well, i finally got ahold of an E60 ('04-present 5 series) headlight but for now just the passenger side. my friend will get me the drivers side later on this week from the warranty dept. hopefully. ive been searching for a good looking pair of E36 headlight projectors but none of them were of my taste. so i went ahead and destroyed the E60 headlight to get to the projector and bracket. these are the self-leveling bi-xenons. i will not use the self-leveling feature since it consists of alot of wires and a light module that can only be used on the E60 and it has to be programmed and encoded in the vehicle. i know this cuz i program them everyday. so the self-leveling is out the door. luckily i had a new pair of E36 headlights with angel eyes that i never installed and i just cracked them open and removed part of the housing that i will not use and apparently the E60 projector is about the same size in diameter with the E36 with the exception that i have to make small brackets to relocate the holes for the screws and a shield to cover the projector housing so that water won't get in the headlight. i will take pics and post them up of the process by this wed. hopefully if not sooner. right now im in school.

 

i heard the plastic E36's will make the projectors look foggy, and distorted

you have to get the glass ones i suppose

 

well, im not goint to use the plastic lens. i will use the glass lens but i have to order them.

 

kool, getting E36 glass lens or the "euro style" clear OEM lenses on ebay?

you have any pics of them right now to show clearance and such?

 

im not gonna use the glass E36 lens. im gonna try the euro maxima lens and go from there.

 

i should be able to post pics by this wed. if not sooner.

 

sweet...

if i read what you said correctly.
what are you going to make the back side of the headlight out of?

 

This sounds like an interesting project. Definately will be more interesting than yet ANOTHER E36 headlight thread, IMO.

 

FYI, alot of E36 guys retrofit TSX projectors into E36 housings.

 

honestly i really don't know yet but i will be working on that as well.

 

the good thing about the projectors is that they come with a chrome plastic ring that covers the bare projector which is why i chose to use the E60 projectors.

 

What would you say of putting those projectors in those glass euro ones they sell one ebay? I desperately need to upgrade the headlight situation. So i gotta decide over the next month or two if i wanna upgrade the headlights or just get some hella 550 driving lights.

 

Can't wait to see the pics. Im getting the springs soon dude.

 

where can u get those bmw headlights? and what bmw series are they?( 3 series, 5 series, 7 series?) i love the look of projectors and the angel eyes

 

the headlights are from the new 5 series (E60). you can get them on ebay but i can get them through BMW since i work for them

 

ok im gonna tease you guys for a little bit. i got some pics to show. remember it is not done i just put the parts on top of each other so that you guys can have an idea of what it will look like.


E36 Headlight


E60 Headlight


E60 Projector with bracket

 

Chrome plate to cover gap once installed on E36 Headlight

 

obviously not centered since its not done yet.

and thats all folks!!! i will be posting more pics of the progress until done.

 

O now THAT is sick, I was thinking about using the e60 housing too at one time. Looks great so far!

 

thats right. you were the one that wanted to upgrade your headlights when you were doing your front end makeover. hows the front end looking so far?

 

u gotta hit me up whenever u get this done so i can see it man.

 

sweet idea man hope nothing breaks while putting it back together... (i have that problem)

 

It looks like a few of us are working on some lighting ideas.

First I gutted some OEM corners.
The housing is originally silver, which I painted black, and is now fitted with Wade clear covers.



The euro headlights next to them (before I painted):



The Euros will finish up as e36 projectors with angel eyes, which I've had on my car since last year. The e36 housing will be recovered with the glass that comes with the Euros.

Here they are mocked up in full black in this photo (with 350z wheels - sexy no?):



Final pics to come... eventually. My first child is on the way and is due any day now, so this project goes on the back burner for a few weeks at least.

 

Mazel Tov.

 

haha <snip> you inside joker you. Which reminds me, did you hear about the Russian doctor who performs circumcisions?... Dr.Katchacockoff...

 

you know i will be doing the same to my corners as well. i really like how they turned out. i have a pair of GTS covers that have been sitting around since the day i bought my old '89 SE, so it looks like i will be doing the same to the corners. of course its going to take me some time since i still have to order the euro maxima headlights and get some oem corners from the junkyard.

 

Yeah it's got to be all or nothing in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with the stock setup if you keep it all stock, but if you go with e36's, or the euro headlights, the corners become glaringly out of place when left stock (as seen in my current sig).

 

that is true. doing all this work to the headlights and nothing to the corners makes the car look weird. thats why i took my corners apart and painted them in black and put them back together but now i will have to modify the corners as well. can't wait till im done with this. i should be able to get the driver's side E60 headlight this weekend if all goes well in the warranty dept.

 

looks good man

 

i need a set of euro healight covers for my retrofit projector conversion.

 

your gonna get bad output from those unless you look for some clear 3 inch lenses

those look like j30 or es300 dual projectors

 

read before you quote on somethin' "i said i need some clear euro headlight covers to finish up" And no it's not bad at all i still get the cutoff line just not as razor sharp as a it could be if it was mated to the euro covers. Simply saying

 

 

haha I did those exact projectors in mine a couple of years ago...I never finished because I sold the car to Austin.

 

great minds think alike lol!

 

damn you!!! didn't take you long for you to get ahead of me on the projector retrofit huh? what projectors are you using? also do you have pics of the back side of those projectors already installed in the housing's, curious to see how that turned out. as for me, i finally got the drivers side E60 headlight that i was missing for my retrofit. when i do have time i will continue with the process but right now i can't since im going to school and work and now i have to go to Atlanta, GA for training for BMW.

 

If your comming to atlanta there two things you need to do.

1. Visit me!
2. Hook me up with some projectors

 

1. are you going to kill me and then chop me up and feed me to animals?
2. i only have a pair for me and its kinda hard to get another set from the warranty dept. that they don't have to return to BMW of North America.

 

i don't think he's talking about the euro glass housings. he's saying to find some crystal clear projector lenses...for the projectors themselves.

is that output pic both headlights installed, just one, or just a projector being held to test the output?

 

good ideas with lighting. TSX projectors are very common in the E36 euro headlights. and pretty simple to do. I personally went with the e55 projector since it is bixenon, and required next to no modification to get in there. and my high beam slot is used for my fire fighter lights. make sure you have good shrouds.

plastic lenses wont change the cut of line or output, you want a clear projector lenses. 3" lenses u swap from tsx' projectors 2.5" swap from valeo's. hid planet has em for sale in forums. and what bulb are you using in those projectors. they look like they have a pretty bad hotpot and the pic is over exposed:-p BUT!!

+1 for the great ideas

-B