OEM Clone Headlight HID/Projector Retrofit Project [video update]

[soulsea]

[yt]sWsDhdnb-70[/yt]


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Much of what has led to this point/thread is outlined in this thread: http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27131 Long story short, below is the developing story of aftermarket oem housings' quad bi-xenon projector retrofit and associated accessories.

However that thread was originally dedicated to a now obsolete/redundant set of housings that sumo and I contemplated, so I thought a clean start would be helpful, with an accurate thread title ... so I copied my last post from there to here.

Hoever I suggest that anyone wishing to be 'looped in' read that thread for many of the details are relevant.


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Okay so a little update on my install.

Drove from DC to Richmond yesterday to meet up at the installers' shop, got there around 10:30am. Got almost everything done but the final fitting. Turns out this is very detailed and very time consuming work, especially to get the proportions and the angles perfect.

First thing was to remove the pos ballasts and wiring to my angel eye housings and do the proper install of the 4 new morimoto mini ballasts, ground, and all associated wiring. Then we started on the retro ...

The inner housings are the most difficult, because to get them right (near the edge of the chrome lip so that they're not up against the housing lens) their sides have to be trimmed away and a one inch square hole has to be cut from the vertical aluminum beam behind the housings so that the back of the projector can recede into it. When all that is done the work of lining them up right inside the housings begins, again this takes a while to get right with the step beams. In the end, when both the fitting and the angles are right, the inners got their final JB weld (about $100 worth by the time all is done).

We took a break from the retro and dealt with the now failed experiment of my aftermarket tails. http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29576 Problem was that we waisted over an hour on these that we could have spent on the retrofitting ... but anyway, it is what it is.

Time by now was running short, the last thing was the fitting of the outer projectors. Other than the same precise light beam alignment as the inners, this fitting was a lot simpler. The projectors needed no trimming and we cleared the frame in back of the projector by a whopping 2mm. lol

That's when I resentfully slapped back the angel eyes and drove back to DC in freakin' sunday beach traffic.

But the hardest part, and the part that required me to be at the shop, is now done. This week he's gonna install the shrouds, either the gattlings if they work or the custom ones he has designed, and then he'll just seal the housings and the retro is finished.

It looks like he'll be driving up next saturday to put them in. At that time he'll also install the blinkers and drls which are as we speak in transit to me. Wire/connect everything up and that will be it.

On a side note, I think we came up with a pretty neat idea on the drl and blinker situation. What we decided is the following. Both the lower leds of each housing will be switchbacks. During the day both will light up as drls and both will switchback to blinkers. At night both will be off and will act only as blinkers leaving a clean look of the quads.

Phew, update complete.

A few random pics from the day can be found in the album below, apologies for the grainy iPad pics but the light was down most of the day for beam alignment.

http://gallery.me.com/soulsea#100050&bgcolor=black&view=grid

--------------------------- UPDATE ------------------------

-----------------UPDATE 2 --------------------

The truck is dirty and theSE pics are not that good ... I got her washed and posted more pics in this album: http://gallery.me.com/soulsea#100056&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=8

Here's a few:

 

[InTruckDesign]

Nice update...how are you going to finish off the housings? leaving them chrome or doing something similar to sumo?

 

[soulsea]

Nice update...how are you going to finish off the housings? leaving them chrome or doing something similar to sumo?

Hi ITD,

No I'm going to leave mine chrome, basically other than the shrouds and the projectors, everything stays oem.

Whereas sumo's truck motif matches the black housings, as you can see mine has a lot more chrome ... hence the oem look.

Plus we can't all be doing the same thing.

 

[THE YETI]

Serge, im really digging the chrome stock look. Hell, I'd be inclined to do this for just the lowbeams as well. Looks really clean and you aren't really "drawn" into it unless you know what you are looking for. Love it brother!

 

[soulsea]

Serge, im really digging the chrome stock look. Hell, I'd be inclined to do this for just the lowbeams as well. Looks really clean and you aren't really "drawn" into it unless you know what you are looking for. Love it brother!

Thanks bud.

Here's what it looks like with just the lows on a oem clone housing (different shrouds than mine, but I believe same as sumo's in chrome):

Doing just the lows, for the reasons mentioned in the OP, is a lot simpler. No cutting of anything is required.

 

[Zed 71]

I like that and it would look better without the orange reflector.

 

[soulsea]

I like that and it would look better without the orange reflector.

I agree, but I need it to pass inspection and don't feel like getting crap from a cop with nothing better to do. Plus in my case, as the whole idea is to keep the stock look, I really don't mind it.

I know sumo blacked his out ... but he works at a shop that does inspections.

 

[B.G.]

I really like that chrome look as well... Looks nice a clean. Looking fwd to seeing the finished result. Didnt read your initial post fully, but does it provide the diam shrouds/projector/etc needed?

 

[soulsea]

Thanks BG,

I don't have the exact install measurements and I am unlikely to get the exact ones ... the install guys are quite guarded about their process.

But I can tell you this much ... in order not to run into shroud size issues and to make the projectors sit correctly, one has to cut a little piece of the vertical beam to recede the back of the inner projector into it. Otherwise not only the front of the projector will sit too close to the plastic lens of the housing, but it will look too much ahead of the outer projector.

There are a few variables at play depending on which projectors/ballasts/shrouds/ and willingness to cut to fit at play. One thing is for sure, whatever shrouds one goes with they have to be round all the way through to their end and cannot be asymmetrical. The reason being that there's a difference is shroud depth needed between the inner and the outer. The inner shroud, if the projector is recessed properly, will be mostly cut away as you need very little to cover it. The outer shroud however needs to be much deeper because it sticks out much more so that the profile of both projectors lines up properly in the housing. Keeping that in mind and that obviously both shrouds must be the same model, you need a shroud that is long enough whilst keeping its rounded shape for the outers. Btw, the rounded shape doesn't remain that way on the outers by the time the shroud is installed. It just needs to begin that way so that one can cut away the parts of the shroud that need to go for it to fit properly, something that is almost impossible to do with asymmetrical shrouds.

I can't imagine any of that made sense.

 

[B.G.]

No, it actually made sense... If you dont mind, will you post or PM the cost of the retrofit minus the HIDs? Thanks man!

 

[soulsea]

Hard to tell you without the HIDs because the hardware came as a package:

I'll give you the quote I got from theretrofitsource.com, the hardware I ended up going with isn't exactly the same but close enough.

"Main projector: OEM FX35 bi-xenon w/ FX-R clear lens
Secondary inner projector: Morimoto Mini H1 bi-xenon
Ballasts: Morimoto 3Five 35w for both
Shrouds: E46-R Extended for main + E46-R regular for inner
Bulbs: Morimoto 3Five 5000K D2S for main and Morimoto 3Five 5000K H1 for inner
Wiring: 2x H11 relay harnesses + 9005 to dual solenoid splitters to make quad high beams work
Total price = $590 total shipped"

I went with some slightly higher end stuff so my hardware package came out closer to $650.

Add to that $150 for the aftermarket clone housings.
Another $125 for the V-led quad switchbacks and load resistors
And a good 10hrs of retro and install labor.

You end up around $1500

But if you don't go for the quads or all the led switchbacks but instead go down the road of the single low beam projector retrofit (like the pic I posted above), you can probably cut all that by a little more than half.

 

[THE YETI]

i'll stick to blinding people....lol

but then again, some people think dropping $6K+ on wheels and tires is crazy.

 

[OHSIXX]

That looks really Nice...and clean....subtle goes along way

 

[soulsea]

i'll stick to blinding people....lol

but then again, some people think dropping $6K+ on wheels and tires is crazy.

My retro = 1 of your rims sans tire.

That looks really Nice...and clean....subtle goes along way

Thanks Jason, that's what think too. Mine will basically look the same (shrouds are more 'low key') but with two projectors in each housing. My ocd precluded two different lenses in one housing.

 

[B.G.]

Yowsers... I might have to be w supercharged on this one.. Ill drop $$ on wheels because it makes such a drastic difference, but on lighting... thats a hard pill to swallow Looks awesome though! I might just stick to my HID kit and call it a day. I see great with it btw

 

[soulsea]

Yowsers... I might have to be w supercharged on this one.. Ill drop $$ on wheels because it makes such a drastic difference, but on lighting... thats a hard pill to swallow Looks awesome though! I might just stick to my HID kit and call it a day. I see great with it btw

As you know car/truck mods can get as expensive as one wants ... I've seen 24" wheel/tire packages for less than $1k, and some at $10k +.

Same with lighting ... within the retrofit mod one can go as low as $300/400 to much more than I'm spending. Heck I almost pulled the trigger on S2000 projector inners which will light up a clean cutoff at 50 yards with no wash and no blinding. That would have taken it up to $2k ... after testing the quad output I decided more was not needed, but again more could be had.

Labor is half the cost, so if you have time and a little skill you can have our setup for around $700 including a new set of housings. If you do the work yourself on just the lows like pictured above you can do it for around $400.

Like I said, like on any mod, how much one is willing to spend is a personal choice and will always be relative to how much one cares about that element of their ride, I completely understand and respect if others see no value in this mod.

 

[soulsea]

The day is finally upon us ... meeting up in a couple of hours for the final install.

I may have pics later.

 

[sumo]

Hard to tell you without the HIDs because the hardware came as a package:

I'll give you the quote I got from theretrofitsource.com, the hardware I ended up going with isn't exactly the same but close enough.

"Main projector: OEM FX35 bi-xenon w/ FX-R clear lens
Secondary inner projector: Morimoto Mini H1 bi-xenon
Ballasts: Morimoto 3Five 35w for both
Shrouds: E46-R Extended for main + E46-R regular for inner
Bulbs: Morimoto 3Five 5000K D2S for main and Morimoto 3Five 5000K H1 for inner
Wiring: 2x H11 relay harnesses + 9005 to dual solenoid splitters to make quad high beams work
Total price = $590 total shipped"

I went with some slightly higher end stuff so my hardware package came out closer to $650.

Add to that $150 for the aftermarket clone housings.
Another $125 for the V-led quad switchbacks and load resistors
And a good 10hrs of retro and install labor.

You end up around $1500

But if you don't go for the quads or all the led switchbacks but instead go down the road of the single low beam projector retrofit (like the pic I posted above), you can probably cut all that by a little more than half.

Yeouch. I did the work myself so really it cost me time and parts. I spend about half of the cost of your build list. As for the reflector Serge, I ended up Drilling 3 holes for the Light to shine through for the side marker light. If you want some sort of reflector, You can go to a autostore, or marine store, get some reflective tape and cut a thin strip or Piece off and put it on the reflector. Other than that It looks great. I have People asking me iif my truck is a actual 2011 SS truck.

 

[mrrairai]

I would pay to have this done to my Nali. Any takers??

 

[soulsea]

Phew, it is done.

I'll post pics tomorrow when she's been washed.