[slosurfer]

I really like my Lightforce 170's and may have gotten myself addicted to having some good light. They are great for night runs out at Oceano Dunes.  I may be adding more lights and that got me thinking about my electrical system and if it could handle 400watts plus.  I eventually plan on a dual battery setup, but with a 3 yr. old son and a daughter due any day now, I don't think I have the time or energy to figure out how to slam another battery into the crammed 3.0 engine bay anytime soon. Right now with 2 lights, I am at 200watts, while with 4 35watt HID's I would be at 140watts.  BruceTS's recent thread about his HID upgrade into his Hella 4000's got me thinking and I started researching HID upgrades for the Lightforce's. 

There are a couple kits out there for upgrading the lightforce lights to HID, but they are somewhat pricey although still really cheap compared to buying Lightforce HID lights.  There are also a few fitment kits, that allow you to fit a H3 HID kit into the lights, as there are no HID kits that have bulbs that are a direct plug-n-play for the Lightforce family of lights. Some work is needed to make a H3 bulb fit into the base, not to mention drilling the hole in the back for the wires.

At this point I have ordered a HID kit off ebay, and should have it soon and can get started on this project.  I ordered a H3 5000k kit from ebay seller: Autoluminate which I believe is the same seller Bruce bought from.

I started this thread before I actually started the conversion, so that I could receive feedback and tips, and to also condense all the info that I have found to make it easier for those who may want to try this also.   The HID kit should be getting here any day and I hope to start on it right away, so stay tuned.

Here is what I have so far:

HID upgrade kits (these have everything you need to do the conversion):

Off-roadlights.com kit $490

Extremelimitsoffroad kit $570.25 AU

HID fitment kits (these have pieces that allow you to fit a certain size HID kit, these do not include the actual HID kit):

Oztion seller This Oztion (Aussie for auction, similar to ebay) sells modified 170 heatsinks that allow you to use a H3 HID kit. $100 AU

Another fitment kit This is another fitment kit that replaces your heatsink. $15 a pair AU  Little simple things and lots of great info on the site.  He also shows you the difference between the earlier models and the later models.  The later models with the big aluminum heatsink can be modified to fit a H3Bulb, you can send them to him and have them done for $20 AU.  I emailed him to find out how much it would be for him to send me a pair of his pieces to the states, but haven't heard from him.

Another fitment kit Looks to be that you can buy modified heatsinks that will allow H3 bulbs

Places on the internet that have useful info concerning the swap:

BruceTS's conversion of his Hellas-Not the same light but good info on the rest of the install.

Offroaders.com install- A step by step install into Lightforce 170's useing the off-roadlights.com conversion kit.  Good pics and info, and should help to make sure mine is looking the way it should be.

Lightforce 140 HID conversion -Thread at candlepowerforums.com- User bushy555 is the maker of the above fitment pieces

Lightforce SL240 HID conversion- Thread at candlepowerforums.com- good info, even though the conversion was done on a hand held 240spotlight.  Also, some amazing pics.

Detailed Instructions - Detailed instructions on how to do the conversion if you were to buy a already modified heatsink.
 
Photos - Photos from the above conversion

Contacts - Contact for the above conversion pieces

Instructions for older style -Bushy555 instructions on how to use his fitment piece on the older style heatsinks.  He also has a downloadable set if instructions that shows both the new and old heatsinks together and the instructions.

That is what I have at the moment. You will notice that many of these are for the 240's but they all share the same base (except for the XGT's which is a completely different animal). I welcome any and all comments, tips, etc... and if you have found any other info out there, please share.  I don't have anything to show right now as I have not received my HIDs at this time, but once I do, I plan on starting right away and takeing many pics.
Happy reading!

Edit: Pics start on the 2nd page.

Edit: Writeup is up on the second page.

[neliconcept]

whoa HIDs in probablly the best housing available too.

This should be awesome setup for you Chris!

I plan to get some IPFs, the reason being they are good fit and i cant afford the 170s right now.

ill stay tuned

[oly884]

I've got the 240's from offroadlights.com with the HID kit. All I can say is that they are unreal bright. I love 'em and would definitely suggest anyone getting them if it's in their budget.

[slosurfer]

I just heard back from this guy.  He is all out of adapters but should hopefully have them in a few weeks.  He quoted me for three adapters shipped to me as about $45.00 US.  He let me know that if I had the newer model (somewhere after 2003) with the aluminum heatsink, that all I had to do was drill and tap for the bulb to fit, and maybe clearance the hole a little with a dremel.  He even sent me a couple pics.   He is going to let me know when he gets his pieces in.  I really like to know that there is a backup plan just in case I FUBAR my heatsinks.  I'm still waiting on my HID's so no progress yet.

HID fitment kits (these have pieces that allow you to fit a certain size HID kit, these do not include the actual HID kit):

Another fitment kit This is another fitment kit that replaces your heatsink. $15 a pair AU  Little simple things and lots of great info on the site.  He also shows you the difference between the earlier models and the later models.  The later models with the big aluminum heatsink can be modified to fit a H3Bulb, you can send them to him and have them done for $20 AU.  I emailed him to find out how much it would be for him to send me a pair of his pieces to the states, but haven't heard from him.

Oly, that is good to know. I would love it if you could post some night pics.   How do you change the bulbs with that kit, as it states that you cannot field change the bulbs? 

[slosurfer]

Just and update: Today I am trying to contact the seller to find out why my lights aren't here. On the 27th, I received the tracking number, but as of today, it still is showing that they haven't been shipped only that the label is made. Hopefully I'll find something out soon and can get this project going.

[BruceTS]

Same thing happend with me, got the tracking number, but it took a bit longer than expected before it arrived, Ironically it showed up the same day I set him an e-mail, but the online tracking system still didn't show a change......

[slosurfer]

That's good to know, it would be great if it showed up today.

[slosurfer]

I finally got them in today. Mine are from a company called Xentec, not sure where they are made yet, but I did find them on amazon.com. Same as my kit

No pics yet of my kit but it is exactly what amazon has in the link above.  If I don't get these done during the week I should get them done this weekend. Stay tuned:

[oly884]

prepare to enjoy them!

[Whelan]

Hey All,

Though I may not own a truck, I have an 05 Matrix XR AWD.  I just ordered the same set as named above 9006 6000k from Autoluminate on Ebay for $80.  I have read all over mixed reviews everywhere, but it seems for most people they work pretty well with a few defects here and there for people.  But I put most of that on their installs.  It seems some people add a relay to draw power for startup from the battery, and others simply add a 5amp or 10amp higher fuse to the board. 

Anyone here try one of these?  Also looking for this guys feedback once he gets them installed.  Thanks!

[slosurfer]

I too have read the mixed reviews and hopefully my install will go smoothly. If I was going to do the conversion on my headlights, I would not go with an ebay deal, but would go with a reputable company. I am not sure if I would trust these to be reliable enough to be my everyday lights, it would suck to be stranded with no headlights and then on top of that, not having good customer service to get them fixed.

I am going to start retrofitting tomorrow and hopefully have it done by Sunday evening. We'll see if that is possible with these kids.

[slosurfer]

Well I am part way through retrofitting one of the housings and I have had to take a break to watch the kids.  It is definately not for the faint of heart to be tearing into such expensive lights. I am trying to take lots of pics and lots of notes so that there can be some kind of write-up. This first one is going really slow, but I am sure that the second one will go much faster.

[slosurfer]

I am pretty much finished with retrofitting my lights over to the H3 HID bulb.  The only thing left to do as far as my housings are concerned, is to figure out a way to seal the rear hole.  I need to take a trip to the depot to see what kind of grommets I can come up with as the ones that came with my kit are way too big. So right now there is just a open hole with the wires passing through. As I imagined, I was able to retrofit the second one in about 30 mins. Here's a teaser shot of the HID bulb installed, I'll have plenty of pics and step by step instructions once I get these sealed up.



Also, it started raining, so I didn't get around to actually installing the ballasts and all that on the 4runner. I'll save that for after I get the lights actually sealed up. I'm getting really anxious now.

[calrockx]

this is prety cool, i'm watching this. 
i've got some 240s that i wouldn't mind converting to HID. 

[slosurfer]

This rain is killing me! We have got 4.5" in the past couple of days. Anyways, I wanted to test the lights before I sealed up the housings, just in case something didn't work and I needed to send something back.  Because of the rain, I had to wait till we got a break in the rain. It was almost dark by that time, so I just hooked everything up but I did not mount the ballasts or any of that.

They work! I don't know how well yet as I was pulled up to the front of the garage and I just ran them for the suggested burn in time of 10 mins. I pulled everything off and sealed up the housings. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to mount the ballasts and get some good comparison pics.

Here's a teaser pic (the lights aren't mounted so they are aimed really funny)