This is my first significant mod on my '01 GXE. It started a few days after I bought it, took an nighttime drive through some mountain roads and couldn't see squat (probably because I was used to the projector lighting on my BMW - RIP). Still oblivious to the existence of this board and others like HIDPlanet, I jumped online to search for a lighting upgrade. I was originally just looking to replace the stock housings with OEM replacements and of course, there was ebay, offering the projector housings for not much more...went for it. Still in the box, took them straight to a shop to be outfitted with HID's.

Originally, I was impressed with the improvement in lighting but after I found the .org, studied the issue, I realized I could do much better and decided to pull the trigger at once.

At first, I was leaning towards the Mini D2S or H1's. However, I was advised that sticking to a 3" projector would be best, since the ebay housings are already outfitted with shrouds to accomodate them. The other piece if advice I got was that the Mini's provide "decent output" when retrofitted into the OEM housings. I took that to mean they don't perform as well as a 3" - which would make sense, considering their much smaller size. Next, I considered the E55 bixenons, but the general consensus is that there's better choices. I was already committed to dropping a pretty penny, so what the heck - go ftw. I also strongly considered the e46's, but my research led me to conclude the output is generally pretty lame, although MSU2000 did an amazing retro with them using a modified shield (here's his thread on that, as well as numerous other builds: http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...fit-build.html) - I'm not up to attempting shield modding at this stage of experience. The G37's were suggested as a good candidate, and I liked them. I also got STi-R clear lenses for them.

There's plenty of info around here on baking the lights to open them up. For reference, I closely studied 808maxSpec's write-up, found here: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/504020...-maxima/page-3

Here's what the opened-up housing looks like:



Note the white "plug" between the low beam and high beam. I think that's what causes most aiming headached on these - if you over-adjust in a way to push the bracket too far forward, the ball and socket easily separate, making aiming them almost impossible.

Fairly convinced that some modification was unavoidable, I settled for G37 bi xenon projectors for the low beams. G37 on top, ebay projector on bottom:



Front view (G37 on left, ebay model on right):


Here's the difference in the reflector buckets dunno if you can appreciate the difference in quality, but in person it's a glaring difference - G37 on left, ebay on right:



This is the bracket inside the housing which the projectors mount on. The bracket is also the mechanism for beam aiming. You can see where I marked the rotation direction for setting the cutoff lines and the general outline where the G37's need to fit through:



Measuring clearance and eye-balling level lines:



This was my primary tool for the job:



Here's some pics of the mounting bracket after my hack job:



This particular section allowed the tabs that hols the cutoff shield's shaft to fit without restriction





Bracket test-mounted back in housing:




I gave the brackets a quick bath of hi-temp semi-gloss before final assembly.

I was not happy with the splice-approach wiring that was done at the shop initially, singce it was buggy. Sometimes the blinkers wouldn't work, other times either one of the beams would not come on untill I flashed the high beams. Instead, I purchased a bixenon wiring harness from TRS. They sent me a microcontroller-type harness which was defective. (For those of you that like that type of harness - I'd let you know I also ordered one of those from ebay and it's the exact same harness I bought from TRS at a much lower price).

ebay harness on left, TRS's microconroller on right:



Lights are put together and sealed up. Only regret is not having tinted the reflectors, as it didn't occur to me until I was done. Now I am just awaiting a "new style" replacement harness from TRS. However, I did test the lighting while the harness was kind-of working and I am impressed with the difference. Pics coming soon, after new harness arrives...

 

Win!!!!! Good job man. Still working on my retrofit. However ebay lights are still hideous. In for output pics and finished pics of the housing. Also which bulb/ballast combo are you going with? Mori?

 

Thanks! I got some output pics of the OEM halogens & the ebay projectors with 6000k HIDs but I'm waiting to get output shots of the G37's for direct comparison. I'm using the ballasts from the original upgrade (dunno the brand - I'll find out). For bulbs, I'll be using Mori 6000k D2S. I put Silverstar Ultras on the H1 high beams - they look like dim, useless little flashlights next to the G37's!

 

Looking sharp!

 

Looking great so far

 

In for output pictures also, wish I had the motivation to complete a project similar to this.

 

So I get up Saturday morning and check the USPS tracking number from TRS. Harness package in in town, so at noon, I take a drive to my office. I arrive just in time to watch the mailman with the box in his hand, walking towards my office front door. A minute later, he would have been gone & I would've had to wait on the project 'till next weekend - whew!


First off, I joined the H1 halogens to the Bi-X soloenoids (red-to-red, black-to-black) and soldered all the wires to a felamle 9006 pigtail (which I ordered from TRS when I requested the replacement harness). I then wired in the harness as it arrived and plugged everything in. It worked, but...low beams & high beams were all on, whether stalk was in the low beam or high beam position.

First thing I tried was to switch the blue and black wire pins on the harness input (the male H4 plug on the harness). Proceeded to immediately blow a fuse.

Next, I switched the 9006 pigtails between the ballasts and high beams/solenoids. I plugged the pigtails with the blue/black wires to the ballasts and the pigtails with the orange/black wires to the high beams. This time, the followig happened: When the stalk was in the low beam position, the high beams (and low beams) would turn on, and when the stalk was in the high beam position, the low beams would be on. I was convincing myself I could live with that, until I considered the high beam indicator in the cluster would constantly be on...can't live with that.

Finally, I switched the pins for the blue and orange wires on the harness input. Voila! Now everything worked as it should (except for the LEDs on the harness relays - I could care less, as long as the relays themselves don't crap out).

Here's some pics of the final wiring...

Harness Input (plugged in on the driver side, by battery):


Pigtail to Ballast:




Pigtail to Bi-X Soledoid/High Beams:

 

Well, here it is. Output pics of G37 projectors with Sti-R clear lenses, mounted on ebay halo projector housings. First, I'll show output pics of the stock halogens, followed by the ebay projectors and finally, the G37's. First set will be a wall shot at 25 feet, second set is front view from 25 feet showing foreground illumination and final set is some road shots (sorry, none of stock halogens). So without further adieu, here they are...

Wall Shots @ 25 Feet From Wall:

Stock Halogens:


Ebay Projectors:


G37 Projectors w/ STi-R Clear Lenses:


Foreground Illumination - from ~25 Feet Away:

Stock Halogens:


Ebay Projectors:


G37 Projectors:


Some Road Shots:

Ebay Projectors:


G37 Projectors:


Miscellaeous Shots of G37's:

Far View of 25 Feet From Wall, showing Pattern Wideness:


Close-Up Showing Cutoff Colors:


Cutoff on Right, Along Long Wall:


Close-Up, Showing Blue Band:


High Beams:


Well, there it is. Overall, I'm satisfied with the end result of this project. Only issue I'm slightly disappointed with is the fuzziness of the cutoff lines. The description of the STi_R lenses respresented they made the cutoff line clearer & crisper that the stock fresnel lens, but I don't really see any notable improvement However, the lighting does look whiter. As I said though, I'm overall happy with the end result.

Now let's hear you opinon...

 

nice

 

Alignment is sooooo off. And pics are super blurry.
But don't take it the wrong way. First time is always hard.

 

Good job first of all! I have never worked with G37 before so no first hand experience.

About the fuzziness of the cut off.

Things to try:
1. Try to increase/decrease the distance between the lens and the shield. There is a sweat spot in there where the lights are converging to a point before being distributed by the lens outward. You can do this by either moving the lens back/forward (spacing) or move the shield back/forward. Most of the time it is easier to move the lens.
2. Try to rotate the STI-R lens around. Sometimes, because of the imperfection of manufacturing, the lens curvature are not uniform through out.
3. If the lens are not completely concentric with bowl, meaning there is slop in there, try to move the lens to different lcoation (up/dowd/left/right).

Again, I'm not sure how the shield is constructed in the projector. If it is like FX35 ( I suspect it is), then it is really hard to tweak it.

Could you post pictures of frontal headlights?

Good job again!

 

I took a whole bunch of pics at different stages in the process, in between taking lights off, adjusting, and trying again. I lost track of which pics were at what stage. Did some more adjusting late last night and it looked way better. However, one problem is that up close on the wall, there's multiple lines and it's very hard to tell which one to go off of. Next, after final adjustment last night everything looked pretty good against the wall, but one of the wall pics is definitely after final adjustment and rotation still looks off - like they're low on the left and high on the right. Doing it in person though - they look straight. BTW as you figured out, I'm not much of a photographer, lol!

Thanks for the tips, MSU2000 - I'm willing to live with the fuzziness for now, as this has been an extremely time-consuming project and I really don't have the time or the energy to open up the lights again. Maybe down the road at some point. I'll keep your suggestions in mind.

I only have a lame frontal shot at night:


I'll try to snap a daytime frontal shot today - will post it later.

 

Once inside my garage against a flat, even wall and level floor, I immediately noticed the rotation misalignment. I couldn't resist. Popped them open again yesterday and corrected the rotation. Much, much better, but another night being up 'till 2AM. Man, this is time-consuming!

I turned the glass lenses as you suggested, MSU2000. Got them to sharpen up a little bit, but not a huge improvement. Tinkering with spacing just seemed like too much work, so left it at that again, but there was some improvement. Thanks again.

Will finish aiming tonight & put up some updated pics.

 

 

Sharp and colorful cutoffs can be quite distracting anyway.
Most annoying issue for me is I can't work on my retro until it starts getting dark so I can see the alignment on the wall outside.(Too lazy to drive to a garage and back)

 

Very nice retrofit. The G37 projectors fit very well in the housing.

 

I have spent the past couple of days correcting the rotation alignment - very repetitive, tedious and tiring work. If I never open up these headlights ever again, it will be too soon, lol! Nevertheless, it did make a noticeable difference. Here's some output shots after correcting the rotation...

25 feet from wall:




High Beams:


Frontal Shot:


Just a Daytime Frontal Shot...



Well, there you have it. It's not perfect (left side still looks slightly off), but much better than the last attempt. At least better than my photography skills, which did not improve at all. Also noticed the correction made a big difference in the peripheral lighting on the road. Overall, I'd say this projector turned out to be a very good fit. Well, hopefully this project is done!

 

Great job

 

+1

 

Thanks. If you can work on your housings indoors, there's a great article on HIDPlanet that explains how to accomplish alignment. Go to this link http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/show...-Do-a-Retrofit and there's a link to a PDF file. About 1/3 to 1/2 way through it, it talks about how to align the projectors indoors.

For the most part, I'm with you - easier to wait until dusk and race the clock before it gets too dark on you. But then you have to make sure you pick a spot with level ground and a level wall - that threw mwe off several times. It is indeed a job for the patient.

 

first off nice work, its nice to stick to a plan and actually finish it and finish it well. and u even revised it.

I honestly don't like the ebay housing one bit, but props for the work.

what was the over all ball park price you paid for the project? maybe buying the ebay housings offset the costs of upgrading involved with the retro

In other words for patient people out there, this may be a reasonably priced upgrade instead of 5.5 OEM.

 

Thanks! I know a lot of people don't like the ebay housings and to be honest - if I had to do it again, I would have sought out some 5.5 gen OEM housings and done projectors on them anyway, or gone with some Mini D2S or H1 projectors in the stock housings. I personally like the look of them and I do get a lot of compliments on them, but what I hate the most about them is the difficulty and unreliability of the adjustment mechanism. The socket kept popping out of the ball, making adjustment a royal pain in the caboose. I worry a hard bump might make them pop out again. Also, the quality of the materials is rather poor. I just don't know how long I can expect the lenses to remain clear and transparent. Some people say they yellow rather quickly, others say they last a long time. Only time will tell...

Here's an approximate rundown of the project cost (S/H included):

ebay housings:......................................... .$221
Package of G37 projectors,
D2S -> AMP adapters,
STi-R clear lenses &
Mori D2S bulbs:.........................................$21 2
Ballasts:......................................... ...........$75
Mori harness & 9006 pigtails:.........................$42
LED park/signal bulbs:..................................$20
connectors, hardware, misc:...................... ~$30
Total:............................................ ........~$600

I spent money on other stuff such as tools and stuff I ended up not needing (for example, I bought the gray brackets for the 5.5 gen lights which was a total waste of money, since the lights don't fit well with them), but I'm not listing that, just to give you a realistic idea of the costs of the project itelf. If you are using existing housings, it put the project in a cost-effective range, I figure.

Including the cost of the housings, it's about as much as buying the OEM or Depo 5.5 gen housings, but I'm happy with the end result because my preference was projector lighting and the OEM's are reflector-based. A retrofit into stock housings can definitely be done a lot cheaper though.

 

Amazing work, and despite what my mama taught me, Ima say it, those ebay lights still look disgusting.

The output is mind blowing though, I want projectors

 

The caps that go on the back of the housings for the low beams no longer fit, and I'm concerned about the dust/moisture issies that can inevitably arise.

My brother suggested hose-clamping some balloon halves on there, but I'd like a more permanent solution.

Any thoughts/ideas?

 

As a result of a collision, my right side headlamp was cracked. All I did was put some plastic over it when the car was parked and it rained, but the damn light still worked.. after months of driving with a broken front headlamp.

Use a ziplock bag and zip ties, call it good.

 

Ball & Socket keep separating on pass side, dropping beam waaay low. Probably have to tear it apart YET AGAIN Thanks ebay!

GRRR!!!

I'm seriously entertainig the idea of yanking the projectors & retrofitting them into the OEM housings...

 

damn, sucks that you have had so many issues with your lights. Great job on the retro work. Hope you get the issues fixed.

 

One way to solve this is to put butyl tape on the socket and ball. Heat them up good so it is soft then press them in. It should hold it and prevent it from comng apart when you adjust the up/down. If you don't have butyl tape, go to Napa/Autozone and look for butyl tape they are $13/roll which is plenty much. It's not a pretty fix and itf you have too much tape in there, the ball socket joint becomes too tight and it makes the reflector hard to adjust/move, but after few iterations you should be able find the right amount of tape/glue enough to hold it yet still able to move.

Another way is put the ball in the socket and sue heat gun to heat them and squeze them with plier ot vise grip. Only do this gently and when it is hot or you will mangle the wall and make it worse.

I like the first solution better.

 

Great idea, thanks. I was thinking of possibly slotting the socket housing to insert a lock pin. I'll have to wait 'till I open it up & see. I'll pick up the butyl tape in the meantime.

 

That's why i try to do my retros without removing the reflector. Too afraid to break the ball (lol)

 

Turns out it wasn't the ball & socket - it's the plastic (not nylon - these are hard) nuts on the adjusting screws that stripped!

I put zip-ties on them and some silicone and it seems it worked. I put some butyl on the ball & socket anyway. Back in business! Just hope they hold. Otherwise, I'll epoxy some metal ones on there.

I've gotten pretty good at opening these up; didn't seem bad at all this time!

 

The ebay headlights are famous for this problem along with stripped thread adjustment, housing brackets mis-alligned, chrome flaky reflector, and beam pattern that you can't use for references. I spend more time fixing these issues for the FX-R retrofit than fitting and mounting projector inside.

With OEM housing, everything goes quicker. I dont' have to worry too much about those annoying issues.

 

uh huh, common issues with Ebay lights. Apply some silicone ( not the thick ones) to the male thead and you should be good to go. Or replace it all together.

 

I hear you - guess that makes 2 of us now They look nice (at lest for my taste) but the quality of the materials is horribly poor. I have a feeling I'll be putting these projectors into my OEM housings very soon. Just hope they fit.

 

Since I installed my lights, I've had this issue with the lights "dancing around" which is not exactly a flicker - it's more like a quiver that moves the light shade around. After the first day, I contacted TRS and was told that this was "sort-of-normal" while the bulbs burned in.

It's now been about 3 weeks (running my lights about 20-30 mins/night on average) and it has not gone away or decreased in ocurrence. Both of them do it, and there's nothing loose on or inside the projectors. Here's a quick vid I shot (not the best since I used my phone cam & it was extremely difficult to try and capture the effect):

http://s1215.photobucket.com/albums/...-12-00_190.mp4

Sorry - haven't figured out how to directly post video off photobucket...

Anyway, just wondering if this is normal of if there may be something amiss with these bulbs.

 

I couldn't see the video somehow. I think it's bulbs or ballasts issues. Regardless, I don't think it's normal

 

I've had the same exact issue on my other car when I 1st purchased my HID's . After a while that issue went away by itself on the left side but I still notice it happening on the right side even after I've had it for over 1 month. Good luck w/ fixing it, and your lights look awesome!

 

Were those Morimoto bulbs you were using?

 

Euro,

Just curious, what are doing with your OEM stock lights? how much would you be willing to let go?

 

I still have them - holding on to them as an option to retrofit them. If you want them, pm me an offer & I'll consider it. They're in good shape, but need restoration