What exactly do I need to complete my retrofit...I want to make sure I have EVERYTHING before I begin cutting?
Here is what I have
a) pair of spare '98 headlamp housings
b) pair of E46 single xenon projectors
c) pair of Hella Gen III Ballasts
d) pair of Philips 4300k D2S bulbs
e) pair of oem E46 bezels

Am I missing anything?

Also is a shroud the same thing as a bezel, or something different that I require?

Did you guys have to manually aim the projector, or could you just slap it into the housing exactly parallel to the rear of the housing and then just use the regular housing aiming screws?

What did you guys use to seal the hole at the rear of the retrofit around the projector?

 

Most of these questions can be answered at hidplanet.com, just read the stickies in the hiduniversity section.

A bezel is a cosmetic trim piece
A shroud actually helps contain stray light that would otherwise exit from the sides.
You seem to have everything, make sure you have some jb weld and and high temp rtv silicone.

You can try both methods on the aiming. Good luck.

 

Thanks, I have read a lot of the stickies over at hidplanet, but I just want to be absolutely certain about everything before I begin.

What did you guys use as a shroud, particularly for the E46 single xenon projector?

Also I would rather just sit the projector within the housing parallel to the rear and just depend on the oem housing aiming screws...this seems to be the easiest way, correct?

 

you have the wiring?

 

for E46 single xenon, you can use either the E46 single xenon bezel, or the audi A4 bezel also fits. its a hard to get the projector to be exact parallel inside the housing. the best way is to aim at a wall on a level surface.

 

No, I was just going to use the oem positive and negative leads...
Is it really necessary to use a custom harness w/ diodes/relays and such?

 

If the projectors are bi-xenon then i think you might have to. i'm not an wiring expert though.

 

oh i can give u advice on that yo. thats wat i have. e46 singles. took me about almost a full day doing it and came out good according to everyone.

 

This is how I lined up the projectors on both sides. you get the base of the projector that is flat, and make it parallel to the floor of the housing like i show in this pic below, i belived that the projectors bottom flat part is exacly parallel to the shield. cuz my right side came out perfectly horizontal. and the driver side came out a lil slanted, so i checked the projectors bottom and looked at the floor of the housing, and I yes, it is slanted. so I would strongly suggest to go by that. at least with the e46's.

 

also there is no need for relays diods or any of that. its just positive and negative from the cars light light harness. you only need to figure out wiring and use relays n diods when u have bi-xenon projectors since u have to control the mechanism to get highbeam whithout the bulb turning off... so if u have single xenon, then its easier(as far as wireing)

 

Thanks for the reply.

It looks like you never used any sort of bezel, correct? Also what did you use as a shroud? Do you have any pictures of the rear of your housing?

 

link to TWO WIRING diagrams

for bixenon


one my kev... and one by me.. the very colorful one is mine... heh

 

I would avoid the one I posted, it is from HIDPlanet. It is very over complicated.

 

well I wanted to complete the retrofit asap so i did not use shroud nor bezel. i only put aluminum tape around the projector. it keeps the light inside the projector therefor using all the possible light to get projected.

yes i kno it is a bit sloppy. but the performance of the projectors is awsome!, i am looking for well priced shrouds (just for the looks). but if ur only interested in getting a good light output and good cuttoff then this is the cheapest way i found..

 

here is the picture i have of the back of the housing. as u can see the hole i made is minimal. i only cut out the housings 9004 bong thing(w/e u call it lol) and just had to make a lil bigger and the projector fit in perfectly. iv noticed others make very large holes to mount the projectors(i guess depends on projector), iv even seen some not even cut a round hole, they just cut it up with like wire cutters or something. crazy!. i was neat about it since they were brand new housings and used a dremel lol. also the red silicone was from the previous owner using them on stock non hid housing. i didnt wanna waste time scraping it off lol.

 

Very nice. Thats one of the cleanest installs yet.

 

That is very nice. Any more pics of when the headlight housing was seperate from the black mounting bracket? I am trying to make that hole as small as possible too. What did you use to seal the back?

 

Thanx. Well i berly had any gap after putting the projectors so i just used clear silicone . i made the hole big enough so that the mounting holes of the projectors would touch the reflectors inside like how i show in this picture

 

oh and i also used a torche/soldering tool. to open up the housing. (i was scared of messing the housings up in the oven, so i used a torche? LMAO)

 

Do you wanna sell your old headlights?

 

I have a pair you can use on your car while you work on your factory ones. I bout them for about 100.

 

ahh i would sujjest removing the silver tape...

that stuff is gonna melt away after a while.. TRUST ME...

 

really?! its aluminum tape, i got it at discount autoparts. did u have experience with that? how long u think till it melts? i assume the glue is wat melted. cuz the aluminum is just that. aluminum. so don kno

 

You should be good on the aluminum tape, the glue does melt but only the inside exposed areas. Streetzlegend if you are looking for a cheap bezel go to home depot and go to the electrical section that has the electrical pvc. Get a pair the 2 1/2" pvc collars. Paint them with chrome bumper paint and rtv high temp silicone them on. Jb weld to me is testy, it can still come loose if your surfaces aren't roughed up somehow. You can check on hidplanet university section in the shroud thread and find a shroud just for cosmetics to cover up that tape too if you want.

 

I used a relay and diodes. Go here http://faqlight.carpassion.info/headlamp-harness.html

After you put your headlights in the oven and remove the lense, you'll have to remove a reflector that is covering the existing halogen bulb. Use that hole that screws this reflector in place as a reference point to mount your projector.

 

Bingo, i'm using PVC for mine. Lucky for me, TSXs dont require shrouds, but i'm using PVC reducers for my bosch mini's.

this RTV high temp silicone you speak of, what makes it better to work with instead of the JB?

 

Well if you need to change something that stuff is a pain to get off, you would literally have to grind it/sand it off. No problem to use it if you don't ever have to go back in or change something around after awhile. To me the rtv high temp is a little bit more forgiving. I'm not saying to switch, I'm just saying that's what I use. The hidplanet bezels are sweet though but they are like $40 a pair, they fit on e46,tsx and valeos. Pretty much any 2.5" lens projector. I would use those on the tsx if I were you.

 

Anyone have pics of their shrouds on the E46? I am pretty sure that I am going to use the E46 oem bezel in my housing.

 

Already have my pair of hidplanet bezels

And yeah, they fit the TSXs perfectly.

 

I think Kevlo just put e46's into his car w/ the OEM bezels.

 

oh thats interesting thanx for the advice. u guys have any pics of the pcv collar. to get a better idea of wat to look for? i was actually considering the hidplanet bezel. but dont kno if that will look a lil weird.

 

http://www.electrical-supply.net/pro...A_prodID_E_273
That's the closest picture I could find except it is not metal, it's gray pvc.

 

jeez, HIDplanet is still down.

 

they have those things with like a smooth surface on the outside?! or all of em have them ridges like that one?

 

No they have ridges, but you can sand them off if that's your desire.
Yeah the planet has been going down quite a bit recently. I browse that forum as much as this one. Running out of fun things to do at work.

 

yea i browsed thru the planet for a while before i did my retros then i saw the price for the e46 and couldnt hold back. specially since i really wanted to get rid of the glare. i hated it. and my 9007 piaas had WAY better output than nonprojected HID's lol. i still got piaas but on the foglights. PIAA OWNS!!!! lol they match the color of the hid's at night. during the day they are yellowish compared to the hid's. but at night they are both same color. its awsome. ill do this pcv bezel when i take my lights apart again for angle eyes. i wonder how angel eyes would look if i put them on this bezel.

 

The true shroud is aluminum tape and you can see the cosmetic shroud is a piece of light pvc reducer. The sweet hidplanet bezels and you can also see the custom made angel eye ring. Angel eyes are pain because of led issues. But whatever floats your boat.

 

I think I am going to use the PVC pipe as a shroud too with the OEM E46 bezels.

 

i dont think anyone has mentioned, but good luck w/ your retro

 

hey thanx maxgtr. do you think according to the pics i have on the 1st page, that i can add a highbeam reflector like you did? or i would have to move the projector a bit to the side ?