Good stuff, are your projectors the AFS or Non-AFS versions?

I'll have pics up tomorrow of what the headlight looks like. It looks just like stock except the projector lense is clear (and you can't really tell that unless you're right up on it. Otherwise there's not much to see lol.

 

Unfortunately don't have the projectors themselves - most were AFS however. Probably not much to see, but just like seeing different examples of the retrofits. Thanks. If you ever need more components hit me up.

 

How much do I gotta pay you to do that retrofit for me? Im lazy and after doing my S2K retrofit in my m3 I dont wann do it again hehe

 

I'll trade you my lights for your M3!

I really don't know if I would do a retro-fit for someone. Something could go wrong or they might not be happy with the results for some reason. I spent almost all of 3 days doing it. If I didn't have the long weekend, it would've taken me at least a week probably. I think someone might expect a quick turn around, and I'd feel rushed. Plus I don't want to screw something up on somebody's lights. If I did do it, it would only be after someone had all the parts and I had pics proving they had the parts.

 

yea it's definitely not a walk in the park... though there are places that do custom retrofits for a hefty price$$... check out hid planet if ur interested... otherwise just wait til a write up is made; i'm gonna get to it once i get this other headlight.

 

Uploaded some of the pics of what I did today. Didn't have time today to take pics of the whole thing put together. But like I said, it doesn't look any different from the outside than a stock headlight.

Here's the headlight with just the lense and shroud section removed:


Closer view of the stock projector still mounted:


Side and back shot of the uncut projector mounting spot:



After I cut and ground out to make the RX330 projector fit:




Here's the projector after I cut all the excess off the shield and ground around the lense holder:




And pics before of every thing mounted before I put the lense back on. The two white packet things on the black part of the housing are the silica gel packs. They help kill any moisture that makes it's way inside:





They kind of give a close idea of what all I did to make it work. I've already got a few ideas in my head of how to make it better. Also seriously considering doing custom shields also.

 

Custom shields, for sure. As soon as I get some projectors, I'm planning on sending them to JVX and just having him make me some shields. It'll take all the guess work out for me! I'd like to build my own, heck I just might. Just give it a whirl and see what I can make.

Let's hear some of the ideas to make it better! Lol!

 

By making it better I mostly mean the mounting method. Making it better to allow for more precise rotation adjustments.

I put two screws through the shield and JB Welded them in the back. Then I made the holes on the stock part sort of oblong so the screws could move in a curve left or right. If that makes any sense lol. Doing it that way I just had to loosen the nuts in front and then rotate the projector.

It worked pretty well, but I think it could be better. It's really hard to make good holes in the plastic thing. Mostly because after cutting a lot of it away, I was afraid to do too much and risk breaking it. So it's kind of hard to get the rotation as good as I think it could be.

I think I can make a sheet metal plate that goes in front of the plastic part with "feet" that attatch to the outside of the high beam reflector. Then make really nice holes in that metal for the screws to come through. That would probably be more secure and allow more precise adjustments. Makes sense in my head, but hard to put into words.

As for the custom shield, I don't think it will be super hard. But from the pics I've seen it's worth a bunch of trial and error. Something I noticed in pics is with the custom shield you loose some of the color above the cut-off. Honestly, I wouldn't mind. The amount of color I have is amazing, but the sharp cutoff kind of gets lost or blurred in it. Right up on a wall my cutoff looks ultra sharp. As soon as I get good distance from a wall the cutoff looses some sharpness and theres a foot tall line of blue and purple. I also want to do a custom shield to get more width. Mine is really good, but more is better lol.

 

Sorry I just found this thread.

These look great in person, good job Mike!

BTW, you are very welcome for the help. :D

 

Thanks man!

 

lol nooooo hehe

After checkin out your pictures this actually looks a tad bit easier then my M3/S2K project.

I think ill go with this retrofit, once you go retrofit you never go back. My S2k Lights in my car at 55W is insanity in my m3

 

Although it's cool what you've done, to me, you were better off just using HID's in your stock projectors...

Im running mobileHID 4300K's, and I never once have I ever been flashed, and I even have moved my beam UP about 4-5 "teeth". Your beam is so low you are really not utilizing the light you have available IMO. The extra "glare" on the stock projectors lights up signs so nice and bright, I have a wide lighted area, and the the beam is intense. But like I have said, I never had any issue's with them being too high or bright, using stock projectors.

But great work on the retrofit, I would just raise those beams up some... You running it so low for nothing.

 

Glare is only 1 of the reasons to do a retrofit (there are many other benefits). I have HID's in my stock projectors and they look like CRAP IMO, the upper glare makes it look like you have a big gap in your cut off. The stock projectors with different lenses and the shield removed would be a great improvement but if I'm gonna yank open my headlights I'm going for it all

 

if you check HIDplanet.com and look at any legitimate HID system whether a true retrofit or stock OEM equipment, you will notice that there is no such lighting above cutoff. the stock halogen projectors 'as is' were never designed by engineers to handle 3x the light output of regular halogens made by an HID conversion kit.

trust me, this residual lighting to light up signs might seem minimal at certain points of view, but this is projection we are talking about. it'll be at some distance interpreted as glare; i've even asked numerous people as soon as I got the KIT installed and adjusted because i thought the mobileHID would be SAFE...

stock halogen projectors with mobileHID
these 3 areas are 'annoying' light


modified halogen projectors 'squirrel finder removal' with mobileHID


rx330 projector with mobileHID ballast, bulb, etc. (not in headlight)


the rx330 retrofit produces an even wider beam and even more intense lighting compared to stock halogens with mobileHID's; sometimes pix do not do it justice. not to mention the mobileHID's also introduce EMF interference--compare listening to radio stations with your mobileHID kit ON and you will notice a 'hiss' sound on certain frequencies. this is why people do a retrofit.

On another note:

for proper headlight alignment. please use the following DOT/ECE approved standards:


http://www.danielsternlighting.com/images/Aim.pdf

most likely you will have to do this when you lower your car, since some drops even out the rake of the stock setup.

 

I ran a drop-in kit on my VW (it had halogen projectors) for a couple years. Trust me, the output in a non-HID projector is nothing like the real deal.

I have raised them a good bit since I took those pics. Those were from the first night I had it all done. That's the PITA part of the retro-fit, constant adjust, drive, adjust, drive, repeat. At first I had them adjusted according to the way everyone on HIDplanet does it. Measure the distance from the ground to the center of the projector then at 25ft. from the wall put the lower step of the cut-off 2" below the height of the projector. But that was really really low and I couldn't see very far. Where I have them now, I can see plenty.

The stock projector also doesn't have a step. I could probably raise mine higher than yours and still not have light anywhere near the windshield of an oncoming car.

There are plenty of people rolling around here drop-in kits in reflector housing and projectors. There's a guy with an '08 tC with a zillion K drop-in kit. Looks like a super nova coming down the road. I know when you're driving it, it might not seem that bad, but to oncoming cars it's not fun. Whether you get flashed or not.

But in the end it's whatever floats your boat. A drop-in kit will never have output as wide or with the intensity spread out like a true HID projector will. And they'll never have the insane color at the cut-off. Plus, nobody can just go out and buy my lights, that's priceless.

I'll never knock anyone for rocking a drop-in kit, I've done it too. Well maybe I would if they had some retarded "30K" kit. Doing a retro-fit is a lot of work and most probably think it's crazy to do it all. It's all about doing what you want.