Rep Power: 321

I finally picked up my lights from my friend. After working on these since july, i couldn't wait till morning so i put them on right away. There aimed a little high, so i'm going to readjust them later.

I'm really happy with them. It was worth the wait. The beam pattern is really wide and the intensity is really good.



























vids

http://videos.streetfire.net/player....A-F1F8230B6172


http://videos.streetfire.net/player....1-D6F49590DC4D

 
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e46 bezels look out of place, but looks great. are you going to shroud the projectors?

 
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i think its cuz the projector isn't mounted in there. I just stuck it back in there so i can take the picture. The pic of the mounted one is the other headlight. i haven't blacked that out yet.


i'm think of just using aluminum duct and put that around the projector to trap escaping light and painting it black. That or just getting some sheet metal and wrap it around it and just paint it black.

 
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Looks good so far .Reason why I didn't paint mine cuz I want it to look as oem as possible.

 
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^^^^^^
aren't you going to get a lot glare though?

i have two set of headlights anyways...lol. If i sell my car, i'm putting the stocks back on.

 
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Well I haven't put them on the car yet, but when I tested them with all lights off, didn't see any glares.Well see I guess..

 
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I am installing E46 in 03 honda civic healights. Starting it on it tomorrow.. Now question why are the screws so long?? and how did you line up the projectors???

 
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^^^^^^^
The reason the screws are so long is because there not aligned yet. I'm going to align the horizontal part of the headlights using the screws and use the stock vertical alignment screw. Once i'm done, i'm going to cut off the screws and put the shroud over it.


i tried to line up the projectors as similar to the direction of the light shield. I also tried to line up the projector opening where the hid bulb goes with the old halogen opening, so i can keep the oem seal and keep it air tight.

You shouldn't have any trouble with the 03 headlights, there huge compared to the 04's. There's almost no room to work with the 04 headlights, thats why i did so much cutting.

 
Rep Power: 321

This will probably give you a better idea. This guy retro his ep3, which is similar to the 03 headlights. Try to keep as much of the oem functions as possible. It'll lead to less headaches in the future.

http://www.raiyo.com/ep3/projector/projector.html

 
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Nice looking retro! How's it comming along?

 
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still waiting on my ballasts to come ..... I bought two sets and got two flakers. I'm hoping the third time will be a charm.

I'll post pics once there installed and i have them aligned correctly

 
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awsome retrofit

 
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Why did you get the e46 bi-xenon projectors if your not going to use the bi-xenon function. You probably would of had more room in the back of your light if you would have gone with single xenon.

 
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what are you talking about?

 
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I am going to use the bi-xenon feature. I said i don't really need it, but i got them for really cheap. i got the bixenon's for $140 shipped, which at the time were only $20 more then the single xenons, before hidplanet had there $99 special. Only reason i haven't finished my project is because i'm still waiting on the guy to ship me my e46 ballasts. I need the ballasts so i can properly align them before i seal them up.

The single xenons wouldn't really save me that much more space. Plus if anyone cuts me off i'm going to light up there life with two high beams .

 
Rep Power: 321

hey infinite.....would the HID's melt fiber glass? i know halogens get really hot, i dont know how hot hids get.

 
Rep Power: 320

what is that thing around the projector lense...the shroud...i see it in this thread and in the retro diy page that was posted...is it a dryer vent thing cuz i've never seen it b4...i was wondering where i could get one when i do a retro

 
Rep Power: 321

its a e46 shroud from a m3. i bought it for $40 shipped because the guy painted it gun metal. They usually go for 50-80 shipped depending on the condition. The other guys shroud was from a a4. If your going with the valeos any 2.5in shroud should work or you can make your own from a small doggy bowl or something.

 
Rep Power: 320

icic...thanks for the tip temjin +1 rep for u when i can

 
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i dont think it will melt fiberglass. ocelaris was making a fiberglass shroud for his TL projectors in Si headlights. if ocelaris can do it, so can you lol

 
Rep Power: 320

fiberglass wont melt as long as its not directly under the heat of it...also hids shouldnt be as hot as halogens so it should be fine...just becareful cuz fiber glass can burn haha...and if ur not careful around ur skin it'll make u itch for hours

 
Rep Power: 321

I finished the alignment phase of my hid project.

Here's the initial picture with them on my car. I dont have it shroud yet though. Taken from about 25ft away.



Here's the initial shot right when i fired them up



After some adjusting



The white pieces of paper is how the stock lights are aligned. I try to keep the alignment as close as stock as possible



Closer pic of the cut off. Its kinda blurred because i added two washers on each side.




I tried to rotate is as much as possible. This was the best i can do. The four screws i used doesn't offer much rotation adjustment, before the it cracks.




It's not perfect but i'm pretty happy with the output of light and beam pattern. I get a little twing of red in the dead spot which kinda makes up for the dead spot. I wished they had a little bit more color but i like the wideness of the beam

 
Rep Power: 321

I also installed some 04 3 Series BMW sidemarkers. There LED amber.



I'll post the final pics of my car once i finish shrouding the headlights and making it look pretty. I'm thinking i might have my friend fiberglass some shrouds for me.









I think dremeling into my front fender is probably the scarest thing i've done with my car. I got some battle scares from some of the hot pieces of metal that few and landed on my arm.

 
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Wow, I really like those your wheels...
The side markers look sweet
What was the reason you added the two washers on the side anyways?

 
Rep Power: 321

its give more color. Its the blue and purple flicker that you see when bimmers or mercedes are coming down the road and then turns yellow when it passes you.

 
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Nice! Is that DOT ?

 
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where did u get the sidemarkers from?

 
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Nice man! Heh, I thought about getting a sidemarkers on mine too but I can't convince my self to drill a hole on the front fender yet.

 
Rep Power: 321

yeah its dot. i got them off of hidplanet.

 
Rep Power: 321

THere OEM 330ci sidemarkers. You can get them from any BMW dealership or you can get them online at pacific BMW or circle BMW.