Teh Official "Dude Where's My Forum?" Thread, Brought to you by the minds of Box, and her fiancée, Lorelei Options

[Bitter]

XenonDepot has Philips rebased bulbs and they're some if the best if not the best available rebased bulbs, they last like OEM and have good alignment and proper color. They cost more but they're optically Superior and way way less likely to burn bowls due to UV leaking from cheap glass other Chinese brands are using. CNLight makes a decent cheap bulb but the capsule to base alignment just isn't as good. I've tried out about 5 different brands of D2S based HID bulbs and hands down nothing ever works as good as the genuine name brand stuff. CNLight, Morimoto (a few iterations of their bulbs from different Chinese factories), Philips. Philips or any other OEM wins each time I'm brightness, beam form (hotspot and cutoff being correct), and longevity as well as color accuracy (both bulbs are the same color and stay the same color). OEM salt mixes are higher in metal content so the bulbs dim much more slowly than cheaper bulbs, almost twice the life span at or near peak luminosity. With OEM or even the XD Philips rebase you get consistency, you don't have to shim each set of bulbs to get proper alignment and fiddle with them everytume. I got so sick of that!

This post has been edited by Bitter: Dec 11, 2017 - 1:18 PM

[navseal345]

I've tried twice to get a 6th gen from peoples on here. Spent weeks back & forth w/ one & the other never responded. Still kind of looking but whatever.

[bloodMoney]

ooo, what car got chunked? 4runner is a good choice.

We still have everything, execpt the 'vert. Stacy needed a daily for the baby, so we bought a '15 4Runner Limited.

[Box]

Yeah the Morimoto bulbs that my brother got for the Miata seemed to be of nicer quality than the OPT7 and Kensun, that and the colour was as advertised whereas the others tend to be on the bluer side. I still rather go with an o.e. Philips or OSRAM D2S, but I like white light more towards the yellow side than blue.

[richee3]

XenonDepot has Philips rebased bulbs and they're some if the best if not the best available rebased bulbs, they last like OEM and have good alignment and proper color. They cost more but they're optically Superior and way way less likely to burn bowls due to UV leaking from cheap glass other Chinese brands are using. CNLight makes a decent cheap bulb but the capsule to base alignment just isn't as good. I've tried out about 5 different brands of D2S based HID bulbs and hands down nothing ever works as good as the genuine name brand stuff. CNLight, Morimoto (a few iterations of their bulbs from different Chinese factories), Philips. Philips or any other OEM wins each time I'm brightness, beam form (hotspot and cutoff being correct), and longevity as well as color accuracy (both bulbs are the same color and stay the same color). OEM salt mixes are higher in metal content so the bulbs dim much more slowly than cheaper bulbs, almost twice the life span at or near peak luminosity. With OEM or even the XD Philips rebase you get consistency, you don't have to shim each set of bulbs to get proper alignment and fiddle with them everytume. I got so sick of that!

I’ve heard that Xenon Depot uses Philips bulbs but I’ve also read that they just use the Philips glass then claim it’s a Philips bulb. I keep distracting myself with rants about the 4Runner that I keep forgetting to bring up a proper HID projector retrofit on it. It’s got a pretty big headlight housing and the projector itself is pretty big so I feel like there should be some good options, apart from the current setup being the bulb into the housing sideways. I do prefer the reliability of OEM HID’s, as well as not having all of the extra wiring that comes with DDM HID’s. The fog lights are almost a lost cause because of the housings melting with any HID bulbs, brighter halogens, or cheap LED’s that run too hot, along with the wiring being too small for much more than the 19 watt H16 bulbs. Plus they’re so high off the ground and don’t have the greatest cutoff that any upgrade to the stock fog lights is done solely for off road lighting or to intentionally blind everyone. That leaves headlight upgrades as the only real option. Or LED light bars but we won’t go there. I keep meaning to start researching retrofits. I’m hoping the early GX460’s will be pretty close to what I need.

I've tried twice to get a 6th gen from peoples on here. Spent weeks back & forth w/ one & the other never responded. Still kind of looking but whatever.

Are you planning to keep your truck and get a Celica too? If so, you’ll be able to tow a Celica to the meets, bring your grill, make as much torque as all the rest of us combined, and still get better fuel economy.

[Bitter]

XD has two options, Philips capsule rebased OR just the good bulbs with good glass. The Philips bulbs are the same price as real D2S bulbs cause they pretty much are with a different base.

Start a thread or start reading over at HIDPlanet forums, I'm over there under the same name. We're a friendly crowd for the most part. I'm confident something better fits in there, but even the Lexus side entry HID projectors are sub-par. Of Koito units (what Toyota uses) I'd say the SC430 and Ls460 are the best.

[richee3]

I did a quick search a while ago and the 06-11 GS350 projectors will work. I didn’t get a chance to read any further about the retrofit process or what other options are out there.

[navseal345]

I've tried twice to get a 6th gen from peoples on here. Spent weeks back & forth w/ one & the other never responded. Still kind of looking but whatever.

Are you planning to keep your truck and get a Celica too? If so, you’ll be able to tow a Celica to the meets, bring your grill, make as much torque as all the rest of us combined, and still get better fuel economy.

That's the plan. Truck is turning into a rusty pile of sheet (at least the body is). Kinda want one so if I get the rust fixed I can use the Celica.
I don't need to bore you (Daniel) with the details. That red '99 on here I seen on Craigslist in TN, dude never responded to my pm on here.

Maybe horse & buggy is a better route.

[Box]

Just have to keep an eye out, they're out there. If it weren't for my RWD or nothing stint I'm in I'd probably get another Celica, inexpensive and easy to find an all stock example.

[richee3]

I keep an eye on Craigslist over here from time to time. I haven’t seen anything remarkable but I’ll let you know if I do find one. Chee La sent me this one the other day.

https://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/d/1998...6384427078.html

[Box]

For some reason finding a manual 350Z at a local dealership to test the clutch is proving more difficult than it should. Which after looking around for what it costs to get a clean 240SX you're into 350Z territory, and for me that just doesn't make sense to get a 240SX then. Yeah the Z is like 300 pounds heavier somehow, but it also makes nearly twice as much power. Knowing me I'll be perfectly happy with the stock power level of the Z and bolt-ons with a tune would just make it better, whereas with the 240SX I'd be left wanting to swap or go forced induction. Oddly enough I'm content with the 142 hp of the Miata, but it's also a good bit lighter and smaller than the 240SX. Though of course the Miata would be better with more power, it's just doesn't feel as necessary to do. Anyhow that's kind of my thought process at the moment, if the clutch is light enough get a 350Z and if not get another Miata.

[cheela]

I keep an eye on Craigslist over here from time to time. I haven’t seen anything remarkable but I’ll let you know if I do find one. Chee La sent me this one the other day.

https://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/d/1998...6384427078.html

yea, I sit on a computer all day so craigslist is just part of my daily ritual now. lol
that one is really clean though. Looks to be well loved and taken care of. leather seats look decent, body is clean/rust free, radiator isn't brown, no fram oil filter, injen intake and the engine bay is actually white and not filled with grime. Price is high but you really don't see them that clean anymore.

[Box]

I rather get this one and take care of what's needed and still have money leftover: https://bham.craigslist.org/cto/d/1995-toyo...6387114232.html

[Box]

There was a really nice turquoise pearl GT for under $3,000 I came across before I bought the Firebird. I'm sure in the duration of time there's been plenty of others come up for sale. Of course you have a much easier time in the south where it hardly snows and if it does they use sand and not salt, cars never rust unless they were just so terribly neglected and abused you wouldn't want to buy it anyway.

This post has been edited by Box: Dec 12, 2017 - 6:12 PM

[navseal345]

I've pretty sure I've seen both of those. Ive used www.autotempest.com to search for stuff.

Maybe someone should start a Craigslist thread & post the good finds there, lol.

I'll see how the holidays treat me.

[Box]

So I watched the MCM Mira build from start to finish and I have to say it's very admirable to put that much work into a car just because you like it and for no other reason.

[Box]

I really like the 350Z NISMO front end:

Then again I seem to have a thing for cars with elongated noses that come down really low.

[Bitter]

https://imgur.com/a/v7o5R

Mmmm nothing like hearing popping and crunching ceramic when you're extracting these things.

[Box]

It's because it's a Ford.

[navseal345]

Diesels don't have spark plugs!