baddbenny

Soo - I saw JNC and a few others - Its my turn. Never done anything like this but I think it will be sweet in the end. I am an artist - I can do it!
So these are merely pics to check out - its no DIY as of yet, but I will make it so, and possibly in PDF format to maybe distribute, and or take orders for, As I am finding this to be quite fun and might be willing to take a stab at the sales of the mod.

The basics:
2005 TSX low bean projectors
Stock 99-01 TL headlights
A pinch of love for my car
and of dash of Get'r Done!

There is plans to do a little blackout work and to utilize the inner HID sheild (clear platic thing) --- This might be a super clean looking job, and Im STOKED!

Will post more as I go: patience....

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Looking good so far

LeeDan00

look very good so far. keep us updated on this.

AznWay

iTrader: (8)

Cool your doing what i was thinking about doing. Now I can just seat back an wait on your retrofit projector

JCharged

iTrader: (5)

Awesome! keep up the great work. Would love to have these on my ride someday...

baddbenny

So heres another set of pics to check out...

Im feeling pretty darn good thus far - all the "construction" for the most part is finished. I still need to do some black out and am awaiting my damn bulbs so I can test fire em up and see how my adjustments will function for me. I think its gonna go smoothly but we'll see when I get them plugged in.

I've gone with a 3 point base for the projector units - 2 fixed left and right and one as a pivot/support in the center rear. Not sure I need to fix a point in either of the top corners... Im thinkin no but if someone has reasons otherwise -PLEASE SHARE

The last pic gives the sneak peak as to my shroud idea. Trial run came out awesome! Not sure who I will finalize the execution but the blackout theme has me going right now. I would NBP the face of the cover and flat black everything that is behind it including the projector housing. The lens has a chrome surround the clips it on the housing, and with that little guy just peaking out of the metallic black cover, I think it will look killer mean and slick! Hope you've all enjoyed this so far. Im certainly having fun! Cant say so much for the neighbors having to deal with my dremel noise - hahahahaaaaaaaaaa!!!

F'n LOVE MY DREMEL!!! Best toy ever!

Thanks for watching everyone~

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Looking great so far . Put the glass lens on the projector and the front lens of the headlight on just to see if they both dont hit each other, you need the glass lens to be atleast 0.5 inchs away from the glass. If its too close or is touching the front cover it would cause heat damage. Also you should have some sort of support screw through the top or else your projector will rattle every time your car hits the bump.

EL19

iTrader: (4)

looks good!...mine would b done alrerady if my dremel had konked out on me...i need it to alter my shrouds to get that .5" clearance jnc was talkin about...keep up the the good work though

baddbenny

So - as it was in the last pics - I was a little too close for comfort to the housing lens to be sure there wont be any heat damage... So I took em apart again and cleared out a chunk of the chrome shells and was able to move the projector at least .5 inches back and added a solid bit of adjustablilty to the mix. I also added a top mount on each, seems the pitch was needed to be pinned back and they was the way to do it - JNC was right - and now I believe we have clearance on the front and Im hopeing I will have clearance on the back with the bulb clips against the cover that screws on... wish I has a spare to play with, my car is kind of using them right now. When my bulbs come we'll test fire and remove the bumper and see whats up.
Heres what we got now~





So we can see like 1/3 of an inch plus another 1/4 for the clips, think is will fly??? I can move it all forward if I need to, but shes clean right now, would be nice if this is good.

Meek32v6

iTrader: (7)

that looks pretty damn GOOD

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Paint the inside of that plastic front bezel with the hole in it flat black to avoid any stray light passing through, then color match the front side with your cars color. . This will solve your problem of any stray light passing through the bezel and creating glare. Also dont seal everything and then check for clearance in the back, take the cap off of your car and see if it fits. It is a very tight fit in the back since the ignitor is right in the cap and only have a couple inchs to work with. Otherwise the front bezel idea looks awesome, props to you. I was stupid enough to through mine away when i did the retro, good luck

baddbenny

My thoughts to a T as far as the shroud goes!!! I am also going to flat black the projector parts and everything inside that area. I will definitely check all fittings and make my aiming adjustments prior to a reseal of the housing. Unfortunately I wont have any room to alter the positioning of the lamp after I reseal other than the factory spots and those really need to be used as a start to get my high beam all set... Just need my darn bulbs!

I could also use some guides on the proper aiming of the projectors: how high and whats center is, etc.... Any thoughts???

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far!

JnC

iTrader: (12)

If you are sitting in your car then your output from driver seat should look like this



_______________/''''''''''''''''''''''___________/'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''


Thats both of the projectors aligned. At 25' the lower line should have a 3'' dip from the center of the projector, got it? So park your car close to the wall and mark the spot where its the center of the projector, reverse your car back to 25' and the mark should be 3'' higher than the bottom line of the output.

myTaLizaS3.2

nice! good job! I love seeing retro fits~!

loojoohnnyl

how much did that cost u

myTaLizaS3.2

He probably spent anywhere from 130 to 150 for those projectors, and bulbs around $65 for new bulbs and little things here and there. Around 200 bucks. Maybe you can do this retro while your car's sitting in the garage.. = )

baddbenny

Soo far ---

$150 TSX Projector Headlights
$85 Bulbs : Philips 85122+
$80 Dremel -- by far will pay for itself in time! so kinda doesnt count...
$120 Headlights
$50 Paint, tape, various nuts/bolts/washers, stuff
------------------------------------
$485 ish in parts / $400 minus dremel tool

+

A bunch of labor and love!

Might be a 20 hour project give or take a few hours (think Im into the 12-14 range now with guesstimations of possible refitting once I get the bulbs and strap em up to my front end). I think it will be WORTH IT!!! And if I end up doing it again for myself or someone else, it will be much smoother and less time consuming. But I see why some of these shops charge $1500-2000 to do these retros. Sucks that theres no gaurentee of how long they will last. Im pretty sure mine and any others we've seen done here will last a darn good while, but you know what I mean.

myTaLizaS3.2

those shops don't offer guarentees? sucks. I can see why they can't guarentee the bulbs and ballast, but as for the retro and making it stick to the headlights, they should be able to guarentee it. Unless they know they did a half ass job.

baddbenny

I would hope so - but in todays world of scams and scumbag body shops... I guess you get what you pay for, but its my experiance that has told me nothing is for sure and give a years time going by and that same shop my be owned by someone else who has no interest of "legal" reason to fix an issue of past times... I was just sayin - basically Im glad Im doing my own

AznWay

iTrader: (8)

Look very GOOD

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Good to see that you ended up doing it yourself. It is intimidating at first but if you plan it wisely then its not rocket science :p. Plus with my thread and now this, people should have no trouble doing this, I know to some it this whole thing does not make any sense and there are people that would debate the question WHY PROJECTORS? Why not stick with the factory reflector based HIDs? They are still HIDs arent they? Well you wouldnt know the answer to that untill you drive a car with projector equipped headlights. My first retro was in 01 and most of the cars that I have owned over the years either had projectors from factory or I retroed a couple or 4 to get by .

Ben, as far as paint is considered, do not black it out. You have a silver car, leave it chrome. Just take the plastic cover with the hole in it and paint it to match your cars color, would look great.

baddbenny

No no - I dont have a SSM - I am the proud driver of a !!!! NBP !!!! I would love to leave it all chrome, but that damn clear lens will foil the pretty factor. I have to hide the guts! And dont want to buy additional shrouds. I had bought the whole TSX lights with the orginal intent to use them in some shape or another, but fell victim to wanting originality in my own job: Thought the factory lens would serve creativity well and here we are... I have 2 sets of the lenses... I will send one set to the shop with my car and let it get covered in NBP, after we see how they look, I will move on as finished, or new options with the second set.

Side note - Anyone ever used CHROME spray paint??? Is it really chromey looking or what? Hmmmmmm......

JnC

iTrader: (12)

^^ I f you are talking about the one that you can pick up at the local autozone, then no its not chromey looking, its more like titanium silver offered on the 03 nissan maxima, rather than the bluish SSM its shiny silver.

The inside of the following TL fogs were painted with that chrome paint and you can tell its no where near chrome look or chromey look .

baddbenny

That chrome paint isnt so hot... I wonder if a solid bit of clear coat would help it out?

baddbenny

So it's been a few days since last playing. I have been going crazy with my car trying to get 50 things done at once... This isnt much of an update, but I finally tore off my bumper to have a look see at whats back there and test fit the lights. Just one of them, I have to wait for the car to get back from the shop because there will be possible radiator support replacement or adjustments and I want to do my lights when its all set. As far as the support work, its a long story of a bad insurance experience that I hope will come to a happy ending this next week
Anyhow - so a few photos, one more step taken!

shot at -2 these a pretty bright! first shot you couldn't even see the thing...!!!


this one is taken at -2



So close - and the SD meet is next weekend.... My car goes into the shop monday to get the kit and other paint work/crap done, If Im lucky I will get it back on thursday and have friday to finish the lights off.

Thanks!!!

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Looking good ma man I sent you a PM regarding PM let me know how that works out.

baddbenny

So - I've enjoyed these babies for a like 3 or so months now - IN LOVE!
Finally gonna share the last of my trip to happiness - I do apologize for how long it took. Basically I moved for a new job in the middle of the project and it kinda got set on the dusty back burner...


I got things aimed up nice, and set to seal the deal and make it so.

Modified the housing cap to give more room for the projector to set back in the housing. Use some JB Weld mix, tape, and my dremel to alter the cap - Quite easy and could be done super clean if one took the time to sand it all up, I did not.




Cap on



assembled - used a set of HID Planets supplied bezels - chrome - not cheap...




POW! Not too shabby - whatcha think???

baddbenny

So - I've enjoyed these babies for a like 3 or so months now - IN LOVE!
Finally gonna share the last of my trip to happiness - I do apologize for how long it took. Basically I moved for a new job in the middle of the project and it kinda got set on the dusty back burner...


I got things aimed up nice, and set to seal the deal and make it so.



Modified the housing cap to give more room for the projector to set back in the housing. Use some JB Weld mix, tape, and my dremel to alter the cap - Quite easy and could be done super clean if one took the time to sand it all up, I did not.




Cap on



assembled - used a set of HID Planets supplied bezels - chrome - not cheap... I had my lens shield color matched NBP




POW! Not too shabby - whatcha think???







Id like to do this again - next time instead of NBP lens' Id like to get them chromed, or black out the whole housing with NBP - on a set of brand new housings - even the cheapo ebay ones - that would look sweet through new outer plastics.

Rajca

iTrader: (8)

it looks lilke it had two black eyes, should have blacked out the whole headlight, also car looks great need a drop though, and debadge.

death

Great job! I especially like this pic



It looks really unique. I especially like the fact that you kept most of the stock TL headlight intact. It makes the projector conversion look really clean/stealth.

Any chance you'll be offering this conversion to other members?

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

dang, should black out headlight and the grille. would look sick~!

All-Cali?

baddbenny

I actually had the "eyes" picture in my head as the original goal. Wanted her to look aggressive and slightly tough - like shes better than the next girl
I was afraid of going to far into the RICER look with such and obvious mod, and at first I wasn't as happy as I hoped to be, but now I like it!

And aside from looks... F*CK YEAH! Projector headlights are by far - awesome! I cant ever see going back!

baddbenny

Good call - Id like to see that myself! Who wants it done?

baddbenny

Id love to offer it to others - Depending on the route with the painting of parts - mainly if it all had to go to a paint shop which would be a slightly unknown time factor - I could see finding the extra time and cranking out a set for someone in under a month. Getting all the parts would be the key though.
My job with all the parts and paint - wasn't cheap $600-650, but I think it could have been less, and the first rounder took somewhere in the 25-30 hour mark over all in time. I wanna think I could so it in 15 or so next time.

I think overall - I did a really awesome clean job for my first attempt and the next set would only be cleaner!
So yeah - Im down! Interested?

ZEUS'O3TL

dude u did an awesome job on ur lights!!! like they mentioned earlier it looks nice how u left most of the headlight intact so there isnt a lot of empty space in there....i would definitely be interested in a quote for this being done to my car..i have an 03 model though so im not sure how different it would be to do it...but like i said man, AWESOME JOB!!...big props to u...

OntarioTL

Sweet job!

Well done, inexpensive compared to what I paid for my retros, and you aren't kidding about never going back to the original headlight. Projectors are on my shopping list whenever I look for another car.

3.299TL

That is what I'm talking about! way tight! I'll be e-mailing you soon, when I get those projector's, and mabey you can do the them for me! again," Very PimP!"

AznWay

iTrader: (8)

Wow been over year now an I still havn't start on the Retro headlight

baddbenny

Yea - I hear ya man - my project got horribly interrupted and set on the side for a while...... So glad its done and I couldn't be any happier with the results.

G E T M O T I V A T E D ! ! !

baddbenny

What did you pay for yours? Did you have someone do it for you or?