Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Well ladies and gentlemen, Santa has gifted Mike a set of brand new FX-R projectors from The Retrofit Source (http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=101) and it's finally time to start piecing together the materials needed for my retrofit. I've been obsessed with lighting, especially LED and HID, and have fooled around with HIDs in my foglights and HIDs in a H4 headlight setup, the result is nothing but scatter, and I now plan on doing this the right way.

The idea has always been in my head but the build itself will be primarily based off of two members from this site, sjgrimsley and customblackbird, so I thank you both for the awesome work and build threads.

I plan for this to be a pop-up delete as well, so say what you will. Esentially I will be using the stock headlight covers and trim pieces with the front cut out and replaced with clear plexiglass, having the projector mounted behind it. I plan on running Morimoto 35w 5000K bulbs as well.

My overall goal here is to create something different, vastly improve my night time vision, and retain a near stock apperance with the lights off. I also am sick of problems with headlight motors.

I'll slowly be updating this thread as I get the pieces I need and start building the necessary mounting hardware.

One question I have is if anyone has a cupon code for TRS because I plan on buying my bulbs, ballasts, and wiring from them so saving a buck or two wouldn't hurt.

If you have any questions on anything, feel free to post em here or send me a PM. If I had to set a time deadline I'd give myself a month until this is done and setup how I want it to be.

sjgrimsley

Wow I'm actually being credited for something! Awesome! Lol

Anyway, TRS34 is the only one I can think of. Free UPS ground shipping. Good luck bro!

sjgrimsley

Oh! Remember to use aluminum for the main support plate as the final product. I only used the plexi for a template because of the cutting ease!

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Thank man! Be prepared for questions. lol

sjgrimsley

Haha ask away! I'll be ready and eagerly awaiting your progress

Now, get to work! Lol

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Gotta collect all my pieces first! lol. Where'd you get the aluminum from?

sjgrimsley

Well I have yet to finish that part but a friend of my mom's conveniently had some just lying around. Lol

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Sure wish I could be that lucky. Isn't that stuff expensive? Guess I'll find out later on. Haha

And what's your friend's mom casually have aluminum laying around for? lmfao

dctrouant1995

Sweet! I'll be following this also

1ADan

iTrader: (4)

good luck with the project. keeping an eye on this for more HID ideas

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Thanks! HIDs on Firebirds are so scarce because the pop-ups scare everyone. Lol

sjgrimsley

Having done pop up projectors and now non pop up projectors, I think I may be somewhat of an authority on these lol

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Which do YOU like better?

sjgrimsley

Actually I like certain things about both. I'd have to say from a practical standpoint, I like these better. For complete stock appearance I like the pop ups. Just couldn't fit FX-Rs in there, IIRC.

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

I like the idea of not having to be bothered by faulty headlight motors anymore. Haha. I ordered an extra headlight cover trim piece because I don't want to cut up my gold trimed OEM GTA ones. Just incase I ever wanted to revert to stock. Which I probably never will. lol

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

So not much of anything yet, still waiting on getting all pieces before I dive in, figured I'd throw up a picture of the projector because it's so beautiful.

sjgrimsley

Yes. They are awesome just to look at haha I had to fix my rotation as it was slightly down to the left and it has been driving me crazy. They are dead level now. Be sure to look for a good level place to adjust at with a nice wall. You want about a 2" drop at 20 I think it was it is. I know you're not that far yet but still. Lol

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Actually thats useful to me because aiming them is like one of the most important parts about this. Lol.

And they are awesome to look at. Just amazingly crafted. Lol.

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

I went to a dark country road, put my hazards & adjusted my lights by sight, aimed down the road. Checking it from the drivers seat every now & then. And not once did I ever get brighted by oncoming cars after doing so.

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

That's awesome. I hate driving past unaimed lights.

I just bought everything I'll be needing to make the mounts besides the aluminum. I wanna figure everything out with plexi first before buying the aluminum. Did you buy "L" brackets to remount the doors or did you use stock mounting stuff? Also can you give a rough estimate of what size squares you cut plexi to when you made your mounts?

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Not much of an update because I really haven't had the time;

Started cutting the plexi trying to make some mounts for the projectors themselves. Also got the black trim pieces I'm going to be using in the mail.

sjgrimsley

Again they were some angle bracket that we had laying around lol I'll get some pictures of it tomorrow uncut so you'll know what to look for. And I pm'd you some other info.

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Now on to the good stuff! Started tearing everything off my car last night and took some measurements. Also got all my wiring set up and tucked away perfectly. Best part was finally getting the bulbs in the projectors themselves. So much crisp light with a perfectly sharp colorful cutoff. Love it! Anyways got a few pics but they're only crappy cellphone quality.

Oh and does anyone know how to get headlight doors back onto the stock assembly? I took both mine off and now my driver side door wont go on correctly to where the door open and closes. The back of the door hits the L bracket that holds it to the car. Don't know what's going on there. Would like to get that figured out cuz I'm still using the stock lighting setup for a few days and now I have no headlight door on my drivers side

Ballasts and wiring:


The beam:

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

No college or no work tomorrow. I've decided I'm going to try to get as much of this done as possible using a better part of the day tomorrow!

sjgrimsley

Get to work on it! And I'll get to work on getting you those pics.. yea sorry I'm being so slow! Lol

dctrouant1995

Mine did that, just get a hammer and bend it jus enough to get it to close all the way

sjgrimsley

Oh yea, the lids.. you gotta make sure the j-nuts are on in the correct places still (mine liked to move around quite a bit) and then get all four of the bolts started before you get any of them tight. That should get the lid on correctly.

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Got too tired, couldn't finish today. Been at it all day though and nearly finished, didn't have enough of the right size nuts and washers. Just gotta mount the supports and get the lids on em, and pray they're aimed allright. Lots of cutting and measuring has been involed in this build. Overall I'm pleased with where I am.


Mid-progress haha

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Projector just chilling on the bumper

Giant hole where everything is going

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Ready to light up the road!

Tucked away for the night

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Well I figure I've got maybe about one more day of work left on these guys. I have both the lights mounted and aimed fairly well, just need to work on getting the covers mounted, having a bi*ch of a time doing it. Will have to get creative.

Just went on a small little night drive, the light output and cutoff line everywhere is absolutley stunning.

Looks high because of the slant on my driveway

Temporary covers for the night

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

thanks for the credit. They are well worth the effort trust me! I just stuck mine on tonight bc i miss how they look . Car has been stored for almost 2 months now with a cover on it. In the process of installing a NX express 100-250 NOS kit on my 521 BBF in my bird. Im also planning on getting a 35w ballast kit with 3000K bulbs for the projector fogs that I have. They are fine when on by themselves but once you put the HIDs on being a 55w kit they are so bright u dont even see the halogen H3 bulbs. Thinking of the 3000K kit and aiming them towards the ground alittle more.

One thing I noticed is that the firebird bumpers cut off the bottom portion of the light beam from the projectors, this leaves me about 8-10ft or so of unlit road infront of the car. its not a big deal bc i cant see the first 15ft of the road infront of the car bc of the 4" cowl hood. But Still think its a good idea to get as much of the light down on the road as possible. I can see that your getting the same light cutoff as your garage floor isnt lit up. looking at the newer acura TSXs they have light on the road about 2 ft infront of the bumper from the projectors.

Anyway back to your build, looks good so far. How are you going to be making the lenses? Those morimoto ballasts prob cost you about 3 times as much as my DDM kits and you could have saved alittle more money by going with DDM. Also the FX-R projectors are alittle taller than my morimoto projectors, not sure how your going to fit those under the lenses unless they arent flat across.

Let see some more!

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

You're very welcome for the credit! Yours was the VERY FIRST thread I saw that made me want to do projector pop-up deletes. Looks so sleek. Do you remember all the emails I send you asking various questions? Got me on the right track, thanks for that.

Haha I know what you mean about the lights just being plain cool to look at. My car looks unlike anything else on the road now from the front at night. Those amber parking lights with the awesome projectors next to them just create a mean looking vehicle. Props to you on the NOS and good luck with it.

I know what you mean about the Firebirds and the way the bumper appears to block the light. It was something I toyed around with. Actually, with the FXR projectors the beam is aggresivley angled upwards to where I can mount the projector with nearly 1/2 inch below the bumper and still have the light output totally unaffected. It was something which really had me sold on them. The garage example is a poor example of my output. I'll be uploading more in a minute or so. I've also got 6000K foglights mounted in original housings, shame on me. lol. But they are aimed towards the ground and do a great job at illuminating the foreground directly in front of my bumper. I also want to retrofit some small 3000K projectors into the fog light location.

And as for my covers, I plan on using the stock headlight door and the stock headlight surround piece with a small piece of plexi in the front where the trim meets the bumper. This may sound hard to explain but it'll make since when I show a picture in a day or two. Esentially it'll look almost completley stock. I had it all lined up and it fit today, but didn't have the right style L-brackets to mount the headlight doors so it didn't get finished today.

Man that's a long post, and thanks for the encouragment, I think I touched on everything you mentioned. lol

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Some much better output shots after driving around a bit and playing with the beam. Still have no covers on them. I'm actually scared sh*tless that while driving something is gunna fly up and hit the projector and ruin the lens. Must get it covered lol.
And the 1/4 inch plexi I used is proving to be sturdy enough as a rear support mount. No wiggle in the projector at all. Think they're aimed fairly well.

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Finally found the right type of bracket I need to mount the doors! They should be going on tomorrow!

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Update: doors are mounted and have the lenses and everything on the way it should be, but the doors are extremley misaligned. Will have to work on that. At least everything's covered now properly.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

pics of the lenses?

Your left(driver) projector needs to be rotated slightly clockwise. Other than that the beam looks pretty good. You should take a pic with the fogs on as well and show the total light coverage from both sets on and with each set on.

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the compliments! Played with the beam some more. Thinking about using a different type of door/lens setup.

Pics


The beam is actually way brighter. Camera doesn't show well

Below the cutoff

Z28Nicholas

Looks like a job well done!

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Not totally done yet, but we're getting there. Thanks!

sjgrimsley

It may be the angle of your driveway but it looks like they are aimed way too low. Also the beam shot on your garage door, rotation and alignment seems to be off.

Still looks fabulous tho, if I do say so myself! Keep it up man, they are really coming together nicely.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

hey, i got around to putting the batt in my bird the other day and took a night shot of my projectors, I ended up having a good bit of light starting less than 4 ft infront of the bumper that was hitting the ground. much better coverage than I thought i was getting. The fog lights (projectors right next to the HID projectors due about the same) however Im putting a 35W 5000K HID kit in place of the halogen H3s.

heres a few pic for your viewing pleasure.

6SIX6

iTrader: (35)

Thats a pretty cool mod man.Well done for sure

Juve88GTA

Cool man, that's what I was looking for! But I'm gonna put 2 on each side.