preview of a headlight project
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,846
Likes: 9
From: Toh-rensa,Ahteesia,Ahcadia,Montree Pak, Longa Beacha
Brief DIY
According to a few other people, you don't have to take the bumper entirely off. But this will give you the general idea.
A few other pointers:
Make sure you aim the projectors with the fog lights, otherwise, the fog lights tend to not be in line with each other after you align the low beam projectors.
Projectors that should fit well are E46, Audi Valeos, and possibly TSX's.
If you're going to paint the bezel, use high temp paint. Having handled these HID lights while they're on, I can say that they get really got.
According to a few other people, you don't have to take the bumper entirely off. But this will give you the general idea.
A few other pointers:
Make sure you aim the projectors with the fog lights, otherwise, the fog lights tend to not be in line with each other after you align the low beam projectors.
Projectors that should fit well are E46, Audi Valeos, and possibly TSX's.
If you're going to paint the bezel, use high temp paint. Having handled these HID lights while they're on, I can say that they get really got.
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,846
Likes: 9
From: Toh-rensa,Ahteesia,Ahcadia,Montree Pak, Longa Beacha
Sometimes the terminology is confusing. I usually call A either a shroud or bezel, I call B a shroud, and I call C a bezel.
You want an "A" to make the projector look nice head on. You want a "B" to block any extraneous light. I secure them with high strength mounting tape and JB Weld.
"A" is available at hidplanet.com. "B" I made myself with aluminum sheets.
I got the lights to line up with the stock fog beams. They'll all set now.
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,846
Likes: 9
From: Toh-rensa,Ahteesia,Ahcadia,Montree Pak, Longa Beacha
Originally Posted by Klumzyee
will the E46 projectors fit on both high and low beams? btw the TSX projector fits
There's more room in the fog/high beam section, so you could put just about any projector in there. The thing is, if you want to retain your high beam functionality, you will need a bixenon projector. Which means that you will need to wire the solenoid, and use relays so that the light will stay on when you switch to high beams.
With the stock H4 bulb, if the fog beam filament is on, then the high beam filament is off. And vice versa.
If you want to avoid overloading your stock wiring system (having it power up 4 HID bulbs), you'll want to get a H4 harness to power the second set of bulbs via a direct connection to the battery.
That's what's holding up my own headlight project. I have a H4 harness for bixenons coming, but it's stuck at the Canadian border....
You can either A. go to clearcorners.com and pay through the nose for them or B. go to home depot get a lighting sheet (basically plastic) and cut out the circle and epoxy it back in.
PM ducatiguy on the forums here, he did this and can better assist.
PM ducatiguy on the forums here, he did this and can better assist.
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,846
Likes: 9
From: Toh-rensa,Ahteesia,Ahcadia,Montree Pak, Longa Beacha
There are two types of lighting sheets at the Home depot here. One was made out of really flimsy looking plastic. The other is made of acrylic. Get the acrylic one. It's about $7, and you will have enough to do this for about 100 headlights.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,148
Likes: 0
From: Hoboken,NJ
Originally Posted by E_K
I think we have the same dremel and heatgun, Pete!
I used to use the oven to open up the lights, but since my wife and I bought our first house, the oven here isn't big enough. And I didn't want to keep using my parent's oven, so I bought a Wagner heatgun.
LCA (the guy doing the angel eyes) is supposed to help me get the CCFLs into the strip, in exchange for shipping my extra lighting strips over to him.
Pete, if you haven't hooked up a PC power supply to power up the lights, I would strongly suggest doing so. It makes aiming them 90% easier, since you don't have to mess with the car. It also makes washer modding/shield bending 99% easier, since you can try all sorts of configurations within seconds.
I used to use the oven to open up the lights, but since my wife and I bought our first house, the oven here isn't big enough. And I didn't want to keep using my parent's oven, so I bought a Wagner heatgun.
LCA (the guy doing the angel eyes) is supposed to help me get the CCFLs into the strip, in exchange for shipping my extra lighting strips over to him.
Pete, if you haven't hooked up a PC power supply to power up the lights, I would strongly suggest doing so. It makes aiming them 90% easier, since you don't have to mess with the car. It also makes washer modding/shield bending 99% easier, since you can try all sorts of configurations within seconds.
Man I am in love with the Dremel tool. It is very versatile!
I am going to do the PC Power supply mod for my next Retro for sure. I was lucky to get decent color out of my TSXs with only one washer!
In regards to the CCFL. it is pretty easy. Goto SVC.com and buy a 12" White strip of CCFL (Do not get the one which comes with 2. You need two seperate inverters to make this work.). Cut the CCFL out of the plastic tubing it comes with. Cut out some of the bottom of the clearance strip's lens. Cut up the top part of the reflector portion of the strip to allow the CCFL to sit flush with the reflector bottom. Splice into parking lights.
Note: BE VERY careful with the CCFL it is fragile! Also, insulate the tube with some sort of clear plastic so it doesnt touch the metal in the reflector.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,148
Likes: 0
From: Hoboken,NJ
Originally Posted by E_K
Projectors that should fit well are E46, Audi Valeos, and possibly TSX's.
TSXs are not an easy fit if you have them sitting up towards the front. you have to hack the back of the housing as well as the front bezel to make it work. Output is amazing though. night and day vs. stock.