knoxville, TN
Vehicle Year
1983
Make / Model
ford
Engine Size
2.8
Transmission
Automatic
Looks good, almost looks stock.
 

Mtrhd0024

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
High Point/Thomasville NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
Looks good, almost looks stock.
Thanks! :)

One of the things about them being mounted this way, is that they're going to be pretty difficult to steal... Once I'm done, you'll have to pop the hood and remove a plastic shroud over the top of the grille just to unbolt them. You can't really do it from outside the truck, which is good in my opinion!
 

r1hatman

New Member
V8 Engine Swap
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
1,915
Reaction score
4
Points
0
Location
Knoxville, TN
Vehicle Year
1983
Make / Model
ford
Engine Size
2.8
Transmission
Automatic
Just make sure they don't get to hot and start melting that plastic in the grill.
 

Mtrhd0024

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
High Point/Thomasville NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
Just make sure they don't get to hot and start melting that plastic in the grill.
Yea, they're fine. For one, the light housing itself is plastic, and these are also HID... So they run significantly cooler than even a 55w halogen bulb! :icon_thumby:

I can put the plastic "Hella" covers on em, turn the light on with the truck parked, and the cover barely even gets warm!

The lights that I put on my dads truck however... Those get HOT! I put some 100w bulbs in those things, and they get so you can barely touch the glass lens when they've been on for a few minutes!
 

doyouquaxu

New Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2009
Messages
795
Reaction score
26
Points
0
Location
Orange County CA
how much of a gap is there between the light and the grill? even if the light wont move, the does flex and the grill will move.
 

Mtrhd0024

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
High Point/Thomasville NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
how much of a gap is there between the light and the grill? even if the light wont move, the does flex and the grill will move.
There's about an 1/8th (1/4" at the most) of an inch between the light and the grille... It takes forever, trimming the grille down to fit, but as of right now, I've trimmed it so that there's just barely enough room for me to fit the plastic covers on the lights if need be. That way I don't have to worry about breaking them when I go offroad! :icon_thumby:

You can't see it in the picture, but you also have to trim the headlight mount slightly... Otherwise the light won't recess back into the grille far enough. I'll get pictures of this later today!
 

tony314

New Member
Firefighter
U.S. Military - Veteran
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
1,376
Reaction score
12
Points
0
Location
St.Louis Mo
Vehicle Year
1998
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.0 V6
Transmission
Automatic
Looks really really good man. Well done!
 

02RangerXLT

New Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2009
Messages
2,691
Reaction score
53
Points
0
Location
NE
Vehicle Year
2002
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.0
Transmission
Automatic
Looks good man, be sure to get some pictures of how they work!
 

Mtrhd0024

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
High Point/Thomasville NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
Looks really really good man. Well done!
Thanks man, appreciate it!

Looks good man, be sure to get some pictures of how they work!
Thanks, and will do, I just got home there about 15 minutes ago, so i'm going down the basement and they're getting wired up! Hopefully I'll have them done before dark tonight!

The only downside to HID lights, is that you've got to find a place to mount the ballasts! I think I'm going to paint the brackets, and then i'll mount the ballasts to the back of them with the double sided tape provided, and either large hose clamps or zip ties...

I've got a pretty cool switch that'll go in my dash (its a touch switch, and it lights up red, and then turns to blue when you touch it to turn the lights on!) and they'll be wired so they come on with my high beams! I was testing them last night, wiring them in directly with my battery, and they're SO bright! Plus they make my headlights look incredibly yellow, even though the headlights are brand new housings, and they've got 9007 silverstar ultra bulbs in em!
 
Last edited:

COPPERHEAD85

New Member
V8 Engine Swap
TRS Banner 2010-2011
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
3,490
Reaction score
41
Points
0
Age
59
Location
west tennessee
Vehicle Year
85
Make / Model
ford
Engine Size
302
Transmission
Automatic
Looks good!
Nice job.
 

Mtrhd0024

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
High Point/Thomasville NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
Looks good!
Nice job.
Thanks! Hopefully its going to stop raining soon... There's a storm brewing, and its currently pouring down rain.

I have a 4 car basement... And somehow, I still can't get this thing inside to wire the suckers up! :dunno:

My dad parked one of the motorbikes in the way. :annoyed:

So yea, about all I can do at this point, is get the first 2 feet of the car inside. :sad:

Edit: So the rain finally let up, and I managed to get it all done! I worked from about 4:00 this afternoon until about 12:30, turned the key, armed my lights, hit my high beams, and everything worked perfectly! Needless to say, I'm pretty chuffed, as I didn't have to rearrange any wires. :icon_hornsup:

The switch I'm using is special in that it doesn't latch when the power is taken away from it, so I used two relays to fix that problem. Needless to say, it made things a bit more complex, but it all worked out! :icon_thumby:

So anyway! As promised, here are a couple of pictures! They were taken with my cell phone, so sorry about any quality issues!

First off... A before picture, just for reference :D



Now for the lit up hellas! :icon_thumby:







I'll just let the pictures do the talking! :thefinger:
 

Mtrhd0024

New Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
192
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
High Point/Thomasville NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Manual
Well I got the hole cut in my dash for the switch tonight, and went for a two hour drive to mess with them, and get them aimed... All I can say is OMG :icon_surprised:

They actually blind ME when I pass a nice reflective road sign! Going down the highway, I'd flick them on when i got to a nice straightaway, and you could see reflectors and road signs lit up for close to a mile in front of you! :icon_welder:

The other funny thing, is that people who come up behind you in the fast lane, will actually slow down and match your speed, just to sit there and look ahead at your lights! I had that happen to me twice tonight, and found it kinda funny lol.

Here are a couple more pictures during the day, for those of you I promised I'd get pics! :icon_thumby:



 

02RangerXLT

New Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2009
Messages
2,691
Reaction score
53
Points
0
Location
NE
Vehicle Year
2002
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.0
Transmission
Automatic
Very nice, need to get me a pair of them.
 

machine090767

Member
U.S. Military - Veteran
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
167
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Minnesota
Vehicle Year
2006
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
5.4 Triton V8
Transmission
Automatic
My credo
Perfection is worth the wait
looks great!
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Staff online

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Truck of The Month


Kirby N.
March Truck of The Month

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Events

25th Anniversary Sponsors

Check Out The TRS Store


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Top