And now, the reveal. My new Morimoto Mini D2S retrofit
02-13-2017
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And now, the reveal. My new Morimoto Mini D2S retrofit
After a day and a half worth of work, it's done.
New donor (aftermarket) OEM style headlights got a paint job with a satin black reflector bowl and a eternal blue pearl bezel, Amber insert got cut down to only cover the non-lit portion.
Morimoto D2S v1.0 (yes, that old, since they're on like.. v4.0 now) projectors got put in with TRS gatling gun 2.0 shrouds, and a Morimoto xBALED 100mm white halos mounted internally to the shroud. Gives it an iron man look to it, and I am Iron Man. lol. Shroud had to be trimmed on the bottom by about an inch (inch off the back, inch off the bottom) to fit into the reflector bowl, sugru (amazing stuff, if you haven't tried it before) holds the halo in place, while a small bit of butyl rubber (3m windoweld ribbon sealer) holds the shroud to the projector.
Inverters for the halos are mounted directly below the reflector bowl, inside the headlight housing. Wires for the halos exit the housing via a vent hole. Same goes for the high beam solenoid wiring, out a different vent hole. Holes were sealed using more butyl rubber. Amphenol connectors keep the external halo wiring waterproof, and a 9006 connector does the same for the external high beam solenoid wiring. Halo wires simply tapped off the parking light (168) wires using t-taps.
Enough talk, how bout some pics?
Out with the old....
And in with the new!
Installed
Lit
Closeup of (driver's side) headlight all lit up, sans low beam
Yep. Be jealous.
For the curious here's everything that went into it
New donor (aftermarket) OEM style headlights got a paint job with a satin black reflector bowl and a eternal blue pearl bezel, Amber insert got cut down to only cover the non-lit portion.
Morimoto D2S v1.0 (yes, that old, since they're on like.. v4.0 now) projectors got put in with TRS gatling gun 2.0 shrouds, and a Morimoto xBALED 100mm white halos mounted internally to the shroud. Gives it an iron man look to it, and I am Iron Man. lol. Shroud had to be trimmed on the bottom by about an inch (inch off the back, inch off the bottom) to fit into the reflector bowl, sugru (amazing stuff, if you haven't tried it before) holds the halo in place, while a small bit of butyl rubber (3m windoweld ribbon sealer) holds the shroud to the projector.
Inverters for the halos are mounted directly below the reflector bowl, inside the headlight housing. Wires for the halos exit the housing via a vent hole. Same goes for the high beam solenoid wiring, out a different vent hole. Holes were sealed using more butyl rubber. Amphenol connectors keep the external halo wiring waterproof, and a 9006 connector does the same for the external high beam solenoid wiring. Halo wires simply tapped off the parking light (168) wires using t-taps.
Enough talk, how bout some pics?
Out with the old....
And in with the new!
Installed
Lit
Closeup of (driver's side) headlight all lit up, sans low beam
Yep. Be jealous.
For the curious here's everything that went into it
Parts in my retrofit
• K2 motor OEM style headlights
• Morimoto D2S v1.0 Projectors
• Gatling gun 2.0 shrouds
• DDM Tuning 6000k D2S bulbs (my original Morimoto 5000k D2S bulbs died)
• Morimoto xBA LED 100mm halos
• Morimoto 7443 Switchback LEDs
• Random LED 168s from Wally World
• Various amphenol (click here if you don't know what they look like) and 9006 male and female plugs I've had laying around.
• K2 motor OEM style headlights
• Morimoto D2S v1.0 Projectors
• Gatling gun 2.0 shrouds
• DDM Tuning 6000k D2S bulbs (my original Morimoto 5000k D2S bulbs died)
• Morimoto xBA LED 100mm halos
• Morimoto 7443 Switchback LEDs
• Random LED 168s from Wally World
• Various amphenol (click here if you don't know what they look like) and 9006 male and female plugs I've had laying around.
Tools and whatnot used
• Kitchen oven, 240F for 10 minutes
• Dremel with EZ lock cutoff wheel
• Soldering iron
• Heat gun (actually, I used a butane torch this time. lol)
• 18ga red/black wire
• Heat shrink tubing
• Fully nsulated disconnects, crimp style
• 3m Windo-weld Ribbon Sealer
• Sugru, black
• Automotive Touchup primer
• Automotive Touchup B96P Eternal Blue Pearl
• Automotive Touchup clear coat
• Krylon Super Maxx Satin Black
• Kitchen oven, 240F for 10 minutes
• Dremel with EZ lock cutoff wheel
• Soldering iron
• Heat gun (actually, I used a butane torch this time. lol)
• 18ga red/black wire
• Heat shrink tubing
• Fully nsulated disconnects, crimp style
• 3m Windo-weld Ribbon Sealer
• Sugru, black
• Automotive Touchup primer
• Automotive Touchup B96P Eternal Blue Pearl
• Automotive Touchup clear coat
• Krylon Super Maxx Satin Black
Last edited by xRiCeBoYx; 02-13-2017 at 07:52 PM.
02-13-2017
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Rep Power: 485 Re: And now, the reveal. My new Morimoto Mini D2S retrofit
meh, rotational alignment is off somewhere.
Initially thought it was driver's side, but after driving around, I'm pretty sure it's the passenger side that's off. Also, L/R adjustment doesn't seem to wanna work on the passenger side. I really don't wanna bust these things open again. lol
Initially thought it was driver's side, but after driving around, I'm pretty sure it's the passenger side that's off. Also, L/R adjustment doesn't seem to wanna work on the passenger side. I really don't wanna bust these things open again. lol
02-14-2017
#3
The legs in the public bathroom stall
Re: And now, the reveal. My new Morimoto Mini D2S retrofit
When I did the wife's car a year or so back I ended with a small amount of rotation and slight cross eye. It didn't bother her but drove me nuts whenever I drove the car. Hers has the MD2S 3.0 which suffer from a downward bowing cutoff and combined with a thick spot in the front lenses it had a very ugly wall shot.
A few weeks ago I fixed the rotation and most of the crosseye, but if they are not adjusted correctly side to side it will drive you nuts watching the steps move towards each other and then apart on dips and bumps.
Nice work on the retro very clean appearance. I wish more people around here would do it right (subjective term) instead of all the PNP 8K glare festivals that roam around my town.
And you should see the light output of the MD2S 4.0 in person. I have a set that I have been wanting to drop in my accord for months. I had them turned on at the in laws house in the country over the week. 1 low beam has much more light than the 2 lows and 2 highs combined.
A few weeks ago I fixed the rotation and most of the crosseye, but if they are not adjusted correctly side to side it will drive you nuts watching the steps move towards each other and then apart on dips and bumps.
Nice work on the retro very clean appearance. I wish more people around here would do it right (subjective term) instead of all the PNP 8K glare festivals that roam around my town.
And you should see the light output of the MD2S 4.0 in person. I have a set that I have been wanting to drop in my accord for months. I had them turned on at the in laws house in the country over the week. 1 low beam has much more light than the 2 lows and 2 highs combined.
02-14-2017
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Rep Power: 338 Re: And now, the reveal. My new Morimoto Mini D2S retrofit
yeouch, your old ones were really bust...
Mcnoople, glad to see you!
was wondering if ezone had busted you around too much :P
Mcnoople, glad to see you!
was wondering if ezone had busted you around too much :P
04-04-2017
#6
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Figured I should update on stuff I had to do.
First, my retro ended up being not reversible at the end of the day. The mounted inside the trimmed shroud was wedged at the bottom of the reflector bowl. Thankfully, TRS makes some high quality **** and the halo is a solid aluminum ring with LEDs mounted on it. This kept making the shroud pop off the projector. I had to open them back up like 4 times each to fix it. Got fed up with it, so I figured I'd solve it forever. My simple solution, cut a hole where the halo makes contact with the reflector. I blacked out the bottom exposed part of the halo with some liquid electrical tape so there was no light leaking. Done deal, hasn't fallen off yet.
Second, I don't think I let the clearcoat on the bezel dry long enough. My best guess, there was still clearcoat vaporizing off the bezel after installation, and there's slight frosting (looks like fogging) on the inside of the lens. Not a huge deal, since it frosted right where the turn signal is. I had to paint over the chrome bit of that bezel, so there's no turn signal reflectivity, but the frosting helps with light dispersion.
Third, I don't know why, but the rotational alignment couldn't be fixed 100%. Enough for me to notice, but not give a huge **** about. Oh well.
Fourth, just an update on resilience to the elements. We've had some crazy *** weather here in Vegas. Windy as hell, rain, pollen and dirt getting blown in the air, it freakin hailed yesterday. No fogging issues, lenses are still crystal clear (with the exception of the aforementioned frosting), when cleaned. These 3rd party headlights are damn resilient. Only beef tho, the OEM rubber boots don't fit quite nicely on the back of the headlights. I had to stretch them to fit snugly.
First, my retro ended up being not reversible at the end of the day. The mounted inside the trimmed shroud was wedged at the bottom of the reflector bowl. Thankfully, TRS makes some high quality **** and the halo is a solid aluminum ring with LEDs mounted on it. This kept making the shroud pop off the projector. I had to open them back up like 4 times each to fix it. Got fed up with it, so I figured I'd solve it forever. My simple solution, cut a hole where the halo makes contact with the reflector. I blacked out the bottom exposed part of the halo with some liquid electrical tape so there was no light leaking. Done deal, hasn't fallen off yet.
Second, I don't think I let the clearcoat on the bezel dry long enough. My best guess, there was still clearcoat vaporizing off the bezel after installation, and there's slight frosting (looks like fogging) on the inside of the lens. Not a huge deal, since it frosted right where the turn signal is. I had to paint over the chrome bit of that bezel, so there's no turn signal reflectivity, but the frosting helps with light dispersion.
Third, I don't know why, but the rotational alignment couldn't be fixed 100%. Enough for me to notice, but not give a huge **** about. Oh well.
Fourth, just an update on resilience to the elements. We've had some crazy *** weather here in Vegas. Windy as hell, rain, pollen and dirt getting blown in the air, it freakin hailed yesterday. No fogging issues, lenses are still crystal clear (with the exception of the aforementioned frosting), when cleaned. These 3rd party headlights are damn resilient. Only beef tho, the OEM rubber boots don't fit quite nicely on the back of the headlights. I had to stretch them to fit snugly.
