For those interested

[marleyfan]

Now THIS is the best thread I've read in a long time!!!!! The "intelligent" exchange of ideas is what forums are all about. At the risk of adding fuel to the fire I'm gonna say what I think (cuz that's what forums are for). If you read clipsed's history of posts his attitude comes through clearly (go ahead....read them). Perhaps this is the reason that people came on here concerned for the safety of his project (quite rightly so). I honestly hope that this project turns out exactly as clipsed says it will and is as safe as he indicates. None of this would be happening if he had simply said " thanks for all of your concern and I will do my best to make sure that the end product is safe for all." An amazing lack of maturity has been demonstrated in this thread. But it's been fun.

[M2Motoring]

back on topic.

i see whats going on with clipses headlight conversion with a projector. in a sense if it doesnt have a self leveling system, it is still deemed illegal. by design, if you look at lets say a bmw 5 series with projector headlights or even an audi a4 from i think 02 and up, they have whats called a self leveling system. If you put the front of the car on jackstands, flip on the headlights real quick you will see it point up for a second then the beam's aim and focus will be parallel with the ground. It helps reduce that glare even more. That's what makes the HID's in factory cars legal, not the hid itself, BUT the headlight in which it was designed to be used. of course different cars headlights designs are all different and the self leveling system reacts at certains speeds but none the less the cars have them. I use to help my friend that was pretty much mccullough hid usa way back when and he showed me and taught me all this. Hid's are legal, BUT only in the correct application of headlights listed to be approved for HID usage. I'm not knocking your idea to put a projector in. thats great my friend did it to his rav4 4 years ago and it looked great and beam pattern was clean. I like it more power to you, but if you really want to get your design legalized, you must meet DOT approval. That alone cost many of thousands of dollars. my friends company is getting dot approval for his header setup (not versa) and dot is charging him $10,000 flat out for that approval. OUCH! =)

Mike

[DreamU]

they have whats called a self leveling system. Mike

Interesting. My Tiida has a switch on the dash for leveling the lights, depending on how much weight you have in the back. I imagine that means it does not have auto leveling. I'm guessing Latin American countries don't have that same legal requirement (even air bags are not mandatory here).
Modified by DreamU at 3:57 PM 4/9/2007

[proxim2020]

Marley Fan's absolutely correct. The purpose of this topic was to create an arena for those who wanted to exchange ideas about the project. We've done this before with other hot topics, specifically with the Global Warming Thread. I sure hate that the thread died. Seriously folks, how blind do you have to be to come on here to post a rant after the second posting said that it's not acceptable This topic exists solely for those who would like to exchange info and ideas in support of the project. If you don't like the idea, then this topic isn't for you.

[M2Motoring]

Interesting. My Tiida has a switch on the dash for leveling the lights, depending on how much weight you have in the back. I imagine that means it does not have auto leveling. I'm guessing Latin American countries don't have that same legal requirement (even air bags are not mandatory here).

yes sir its similar to what you have on your tiida, but it is self regulated. and works very quickly. US impact standards are some of the most stringent in the world. In south east asia for example. haha man the impact standards suck. actaully here is next to none in thailand to my knowledge. I think in Latin Amercia there is little regulation on them as well.

[damnedkero]

hey clipsed what brand & model of hid`s are you using?, cause here as everyone knows any tint, hid`s etc are legal, so kinda liking the idea of those hids...btw..nice ones

[powder07]

id like to put down $1,000 that says clipsed never hurts or kills anyone or causes an accident because of his lights...takers?

[Clipsed]

hey clipsed what brand & model of hid`s are you using?, cause here as everyone knows any tint, hid`s etc are legal, so kinda liking the idea of those hids...btw..nice ones

These are OEM Infinity FX35 HID projectors. This is not something that is going to be done in one day, but there is a lot of R&D and planning behind this whole sham before I even touch the stock lights.

id like to put down $1,000 that says clipsed never hurts or kills anyone or causes an accident because of his lights...takers?

Nobody on here will take it, they all are hooked on the fact these are the worst things ever.

[Ever Victorious]

Nobody on here will take it, they all are hooked on the fact these are the worst things ever.

Don't recall anyone saying that specifically.

I think the point (that has so eloquently been beaten to death) is that, with a modification of a piece of required equipment that has such stringent legal requirements in mary areas, the proof of burden is on the modder to show that they are legal and safe.

[Clipsed]

UPDATE!!!

So I finally got around to rethinking my first design with some help from shreqboi, and came up with the following.



Basically what I have here is broken down like this.

The dark black is a custom eyelid that I am in the process of designing right now, it will probably be finished up by tomorrow and ready for paint.

The light black is the inside of the headlight that will get blacked out once all is said and done.

The grey part will be a custom made contoured cover to cover up the mounting and adjusting bracket that I am going to fabricate to hold the projector in place.

The amber triangle and 5 dots is going to be a custom made (by me of couse) amber lighter eyebrow just like the BMW e60/61's have.

And the white circle around the projector is going to be a custom made angel eye.

The following pic is the look of the eyebrow I am shooting for, this is out of the e60/61 series BMW, and a guy I talk to actually took it out of the e60/61 series headlight, well actually he took the whole internal of the headlight, and used everything except the plastic and lense that housed everything, and did a complete internal swap, because it all fit perfectly into his Ford Futura. It was pretty insane, but all this you see is a complete BMW internal headlight in a Ford Futura housing.





Here is the same photo before the alterations, showing the stock headlamp housing.



So far so good, I have been working on my custom made shrouds getting them to fit like a rubber glove around the projectors. Here is a couple shots of those.







And my current design for my custom made eyelids that I am fabricating today, all the design is going to be done tonight, and when the sun comes back up the fiberglass is going to start getting laid, and HOPEFULLY if all goes well it should be bondoed and sanded to perfection by tomorrow, but knowing the way things go, it will probably be a week before it is ready for paint! lolz. Here are the pics of my current design of the eyebrows and how they will be. I am going to leave two slots in them, one for the parking light to show through to, and another slit slot for part of the reflector to show through that way it is still legal and I won't be out of compliance with that.







So those whom are INTERESTED and not giving me grief about my car and what I do with it, what are your thoughts so far?

[proxim2020]

First I'm going to give you some grief because I know you hate it. So Grief, Grief, Grief, Grief, Grief, Grief, Grief. Now that's done, I'm liking your ideas so far

Hehe, I own page 2. How often does that happen

[Clipsed]

lol well last night I was tinkering and tinkering with the eyebrow, I had the perfect eyebrow all the ladies here on the forums would have loved I am sure just the way the lines were, because it was curved and looked like a nice flow, but I left my phone here in the house, so didn't take a pic, but I did get my final design for the eyelid and am going to take measuments later to transfer it to the passenger side.

[Greek.intuit]

Clipsed, I like what you've done, and honestly, it looks good as far as theory, but are they going to be pointed in the right direction?

Either way, I have a couple thoughts as well, and have actually started to look into maybe fabricating an eyelid that would just sharpen the headlight and leave some of the side exposed to look more like a BMW. Also, there is supposedly a plan for an HID set for the Tiida in Japan made by the same people who design the Civic HIDs, so I may suggest looking into how that is designed as a basis for what can be legalized...

Otherwise, great job, and let me know if you'd be interested in talking stereos since I'm thinking about integrating a nav system to change around basic parameters for headlight control. Maybe even set up a dual stage lighting setup with the HIDs...

[Clipsed]

Clipsed, I like what you've done, and honestly, it looks good as far as theory, but are they going to be pointed in the right direction?

Either way, I have a couple thoughts as well, and have actually started to look into maybe fabricating an eyelid that would just sharpen the headlight and leave some of the side exposed to look more like a BMW. Also, there is supposedly a plan for an HID set for the Tiida in Japan made by the same people who design the Civic HIDs, so I may suggest looking into how that is designed as a basis for what can be legalized...

Otherwise, great job, and let me know if you'd be interested in talking stereos since I'm thinking about integrating a nav system to change around basic parameters for headlight control. Maybe even set up a dual stage lighting setup with the HIDs...

Yes they will be pointed in the right direction and fully adjustable just as any head light is, that is why I am fabricating and designing the mounting plate.

The eyelid for me is cake since fiberglass on a level as small as that is cake. I really don't need to look into anything as a basis on what is actually legalized as you are implying, I believe you are implying since those will be legal, I should base my design off of them?

You have a fine idea, but it is flawed. Japan is RHD in which the HID's in RHD countries are designed differently as to not blind the oncoming traffic on the LHS and not the RHS, now there are some HID projectors that have the ability to switch to both, or even be modded to be the opposite, but some just absolutely can not be modded no matter what. The reason I choose the projectors I did is because they are legal here in the states, and properly installed and adjusted will not cause anyone to be blinded, and will be a very bright light yes, but it will have a wide beam pattern once I mod it to certain specs, and that is what will up this project even more to be a one-off mod!

I am always interested in talking about anything. What exactly do you want to change parametric wise with your nav system for headlight controls? Dual stage setup? With halogen and HID's or what?

[Clipsed]

ok so here is what looks to be the final design using my new pics from today with my green tape mask off before I begin my eyelids. Took pics of my projectors with my custom shrouds and did a size comparison, and that is if not exactly dead on, it is VERY CLOSE to actual size of how it will be in the housing. Although it will probably not end up sitting that far back after I make the custom ABS cover in front, but behind my shroud. So tell me what you think of this final design.

Again the black on top is the eye lid.

You can now see how the interior will get blacked out, it looks light black.

the white angel eye looks better now.

and the lighted BMW style eyebrow will look pretty much exactly like that!!

full size image at this link if you would like to see it a lil better . . .

http://i6.photobucket.com/albu...y.jpg



Here is the original pic.

[Clipsed]

ok well I am about to get started on my eyelids, hopefully the wind has died down enough that dirt and crap won't be lifted into the air and onto the fiberglass.

[powder07]

sweet...i cant wait til i can buy some, just thinking about your effort makes me tired.

[Clipsed]

it really isnt hard, just time consuming.