New Headlights With Projector Retrofit

[iminaquagmire]

Hey everybody. Been a while since I've really been on here posting, but I'm here everyday lurking. Thought I'd share my new projector headlight retrofit project and how the truck looks now. I had the aftermarket Eagle Eyes projector headlights that I had done some work to before. I replaced the angel eyes with red ones, and the LED's with red ones as well. I liked them a lot, but the halogen projectors were never meant to have HID's in them and the output was terrible. Plus having had them apart and put back together so many times, they were just beat up and didn't fit very well. The last straw was when one of the angel eye covers fell off into the bottom of the headlight housing. I wasn't about to fix them again, so I bought some new aftermarket housings and new projectors to fit into them.

 

-Please excuse some of the pics. A couple times when I went out to take pictures, either the battery was dead or I forgot the card and had to take them with my phone. Even at 8.1 megapixels, the phone just isn't the same.

 

So some parts were ordered:

eBay smoked lens projector headlights (same as the GoRecon ones as far as I can tell)

Morimoto Mini H1 projectors (same as herkdriver007 has in his)

Morimoto 6000k H1 bulbs

Morimoto 35W Ballasts

 

So I started once my parts came in:

 

The old

 

The New

 

The new headlight with the chrome face removed exposing the high beam and cheap projector

 

Cheap projector removed. You can see the crap plastic cutoff shield inside in the second pic

 

I liked the way the Morimoto Minis mounted with the threaded projector bowl and didn't want to give that up mounting them the traditional way with nuts and bolts. So I made some adapters with some 2"x1 1/2" PVC reducing bushings, some 1/8" aluminum, some JB weld, and some epoxy. The threaded section that secures the Morimoto's goes through the hole in the bushing just like it would in a regular reflector bulb holder. I secured the bushing in place with some ABS/PVC transition cement and some small screws for good measure.

 

 

New Morimoto projector mounted. I painted the cutoff shield so it would reflect red, making the projector red when off.

 

Chrome face on without the lens. Looks just like it did when it came in the mail. But I know better.

 

Mounted on the truck. Yes the grille shell and bumper bar need to be repainted. Yes my driveway needs to be redone.

 

Inside switches and wiring

The left one is the demon eyes. The right is the halos. The one by the DIC is for my blue light.

The top box has a fuse block for any future wiring as well. You can see the wires coming from the battery and passenger headlight on the radiator support. They will be covered once I put the plastic cover back.

[iminaquagmire]

SECOND ROUND

 

Demon Eyes at dusk and at night

 

Night shots. The truck is filthy in some I know.

Above Cutoff

At cutoff. Awesome purple.

 

 

Cutoff shots and Highbeams. Projectors are bixenon, so that's 4 highbeams. The highbeam bulbs that come with the lights suck though and are very yellow. They will soon be replaced.

Inside

Outside

Highs

 

Couple just for LSU Dark Knight

 

 

 

 

Overall I'm really happy. The lights are so much better than the previous ones. The LED's are garbage and work when they want to in these new headlights. I don't like them anyway and will disconnect them when I replace the highbeam bulbs. I want to thank herkdriver007 for turning me on to theretrofitsource.com. They are awesome over there. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[lsuguy]

Wow looks amazing man. I don't get how the red cut offs work? Explain that to me. But it looks pretty sweet. Those lights with the exhaust tip makes your truck look possessed.

Next you need to get flames to come out of the skulls mouth and you'll be all set

 

When I get time and build up courage I will be doing retrofits in my stock housings.

[P71_CrownVic]

Wow...great job!

 

Stay safe out there:

 

[herkdriver007]

very nice...glad you replaced the ebay projector with Morimoto's, they look great! The quality of the ebay ones looks questionable from the pics, so hopefully its an improvement in light output...

 

Brett-

The lens should reflect the color of the cutoff shield when the light isnt illuminated, thus painting it red would give a custom "red eye" look to the housing. Kinda like a Terminator looking at you I guess... So if you wanted it a different color you just paint it that way. In no way does it affect the the light output...just something that looks different. its time for you to do this MOD!!!

[iminaquagmire]

What herkdriver said about the color reflecting on the lens. It doesn't really do it like I had hoped, but I have the demon eyes too so its okay. I never even tried the projectors that came in the headlights. The projectors actually looked pretty good minus the plastic shield (probably why there was a big sticker saying not to put HID's in them). Kind of wish I had tried them just to see the difference. Maybe I'll put some power to them just to see but I'm sure they're nothing spectacular.

 

As for the exhaust, I actullay have some LED's to put in the eyes but I thought it might be kind of rice. IDK, I'll see what it looks like.

[oldmann]

Cool ideas for a truck.

[arctictwist]

Cool ideas for a truck.

 

LOOKIN GOOD MAN! I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR, BUT I WOULD WANT TO MAKE THE HALO'S RED INSTEAD OF THE PROJECTOR. DO YOU KNOW HOW I WOULD DO THAT?

[herkdriver007]

a red LED ring...

[iminaquagmire]

On these you'd just replace the LED's with red ones. 3mm is the size. The ones I had before were CCFL rings, but the only place you could order them was a company in Germany.

 

I ordered some Philips OEM rebased bulbs this weekend in 4300k. I've really come to hate the blue of the 6000k. I'm going to rewire the halos and LED's when I have them out so the LED's are disabled. Not sure if I want to rewire the halos into the parking lights or not.

[arctictwist]

On these you'd just replace the LED's with red ones. 3mm is the size. The ones I had before were CCFL rings, but the only place you could order them was a company in Germany.

 

I ordered some Philips OEM rebased bulbs this weekend in 4300k. I've really come to hate the blue of the 6000k. I'm going to rewire the halos and LED's when I have them out so the LED's are disabled. Not sure if I want to rewire the halos into the parking lights or not.

 

 

ohh ok. thanks. do have a pic of what the old ones looked like on your truck? im still deciding if i want to go all black or chrome in the headlights.

[iminaquagmire]

This is the only pic I have with the old ones on the truck. I never took any with the red halos except the one in the beginning of the thread.

[chakis24]

looks good.

 

Mounted on the truck. Yes the grille shell and bumper bar need to be repainted. Yes my driveway needs to be redone.

 

priorities man, priorities.

[clarks2001]

How hard was it to get the plastic lense off the headlight? Does it require the same amount of work that the stock ones require? I saw the YouTube video of the guy who took the dremel to the housings but I would like to avoid that of possible.

[iminaquagmire]

The aftermarket housings can be baked apart. Possibly aftermarket stock housings too. The only ones that I know of that have to be cut apart are the OEM housings.

 

Just put in the oven at 275 for 10 minutes or so until the glue is soft enough to pull apart. Make sure to put it on some wood or something that won't get hot like the rack or a cookie sheet as it will melt the plastic. Also be sure to set it in the oven so that the mounting tabs don't get hot and misshapen. Be careful with the hot glue as to not get any on yourself or onto the inside of the lights. It will not come off again without damaging something.