Rocket Man's 2008 Bagged CC Silverado Build AKA "THE MACHINE"

[Rocket Man]

This quad retrofit is a PIA. I really wish I would have done it all at once. Oh well, I should have known a single set of projectors wasn’t good enough when there’s a place for a second. I got the grinding done with my air rotary file. There’s no going back now, this has to work. The old low beams won’t work after I molested these. Paint is done on the reflectors after driving to 3 stores to find Fusion gloss black. Bye bye chrome.

 

[Rocket Man]

I was looking at the shrouds again after I noticed these Depos are different than the other set of lights I did the mock-up on. I temp’d a projector in and placed the lens on as far as I could without baking the butyl and it looked questionable which made me nervous. Since it’s the shrouds that stick out the furthest so I decided to see if I could move them back on the projector by cutting about 3/16” off the screw bosses with my Dremel. That looked like all the room I had before the shroud hits the lens of the mini H1. It should give me breathing room between the shroud and the lens of the Depo. If you look at the assembled projectors you can see the shroud on one is moved back.

 

[Sam Harris]

Excellent work Mark! Thanks for keeping us in the loop.!

 

[Rocket Man]

Excellent work Mark! Thanks for keeping us in the loop.!

Sure thing. I got the demon eyes in the mail today so I installed them in the projectors. This is my first time using the Acme stuff. The projectors look exactly like the Morimotos and I swear they have the same markings I remember. The ballasts seem to be good quality. For about 2/3 the price. The relays are Morimoto. The demon eyes and drivers are Profile Prism. Also got another pair of high beam splitters, now I’m thinking I might need a pair of low beam ones ..so much wiring.

 

[Rocket Man]

Here it all is. This is in addition to what’s already there which is all this plus the Bluetooth RGB controller for the demon eyes and accent lighting. Then there’s the harnesses for the turns/ park lights. It’s a lot, hope I can make it all fit. And work.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Hat damn! Can't wait to see it when you're all done.

 

[Rocket Man]

I just re read that post and I meant to say is altogether theres 2 sets of relays, 2 sets of ballasts, 2 sets of demon eye drivers and a Bluetooth RGB controller. Like I said, it’s a lot of wiring. I’m nuts I think. This shit better be badass when I’m done.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I just re read that post and I meant to say is altogether theres 2 sets of relays, 2 sets of ballasts, 2 sets of demon eye drivers and a Bluetooth RGB controller. Like I said, it’s a lot of wiring. I’m nuts I think. This shit better be badass when I’m done.

I'm sure it will be more badassery then we'll be able to handle all at once
Those demon eyes are cool AF!

 

[Sam Harris]

Sure thing. I got the demon eyes in the mail today so I installed them in the projectors. This is my first time using the Acme stuff. The projectors look exactly like the Morimotos and I swear they have the same markings I remember. The ballasts seem to be good quality. For about 2/3 the price. The relays are Morimoto. The demon eyes and drivers are Profile Prism. Also got another pair of high beam splitters, now I’m thinking I might need a pair of low beam ones ..so much wiring.

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I used the Acme ballasts for my civic HIDs, and have been pretty happy with them.

 

[Rocket Man]

Last night I remembered why I don’t like installing projectors. The low beam bowls on these Depo’s are way different than the high beam ones. The area where the projector shaft goes through is too thick to get the nut on so I ground what I thought was enough. I was holding the vacuum with one hand and using the due grinder with the other so it’s not perfect but I figured good enough. But I had trouble getting the damn projector solid. I’m not sure if it’s because the nut wasn’t going past the areas on the shaft that are notched because the hole was still too thick or just because the damn shafts like to strip out or cross thread but I almost stripped one. I keep wondering if I’ll be able to line up all 4 of these things. I was thinking last night that if worst came to worst I don’t really need the lower projectors to work except the demon eyes. The one set is fine for low and high beam, I don’t really think the LED high beams I had in there did much. I had to quit last night because I was so frustrated trying to hold the projector with one hand and use the 1/2” 27mm socket to tighten the nut. I think today I’ll try grinding the mounting area thinner so I can get the nut more bite on the shaft and using some anti seize on the threads. I felt like I was so close to failing last night. I have so much work into these lights I can’t let that happen. If I strip a shaft I can order just the bowl portion of the projectors from TRS but it will take a week.

 

[Sam Harris]

Last night I remembered why I don’t like installing projectors. The low beam bowls on these Depo’s are way different than the high beam ones. The area where the projector shaft goes through is too thick to get the nut on so I ground what I thought was enough. I was holding the vacuum with one hand and using the due grinder with the other so it’s not perfect but I figured good enough. But I had trouble getting the damn projector solid. I’m not sure if it’s because the nut wasn’t going past the areas on the shaft that are notched because the hole was still too thick or just because the damn shafts like to strip out or cross thread but I almost stripped one. I keep wondering if I’ll be able to line up all 4 of these things. I was thinking last night that if worst came to worst I don’t really need the lower projectors to work except the demon eyes. The one set is fine for low and high beam, I don’t really think the LED high beams I had in there did much. I had to quit last night because I was so frustrated trying to hold the projector with one hand and use the 1/2” 27mm socket to tighten the nut. I think today I’ll try grinding the mounting area thinner so I can get the nut more bite on the shaft and using some anti seize on the threads. I felt like I was so close to failing last night. I have so much work into these lights I can’t let that happen. If I strip a shaft I can order just the bowl portion of the projectors from TRS but it will take a week.

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I have confidence in you Mark. Worst case scenario isn’t all that bad. Even if you have to wait a week. And I thought I was in a different thread for a minute there, with all your talk about stripping, holes, shafts, nuts, and tight places...

 

[Rocket Man]

I have confidence in you Mark. Worst case scenario isn’t all that bad. Even if you have to wait a week. And I thought I was in a different thread for a minute there, with all your talk about stripping, holes, shafts, nuts, and tight places...

I was trying to get @Tonyrodz mind off his missing sway bars.

 

[Rocket Man]

Success! The combo of more grinding to get more shaft to thread onto and anti seize made it easy to tighten the f**k out of that nut so I can barely rotate the projector in order to level it. Then I’ll epoxy it in place so it can’t rotate anymore after I can mount them on the truck and level them. Now to get the other one mounted. I needed a morning walk with the dog to clear my head. It’s gonna be a nice 70* day here.

 

[Sam Harris]

Success! The combo of more grinding to get more shaft to thread onto and anti seize made it easy to tighten the f**k out of that nut so I can barely rotate the projector in order to level it. Then I’ll epoxy it in place so it can’t rotate anymore after I can mount them on the truck and level them. Now to get the other one mounted. I needed a morning walk with the dog to clear my head. It’s gonna be a nice 70* day here.

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Hell yeah!

 

[pwtr02ss]

Success! The combo of more grinding to get more shaft to thread onto and anti seize made it easy to tighten the f**k out of that nut so I can barely rotate the projector in order to level it. Then I’ll epoxy it in place so it can’t rotate anymore after I can mount them on the truck and level them. Now to get the other one mounted. I needed a morning walk with the dog to clear my head. It’s gonna be a nice 70* day here.

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Is that Mt. Hood?

 

[Rocket Man]

Is that Mt. Hood?

Yes. I see it every morning when I walk my Malamute. It looks awesome this time of year when it’s still covered with deep snow. We got about 14’16’ this year up there. The skiers are happy.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I was trying to get @Tonyrodz mind off his missing sway bars.

HA! You got my attention

 

[pwtr02ss]

Yes. I see it every morning when I walk my Malamute. It looks awesome this time of year when it’s still covered with deep snow. We got about 14’16’ this year up there. The skiers are happy.

I had hoped to go spend some time in that area when we were out there a couple years ago. We drove from Sisters up to Multnomah Falls before heading to Portland to fly home (same morning) so I just cruised by Mt Hood. The ****** part is, all the parking was full at Multnomah Falls so we I just got to drive by it. We did cross the Bridge of the Gods, which was neat.

Beautiful area you live in

 

[Rocket Man]

I had hoped to go spend some time in that area when we were out there a couple years ago. We drove from Sisters up to Multnomah Falls before heading to Portland to fly home (same morning) so I just cruised by Mt Hood. The ****** part is, all the parking was full at Multnomah Falls so we I just got to drive by it. We did cross the Bridge of the Gods, which was neat.

Beautiful area you live in

It is beautiful. Glad you got to see The Gorge. Sorry about Multnomah Falls. My dad flew a loop around The Bridge Of The Gods in a Piper Cub his buddy owned when he was young, on a $100 bet he wouldn’t do it. He said he thought for a minute he was gonna hit the bridge as he came to the bottom of the loop. I’m just a little less crazy than he was.

 

[VDV18]

Nice work as always Mark, wish I had your skills