Rep Power: 239

Just recently finished a HID retrofit in some ebay housings. I used a BMW e39 M5 single-xenon projector. Bulbs are 4300K Phillips 85122. projectors were color modded by slightly bending the shields



ill get some output shots soon

 
Rep Power: 259

nice nice..i want to see the night shot

 
Rep Power: 239

Heres a few. Im going home monday or tues and ill get some shots using a tripod. these are a bit blurry, but show the beam a bit.

This first one was darkened a bit so you can see the beam. There were lights on the top of the building so it made it look kinda dull.


this shot is from about 20 feet. again, its blurry as hell, but it does a decent job at showing the width of the beam, even from that close.



You cant see it in either pic, likely bc of the flash combined with the blurriness, but there is a nice blueish purple cutoff. hopefully I can capture that with a tripod and messing with the settings on my camera

Ill get some more updates later in the week

 
Rep Power: 0

can u get better wall shots ??

 
Rep Power: 239

yup, theyr coming soon. my apt at school is kinda in the ghetto so i really dont wanna go taking pics there and showing off anything. my car has already been broken into twice now. once i get home ill get some shots

 
Rep Power: 291

nice. i'd like to see build pics and how you modded the housings to mount the E39's in there. you have to fab brackets?

 
Rep Power: 239

this was actually about the most idiot proof retro ive done. here are some pics from along the way. I didnt originally fab any brackets, but I am actually gonna pull them off tomorrow to do that. my rotation got a bit jacked up on the driver side, so im gonna make some simple "L" brackets to allow rotational adj. once im all set with that ill get some better wall shots up.

 
Rep Power: 291

i like it!!!

 
Rep Power: 239

thanks man! some TSX's woulda been nice, but the price was so right on these and i couldnt warrant throwing down an extra 100-ish on just projectors.

Today was a good day to pull these off and work on them since I had to get an inspection and havnt wired up my hi's yet. For anyone looking to do a similar project, the e39 projectors (and likely the e46) literally bolt right up. Width isnt bad, and with some color modding, there is a real nice cutoff...nothing as sharp as an s2000 or tsx, but definately nice. The only modification I had to do was trim the back for access to the bulb and drill the holes a bit wider.

Here is a shot of the back before trimming. I used some hockey grip-tape as a guide line for trimming.


Here is the back with the extra cut off. A dremel is more than enough to cut through the plastic.


I recently did a s2000 and tl retro into stock housings for some friends and both were royal PITA. on a scale of 1 to 10, id say those were about an 8, due to the custom fab work and making a shroud. Since these already had a shroud, id say this was maybe a 3. It took some know-how, but nothing that research and some trial and error cant fix.

 
Rep Power: 291

TSX are nice, but on a 1 to 10 scale, they were a 9.5 in TYC housings. i had to completely cut apart the backs, design and fabricate a new monting bracket that would allow adjustments and then JB weld everything back together. the backs of mine are not sealed either though. so far, the only time that mine have fogged up was when my car sat through a week of rain without driving while i was out of town. after 30 minutes of driving (lights were off) they cleared up. i think the "very open" design of mine keeps them from fogging in most cases. it's like having a HUGE vent on the back

 
Rep Power: 239

today was the first bit of "fab" work i had to do, if you even want to call it that. I made some small "L" brackets from some sheet metal in order to have rotational adjustment. All I used was a sheet of metal, 2 2.5 inch #6 screw, 2 nuts per screw, some washers, and a spring to push up on the side that was sloping down. This was done on both projectors. As promised, night shots are coming as soon as it gets dark.

 
Rep Power: 239

Finally some shots!

first shot is from about 40 feet against my house. the aim f-up is bc when i aimed them, i had the bumper cover off. when i put it back on, for some reason it pulled on the driver side, dropping it a hair. at first i hated it, but its kinda nice to be able to see road signs, and since its on the pass side, its not gonna blind anyone (atleast not the driver)



heres a shot of the cutoff. the colormod came out exactly how i wanted it. just a bit of blue and nice and crisp. sorry bout the shadow, thats me in the way

 
Rep Power: 0

good..... bring more shots...

 
Rep Power: 239

i finally just got the aim adusted so the cutoffs match. ill get some shots up asap!

 
Rep Power: 291

did you keep the double-step like above? or did you put them with the bottoms level and the tops level (that's how mine is.) i got bright-lighted too much with the double step. yeah, it's on the passenger side, but it's still pointed up more and causes more glare to oncoming drivers.

 
Rep Power: 239

I have them lined up with the bottom step, however the pass side is a hair higher. the bottom step on the pass side is kinda in between the bottom and top step on the driver side. Ill get some pics up when it gets dark so you can see what im talking about a little better. I kinda liked having the pass side a bit higher just for road signs and whatnot, but it was really getting annoying seeing 2 cutoffs down the road. no one has flicked their brights at me yet, and i was driving on a 2 lane road last night with no apparent problems, so im gonna assume they are good to go now.

 
Rep Power: 291

probably are fine if no one's flashed you yet. i need to adjust mine up some. they're too low right now. i was driving next to a stock TSX the other night and his cutoff line was a lot higher than mine.

 
Rep Power: 239

yea thats how i knew mine were too high...i was next to a tl and i was hitting the car infront of me about 5 inches higher than he was

 
Rep Power: 239

 
Rep Power: 291

THAT looks awesome!! great job!

 
Rep Power: 239

thanks!

 
Rep Power: 0

i think passanger side is bit higher....

here is mine

 
Rep Power: 336

Do you have comparison pics of the halogen projector and E39 projector..

I have same projector headlight that i will be retrofitting FX..

 
Rep Power: 239

Here is a pic with the halogen projectors. The bulbs are the PIAA plastma gtx or something. This is right when i put them in so they werent aimed yet, but you can see how horrible the spread is, as well as all the glare above the cutoff (some of it is from turn signals, but most from actualy lo beams)



The two hotspots under the steps are pretty much the only light that I could see on the road with them. now, as you can see with the e39, from about 20 feet, a 2 car garage is no match for its width. the fx will be real nice, and those are super easy to come by, after the recall

 
Rep Power: 291

the FX bi's will be tough to fit in a TYC/sonar type housing, i'd think. probably gonna do a ton of cutting and fabb'ing. i had to with my TSX projectors.

 
Rep Power: 239

true, its gonna take a lot of cutting from the back and you absolutely must keep the solenoid dry. howmuch experience do you have with fiberglassing and molding? its likely gonna take a good deal of that

 
Rep Power: 336

Well, I am prepared for what ever is coming to me.
Most likely, I will be using PVC pipes to enclose the projectors...with lots of JB weld...

Acutally I wanted to see the actual halogen projector itself...do a size comparison and mounting options..not the wall shots...thanks anyway...

The projector was shipped on Aug-7-07. so I should have it today..

Electric: I chose the FX because of its small size...but i am not using a TYC its same as what chawski is using...

Acura TSX Low Beam (Stanley):
Diameter = 71.05mm
Height = 85.30mm
Width = 120.80mm
Length = 156.45mm
Length(seat of the lens to mounting holes) = 42.00mm
Length(mounting holes to end of bulb) = 96.95mm
Width(between top mounting holes) = 100.45mm
Width(between bottom mounting holes) = 103.45mm
Height(between mounting holes) = 41.50mm

Infinity FX35/45 Bi-Xenon (aka FX):
Diameter = 69.20mm
Height = 105.10mm
Width = 111.80mm
Length = 150.70mm
Length(seat of the lens to mounting holes) = 54.60mm
Length(mounting holes to end of bulb) = 72.10mm

Taken from www.hidplanet.com university section...

it looks to me that TSX and FX are not that much different in size....So my retro will be very similar to your retro....only taller by 20mm and smaller in every aspect.......and +1 to your retro BTW...

I will post the progress on the retro...

 
Rep Power: 291

i don't have first hand experience (i've only had TYC's myself) but others have said that of all the aftermarket projectors, TYC's had the most room. with as much cutting and fabbing you'll be doing, it won't really matter though.

just take your time and do it right. i took a good two months to do mine slowly.

 
Rep Power: 239

youre gonna have a lot of spare room in the back. I had to cut off almost 2 inches just to get bulb access. (see pics). jb weld is definately good. since its cheap, dont skimp on it. last thing you want is a leak and have to go back in and pull everything apart. i used some bad silicone the first time and didnt get a good seal on everything and had to reseal both lights. nothing sucks more than thinking a project is done, only to find out you have a lot more to go.

 
Rep Power: 291

i would not use silicone to seal up the light. silicone sticks poorly to plastic, especially over time. you can buy Butyl Rubber window sealer at Auto Zone or Advance Auto. this is similar to the OEM stuff used. that's what i used on mine. it's very easy to use and nowhere near as messy as silicone.

and the rear of my housings are not even close to being sealed up. i've got a 3" diameter opening left open. i've never had a problem with dirt, water or fogging either. about 6 months so far like that and no problems.