Guide to retrofitting HID's in your flip-up headlight housings (0ver 50 pics)

[Soravia]

I think the shrouds would be kind of Frog-eye look alike. Painting black doesn't need to be solid, you can use transparent black. Just get something heat resistant. I don't know how hot those projector bulbs are though.

[Florida240sx]

I run h4 conversion with sleepy eye mode...

[Redevil]

throw up some pics with wall shots. I'd like to see how the beams aim with the sleepy eye mod.

[guillermoe]

On second thought, it might be better to leave the housings unpainted because painting the black might cause them to absorb more heat. The reflective paint or what ever they used should help to reflect heat rather than have the housing absorb the heat. I could try painting them and find out, but I think I might just stick with the shrouds.Modified by Redevil at 8:39 PM 5/30/2007

Do they get that hot? Actually, with this mod you have a sort of "venting" in the space between the hole you made to the ABS.

[David Steele]

You should put a bezel on that looks weird when off.

[Rosco]

I think the only thing I would have done differently is TIG weld the parts together, actually you got me thinking of making some custom housings just for the TSX projectors and throwing them on E-bay or something . Most likely though I will just end up making them for me.

[kamikazestorm420]

make sure to pre heat the paint if you paint the reflectors. i highly suggest you paint them to reduce SOME of the glare. i would have personally went with the porsche bi-xenons but if you dont care about high-beams then tsx is the most affordable and easy to work with. so ... my point is.

thank god someone did it right!

[slipstream_pnoy]

very nice...

[EviL inside]

are those high and low beam, or are you crippled now?

[m tr4nch]

awesome write up man, i definitely want to do this now asap also interested in what the shrouds would look like.

any updates on this? still interested in how your custom shrouds turned out.

[EviL inside]

i'm interested in whether or not he has any high beams.

[m tr4nch]

i'm interested in whether or not he has any high beams.

i believe they are just low beams since they are from a TSX

[Soravia]

Hm... I'm thinking Infinity J30 beams.

Do those HID lights need any amp on them or do they just directly hook up to the S-13 wiring? I heard those brighter lights would blow fuses and stuff.

Is this stuff better than your home brew? Looks better though.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...QrdZ1

I know that there are pivot controllers, but $98 is 2 Kumho tires for me.Is there a way to make the pop up light stop lower than stock when switched on and then go back down from there at switch off? The brown wire cutter is too ghetto even for my taste.
Modified by Soravia at 10:46 PM 6/18/2007

[Drift Motion]

nice write up

one questionare you able to flip the light down? or does it have to be at the "up" position at all time?

[EviL inside]

i believe they are just low beams since they are from a TSX

so what's planned for some legally required high beams? i wouldn't feel comfortable driving around here with the safety risk of a halfway functioning car lighting system.

[Redevil]

The lights ARE fully functional!!! They go up and down like normal.

just installed some fog lights for high beams. If you only drive in city streets then you won't need them. If you like to take your car in to the hills at night then you might consider bixenons or some foglights like me. If you don't have highbeams, you won't see the deer on the side of the road until the last second; definitely not a good feeling knowing it could've jumped out.

I'm still trying to get some shrouds. My friend knows a place to get them but I'm having a hard tme reaching him. I'll definitely post some pics when I get them in. Just going to start polishing my wheels in the mean time.

Soravia: you can try those ebay housings and a plug and play kit, but I don't know how big those projectors are an I don't think they have a cut off shield either. Those will probably scatter like the standard housings, but they're pretty cheap so why don't you buy them and tell us if they're good.

[Soravia]

I'm planning custom mod better than anyone's. But I need to raid some junkyard and devise a good way to control pop-up height. (No wire cutters)

[kamikazestorm420]

The lights ARE fully functional!!! They go up and down like normal.

just installed some fog lights for high beams. If you only drive in city streets then you won't need them. If you like to take your car in to the hills at night then you might consider bixenons or some foglights like me. If you don't have highbeams, you won't see the deer on the side of the road until the last second; definitely not a good feeling knowing it could've jumped out.

I'm still trying to get some shrouds. My friend knows a place to get them but I'm having a hard tme reaching him. I'll definitely post some pics when I get them in. Just going to start polishing my wheels in the mean time.

Soravia: you can try those ebay housings and a plug and play kit, but I don't know how big those projectors are an I don't think they have a cut off shield either. Those will probably scatter like the standard housings, but they're pretty cheap so why don't you buy them and tell us if they're good.

those ebay housings are pure ****ing ****.

I'm planning custom mod better than anyone's. But I need to raid some junkyard and devise a good way to control pop-up height. (No wire cutters)

all you need to do is calculate and cut the rod and reweld it. simple.

[TKE SigO 258]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...QrdZ1

Saw these on an OLD blazer. They looked decent. Especially for the price.

[ShinHed]

A litle ratty looking, but I love the industrial/mechanical look of it without a shroud. If I could only justify the need and I could use my high beams.

[guillermoe]

I'm planning custom mod better than anyone's. But I need to raid some junkyard and devise a good way to control pop-up height. (No wire cutters)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...wItem

I dont like ebay that much... but it seems what you are looking for.

[Redevil]

Here's an update:

Just got a pair of these baby's in for $165 shipped! For those of you that don't know what thatis, it's a bi-xenon projector off an Acura TL.



I removed one of my tsx projectors and compared it to the tl.



After seeing how big it was compared to the tsx i got a little worried that it wouldn't fit. Luckily it fits fine and the headlights go up and down without any clearance issues.

I used the same housing that I mounted the tsx projector in and cut the hole bigger to fit the new projector.



After I mounted the projector I test fitted it on the car.



The black basket that the headlight housing sits in hits the projector at the top and bottom and needed a little bending to clear. That was the only major issue I had with getting it to fit right. Now that I had it there I tested it really quick.



The tl projector shows a hint of gold at the cutoff line which looks pretty sweet. And now the high beam!



After the test fitting I decided to try a color mod and a shield mod just to see if it made the light beter or worse. To do these mods you have to take the projector apart.



Now that you have it apart you can see that there's a metal plate that is sandwiched inbetween the two halfs of the projector.



This is a shield that blocks some of the light that goes to the lense. When you remove it, you allow more light to pass through and that light will light up the foreground better. It doesn't make the headlight any brighter, they actually say it makes it a little less brighter than stock but its very hard to tell.

To do the shield mod you have to cut a portion of the shield out.



Now with the shield back in place you can see how much light it blocks.



Now for the color mod. To do this you simply remove the black plastic thing that's on the shield.



With it removed just put the housing back together and test it out.



With it removed there's no more gold . Just more blue at the cutoff line. I put the black thing back on and decided the color mod was not for me. But before I did I compared it to the tsx.

Here's the shield/color modded tl:

And the tsx:



And both side by side, tl on the left and tsx on the right.



The tsx is noticeably brighter due to its clear lense. The tl has a fresnal lense which means it isn't clear and has concentric circles in the lense. Those circles slightly disrupt the light output and make the light less concentrated than it could be. You can swap the lense out with a clear lense to resolve this problem, which I plan on doing in the future.

Now do to the scolding I recieved for not having some sort of bezel, I decided to make one out of abs plastic. I just trimmed it to fit and cut a hole in it. I forgot to take some pics before I finished it up though.



Now compared to my old tsx.



Now all that's left is to do the other side and its finished. I left the other side stock, no mods what so ever.



And a flash photo...



All you have to do to wire up the high beams is connect those red and black wires coming off of the projector to your highbeam wires on your car. After I did this only one highbeam was working. I checked the fuses and found a blown headlight fuse. I replaced it and tried it again. The fuse popped and I knew something was up.

It turns out that one of the highbeam selenoids was either bad or went bad when I was working with it. I tried to wire it up directly to a 12volt battery and it worked for a second and then it started to smoke.

I decided to just get another projector than try and jerry rig something of my own. But until then here are some shots.

Stock projector on the right and shield modded projector on the left.



You can see the right projector has a circle of gold which might be caused by a dirty lense. I cleaned the outside part of the lense before the final install, but I guess the inside could've been dirty. Doesn't bother me though.

No with one highbeam working. The light below the headlight is the fog light. It's a catz msp and you can see that it sucks. It looks nowhere near as bright as the photo on their website so be warned.



I drove to an open area and took some pics.



You can see the gold spot in the left projector.



And now a filthy halogen coming down the road



And this is just a crazy shot.



Now some pics near the backroads in Oakland.



In an area with no street lights, lowbeam.



And with one highbeam working.



As you can imagine, with the second highbeam on it would be about twice as bright above the cutoff line.

Once I get the other working projector in I'll post up some more pics. I'm also waiting on some OEM phillips bulbs to be delivered any day now.

Right now I'm thinking of making some fog lights out of my tsx projectors for fun. They'll barely fit in the the holes where my foglights are right now.What I learned from all this is that both the tsx an tl projectors are fantastic. They're definitely the best you can get, dollar for dollar at the right price of course. S2K being excluded only because of the ridiculous price.

Hope this helps encourage anyone that wants to try something like this on there own. Here's a last pic until the next update.

[Redevil]

I just got my philips 85122+ bulbs in and will put them on tonight! I will through up some pics when I'm done and you'll see the difference between the cheap bulbs and oem philips one's

[Redevil]

finally got around to posting the comparison pics up.

To the left is a tsx projector with the philips 4300k bulb and to the upper right is the hid kit 8000k bulb in the TL projector.





Since I had the tsx projector out I decided to play with the color mod and add a few washers in to see the difference over stock pictured above. I don't remember how many washers I used in either pic.

First mod:



Second mod:



Now both TL projectors, the left with the philips bulb and the right with the cheap China bulb.





Now both with the philips bulbs.







And finally some outside shots.











Well that's it for now. I just got some hella generation 3 ballasts in and plan on throwing them in after I get another TL projector with a working high beam selenoid. I also plan to fix that yellow spot on the passenger side in the process. I quickly tested out the hella ballasts and they make the lights even brighter . Those cheap made in China bulbs and balllasts can't compare to OEM equipment. The nice thing about the Hella ballasts is that the input connector is the same style plug as an aftermarket plug and play harness. So If you order an H4 harness it will plug directly into the hella ballasts.