Projector retrofit

[spikesnstuff0905]

I have a friend who works at a body shop, and i told him to look out for projector headlights for me. He got a set off an Acura TL, and a set from a Nissan. (Either maxima or Altima, i'm not sure which.) Which would be the better choice of the two? he's basically going to let me pick which set i want since he got them for free anyways. Which would be easier to mount and wire? I'm not putting them in my headlights unless he gives me both sets. I was planning to cut the back out of my oem foglights to fit the projectors, and put an HID capsule in them, so i can have them if i want, but i'm not running them all the time and getting tickets.

 

[hvyman]

Stock head lights with hid fogs? EH???

 

[MKIIISupraGuy]

so your more geared towards doing HID for the fog's ? I would HID headlights, and jdm fog's. Acura's have a nice cutoff, but a Nissan HID has a good overall output.

 

[Poodles]

TL is bi-xenon, but they're quite large, doubt they'd fit in the headlights without a lot of cutting to the area behind. Nissan, no idea...

 

[spikesnstuff0905]

Stock head lights with hid fogs? EH???

Yeah I don't want HID's all the time, I think they're obnoxious. I have Sylvania white headlights, and clear foglight housings, so i'm going to get white HID's and just run them when i need the extra light.

---------- Post added at 12:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:50 AM ----------

so your more geared towards doing HID for the fog's ? I would HID headlights, and jdm fog's. Acura's have a nice cutoff, but a Nissan HID has a good overall output.

If i had two sets of smaller ones i would mount them in the headlight bucket with a sleep mod, but i think one big assed projector in the square buckets would look ugly. I'm not going to get H4 housings and pop an HID capsule in them like everybody else does and have crazy scatter and get tickets all the time. I ended up getting the Nissans. Thay're pretty big, they look like they'll fill the foglight hole nicely.

---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 AM ----------

TL is bi-xenon, but they're quite large, doubt they'd fit in the headlights without a lot of cutting to the area behind. Nissan, no idea...

That is another reason i want to do the foglights, i don't want to cut my rad support to fit them in. i got the Nissans. They're like 5-6" across and 6-8" deep.

 

[Poodles]

HID's aren't "obnoxious" when you use a proper projector retrofit. They glare less than a normal halogen reflector above the cuttoff line meaning they're actually less annoying. You're going to have to seal them inside a housing, they're not designed to be open to the elements. Don't be surprised if they suck as fog lights...

 

[spikesnstuff0905]

They are obnoxious. I know i have to seal them, i said i'm going to mount them in the oem foglight housing, but with a clear lens. I'm not exactly driving around in (insert area with abnormal amounts of fog). Where I live foglights aren't for fog, they're just another light. lol

 

[Poodles]

Then they're going to be on like headlights, thus being "obnoxious." Apparently you have no clue about HID's as a true HID projector isn't obnoxious at all, might want to do some reading: http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?1232-HID-Newb-Crash-Course

More than likely you're used to seeing some douche with a 10000K kit, like this idiot
[video=youtube;J07ZH2CVElo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J07ZH2CVElo&feature=related[/video]

 

[spikesnstuff0905]

Why would they be on like headlights? Apparently you have no clue how to read, because i specified that I had obtained true HID projectors for a proper retrofit, and i wasn't just going to buy an H4 housing and pop some ignorant colored HID capsules in them. I also said I was going to use white HID's specifically, because blue lights like that give you less useable lumens. I did read, and i do know, so i'm not even going to view that link. Obnoxious is relative, mainly to the observer, and i say HID's are. Sorry for the attitude, but i can't stand it when people talk down to me.

 

[Poodles]

It's because you're sounding like a hypocrit...

Not to mention you're not making much sense. When are you going to use them? If you want them for extra light, but not fogs, I assume you're wanting better distance lighting. As they'll be put so low to the ground, you're going to get tons of foreground lighting, which lowers your ability to see in the distance. If you want to only use them occasionaly, they're going to suck as well as HID's take about 5min to get up to full temp.

So you either run around with them on, thus my first statement, or you use them like high beams lowering component life greatly and not getting any performance out of them.

 

[spikesnstuff0905]

I do the most spirited driving on the backroads and swervies in my area. I think the factory lighting design is terrible, so i figured i would try for some more useable light. I realise that HID headlights would be the most beneficial, but for reasons i have already explained i don't want to do that. If i could find four smaller projectors i wouldn't mind running four HID capsules and retrofitting them into the factory buckets, but with just one larger projector i think it would look stupid. I'm going to keep the sealed beams with Sylv. bulbs for now, and maybe switch to Hella E-code lenses later. I have shitty Auto-Zone foglights that the PO installed and they're useless. the bulbs are tinted, and all they do is throe purple and gold light at the ground. Even if all i gain from the HID fogs is some better short distance ground lighting, it'll be an upgrade to what i have now. The lights will be used frequently, and for a good amount of time during each session, but if I mount them in the fog light spots, i can control when i have them on by retaining my regular headlamps.

---------- Post added at 05:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:45 AM ----------

Oh and if anyone is looking for projectors to do a retrofit, they have a steady supply and i'll sell them cheap since the transaction will be all profit, what with getting them for free. I'll make a FS thread with whatever the different ones they have. (Make/model/year of car).

 

[Poodles]

Sorry I came off as a jerk, just didn't understand your goals. The nice thing about putting them in the stock style housings is we have popups, so when they're not on (and open to scrutiniy) they're hidden I've been looking at how you could put a light in the grill area beside the turn signals, there are several small projectors that would work there.

The main issue is they're going to mounted so low. You might want to wire the solenoid into your high beams and fabricate a foreground limiter. Could also fabricate a new shield without a step and face them out a bit so you get more width.

Shoulda picked up the TL's as well, they're one of the best projectors around...

 

[spikesnstuff0905]

Yeah these seem extra bulky. I'll have him keep a look out. I'm going to have to get different ones anyways, because the cord to the bi-xenon solenoid is gone on one of these. >:O I either have to get new ones, or not have high beams. It won't matter now that i think about it, i don't need variable fogs lol. This actually gives me an idea. I can trim the cutoff plate back farther to give me more light topside, and place something on the bottom to limit lower light so i don't get as much flashback from the mounting position.

 

[Poodles]

Head over to hidplanet and see how to modify the stuff. You don't want to move the cutoff shield too much,a nd the foreground limiter is actually at the top of the projector (the lense flips the image it sees, so the cutoff shield is on the bottom). Cord to the solenoid should be as simple as 2 wires, really easy to fix.