SpiritR230

got some time cleaning out my garage and found 2 headlights lying around, I figure I couldn't get much by selling it, why not open it up and see what I can do about them right? so it's now opened and apart, I have to say out of so many headlights I have done, this one is the toughest, the design of this headlight is terrible, it's a pain in the *** to get everything out without braking the tabs, which luckily I didn't. it took me 3 hours to figure out how to get the housing out without forcing it or scratch it. I've always hated the high beam and the DRL looking extreamly 90's, so I'll retrofit a set of projectors over it and see how it'll look. and then, I'll paint it, most likely black, matte black housing, gloss black around the shroud, and leave the shrouds chrome, maybe I'll get rid of the OEM projectors as well and put a newer ones in, those Kendrion lens with dots on them looks very stylish yet classy. I've always wanted to do that on my facelifted headlights but yea I might as well try this first. So, if anybody have any idea on how to mod these lights, please post it and I'll try my best to make it happen.

Viper98912

Very interesting, can you take a picture of the projector itself please? Is there a brand name on it somewhere?

SpiritR230

what I have in mind so far....

Kendroin lens for the low beam ($70)
BTW this is a direct replacement of the OEM unit, it's made by AL


H7 projectors for the high beam ($ cheap!)


I'm still deciding on what shroud I should use because there are so many to choose

Sir-Boost-a-Lot

iTrader: (1)

I like the idea of symmetrical projectors for both the high and low beam on an SL in the spirit of the SLR with the shrouds blacked out. I agree with you that the lights on these cars look like **** with the 90' tin flap on the low beams. When you look at the car from the front the highs and lows are on different levels, not sure what they were thinking.

SpiritR230

all parts are ordered and should be here around a week, I also ordered a set of type 22 style shrouds for the high beam....I hope it'll look flush, parts ordered today cost $120.

Viper98912

Looking forward to seeing this. I am a distributor for TheRetrofitSource products, that look like the second projectors you posted. I'm also curious to see if the EvoXR projectors that TRS sells would bolt in to the factory holes.

SpiritR230

I should of get all these parts from you instead!

Are you talking about the projectors with color?

Viper98912

I'm talking about anything on this website: http://www.theretrofitsource.com/

I was going to reply earlier but did not notice that you were going to pull the trigger on an order so quickly!

SpiritR230

nice, now I have someone to rely on when I need parts! working on headlights has become an addiction to me LOL.

SpiritR230

i'm thinking using something like this on the signal
anybody have any suggestion and also the DRL, what can I do with the DRL?

Exotic-metal55

Nice project and subscribed!

Viper98912

Those bullet led's may be too directed and not light up like you want them to. Sometimes they do light up nice though, so it's worth a shot. You may also want to try one of the side-reflecting led's instead of the front facing.

Also, take a close look at the height of the center of the current high beam bulb hole relative to the low beam projector. If you want to use the "easy" method of mounting this through the high beam bulb hole, your inside projectors will be higher than the outside (stock) projectors. You may not like the way that looks.

Also, the projectors you bought are H7 fit (they slide and nut into an H7 hole), but are the bulbs for H7 or H1? The bulbs that go into those projectors are normally supposed to be H1, and specifically, H1 HID. You may also want to get a small harness adapter to adapt H1 to H7 connectors, so you don't have to do any wire cutting and keep it factory looking.

SpiritR230

yes I am doing the easy method, as the projectors I bought are H1 fit but I comes with H7 and H4 back plates, so I suppose it should fit the stock H7 hole, yes, the projectors will be slightly higher than the low beam, but it's too early to say until I've fitted it in and get a real picture. But even tho it's higher it'll still look better than stock halogen bulbs right?

Viper98912

Look is in the eye of the beholder? I personally think there's nothing wrong with the halogen high beam reflectors on the insides of the car.

SpiritR230

true, well, in my perspective and point of view I want to make it look a bit more modern yet still classy.

Georgee6086

I played around with the led signal lights and found that the bulb that has like 15-20 little LEDs on it look the best (the clear LEDs that light up amber) also it took me all day to figure out how to get the led signal bulbs to actually work. After u wire in a resistor it won't work. But if you have ever had the headlights apart you will notice the driver side indicator bulb is wired differently Thant the passenger side. I don't remember of hand but I made a drawing of it when they were apart. The pass side signal bulb had the ground connection on either the top of the socket or the bottom can't remember but the driver was opposite. You will have to cut the tabs off the signal light socket on the pass side and install the bulb at 180 degrees. Then it will work! Also I did not use a resistor I just wired a regular 1157 inline but tucked it way. If you have any questions just pm me and I can send you pics.

SpiritR230

shipping on the Kendroin projectors are extremely fast, here's comparison to stock, like I've said, I was told it's a direct fit from AL, and it's exactly the same, except the lens of course.

SpiritR230

now , test fit!
-3 bolts from the back to the reflector housing.


bottom view


top view


OEM fittment


-3 bolts for the back blurry plastic








-2 bolts for the outter chrome plate ( it's being prep for paint so was sanding it, as you can see....it's perfect )




- last part is the chrome shroud






and that's it for today, and those shrouds I ordered did came in as well, it's too BIG, so that's $15 wasted! But the $70 low beam projectors are well worth the money to me. LOL
hope you guys like it. once I got the mini h7 projectors for the high beam, I'll start painting and hopefully I can get this done by.....next week???
ANYMORE INPUTS? because once this thing is done I'll sell it since I have no use of it, so this might be somebody's future headlights, if you want to add something to it, you should tell me now.

Sir-Boost-a-Lot

iTrader: (1)

If you're going to keep the bent reflector piece on the outer side, can you come up with something similar for the inner light so that they match and are on a similar horizontal level?

SpiritR230

this is the BIG shroud I got today........I don't know.....if this is how I want it to look, I got 3 more shrouds coming next week so we'll see how everything work out....
here's the concept pic LOL

SpiritR230

which "bent reflector piece" are you talking about? that chrome piece with hella holes? and the "inner light" you mean the tiny little running light or the high beam? i've done multiple measurements on it and I even put a tennis ball in it to get a look from above, the more I believe that by doing the "easy" retrofit method I can still line up both projectors nicely.

SpiritR230

as for the horizontal problem that all of you mentioned above, I think it's just a viewing angle catch, I don't know how to explain it, but here, I will use my poor photoshop skill to explain.



and take a look at this, does it look horizontal or symmetrical to you?


yes, the stock H7 high beam light bulb DOES look higher than the low beam projector, BUT, after fitting a tennis ball in it, it doesn't look high at all, and imagine the retrofit projector sticks out even more, if my guess is correct, it will look like the photoshop pic above.

Viper98912

It's not a tennis ball you need, it's the center of the new mini projector as it fits thru the stock hole. The picture you posted is of an SLR, they are slightly different...

Sir-Boost-a-Lot

iTrader: (1)

Sorry for the crappy glare pic, but heres what looks stupid. The outer lights because they're in that metal flap with all the holes in it, are lower then the inner lights. The SLR pic you have shown looks on point 100%

SpiritR230

sorry everyone, I've been extremely busy with the holiday parties and some other personal affairs lately.
all bullsh*t aside, here it is.
I guess I'm correct, the smaller 2.5" projector looks and line up great with the OEM 3" lense
only thing you can b*tch about would be the shroud, I know....I've search and search and searched all over the net to find some nice shroud, it's either too big or too small, or too much.
now all it need is a matte black paint job .