I've seen it done before, but I will try to document my progress through out. I picked up a set of TSX Projectors for $130 shipped on HIDplanet. Got a spare set of housings from a local friend. Will redo the DDEs to something other than Umnitza or eBay as I'm sure my luck won't be better this time around. Will post pics tomorrow of the first step: taking housings apart and cleaning. Housecor has covered this very well already...

Come back for updates soon!

 

are you doing the rest of the retro this weekend.? best of luck

 

Don't forget to get D2S bulbs! Good luck!

 

So am i the only one on here that's thinking about running DL50's powered by aftermarket ballast that run at 55w by Apexcone? What are u going to run?

 

subscribing

 

Can we expect a full write up?


Subscribed.

 

From what I've learned at HIDplanet, the 50w+ bulbs have a tendency to melt the inside of some projectors after a few months of use.

Plus, there's the fact that it's not exactly legal


To the OP, I'm planning on doing something similar. Trying to decide on what to do with the high beams. Unfortunately HID bulbs are not good for "flashing" but rather should either be on or off, so I might end up using a halogen projector with the shield removed for the high beam. What are your plans for the highs?

 

Unfortunately, not that soon, haha. My friends and I were going to disassemble the headlights, but chat/dinner ran late, so the first phase is being postponed.

Going for the Philips 5000k D2S bulbs. No more cheap aftermarket stuff, but I can't run 4300. Too yellowish for my taste.

I don't see why not. The disassembly of the housings can be found from Housecor. The write up will take a while, as I will be getting DDEs in a bit, and hopefully some LED pieces (not bulbs) in as well.

The projectors I have are the TSX single beam. I will be leaving my high beams halogen, as I don't want to rewire my highs to a bi-xenon projector. My friend with a Spec-V will be installing bi-xenon 6th gen Maxima projectors in his housings, so I can also get pics/info from his install.

 

Whats wrong with Umnitza? he makes the best AA for 5th gens...

personally i hate projectors in 5thgen headlights or at least all i'v seen. hey look all bug eyes and out of place.

 

The one thing you can do for now is test your D2S bulbs and do the washer mod to adjust the color output. I wanted to try the washer mod on my e46 setup but by that time I had already reassembled my headlights.

 

interesting...my HIDs seem to light up the road just fine....

 

HID Projectors > HID Reflectors > Halogen Reflectors > Halogen Projectors

 

I don't want this to turn into another Umnitza rant thread, but I just won't buy the DDEs from them. Just my opinion.

It really depends on the shroud. The shroud can make or break how the retrofit looks.

I will be doing the washer mod for a more colorful cutoff.

My HIDs work great. They will work even better in a projector. I'm not looking for looks as much as I am for better lighting performance.

 

Halogen reflectors over halogen projectors? The halogen projectors my celica had aren't even that far off the HID relectors the Maxima has.

 

I guess halogen projectors vary from car to car, but the ones I have seen are pretty terrible. The ebay ones are especially bad because they use the same bulb that are in our fog lights.

 

I have yet to see a non-googlie eyed 5.5gen projector retrofit. I'm planning my own this year, if I figure out how to set the projector far back so it doesn't look so ghey.

Hopefully yours will look good. good luck

 

Thanks, I'm going to try to set the projector as far back as possible. The only problem is the space behind the headlights is minimal.

 

I'd have to agree, and I'm waiting to get my hands on the ebay headlights to see what can be done about that.

I'm thinking if the bezel (the piece surrounding the projector which is usually chrome) was bigger, it might help. There is a certain type of BMW which has a 1" wide flat faced bezel that fits around the projector, which makes it look a lot beefier. I wish I could remember which model BMW that was.

OP, are you using OEM headlights or the ebay kind?



Edit: this is kind of what I was talking about, although it's hard to tell.

 

the ebay marketed 5000K philips 85122+ are not 5000k... that is ebay marketing at it's best
the only color temp close to that is 85122CM and 85123s that are extremely rare and expensive
the CMs aren't even sold in the US
your best bet would be to color mod the projectors by putting washers between the pegs and stick with 85122+ as they give most light output

 

OEM 5.5 Gen housings.

 

also, if you try to set it as far back as possible, you lose foreground light and the width of the projector beam
you'll get that light and it'll hit the OEM reflector if you are mounting on it and cause light to shine everywhere unwanted, instead of a nice even output

 

What kind of AA are you currently using?

 

ebay E46 White DDEs. They are disconnected currently. 3 out of the 4 fused out. Some have had luck with them, I didn't.

 

I think what Armon was trying to say was use E46 shroud seen below:



And def color mod the TSXs, then you'll get this:

 

Now I wish I went the TSX route. Maybe my next project.

 

also subscribing

 

i have color mod'd my tsx lenses, and aiming them is a pita. Since they look like they are facing down in relation to the shroud, but the light shoots straight. So in other words, it gets complicated to make them look good with a shroud around them pointing straight, and having an even beam pattern st the same time.

 

TSX projectors are fun...



Best of luck!

 

n3985 - those are similar, but the ones I saw were a little different. They were the same overall diameter (compared to the largest part of those E46 shrouds) except that they were flush with the projector lens. Using a terrible example, it was like getting a frisbee with a hole in the middle and sticking a tennis ball in there. Maybe I'm just not remembering it correctly.

 

Reason why I was wondering is I bought those too to try to save money. Well I got them and they were slightly too big, so I tried to bend them slightly. And ended up snapping one, I still have the other 3 but they are no use without 4. So I bought the Umnitza's, a quality product so I didn't have to worry about it not fitting. They have been great.

 

I'm about to Take on this project myself to kill my weekends. I have never done this before but I plan on using the, not so great eBay projector headlights and swapping projectors out to tsx ones...I knows its not easy but has anyone tried this before thanks

 

It's been done before. However, read my cardomain page 3 so you know what you're in for. If you can fabricate a frame so that you can adjust the beam level using the two screws, you'll be a hero.

 

you know what, 4300k bulbs will actually look whiter in projectors than in reflector housings. i had tsx projectors in my stock 5.5 headlights before but got rid of it. i miss the light output =/ the light output is like at least 2-3 times better than the stock 5.5 headlights. make sure you find some nice shroud/bezel for it...if i had to do it again i would have gotten the audi a4 bezels those are nice ...the one i had was custom made one and gave that bug eye look at some angles lol that's one reason i went back to stock headlights for now. i'm thinking of getting another one done soon. good luck with your project.

 

oh yeah it would look nicer if the projector sits more inner because if it sits too out it will look bug eye...but then if it sits inner the projector will stick out more in the back...here's what mine looked like...i would say i have about 1-2mm of space between the lense and the bezel.



but be careful because if the projector sticks out too much in the back it's going to be hard to put on the car because part of the frame is in the way. i barely had enough room to squeeze mine in and my projector sits pretty close to the lense.

 

Did you do those yourself or was that the set done by ccfl?

 

What if I use GEN6 Projectors will those work ok E55 Projectors and Do a double High beam or just make the High beam another Blinker? Cause the Gen6 Have Bi-xenon Right? If I really wanted to could I do a shield mod to make it DOT instead of ECE

 

i was thinking of doing the same thing, but the tiny projo in the huge housing look just didnt look all that great, so instead i put the projos in the foglights, they fit rather easily, and the light output with the 02/03 headlights is awesome. then add hid highbeams to go completely overboard.

 

i had my lights done by customlightz...i'm not sure what/who ccfl is.

 

My bad thats what i meant, I remember seeing some like those on the site. Im not sure how i got the ccfl i think it had something to do with the guys myspace page i was asking about putting the projectors in my 00 headlights.

 

So stupid me bought a broken 05 Maxima Hid headlight, and the projector is shot to hell, Only thing salvageable on it is the used bulb and the ballast, Yay for 75 shipped. not like the projector would work anyways its too big but it just sucks