retrofit projector headlights? r50?

[REZN]

is this possible for the r50's?i didnt even know this was possiblelolive been in shock for the past 5 minutes looking it up

http://audiforum.us/b7-platfor....htmlh ... hp?t=61522

[volp]

I don't see why it's not possible. All you have to do is find a set of clear lenses for the R50 and then figure out a way to secure the projectors in the reflector so you can adjust the beam (screws with springs?) Otherwise all it takes is some time and a dremel.

http://store.theretrofitsource.com/index.php

has everything you will need including bezels and shrouds to make it look professional.

http://www.lights101.com/headl.../5909$86 for the pair plus shipping... not bad!

[UndeGuy]

hum... I wonder, would an R50 headlight housing hold 3 projectors?

Two on the bottom half, outside for low beam, inside for high beam. The last one on the top would be for "This is what you get for pissing me off" beam... or what would otherwise be called "driving/offroad lights."

[volp]

no. probably not, the projectors themselves are pretty big.. even for a 2.5" lens.. you can probably do two, but three is unlikely.

[sicwitit]

well, since were on the subject, I am thinking of running some Q45 beams on the oursides of the light, and maybe some FX35's on the inside since they are Bi-xenon...That should make for enough light for any situation. but, other projects come first, maybe in the next yr or so.

[QX4dahuneys]

Thought I would comment on this since I hear this topic "retrofitting" very much in the Accord forum as I own one myself. I think it is possible, below is a link to these guys that specialize only in retrofitting, I've heard they are pricey but guarantee their work. Check it out.

http://hidillusionz.com/html/

[sicwitit]

my friend went though them for his GS300, they do great work. I'd recommend them forsure!

[QX4dahuneys]

Yeah. I heard there pricey too!!

......

[fueler]

you'll like this forum... all about automotive lighting... a little too much in my opinion, some people spend thousands just upgrading their lights

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/

[UndeGuy]

you'll like this forum... all about automotive lighting... a little too much in my opinion, some people spend thousands just upgrading their lights

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/

too bad you need to register to see anything.

while I am messing with HIDs and my headlight, I don't think I'll be visiting the site more than a few times... so I don't see much use in registering.

[sicwitit]

Its not like registering automatically means you have to be devoted to that site, I think I'm currently registered on 15-20 different forums for various interests, and I may only show face on each one once or twice every year, if that?

the only forums I visit daily are this one, club lexus, my.is, and MR2OC. the others are just for when I need something that is forum specific. So go ahead, register, get the info you need, post if you have any, and have a nice day.

JT

[MetaOrbit]

Did anyone here ever do this?

I did a retro on my pathfinder using FX35 projectors a while back but wasn't satisfied with how I did them. I'm actually re-doing them tonight with some different Bi-Xenons and E55 shrouds and came here to see if anyone else had thrown projectors in R50 headlights.

BTW - it would be very difficult to fit more than one projector in the stock headlamps.

[01silvapathy]

Im curious to see what that comes out looking like!

[fueler]

I did HID projectors retrofitted off a Nissan Terrano Regulus,

[01silvapathy]

Those housings are specifically designed for the lights though. I want to see how I can mod mine to accept projectors. I know you can buy them online but they are expensive as hell, and the JDM headlights can be obtained but they are even more money.

[MetaOrbit]

Yeah, I contacted some Australian and New Zealand Nissan dealers about acquiring the HID-projector headlights from the Terrano (with the aim of swapping the projectors with some suited for driving on the right side of the road vs the left) but I think the price was somewhere around $1200 USD.

I do like the OEM look though, very nice. Swapping projectors isn't very hard at all once you have projector headlights to start with. Usually just a little modification of the inner bracket assembly is required.

The FX35 retro I did I installed them right into the OEM reflector with a home made shroud. I wasn't thrilled about the cosmetics or the aim so I did this other set last night. I ran out of time last night, but (if the alignment is correct) this will have been the easiest projector retrofit I've ever done (I've done a handful of I30/I35s in addition to the pathfinder).

Here's a teaser pic. Hopefully when the sun goes down I'll be able to determine whether the aim is good or not.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

I'm pretty giddy with excitement. Seriously, that teaser just gave me a semi. I really cant' wait to see them installed!!!! Please, for the love of god please do a writeup!

[fueler]

Nice pic! Looks great!

want to know something weird, I swapped my terrano lights in with no modification to the cutoff plates and they are set up for RHD

Post pics once you get them lit up

[fueler]

[MetaOrbit]

Yeah, those were the ones I was trying to get ahold of, but decided it wasn't worth the cost. I'm pretty satisfied with what I came up with, though, for a fraction of the price.

[MetaOrbit]

Nice pic! Looks great!

want to know something weird, I swapped my terrano lights in with no modification to the cutoff plates and they are set up for RHD

(or maybe i have them installed crooked, which is a possibility LOL )

That is odd.. You have them installed correctly, the but cutoff flares the correct way for our roads...got me..

Anyways, I was able to go downtown to an underground parking garage that was fairly level and check out the alignment. Pretty damn good, actually. The passenger headlight cutoff was perfectly level and the driver's headlight was slightly rotated clockwise...maybe a degree. I don't think the projector was mounted incorrectly though - I think the body isn't that straight on the car. Before it became my beater my sister put this thing in a ditch and trashed the driver's side front quarter..I've always felt like it wasn't repaired "perfectly." I think I've got it fixed though (I'll know later for sure), as I slotted a mounting hole on the headlight tab to counter the rotation.

You can see here:



And here's a quick pic I snapped of the front end. Again, please excuse the dirty dirty appearance. It's lived a rough life so it's in need of some TLC (it'll get some soon, I35's been sold and a lot of goodies have been/are getting swapped over):



As far as a write-up is concerned, there's not that much to it. "Bake" the headlights in the oven, pry off the lens, then remove the glare cap inside the headlight:


Then, if you're using the projectors I used, they're incredibly easy to install. They are Morimoto Mini Bi-Xenon D2S-H4 projectors. That is, they are HID projectors designed to accomodate OEM D2S HID bulbs, but fit into a headlight designed to take H4 halogen bulbs. They also have a bi-xenon function to retain the highbeam.

I've used OEM projectors in the past, like TSX and FX35 projectors, and they're great, but they generally take a lot of work to mount and align properly. The beauty of the ones I used in these headlights is that the rear of the projector body is threaded so you insert the projector through the bulb hole on the back of the headlight and secure it with threaded caps (like nuts) on the backside of the headlight. That's it!



(I can't take credit for these pics, I pulled them from a thread on HIDPlanet by Matt V):
(projector used is on left)



The shrouds I used were actually a perfect fit (nice once again) and required no trimming. A dab of "goop" on each projector lens retainer, slide the shroud on, and let them set. Bake the headlights and lenses again and press them back together and put them back on the car.

The wiring was also easy as I used a H4 -> Bi-Xenon relay harness. Completely plug and play, just attach power, ground, leads for Bi-Xenon solenoids and of course D2 connectors to the D2S bulbs.

[lemansz20]

I think theirs something wrong with that car? It definately needs a hug. I dont know it looks a bit odd, if the headlights were black on the inside I think it would look better.

[PaThFiNdInG09]

i think they look awesome MetaOrbit! the E55 shrouds look perfect. im actually thinking about doing this for my pathfinder. i have a few questions tho. i would have emailed you or PMed you but i didnt see a place where i could.

1: The site i use to get my HIDs from have 2 different kinds of H4 bulbs. do i need to get the H4 Hi/Low Beam or just the regular H4? or another type of bulb
2. What kind of sealant did you use to reseal your headlights?
3. Can you define "goop"? not trying to be funny, im just not familiar with retrofitting (first time) and i know for a fact that Elmers School Glue wont do the job

i would just throw some HIDs in the OEM housing but i want to make a classy look. all of the other retrofits that i have seen for other cars required a bunch of dremmel work and im not to familiar with that so i was scared to even try. from what i read this is more of a put into position, secure, seal, plug and play.

[MetaOrbit]

i think they look awesome MetaOrbit! the E55 shrouds look perfect. im actually thinking about doing this for my pathfinder. i have a few questions tho. i would have emailed you or PMed you but i didnt see a place where i could.

1: The site i use to get my HIDs from have 2 different kinds of H4 bulbs. do i need to get the H4 Hi/Low Beam or just the regular H4? or another type of bulb
2. What kind of sealant did you use to reseal your headlights?
3. Can you define "goop"? not trying to be funny, im just not familiar with retrofitting (first time) and i know for a fact that Elmers School Glue wont do the job

i would just throw some HIDs in the OEM housing but i want to make a classy look. all of the other retrofits that i have seen for other cars required a bunch of dremmel work and im not to familiar with that so i was scared to even try. from what i read this is more of a put into position, secure, seal, plug and play.

Thanks. Maybe they don't need a "hug." Whatever that means.

As for your questions - I think you're going down the wrong path if you're looking for H4-based HID bulbs. I installed actual bi-xenon projectors to provide a non-glaring beam pattern. I wouldn't recommend throwing an HID kit in these headlights with H4-based bulbs. The glare to oncoming drivers would be epic.

What you will need, to do what I did, is get a set of projectors. The ones I used on this retrofit simply fit through the hole in the headlight (where the H4 bulb normally enters) and is keyed to fit the H4 socket, so it aligns perfectly. I would highly recommend these. I got them from www.theretrofitsource.com. I don't think they're up for sale on their website yet, but I emailed them and was able to purchase their Morimoto Mini D2S Bi-Xenon projectors. That will take care of the optics.

As for the electronic/lighting portion, you'll of course need HID bulbs, HID ballasts, and a retrofit relay harness. You can use HID kit ballasts just fine, but make sure you're getting D2S bulbs (D2S is the type/size of HID bulb OEMs use). The upside to having a headlight that uses D2S is if you're on a roadtrip somewhere and a bulb burns out you should be able to get a replacement at any auto parts store or dealership parts counter (H4-based retrofit bulbs are a little bit harder to come by). The retrofit harness draws power straight from the battery to protect your stock wiring/headlight switch AND it triggers the bi-xenon function on the projectors for your high-beams.

On OEM headlights I don't use any additional sealant. The stock headlamp sealant is good enough, and it stays in the housing's grooves as well as on the edge of the headlamp lens. Simply re-heat both pieces when you want to put them back together and they'll re-seal perfectly.

And Goop adhesive is oddly named, but a real product:
http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infadh/infgoo.html

A lot people go right to installing a PnP HID kit, but after using these projectors it's really not that much more difficult. The hardest part is opening the headlight, and even that's easy on this car. It was all literally plug and play. Required no drilling, no re-wiring, no tapping, etc. Between the retrofit harness, D2S bulbs, and Morimoto Projectors it was painless.

[PaThFiNdInG09]

thanks for answering my questions so quickly. the HID kit that i am getting is from DDMTuning. they are Apexcone Raptors. they cost $30 for 35watt and some regular size bulbs but the D2S cost $20 extra and the 55Watt (what i want) cost $10 extra so i guess its still a good deal on HIDs. im definitely going to do the retrofit and use this kit with it. thanks again MetaOrbit

[ReKleiner88]

Wow! Very nice job looks professional!

I do say you have me thinkin of doing this mod myself now, I've thought of it before but it seemed too time consuming and tedious, so I just forgot about it.

Good job on the write up too, I think I'll devote some winter time to this modification.

Once again looks wicked sweet!

[sc2nr]

What shrouds did you get? those look like the E46-R not the E55's like you posted also what bulbs did you get? I think I'm going to do this project in the next month or two...I think I might even try the Angel eyes it's only an extra 25 bucks.

I'm also debating the shrouds I want it's between the APOLLO, GATLING GUN, and the E46-R http://www.theretrofitsource.com/index.php?cPath=30 What do you guys think?