Well, i finally decided to get new headlights and i wanted projectors so i found some spyder projector headlights that i liked. When i got them in i was thrilled at the output of them compared to my old yellowed clear lens halogen reflector, the high beam on the spyder headlights weren't too good and i wanted HIDs and soon afterwards i learned about retrofitting. After several weeks of researching i decided to call the guys at The Retrofit Source and they were sooo helpful, they told me that their Mini H1 would be a very simple bolt on retrofit, they have both low and high beam so i ordered them. I already had some DDM HIDs that i was going to put in the spyder headlights but they didn't fit which is another reason i wanted a good HID projector.When they came in one had a broke lens retainer but after a few emails, Matt from TRS had me a new one in no time.
I did my research on how must people did retrofits, considering this was my first time but I was very anxious to learn how. First i took out my headlights, which were held in place by two screw in rods which is really easy compared to how many cars have to take them out. Once they were both out i took out all the bulbs and removed the old projector bowl, the projector was different that any i have seen they weren't together like most the lens was actually held in place by the headlight itself. I then heated my oven to 250 and placed them in for around 7-9 minutes to heat the glue one at a time. When i took them out took off the lenses and that when the fun began.
The first thing i realized is that the spyder brackets were not going to work so i ditched them and grinded out the hole big enough for the projector to fit through with a dremel
Once I got it big enough i had to make sure there was plenty of clearance for the front lens and i had to mount the projector about a half an inch back so that it did not touch the front lens
After many test runs of mounting the lights i finally got the cutoff pretty even and was able to screw it onto the headlight, this was not easy because the headlight sit just a little crooked once mounted and I had to guess a little bit because i was not on perfectly level ground
After a little headache i finally got them adjusted right and was able to put it all back together, the Mini H1 projector lenses were actually slightly larger than the stock ones so i had to dremel out the black shroud in order for it to fit, i took my time on this because i did not want it to be messed up and overall i think it turned out great! I put them back in the oven and reassembled everything and also put some high temp silicone in the small gap between the headlight and projector in order to seal it up, I did get some small silicon packets and put behind the shroud out of the way of everything to hopefully keep down any fogging that may occur.
Once installed and turned on I had some trouble with some flickering so I ordered up a relay kit from TRS and that fixed it right up, and installation was a breeze! I am STUNNED at the output these things produce!!!! The cutoff is amazing too, my passenger side bulb is not seated properly so its cutoff doesn't produce good flicker like the other side but you cannot tell because the other side makes up for it. I pulled up at a friends house and had to take this picture, I thought it looked pretty awesome.
And here's a pic of the cutoff, it's a little further away than 25 feet and I am amazed at how wide these projectors throw, i can see into both ditches and easily further, whereas with my old headlights I was limited to just in front of my truck. I love driving at night now, I love how when i am behind somebody and can throw light past their car and am still not blinding people like how some peopel throw HIDs in a reflector housing which causes very bad glare. I have tried telling my friends about the upgrade to a good HID projector because they want HIDs too, after they see my lights, so I tell them not too mainly cause they will blind everybody and the output will be terrible. I am currently running DDM 35w 6000K bulbs and ballasts but will be upgrading to Morimoto 4300K bulbs and their ballasts. Matt and everyone at TRS are incredibly helpful and they helped me many, many times throughout my retrofit, they have amazing customer service and when i called the phone only rang one time and they picked up that's impressive. Overall i am extremely happy with my retrofit I cannot believe that I did not do it sooner. If anyone has any questions or comments, I would be glad to answer them. I have plenty more pictures that I could post, I also am going to try to get better picture of the cutoff with a better camera because my Iphone just doesn't do it justice.
I did my research on how must people did retrofits, considering this was my first time but I was very anxious to learn how. First i took out my headlights, which were held in place by two screw in rods which is really easy compared to how many cars have to take them out. Once they were both out i took out all the bulbs and removed the old projector bowl, the projector was different that any i have seen they weren't together like most the lens was actually held in place by the headlight itself. I then heated my oven to 250 and placed them in for around 7-9 minutes to heat the glue one at a time. When i took them out took off the lenses and that when the fun began.
The first thing i realized is that the spyder brackets were not going to work so i ditched them and grinded out the hole big enough for the projector to fit through with a dremel
Once I got it big enough i had to make sure there was plenty of clearance for the front lens and i had to mount the projector about a half an inch back so that it did not touch the front lens
After many test runs of mounting the lights i finally got the cutoff pretty even and was able to screw it onto the headlight, this was not easy because the headlight sit just a little crooked once mounted and I had to guess a little bit because i was not on perfectly level ground
After a little headache i finally got them adjusted right and was able to put it all back together, the Mini H1 projector lenses were actually slightly larger than the stock ones so i had to dremel out the black shroud in order for it to fit, i took my time on this because i did not want it to be messed up and overall i think it turned out great! I put them back in the oven and reassembled everything and also put some high temp silicone in the small gap between the headlight and projector in order to seal it up, I did get some small silicon packets and put behind the shroud out of the way of everything to hopefully keep down any fogging that may occur.
Once installed and turned on I had some trouble with some flickering so I ordered up a relay kit from TRS and that fixed it right up, and installation was a breeze! I am STUNNED at the output these things produce!!!! The cutoff is amazing too, my passenger side bulb is not seated properly so its cutoff doesn't produce good flicker like the other side but you cannot tell because the other side makes up for it. I pulled up at a friends house and had to take this picture, I thought it looked pretty awesome.
And here's a pic of the cutoff, it's a little further away than 25 feet and I am amazed at how wide these projectors throw, i can see into both ditches and easily further, whereas with my old headlights I was limited to just in front of my truck. I love driving at night now, I love how when i am behind somebody and can throw light past their car and am still not blinding people like how some peopel throw HIDs in a reflector housing which causes very bad glare. I have tried telling my friends about the upgrade to a good HID projector because they want HIDs too, after they see my lights, so I tell them not too mainly cause they will blind everybody and the output will be terrible. I am currently running DDM 35w 6000K bulbs and ballasts but will be upgrading to Morimoto 4300K bulbs and their ballasts. Matt and everyone at TRS are incredibly helpful and they helped me many, many times throughout my retrofit, they have amazing customer service and when i called the phone only rang one time and they picked up that's impressive. Overall i am extremely happy with my retrofit I cannot believe that I did not do it sooner. If anyone has any questions or comments, I would be glad to answer them. I have plenty more pictures that I could post, I also am going to try to get better picture of the cutoff with a better camera because my Iphone just doesn't do it justice.
