North East F-Body Association - Projector Retrofit: a little project

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- - Projector Retrofit: a little project (http://www.northeastf-bodyassn.com/showthread.php?t=1941)

Projector Retrofit: a little project

...ONNN THE S^TURN! :klab:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2401597_n.jpg

I got these low beam projectors off a Nissan at the body shop I used to work at. Broken projector headlight assembly parts in trash pile = free projector retrofit parts :D. So after years of accumulating this stuff, ballasts, bulbs, and different projectors, and being SICK of stupid bright ass glaring HID's in factory reflector housings, I realized that I can try my first retro fit on this car. So I did... accidentally. Bored one day at home I decided to take my headlights out and paint around the reflectors black to have black housing headlights. It looked nice, but when I peeled the masking tape off the chrome reflector after, it peeled some of the chrome off with it >.< so looking at my projectors and ruined headlights I figured why not give it a shot. Took out the dremel and air grinder and went for it. Just takes patience opening up the hole in the back to get it to fit in, and sanding/grinding down the top and bottom sides of both the projector housing and the headlight housing to fit it in (very tight fit with the narrowness). Then I realized once it was in there I was going to need to trim the bezel it came in the headlight with because of the glaring light coming from the sides, and thats where I'm at now trying to get the bezel to work well... Then it's epoxy it in, paint it up, seal it up and wire it up and thats it! Projectors in my S^TURN for free :D

The donor parts:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2443.jpg

Heres one of the low beam projectors, I know its not the best quality out there but its pretty decent and the best choice out of all my projectors for this project.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2444.jpg

Ruined reflector headlights :(
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2445.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2446.jpg

Starting to cut:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2447.jpg

Make shroud out of this?
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2448.jpg

Yup, set aside for later:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2450.jpg

Was too busy grinding everything didn't take progress pics, that and its pretty straightforward and easy, just keep grinding till its in there. But here it is finally able to fit in:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2452.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...DSCN2453-1.jpg

Then after today working on the shroud:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2461.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2464.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2467.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2468.jpg

It looks decent, and blocks the glaring light much better, but idkmaybe I should still try to make a metal shield? top and bottom if fine since the tight fit, but the sides aren't entirely blocked:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2470.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2471.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2472.jpg

and got some pics of how its mounted and the opening:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2465.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2466.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2469.jpg

andddd heres the electronics for it. Gonna be fun trying to seal these up good and waterproof them since these were made to be inside the sealed headlight from factory:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...e/DSCN0179.jpg

I think its going pretty well for my first attempt at a projector retrofit, and a kind of difficult seeming headlight assembly to do one in. But I think its going well and will have supreme lighting throughout the winter in my beater saturn DD for free, just cost a little time, and gaining experience for when I most likely do another retrofit in the future on something else.

Basically all thats left is to finalize the shrouds, paint them black or leave them chrome? ... , wire the ballasts in and everything try to seal the electricals and make water tight, and bolt the headlights and aim them before epoxying them in. Then seal them up good and of course gotta wetsand and buff the hazed lenses.
Hope it keeps going as well as it is. After this its the 95 Z28's turn. Got blazer style small Nissan projectors for fogs and bi-xenon Nissan projectors for headlights! Already brainstorming. :ftmfw:

Oh yeah forgot to mention I might add one of those flexible led switchback light strip things you can get at pep boys and sticking on the inside along the front edge of the housing and bypassing the amber turn signal bulb and just use those. Kind of like the new Audi's.... BUT NAWWW, thats rice! I'd have to take a pic in front of it after like this:

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/u...-the-supra.jpg

Looks pretty good so far.

I vote for black in the whole housing.

It's a pain in the butt making all that plastic confetti but I bet it'll look good when it's all done.

Yeah just good practice for the camaro retrofit :D

test fitting/aiming today went pretty well. However I think the lenses are so worn I need to wetsand and buff them to get a sharper view of the cutoff. It looks somewhat blurred. But drove around tonight with them taped together looks real good pure light and they're actually pretty close to being aimed right just the way they came out. Gonna figure it out then paint them all up black again then epoxy them in and seal everything. Then gotta seal the electrical parts!!! Almost there!!!
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4457247_n.jpg

Some light was coming out the side from behind the lens. So I added a little flaring on the side of the shroud to block escaping light. Used some epoxy and sheet metal.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...1116001647.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...116001646b.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...116001646a.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...1116001646.jpg

lookin rather messy ehh Kev Bag

Painted the bezels and housings flat black:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2484.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2485.jpg

More epoxy to strengthen up the mounts for the lens to the reflector. This area was significantly weakened when grinding the projector to fit inside the housing.
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2490.jpg

Assembled. Now need to seal up the gaps between the shroud and projector to stop light leaking out the sides. MORE EPOXY!!!
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2492.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2493.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2494.jpg

Sides sealed. Didn't get a pic of the other side. But they're ready to install!
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2500.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2501.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2502.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...t/DSCN2503.jpg

I know it looks horrific. But it works and you cant barely see the sides of the shroud anyways, just to block light. I must say I've used epoxy more over the past two days than I hae in my entire life. Stuff is awesome!

Now just got to mount the projectors, try to aim them perfect, and epoxy them in. Then wetsand/buff the lens cover and seal it all up, finalize the wiring and drive again. :)