i got a package today...

[aorozco2]

where did u get those lights? I love them plus the right one in my SL is acting up.

[Linebckr49]

i got them off hidplanet.com/forums. just a member there was selling these. i got them for a steal of a deal.

[Linebckr49]

today, i started hacking into my aftermarket headlight housings. when i did the H4 conversion, i did it so i could replace the bulb if it went out, and in doing so i got a different headlight housing...one that allows you to change the bulb (as compared to the stock sealed beam housing: if bulb goes out, must replace entire housing b/c its sealed as one unit).

so i was lucky i had these aftermarket headlight housings. it took me about 2 hours with the dremel to cut out the back of the housing so that the projector would fit in. i tried to cut as little as possible so the projector would fit snugly, however i've left some room for movement, as i will need to align projectors mounted in the housing before i secure them. a friend that did this used bolts and spacers to affix the projector to the housing, however since i have limited space, i will probably just use JB Weld. i know it sounds ghetto, but this will secure it tightly.

below are pics of before and after hacking the housing. also, as an example i mounted the projector inside the hacked housing with the bezel and glass cover. the last pic of the projector inside the housing is what will be seen when the headlight is popped-up, but obviously it will be sealed, and i also plan to paint the reflector and bezel black, since the projector will not use the reflective properties of the housing.

[Stealthy-One]

loks good. when you gonna make me a set?

[Linebckr49]

i'll see when i finish this one. na, i don't think i could fab up another bi-xenon retro into our pop-up headlights. i'm gonna have to do sooo much metal cutting and other stuff just to get them to fit, its not gonna be funny.

i got these for a steal. i mean a STEAL. they're out of the 05/06 cadillacs (XLR, BLS, DTS...) and not easy to find. the great thing about them is they already have a shroud built in to the projector (piece of metal that surround the gaps in the projector to keep light from exiting). also, they have a CLEAR lens which is very rare. the honda S2000 projectors one of the few others that have a clear lens, and those are haaard to find, and expensive still.

here are some threads for info. i got my set (projectors, ballasts, bulbs) for 300 shipped when its not uncommon to get just bi-xenon projectors for around 400.
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/view...=168334#168334
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/view...dillac+bixenon

so to answer ur half-serious question, for the labor time i'll be putting into this, i could never charge someone that, a flat rate would suck for me, and you'd probably wouldn't pay it and want to do it urself.

[Linebckr49]

alrighty, well i've been at it some more, trying to finish up my headlight. ya, i've just barely got one headlight done. but i thought i'd share some more pics.

here are pics of the projector placed inside the pop-up unit. yes, i've been driving around the past 2 weeks with only one headlight. SUPER GHETTO! but hey, someone's gotta do it. its much easier to workout fitment and mounting issues with the entire unit on the bench for easy test-fits.





i had to cut into the headlight metal bucket on the frame of the car. this was necessary b/c the ignitor in the base of the D1S bulb sticks out quite a bit. if i had a D2S bulb, then the ignitor would be separate and grant me more clearance, but this is not the case.

ignitor at bottom


hole cut out for ignitor clearance


after shining the light through the stock lens cover, i noticed that the sharp cutoff of the HID beam was gone, and the light refracted all to hell, went everywhere. i figured this was due to a curvature in the glass. so i set out to find a material that was clear, very thin, and flat. i found a material at Lowe's called LUCITE (comes in 2 grades - regular and tuf). its a clear acrylic plastic, and it worked perfectly!



so i just cut some up to fit the headlight housing, and voila.









So now that i've got my own lens cover, i need to find someway to give it sidewalls. i need the lens cover to be away from the housing so that it will clear the projector lens. i decided to use some 90 degree bent aluminum stock (found at Lowe's). although this is not the final product, and i plan to re-cut so it will fit together better, this should give you some idea.



here are the pieces of aluminm just laying on their side. later, i will re-cut them to fit better and also add curved corner pieces to join it all together. i thought about just putting silicon on the corners, but that wouldn't look very good, and i want it to look rather professional from the outside. i will adhere the aluminum strips to the plastic housing with some strong epoxy.



then i placed the plastic lens cover on along with the bezel cover




i would have liked for the final product to look clean like this, but the stock lens cover made the light look jsut awful, so i had to improvise.


this is not the final look, as i will add corner pieces to give it a more joined appearance. so this is just a resemblance of the final product.

[TorchedStealth]

Looks good! So all that time spent is paying off after all.

[Linebckr49]

i decided to take a break from the HID retro-fit b/c i'm just tired of work work work but to seemingly no avail...although i know i'm making progress. i wanted to see the fruit of some labor, so i threw the powder coated front valve cover on. wooo, she looks good! the color blens the plenum, strut bar, and exhaust manifold cover. looks much better, now.

hey guy, should i get a chrome oil cap or just leave the stock black one? i like the contrast of the chrome/metal finish and the black engine parts/black engine bay. should i keep the spark plug cover or leave it off?
what do you think?

BEFORE



AFTER

w/o spark plug cover...


w/ spark plug cover...

[Linebckr49]

oh ya, as you'll notice in the above pics, the front timing cover i left off...B/C i noticed my timing belt was very loose, and then randomly the intake cam jumped! ya, it just advanced a few teeth!

so remember when i had that squealing like a turbo spooling coming from the engine bay? i thought it might be A/C related...well now i'm thinking its timing related. so since the car is definitely out of time, i'll go ahead and see what it is. i'm thinking the auto tensioner is gone, alos perhaps one of the idler pulleys that i didn't change during the 60k.

[Linebckr49]

alrighty then! so i decided to start hacking the 2nd headlight, so i used the cuts i made on the 1st as a template for the 2nd. here are some "before & after" pics (if you can call them that). since the headlight housings are mirror images, i just transferred markings from cut to un-cut steel.

here's a previous picture to give you an idea of where all the parts go when assembled


here's the pop-up units (the inset smaller metal pieces that surround the light have been removed)


Uncut


Cut


Backs of the pop-up units. this hole had to be cut so the ignitor would fit with the headlight in the down position. this hole matches a hole cut into the frame of the car.


here are the pieces that surround the actual headlight.

this is a back shot of the first piece. notice it's parabolic curvature that fits the headlight.


and inside the square/circular piece goes the above piece

[Linebckr49]

and here's the batmobile. yea, she's getting the lasek eye surgery done.



and remember that hissing sound i was hearing? well i'm thinking it was definitely timing belt related, b/c the belt was very loose. i don't think the ppl that did it last did it right, but since the cam gear jumped, i have to put it back in time anyways.

(for those of you who've done the 60k, you'll notice that i took some shortcuts by not removing the motor mount support bracket and some other stuff)


can anyone tell me what part is missing here?


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YUP! one of the biggest (smallest) troublemakers on our cars (aside from the TC, but i'm NA)


and for good measure, my little workshop


and home-made double gate

[Linebckr49]

*****UPDATE****

alrighty. so i've made some headway on this project. i had quite a problem i ran into. the pop-up headlight housings/bracketry/hinges are mirror images of one another. this is a good thing. HOWEVER, the HID projector units with solenoids are NOT mirror images, but exact duplicates, meaning either can be mounted left or right, it does not matter. the problem lies in the HID units. for the driver's headlight (left), the solenoid is mounted on the left [all directions are oriented as if you're in the driver's seat looking out toward the headlights]. this is good. BUT for the right headlight, i need the projector mounted on the RIGHT side. this would allow the mirror image pop-up unit to receive a mirror image projector unit. make sense?

pop-up units illustrating mirror image


well the projectors have mounting holes that are all symmetrical, so i thought i could simply put the solenoid on the other side of the projector. wrong. the shield that flips down is mounted on a rod. this rod is not symmetrical. basically, on the side i need the solenoid mounted to, that side of the rod is too short. so i thought the best way to solve this metal problem is to take it to a metal fabricator: welders FTW!

solenoid on left side




lens removed revealing shield inside projector. HID D1S bulb behind shield.


shield flipped down via rod next to solenoid.


modified shield from other projector. notice that the left end of the rod is longer than the right: shield has been cut from rod, flipped, re-welded.


i had the welder cut off the upper part of the shield, flip it around, and re-weld it on. i know what you're thinking: "why not just flip the entire shield around and forget the welding?" well yes, i obviously thought of this first, but upon further inspection, it would not work, logistically. doing this would also flip the step on the shield, in effect giving me the HID beam cutoff of a European left hand drive car. thus, it would not be up to the US DOT standards. so this is why i had to cut and re-weld the piece.

the welds aren't the prettiest, but they are functional, and that's what matters. if i wanted them pretty, then i would have to pay more for his time. it only cost me $30 for his time (25 mins). i would have been less, but i told him the wrong thing first, so he had to re-cut, and re-re-weld it. but he's a professional, so i trust him and his work. i also filed down the extra welding material so that the shield would fit smoothly in the housing and flip down smoothly without any interference.

front of shield


back of shield


side view


Now that i had the shield cut, flipped, welded, i reassembled the passenger (right) projector. now the rod is long enough on the right side to mount the solenoid on that (right) side. now, when comparing the two projector units, they are MIRROR images of each other and will fit in their respective mirror images pop-up units.



now all i have left to do is to mount the projectors using a very strong, epoxy-type glue. i will also have to aim the projectors while the glue is drying. this is THE CRITICAL step. if the projectors aren't aimed correctly BEFORE the glue dries, i'm not sure how much flexibility the glue will have later so i can adjust/aim the lights.

[TorchedStealth]

Looks good. I forgot, what have you been using for lights this whole time?

[Morphius289]

Lookin good.

[Linebckr49]

Originally Posted by TorchedStealth

Looks good. I forgot, what have you been using for lights this whole time?

i put the stock sealed beam headlights back in. fortunately, even with all the cutting i've done to the pop-up units, the stock headlamps still fit nice and snug.