Lead Headlight Fabricator Seeking Input - LEDs, Carbon Fiber, the Works!

Ive opened up my 08 CTS, 06 Escalade & M3 lights, but none were like the glue on the Prius. My Yuknon Denali was not bakeable, had to cut

 

I was going to put an SMD strip where the faux LED strip is - similar to your fab - but didn't want to pull the headlight out or cut through the sealant... was more of a fun idea than a desire to do a major mod. So, I upgraded my foglight bulbs to xenon 55w and added the SMD strip to the grill. I'll take a picture soon... nothing all that amazing, but kinda cool.

 

Bump. I definitely want to see how this turns out. If nothing else, I want to open up these headlights to take out the reflectors making it more like a euro-headlight. I have had someone very important bugging me about it for a long time.

 

Like these? Euro Spec Japan Prius Headlights

 

Yeauh. :B

Heh, do they drive on the right side of the road there? I mean.. will they be aim-able here?

 

Funny you ask.....they do drive on the other side of the road, so the cutoff is on the wrong side, but I'm retroing a set of HID projectors

 

BPR

 

Oh......that makes sence. The projector that I'm using is made in both LHD & RHD versions.

On a side note regarding the Japan Spec lights.....for those that already have HID US Spec lights, you can remove the bulb holder w/bi-xenon solenoid/reflector shield & swap them into the Japan Spec lights to give you the correct cutoff.

 

Ah, well the thing is.. I was just wondering if those amber bits are added in, and would be similar to the eurospec just by removing them as you did in one of those pictures. Sounds a lot easier/cheaper.

Don't really need the HIDs on that car. I have the LEDs on mine, and had HIDs on others. The Prius HIDs have always been a let down compared to the bmw I had that was not only much brighter, but even turned corners with me as well. /shrug

I never did understand why they wouldn't use projector housings in the gen2. And I don't really understand their implementation of the LED lights in the Prius. They are kind of weak, and require two projectors. Then you look really cheap when you engage your halogen high beams.

i.e. Made the interior cool, and the car cooler.. but put the mfd on some old fashioned vacuum fluorescent display instead of an LCD.. and that old screen for the a/c.. It's just stupid in my books. I hope someone will come out with another replacement screen.

 

Every headlight that I've pulled apart has allowed the amber reflector to seperate from the housing, so I dont see what it cant be done on the GenIII

 

Bravo! What you've done here is exactly what I wanted to do. (How much would you charge for this, btw? )

For your next project you could look into custom housings for rear LEDs (make everything back there into LEDs).

Right now I've replaced just about every exterior light (except for headlights) into LEDs -- but these are those drop-in units with diodes arrayed so they output light like an incandescent bulb (in all directions). And I had to change out the flasher relay -- not a fan of extra resistors. Don't get me wrong, it looks great, but not as great as it could be if the housings were designed for LEDs to begin with.

 

wow that is looking incredible.

When you removed the orange reflectors, are there visible open mounting holes left in the light? Looks like the reflectors were held in by some sort of extended tab.

 

Wow! The carbon fiber makes that look even more amazing!

Out of curiosity, why is it okay to use projection lenses for halogen but not HID bulbs? I mean, in theory couldn't the HID light be directed in the same fashion as the halogen ones? Or is the issue something else (heat?)