DIY low profile - sleepy headlights...

[st33f]

DIY Headlights...

at ur own risk.... :P

Tools and Hardware Needed:Drill

wire strippers/crimpers

2 pair of small driving/fog lamps (i used el cheapo 20$ a pair ones from pep boys. Pilot somethins)

machine screws w/ nuts, and washers

2 peices of .75 or 1inch 1/8in thick flat steel or aluminum strap/stock

wire crimps

screwdrivers

hack saw (or sawzall)

file (or grinder) - just to clean up the edges u cut.

10mm socket with rachet and extention

one toggle switch OPTIONAL*

pop rivets/rivet gun OPTIONAL*

sheet of bendable plastic – black is 3.99 a 3x2ft sheet at lowes – or you can use an old wheel well cover.

PIVOT Controller for headlight motors OPTIONAL* - I havent installed this yet and its probably getting sold as i like em up where they are all the time

Taking out old Headlight

YOU MAY WANT TO REMOVE THE FRONT BUMPER IT HELPS!

1. First raise your headlights2. Remove the 4 black screws on each side of the headlight unit... detaching the black plastic shroud covering the sides are outer rim of the headlight assembly3. Next you want to take your rachet and remove the 4 10mm bolts that hold on the headlight assembly covers(tops) and place these aside with the shrouds.4. You'll see now the way the headlight is held into place. Remove the adjustment screws with a philips head screwdriver and then also the screws holding the adjustment ring (chrome ring holding the headlight in).5. Now remove the spring on the top inner corner. The headlight will now be detached. Unplug the black booted plug from the headlight and put the headlight somewhere for safekeeping in case u ever want to go back.6. If you want to paint the cage black- now you can remove the entire motor and headlight assembly by taking out the 10mm bolts - and paint it

Preparing to install new Lights1. Lower your headlights and measure the width side to side where the front part of the headlight cage is... youll then cut a peice of your flat stock this length.2. clean the cut edges with a file or grinder, and then lay it flat where u measured on the headlight cage.3. mark the flat stock on teh ends where you can bolt it to the cage, and then drill it... then mark the cage and also drill that.4. Next you want to hand tighten screws into the strap you drilled and the cage... so you can mark placement of your lights. So get out your lights (mine had 2 sided tape) and mark where u want em... then take the flat stock off the cage and drill holes for your lights to mount on it... be sure to measure where ur holes are to do the other side symettrically. 5. after drilling the holes for the lights' mounts, bolt them to the flat stock snugly... not tight because you have to aim them still. Next move on to wiring the lights to work properly...

Wiring the LightingThis next part can be done a few ways... So here are your scenarios.

Scenario 1 - always all 4 lights on at same time... high beams or not.Scenario 2 - 2 lights for low, and two for high

for scenario 1 (requires less work)- you'll have greatest lighting, but your high beam indicator on the dash will be on all the time

Scenario 2 – you just wire both grounds to the green stripe wire – and then the high beam one to the blue positive and the reg beam to the white stripe.

I recommend scenario 2, because its good to have high beams!

ALL SCENARIOS START THIS WAY... UNHOOK YOUR BATTERY!

1. Cut the plug off of the headlight wiring...2. trim away the wire wrapping and locate the colored wires (pink with stripes)3. the wires are as follows. white stripe - reg beam power blue stripe - high beam power green stripe - ground4. strip the ends of the wires

now pick the way you want em and wire it…

FINISHING UP

1.Take the black plastic and cut it to fit behind the lights… you may want to cut slots in it for air- I didn’t because I run blowthrough with only a mesh screen over my turbo- so it doesn’t matter. Make sure that it hangs down past the bumper, you may want to bend it and also connect it to the bumper. I didn’t because I well… don’t have a bumper

2. next place it behind – you may need to cut a notch for the wires at the top.

3. drill a few hole into the hindside of the headlight cage on the edges where its flat, and then rivet or screw the plastic in back of the lights…

4.now… you want to lower the headlights down and unplug the motor if you don’t have a pivot controller. Crank each side to the same level leaving enough space for the light to go out unhindered by the bumper.

5. If you have weak motors, and they wiggle or move, take a piece of the metal strap, and drill a hole in the one end… next drill a hole behind the bumpers mounting hole, and then stick the strap up towards the light assembly. With minor bending around the headlight motor it should sit flush with the inside rear bolt hole for the headlight cover. Mark the strap where that hole is… then drill a pair of hole on each side of the mark (slightly oversized) and create a slot… for adjustment. Copy to do the other side, and then bolt the bottom underneath

6. next AIM your lights how u want em… I aimed my hi’s up a tiny bit and my lows straight. Tighten the lights and the adjustments…

7. replace the headlight covers using a longer bolt on the rear inner one so that it reaces when going through the strap u made to steady the light. Tighten it all up, and replace the plastic rims/side plate things – you may want to cut the top outta the rims - I did…

8. any questions email me…

[email protected]:imasteeflocal help 610-291-8244

[240sxHitman]

Good write up. can you take some pics of your lights up closer to see maybe give a few people a better sense of how it should look when finished

[st33f]

sure thing... problem was that girlfriend took camera to her sisters for 3 days... i cant use the crappy camera.. gotta be the digital rebel... as soon as the pics of the kids are off teh ccf card ill take some. She took like 250 pics of her neice/nephew for me since i couldnt go with her this month. Anyways--ill get on it tonight. ASAP.

[unexpressedcolor]

sweet right up dude, im gonna install mine nextweekend.

i wanna look into some high/low beam light bulbs or posibly brighter bulbs, thinks thats gonna be overkill?

[st33f]

all u need is one to be high and one to be low... its different between 65w output and 55 watt... and the 65 watts are aimed different... high beams arent actaully much brighter-its that they're aimed all over, rather than down to the ground

ill have pics this weekend... its wet out.

[tm_kickz]

Nice write up!

[st33f]

thx - im gonna do a writeup on running blowthrough maf for all u venters with sr's and rb's

[kamikazestorm420]

in order to wire them, do you just splice the wires the way you want it and thats it?

[st33f]

oh--you already would have the stock plug cut off... you just hook em with either crimpies or you solder em

[drifter_for_life06]

nice write up, even thought several have been posted, do some more write ups that in depth and keep posting em!

[kamikazestorm420]

can you post pictures of your headlight upclose?

[boon240]

do they stay that way forever? cause my 240 all i have to do is take of this one cap and twist the knob to raise the lights.

[180crafter]

Damn...I wish that someone would post how to have the sleepy light and also have the lights go up and down like stock.

[trackslut240]

its here somewhere, i just cut the brown wire(i think) on the pop up switch,then i pull turn the light on, hit the switch to keep em up, then tap it twice till i get the desired opening, or how lazy i want it to look, there was a write up on having them run with them in the lazy mode, this requires a switch, if i find it i will post the link up here

but with this write up(excellent job) u can have a twin light lazy eye setup, good write up

P.S i need the blow thru setup write up st33f, thanks in advance

[aesic]

I just did the normal sleepy eye "conversion" today (not the one with 2 seperate bulbs as in this write up). It took me less than 5 minutes and it would have taken me less time, but for some reason my scissors couldn't cut the brown wire. The write-ups are:

zerothread?id=124979 http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/575633/6 zerothread?id=36850

I used the first link.

-aesic

[st33f]

the toggle switch method has a wrieteup on nico already... i dont use it bc obviously i dont put em up or down :P

i actually hacked the motor and bottom of headlight assembly off bc i run short piping... my FMIC is right in front of my rad, and the pipes go right behind the headlight through the rad support.

[need2drift]

check mine out

[naed240sx]

ahh that looks kick-***. How much light do they produce compared to stock?

[need2drift]

I guess just as much as the stock bulbs, I had h3s in the old lights so they arnt as bright as the h3s were.... Im tryin to get some hids for them

[180crafter]

check mine out

How bout a little right up on what you used exactly... This might start to get good!

[180crafter]

its here somewhere, i just cut the brown wire(i think) on the pop up switch,then i pull turn the light on, hit the switch to keep em up, then tap it twice till i get the desired opening, or how lazy i want it to look, there was a write up on having them run with them in the lazy mode, this requires a switch, if i find it i will post the link up here

but with this write up(excellent job) u can have a twin light lazy eye setup, good write up

P.S i need the blow thru setup write up st33f, thanks in advance

Yeah, I know about the Brown wire thing, but thats not stock. You have to guess where its gonna stop. Its never an exact thing. Not only that, I just want it to go up and down like stock motion.

It would probrably involve a little more eolectrical work, maybe with some resistors or timers or some sh1t.

Someone wtih real electrical experience has to try it, and then write it up.

[need2drift]

yea ill do a write up when im at my house, I think a pinchometer is something you could poss. use to controll the headlight motors.....

[need2drift]

some pics..

[jamied311]

thats nice man... im thinking about the same kind of light style... but i want to put a rectangular light with a circle fog light beside it... i might do it this weekend, and post some pics..

0[_] [_]0 < - something like that

[Graphfixz]

are those original bulbs or other type of bulbs? They look oval.. kind of long and thin.

[need2drift]

yea I also thought of that style but like the ones I have now.... Im searching for some a little longer with out oval ends... I got some lights from a geo storm I think there about 3 1\2'' x 2'' would prob work good for that....

[st33f]

did u even read the writeup? its about changing the lights... not making them sleepy

look at garage-13.com for their rect ones with a little round one

[need2drift]

Damn those lights are sick man, I just got two headlight covers in perfect shape that im going to take fiberglass molds of to experiment with headlights like that.. Ill post pic asap...

[dfw240_EE]

What I like best st33f's lights is that they point straight out when the sleepy eyes are up. If you look at need2drift's the lamps point downward at half up. Also I don't like the "hack the switch method"

I think the ideal sleepy eyes mod should be where turning the lamps to "ON" should bring them up half, and when up half the lamps should point straight, like st33f's. Basically it should work just like stock lights that only come halfway up.

[onosqv]

What I like best st33f's lights is that they point straight out when the sleepy eyes are up. If you look at need2drift's the lamps point downward at half up. Also I don't like the "hack the switch method"

I think the ideal sleepy eyes mod should be where turning the lamps to "ON" should bring them up half, and when up half the lamps should point straight, like st33f's. Basically it should work just like stock lights that only come halfway up.

Yes, that's the $1k+ conversion from clearcorners.com to get it to work like that. Unless you know how to fabricate new connecting rods/etc for the motors. And if you do, please share, hehe.