S power

After a long week of researching and gathering the right parts I am finish with the retro. The stock TL HID didnt please me because the output wasnt as great as it suppose to be(im spoiled by my previous cars). I used to own a Lexus IS300 which was a halogen HID also but the output of it was better than the tl. And my last car was a BMW 325, so i must say the projector HID was awesome. The cutoff and wideness of it makes it pleasant to drive at night.

So I opted a pair of Bosch e46 singles which was close to the bmw spec and got it at a great price along with some new Philips 4300k bulbs. The bezel and shrouds were made from plumbing and lamp supplys.

Here are some pics, but I will get some night shots of the output when it gets dark or whenever the hurricane clears up.

klepto

good work man

MeldyS26

do you have a picture of the front of the car?

S power

VoLLy

iTrader: (8)

nice, it looks clean.

MeldyS26

woah looks wierd, but props to you for actually doing it!

JPTL-S

Interesting! I've always wondered what projectors would look like on our cars, now I know I wonder if it would have looked better if you had not blacked out your headlights though, it might have looked better

TlsNavi03

iTrader: (1)

Nice clean retro!! Looking forward to seeing night pics. Good job.

SiCrew

nice job

FiftyFive

wow props for doing something new, feel like doing mine?

MOBB

WOW That looks great man, major props for doin it, But it kinda looks like a chevy impala from the front, but im willing to try it out on my 2000 TL i wonder how it would look like.

datboipat

nice job man, ive thought about doing the same to my car, nice to know what it might look like if i did. and you mentioned the hurricane, where do you live? i'm in houston.

mclarenf3387

Props on the conversion. Thats some clean work.

It sucks but projectors look weird on our cars, they look to small in the headlight.

fsttyms1

Nice Job!

pimpravi

good job.. gotta see more pics!

S power

Thanks guys.

I tried to keep it the orginal chrome but the projector has an opening in the back which was for cooling purpose was leaking light into the reflector so I had to paint it black to stop the light reflection. So I put it back together with the black reflector and chrome housing(trim around the light) and this look even worst, like it have eyes(black pupil) .


Fifty Five: I would if i have time, I had to do most of the work at work.

Mobb: yes it does look like an Impala LoL I was trying to think what car it looks like. Im going to photochop my pics and see if itll look better if I paint them silver. Maybe Ill paint it silver which is what I had in mine in the 1st place

Shoofin

I had projectors on my '99 TL....Was forced to change things around after they were stolen..





Unfortunately, the TL now

unlemming

Nice, how much did that run you? Should throw some angel eyes in there too

S power

Shoofin: Did you not have a shroud around the side of the projectors? I would assume that have alot of glare? It looks good all chrome!

ndawood

Looks really good! It would have been nice if you could have kept the original chrome or painted it to match the car...

Shoofin

S Power, There was nothing behind the projecter itself, you did see a lot of glare behind the beam. The problem with the projectors was that it made for a non-adjustable unit, so they aimed a bit low, so like 20 feet in front of you it's like frikkin daylight, and anything in front of that it was darkness. I didn't do the conversion, I actually bought them off of some dood on ebay like 2 years ago. Nice execution but not worth it in the end because of the lack of adjustment. They merely looked "cool". I didn't really pay any extra for the conversion, I just pieced the HID system together by buying everything separate to save money when they were stolen. I ended up moving the ballast all the way to the back of the engine room in case they were stolen again. Guess that won't be a problem anymore....I do have a 3G-TL now in the house though(as of last week)...

S power

OK here are the night shots.

Before:



After:


cutoff:




Overall, Im very happy with these lights. It was 3x better than the stock.

Cost:
$110 for projectors
$80 for new philip bulbs
$40 misc

fsttyms1

where did you get teh projectors

njzprettyboy

i too had projectors on my 00 TL...i think they look alot better in the smaller 99-01 headlights. they got jacked before i was able to take any pics. i had em done back in the day, when retrofits werent as common as they are today. no shrouds, no adjustability. they were also aimed a tac high, and becuase of that super bright. the fact i used huge X5 projectors did not help one bit, but the 6000K bulbs in those projectors made a HUGE difference in light output/visibilty. i am gonna retro a set of q45 projectors into my gs headlights this winter...

S power

hidplanet.com $99/pair + shipping $10-13 i forgot. alot of resources on the forum as well


njzprettyboy: Mines are adjustable. I dont see why you cant make them to have the adjustability. The projectors are just mounted to the stock reflector and that is adjustable.

Mike_McCready

Nice work. Blacking out the whole headlight was a good way to help it blend in

bkzjimmy

not really liking this one, looks too emptythis one is a lil better maybe cause its not blacked out

Da_iLLeZt_TL973

the TL may seem to look better because it doesnt seem so empty and the projector seems to look bigger because the TL headlight is smaller.......i like the way the projectors look i wanted that so bad but dont know how to retro fit it lol


do you have a pic of the back of your headlight housing?

InspireUA5

really nice job!!!
I wanna do my so bad but I dunno how to start
will you do mine for me?

RelentlessOne

Are the black housings made from plumbing/lamp supplies? I'm confused. They look like they were made for the headlight. Was the original housing modified or completely replaced?

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

first comment: awesome projectors! truly an innovative job in my opinion.

second comment (slightly off topic, but still on topic): if the new VW jetta can have projectors that move as the car turns, then why don't we? that's an option i would GLADLY pay for. i find that the lighting on the side of the TL while turning is definitely lacking. just a thought.

SSTS

whatwasthat

tha'ts sweet. should get some bigger projectors though to accomedate the bigger HL housings on the 02-03...

S power

Da_ill : The back still looks the same but since the prjectors are longer the cap doesnt fit so I just took some aluminum tape and tape it up. Ill get some pic when i get a chance.

Relentless: If you look at Shoofins car, that is just the prjector itself. I use the lamp shield to cover the sides up and use a plumbing ring for the bezel(the chrome piece. for a cleaner look around the lens.Hope that makes sense.

SatinSilver: Are you referring to the "auto leveling headlights". Or something new that VW made when the car turns? I find that the projector have a very wide spread beam which to me have a side light is not neccessary. I can see the ditch and all the trees about say 50 or so feet.

MotionEffects

How long did it take for the whole project? What kind of plumbling supplies where used? Do you have more pics of the process?

ou sig

Im pretty sure the new TL and RL lights do that (turn with you)

but very nice job and work to pull that off. (I just think it looks like the car has 2 black eyes now)

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

i meant the new headlights that move left and right, depending on which way you are turning. i think the new TL and RL may do that too but i don't know for sure. in my opinion that's a preferred feature for me.

SSTS

S power

I use a shallow flange for the chrome bezel around the lens. Just trim it accordingly on which size projector your using and JB weld it on ,its in the plumbing department. Also a clamp lamp in the electric supply for the shroud around the sides. I could have done it in 1 day but I had to work 10hrs a day.
goto hidplanet.com for more info

yunginTL

yo where do you live?

Tanginaglaz

WOW that looks awesome. It would be greatly appreciated if you posted a DIY!

newbie

Great Job. Does the project fit the housing completely (or does it stick out from the back so that you can't put the stock cover in the back on)? I tried to do a retro-fit but the project would stick out for me. If it stickout from the back, how did you work around that?