HID Headlight Retrofits

If you want a set of pristine halogen headlamp units, let me know. I haven't used the set that I bought here on PC

 

These came from an '05 model. Just the one orange reflector.

 

Today's work...Baked the painted shrouds - 150 deg for ~15 min





and then started to put the headlight back together..



I made a couple of scratches as you can see in the pictures above and below. Need to hit those spots with paint tomorrow.

 

I tried to reuse the connector by prying out the crimps, but I was not able to. Advance Auto and Radioshack also did not have the same connector. So, I ended up cutting and soldering the wires instead. I considered completely leaving out the high beam, but that would not pass inspection next year.

 

First picture of just the passenger side headlight connected...

 

Both headlights mocked up. Driver side is Morimoto 3Five 5000K bulb. Passenger side is OEM bulb.

 

Will post pics later. Forgot to click that pic.

 

While waiting for the 2nd coat of painting the reflectors to dry, I was perusing the local auto store. And......

 

Not sure of the rating. I am not even sure these will last too long. But just wanted to try them. The pair of 14" prewired strips was on sale for $15. The strips have 3M adhesive on them and are weatherproof according to the packaging. Let's see how long they last

another shot in the dark...

 

Houston, we have a problem. The 2nd coat of paint is messed up

 

Not in the oven. I had scratched the paint after the first coat while test fitting the projector shroud. As soon as I applied the second coat, this happened Same paint can as the first coat.

OTOH, this kind of created a texture inside the entire reflector bowl So, I left it like that and went ahead and assembled the car back. It has been a week since I started working on this. My wife walked in from work and started taunting me. Guess, I started loosing patience too

Well...here is the final output of this project...

Parking lights only


Low Beams


Low Beams with Fog Lights


Low beam and Fog lights closeup


High Beams


Cutoff along the wall(s)


High Beam Pattern: The pattern is sort of all concentrated on the left, as though only the driver's side lamp is switching. But, I can hear and see the passenger side lamp also switching to high beams.

 

The only thing that I can think of is that it might have been due to the cold weather that I did the painting in. The reflector bowl might not have been warm enough. Not sure though...

 

This is the LED strip that I bought.. Alpena LEDLitz