gearbox

iTrader: (95)

woohoo i think i found a bezel cover (shower drain but dont laugh lol). armieo, i already sold the TLs a long time ago but i can take dimensions of the shroud. its much bigger than you think and should fit a tl no problem. i had to seriously cut and bend mine to make it fit the e46. let me take some pic for you.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ive been thinking, and i know the shroud will not fit the headlight if you mount it too far back. so youre gonna have to find the right distance and maybe end up trimming some of the rear part of the shroud off. you can see the small one after trimming and it barely fit around the e46 base and in the housing. and its still not completely touching on top since i had to stuff it from the bottom lol.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

now onto the almost completed pics. i still need to glue it all and seal the housing. since im using two wire harness (one for each side), i may just install the one side first and aim it for comparison. hopefully the adjusters do enough, cause im really gonna be pissed if everything has to come out again.

just ordered new headlamps and harnesses.

here are some pics put together. a near perfect fit, and the shower drain exactly fits over the projector lens without blocking any light.





there is some neat lighting effects bouncing around here dont worry, less glare than parking lights.



lit up pics with 85123 boosted bulbs to show the foreground does not reflect off the chrome housing. also notice the much whiter light. i let these run for about 10 mins and boy everything got super hot. im glad all the parts are metal.

armieo

iTrader: (15)

thanks for the measurements gear. you just saved me money from doing trial and error. what do you mean about bending the shrouds? Did you have to cut a section out and then glue them together or what?

Also, are those shrouds the same as those found in their ebay store?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah those are them. i just cut a small slice out from the larger diameter part so it would fit in the headlamp. and i squeezed them slightly so they became more oval instead of round. they are very durable. im glad i didnt give up tho, there was once where my headlamp was in the dumpster outside and i had to go diving to get it, and another time where one e46 was in the trash in my house ready to go out. but everything came together despite alot of frustration. i wish i had a machine that could copy the first one and do the other side lol. not looking forward to all that work again.

well wait i dont see them on ebay anymore.

my goal is to finish these in 2 months for the next car show here. hopefully it works out. as soon as the harness gets here, im testing the one i have done. its gonna look weird driving with one halogen and one hid lol!

armieo

iTrader: (15)

ugh i want those exact shrouds!

Envy

iTrader: (1)

sorry if this is a bit of a jack, but with the projectos that Electric has for his fog lights, are those possible to retro into an OEM housing?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

armieo, just send him a pm on the website or wait til they post more up. theyre always selling those.

envy, those blazers are fog light only, doesnt put down a far enough beam for headlight, and too small.



i guess i should start a new parts list:

1. E46 single xenon d2s projectors $100

2. 50w ballasts $120

3. shrouds $40

4. bezels $10

5. misc supplies (aluminum, tools, cutting wheels, hole saw, screws, etc) $50

5. ebay oem style headlamps $100 (actually i had to get two pairs lol)

6. wire harnesses $82

Devani

iTrader: (2)

it does look good...it's small enough to fit very nicely...

Envy

iTrader: (1)

how about putting a small projector where the parking lights go? possible? a bi-single-xenon setup? lol i appreciate this thread Im learning a lot. +1 if i can gearbox.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

you know i thought about that, but would require alot of cutting cause the rear black cover sits right up against the chrome park light hole. so it would prolly look weird and be hard to mount.

final pics, one side complete and sealed. just in case, im gonna wait on the silicone in case i need to open again. just need to find a bigger boot or pipe for the rear.

Lord ET

looks damn good!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

also i should add that if you go with ebay lights, you have to "deburr" all the socket holes and spots where chrome flakes were hanging off the edges lol. nothing a lil sandpaper wouldnt fix. im glad i went ebay cause the adjusters are doing fine and overall they are good quality, you just have to bake it longer cause the goo is harder than stock, and be careful with taking it apart. the plastic back can get soft cause its cheap plastic lol. its rock solid too and not that heavy compared to the tl i had before. i dont think it will shake over bumps.

electric130

iTrader: (44)

use the 3M Window Weld (butyl) to seal them up. don't use silicone. it's a PITA if you ever need to open them again. oven trick won't work on silicone. i used the window weld and i haven't had a single problem with leaks. looks good though.

LatinEM2

Nice work!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

thanks i will look for the window weld stuff. any ideas for the rear? like a bigger cap or something, cause stock doesnt cover the whole plug.

electric130

iTrader: (44)

i wouldn't put anything. i searched long and hard to find something to seal up the back of mine. in the end, i couldn't find anything so i left them open. turns out, it's better that way IMO. any moisture that may get inside them will dry out very quickly when you start driving. i remember reading tons of stories at hid planet about fogging and moisture problems with sealed headlights. everyone's answer was, seal them up more. i say leave em open. i've only had fogging once, and that was when my car sat for a week while i was away for work. within 10 minutes of driving, the headlights were dry. if you look at the back of mine, it's a 3" to 4" PVC adapter. the 3" portion is completely open and sitting inside there is the back of the TSX projector. i've had no problems with dust or dirt getting inside and making things dirty. if i was to do another retro, i wouldn't seal up the back on them either.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah my sonar lamps were like that too so i ended up leaving it open and they almost never fogged. i dont think much water will get near the bulb. i may get a short pipe adapter or something just so the sides are protected.

Devani

iTrader: (2)

I use stock rubber boot to cover rear. of course stock rubber one is small so that Gen 3 Mat ignitor does not fit, so I had to cut the inner rubber boot...

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

okay ran into a huge problem last couple of days. on the second light, both adjusters cracked and fell off, and the ball joint snapped too. so again was very close to giving up, but im trying one more idea before quitting forever. so if you try this, dont rely on ebay adjusters. altho, the good side still was feeling a bit loose just mounted on the adjusters. so im sure it wouldve been shakey anyways. i guess its good i found out now. currently both lights are open with silicone all over the mount points and also some metal weld around the projector. im gonna try and make it as secure as possible and hope for some luck that they are both aimed correctly. i can drill out the exterior mounting holes on the light if i have to and use them to aim the housing a few inches while on the car. if it works, yay. if not, ill prolly get some hi temp sockets and run the 65w osram hyper halogens. so yeah this is the last try on the hids.

LatinEM2

Hey i have some spare OEM reflector bowls. If thats what your talking about

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

well i dont think i need em anymore. they are stuck in there pretty good. i metal welded the whole back of the bowl to the housing, so i dont even need to put the rubber boots on. its already sealed and the d2s plug is also sealed to the bulb with the o-ring. so im just gonna leave it and hope i aimed it right. will be better for cooling to have the backs open anyways.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

heres what the back looks like.



and prolly my future led amber parking lights

electric130

iTrader: (44)

should be fine. personally, i wouldn't have sealed it up that much. i would leave it open to let it vent. it will reduce fogging. if that's what it took to deal with your stripped out mounts, well, then that's a different story. stay at it bro. it will pay off in the end. i know i went through some ups and downs with my retro, but now i love it. i'm dreading the day i get a new car that doesn't have HID's and i have to go through it all over again. after having low beam and fog light HID's, i can't live without them. i get pissed off driving my wife's SUV that has halogens. i feel blind. i keep saying one day i'm either going to do a retro on hers or at least get a PNP (she has 9006 with a good factory cutoff). HID's.....FTW!!!!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

lol. now i test aimed them again, they both seem to be the same but maybe a touch too high. its hard to tell til they go on the car. but the cutoffs are weird, one of em slopes down on the right, and the other slopes on the left. the way i mounted them, they both slope inward towards the middle of the car. that way i at least get good side light from each one, and the middle should be lit up by the hotspots well enough that having them slanted hopefully wont matter. its the craziest projectors ive ever seen. my cutoff is gonna look something like this. ------/____/------- with the middle sloping almost to the ground.

EggRollBandit05

iTrader: (7)

have you tried an ace flange instead of the shower drain? It looks like it might fit and if it did it would look better i think.

gave up and packed everything away after i ran into so many problems with my fx retro: color modded it but messed up one side a bit, adjustable mounting method = fail, trying to find a shroud...

gearbox for not giving up

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i know how you feel. the shower drain was a perfect fit around the lens, the ace flange was way too small.

jnlzr

i was wondering what size is that shower drain and where did u buy it at?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

hmm i forgot the actual dimensions, all i was looking for was a good match with e46 projector. it perfectly fits around the lens and covers the metal lens holder. i got it from do-it-best hardware (formerly ace hardware) near the plumbing stuff. it has a metal grating on the back and sometimes its turned around in the package, so you have to kinda look for it.

update, retro is basically done for about a week now, they are both oven sealed but there are quite alot of holes in the original seal. so today im gonna seal them up from the outside like i did with my oem lights. still waiting for the suvlights wire harnesses which i know always takes forever. then i can test them out and see if they are aimed well enough to use. the aims are pretty similar to each other but seem a bit high on the test bench. if i can get even a 1 inch drop it should work cause my car is also lowered an inch.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

so u ended up using the e46 gearbox?