DISCLAIMER: I will not be responsible for anything that may happen to your car due to this modification. This is DO AT YOUR OWN RISK. Once you modify your headlights they do not comply with DOT regulations.

Goals of the project:
1. To upgrade the sub-par low beam lighting that the 03-05 G35s come with.


Materials needed:
-Pair of G35 coupe headlights
-Pair of Stanley Projectors
-Pair of HIDPlanet.com Chrome trim rings
-Pair of coke cans
-Various nuts and bolts
-Drill
-Heat Gun
-Dremel
-Socket wrenches
-Screw Drivers
-Metal Polishing Kit (Found mine at Home Depot in the tool section)
-JB Weld
-Sandpaper
-Heat Duct Tape
-High temp silicone sealant
-Nissan Headlight Sealant


Step 1: Disconnect Battery
Step 2: Remove 4 pop up screws from top of the grill and 2 pop ups from the upper part of the bumper.



Step 3: Next rotate the two side screws that are holding the grill in place. These can be located at the backside of the left and right side of the grill.
Step 4: Push down on tabs that are behind the grill to remove grill from the front fascia.
Step 5: Turn your wheels so that steering wheel is turned all the way to the right (You need to do this so you can have room to work in the fender area.
Step 6: Go to the driver side fender area and remove the 3 pop ups holding the fender lining in place. Peel back the fender lining.



Step 7: You will now see two screw (see pic) that hold the driver side bumper into place. You need to remove these screws. A long Philips head screwdriver most definitely helps in this situation.



Step 8: Now you need to remove the 8 bolts on the underside of the bumper. See pic for the approximate locations.



Step 9: Repeat Step 5-7 for the passenger side.
Step 10: Remove corner lights. Pull off bumper cover (Be careful , as things scratch easily!)
Step 11: Now go to the driver side headlight and remove the 4 bolts holding the headlights in place.




Step 12: Now you need to disconnect the headlight from the wiring harness. This can be rather tricky as it is very stubborn and hard to take out. You can remove it using one of the following methods:
-Use a screwdriver to press down the harness tab and pull.
-Take a paper clip and put it in the front hole of the harness and jiggle it around. At the same time pull.
Step 13: Repeat Steps 11-12 for the passenger side.
Step 14: Take your headlights to a safe area and find a soft working surface to use. (No comments on the purple pilates mat please ). Now remove the three screws holding the two pieces of headlight together. Also remove the two screws that are holding the headlight adjustment wheel housing. Remove the adjustment housing.



Step 15: Now take your heat gun and make numerous slow passes around the headlight aiming for the crack which separates the two headlight pieces. Take a flat head screwdriver and remove the black sealant material every now and then.



Step 16: After about 5-8 mins of heating up the headlight gently pry the two pieces apart. Set the clear lens piece somewhere safe as you won’t be using it for a while.
Step 17: Now we have to remove the headlight bracket from the actual headlight. There are 3 screws holding the reflector bracket inside the headlight assembly. I would measure how far they are sticking out of the reflector bracket for future aiming reference before you back anything out. After that you need to start turning the screws. Two of them can be backed out using a socket wrench. The aiming screw needs to be turned by hand (I made the mistake of using the aiming screw to back out the bracket. This resulted in stripped aiming gears). This is why I recommend you do it by hand. Remove the reflector bracket.

 

Step 18: Take the reflector bracket and remove the upper low beam reflector. It is attached via 3 screws. Do not lose the yellow ground return wire. You will need that later on.



Step 19: Now you need to cut/dremel the center part of the low beam reflector to allow the projector to sit flush in the bracket (You also want it sitting horiz/vert correct in the reflector. Your end result should look like this.





Step 20: After you are sure it is sitting flush and will sit correctly in the reflector bracket. Drill holes and attach the projector to the low beam reflector (Be careful as the reflector is weaker now. Reattach to the headlight bracket.
Step 21: Now you need to place the reflector bracket back into the headlight housing. Since the Stanley projectors are so large I had to dremel out part of the stock dust cap in the rear of the headlight. Smaller projectors such as (Bosch/Valeo Single xenon) may be able to avoid this issue.



Step 22: Repeat Steps 15-21 for the other side.
Step 23: Remount the headlight adjustment screw housing that you took off in Step 14.
Step 24: Remount the headlights onto car and reconnect battery.



Step 25: Aim the headlights. I used this guide to aim my lights. http://danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html
Output should be horizontally correct and resemble this.

 

Step 26: Disconnect battery and remove headlights.
Step 27: Now that we have the headlights properly aimed we need to secure the projector onto the bracket/reflector. Take the reflector bracket out of the headlights. Mix your JB Weld (Make sure it isn’t JB Weld Quik) and start applying it very liberally anywhere the projector meets the bracket/reflector. This stuff is VERY strong and will hold the projector in place permanently. Allow 24 hrs for the JB to dry.
Step 28: After the projector has been secured it is time to make it look nice. Take your HIDPlanet chrome accent rings and use JB Weld to attach it to the projector. Be very careful not to get any glue on the projector lens. Let dry for 24 hrs.
Step 29: Now you need to create a shroud for the projector body. I used polished coke cans for this. Cut up a can so that it fits around the front half of the projector. Using sandpaper sand the aluminum down so all of the paint is gone. Next use the polishing kit and electric drill to polish the can trim. This process takes a while but if done right you can get some REAL good shine.




Step 30: Attach the shroud to the projector body and chrome accent rings. Dry for 24hrs.
Step 31: Test fit the lens/chrome trim of the headlight to see if it will fit over the projector. You will most likely need to trim down the chrome trim for the projector to fit. Keep in mind you should also leave some space so you can adjust the headlights vertically. Once this is done just reverse the procedure for opening headlights and put them back together. It is a good idea to use the Nissan headlight sealant for an extra sure water tight seal.
Step 33: Reattach all the bulbs and attach the yellow ground wire to the projector body.
Step 32: Sealing the back of the headlight was very difficult. There is VERY little space in the fender well area so my only solution was to fashion a boot out of heat duct tape and silicone it onto the housing. It is not pretty but it does the job and I have had no moisture issues whatsoever.
Step 33: Remount your headlights to your car.
Step 34: Enjoy your new lights.

 

Finished Project Shots




Output with lowbeams:

 

AWESOME DIY!!!

Couple questions.

Do you have a pic of what the housing looks like from the back? How is it sealed?

How does it get wired up?

 

No pics of how it is sealed. To be honest with you I originally did the duct tape boot/silicone method as a temporary thing. However, it seems to be working so well I don't really see a reason to change it. Wiring is 100% stock, you don't need to change anything. It is like putting on contacts instead of glasses.

 

Great job...PeteNJ... Very Thorough!!!
Looking forward to your Clearance Strip DIY...

 

Oops...just noticed the DIY on the next page...
Thanks bud fo rthe contribution!

 

Good job Pete. I've always been too impatient/lazy to take a bunch of pics during my retrofits.

How's the CCFL's holding up? I guess you didn't need a resistor to drop the voltage of the 14.4V when running to 12V?

 

wow...nice write up.

 

From the research I have done a resistor shouldn't be necessary. I did have one inverter go bad after a week. However, it was one that I had dropped before I finished installing it to the headlight. I was to lazy to rewire everything so I reused it. I will see how it goes, if I run into a problem I will update my DIY.

 

I bought some resistors to drop the voltage on my bixenon solenoids, so I was wondering if I needed that for the inverter.

My project has hit a delay. I bought some TL bixenons, and I'm still waiting for them to get here. I've have to reaim them.

 

excellent write up....

Anyone know where we should aim our headlights?? like to what level? anyone have a mathematical way or is it just what u think is level??? :P

Ed Lin

 

Ed,
In step 25 I mentioned this site:

http://danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

That site has the aiming guide to get to DOT specs.

 

hey how much did all the parts come out to? if an approximate number thats fine.