Projector Mounting Question!!

[Sam Baker]

hi!
this is mainly for JDM.. or anybody else who has made custom projector headlights for any car. how did you mount them in the housing? and also are they adjustable? or did you just set them, adjust, and mount for good? thanx dude! just curious coz i'm bout to start my own project
~ sam

[millionflame]

90 degree L-brackets on the flat bottom of the housing is what I did.

You can use the stock aimers, as long as the projector doesn't interfere at the back, with this set-up as well.

Taras and I both have ours this way.

What projectors are you using?

[Sam Baker]

i'm using some projectors cut out of an integra.. they're big but i can make them fit. but yea thanx, i was probably just gonna use L brackets things so they could be swivelled up and down, but side-to-side you kinda have to set up and just leave it that way huh? i just want something so my lights wont vibrate and get loose LOL.. so do u have pix of ur headlights? i'd love to see other designs besides Taras'!

and also 1 more question.. is it legal to not have a high beam inside ur headlight? coz my low beam projectors are pretty bright.. but i have my other fog/driving lights mounted beneath them. so i was curious if i needed to buy other high beams also. thanx mang!

~ sam

<small>[ November 23, 2003, 02:34 PM: Message edited by: Sam Baker ]</small>

[millionflame]

You need a high beam no matter what. It is illegal not to have one.

A low beam projector will only throw the light so far as well, as that's all they're designed to do. High beams are where you really need the extra light.

The problem with putting a high beam unit underneath the headlight is that it wont reach very far down the road.

I have pictures of my projector set-up, but last time I just got bashed and no one ever believed me, so I really don't want to bother posting them again.

Another way you can mount them is at the back of the headlight. If you cut off the back, and mount some sort of flat plate (metal, lexan) then you can mount the projector to that.

Most projectors will have some sort of "lip" around the bowl that has mounting holes. Normally, there are 4 in the corners, but Bosch likes to have very unorthodox locations for these depending on what car the projector goes into.

If I had to re-do mine, which I might soon, I'd mount mine the way I just told you as opposed to the L-bracket way. This is just because I have very long projectors.

If you mount them using the L-brackets, it's perfectly fine and dandy as long as your stock aimers are working. You can aim them up/down or left-right this way.

Hope this helps.

[Sam Baker]

thanx dude!

ya actually.. i bought my integ projectors from Steeb, so he gave me everything he had to do his headlights, which he never got around to. so what i have are 3 projectors and 1 left side frame, which holds 2 of them perfectly.

so i may use you idea about cutting a hole in the back and using the frame. maybe cutting the frame in half so that i'd have 2 mounting panels with holes in them that hold the projectors, and then mount those to the cut stock housings. lol cuz they ARE pretty long. dunno what i'll do yet.. but i need high beams also?? *damn ok i guess its time for shopping.

i really didnt wanna copy Taras's design with the lil FF50 in there and the big low beam to the outside, but i dunno what else i could use. are there any small circular highbeams? like opposed to the oval-shaped ones? i'd want one of those more.. anywayz thanx a lot bro we'll see how it comes out

~ sam

[Sam Baker]

o ya 1 other thing..
is it possible to stick a high-beam H7 bulb into a H3 fog light housing bubble? lol cuz i can find ones that look tight but they are made as fog lights. thanx
~ sam

[Taras]

Sam, the reason L-brackets were used in my design is because our headlight housing has pretty large flat bottom part and more importantly Hella Bi-Xenon projectors have flat bottom part, and that makes it perfect. Any other projector, I would not advise mounting it that way.

The best way to do it is to build a straight wall at the back of your housing of course to size and not to eliminate stock mounting points. Through that wall, you would have to cut a hole to insert your projector through and to mount it. You could mount it also with adjstable screws so you could fine tune your positioning. So make a hole for your projector in the "wall" and then mount the wall to your housing. For the "wall" you could use lexan or acrylic. They come in different colours (even mirror finish ) or you could just paint it. You could play as to the distance between the curved lens of a projector and your front cover. It does make a difference as well as side posioning due to a curved nature of the front cover. By the way, what you are using for your front cover?

So, back to the "wall". The reason I suggest you do this way, is because you must properly position your projector in relation to a perfectly flat ground. Otherwise your cut-off will be angled. You have to get that right to begin with.

Hi-beams. Just use Hella 90mm high beam unit. They are pretty small, but then again, I do not really know sizing of Integra projector. I think you have to be careful on this one.

Please do not stick an H7 into H3 housing. Bad beam result, even if you match the focal point. H3 is a transverse filament, but H7 is longitudinal. You could always use your decent quality driving lights.

If I may ask, why an integra projectors? There are so many better ones. Sorry, do not want to discourage you. But if you gonna hack up your lights, get something higher quality in there.

[Sam Baker]

LOL

ya i dont wanna screw it all up.. and i got the projectors from a buddy who wanted to do the conversion but never got around to it. just happened that way, so i figured i'd try it. and i plugged them in to see how they looked, and it was really cool! very bright and had a cool beam pattern.

and btw.. i think they are about 90mm too, not very big at all. so you say to use a hella 90mm high beam?? that would look tight in there to have dual projectors.. but i'm still thinkin about which route to go. i'd rather it be legal (both beams) and also want it to look cool. lol

and that wall stuff.. yea thas cool thanx man! i'll probably keep it all silver, until the future when i change my color scheme to black and blue.. so what do you think i could do? like what paint is good for that.. or what covering would work?

o and i'm using the stock cover.. but i've heard u should sand it down?? is that to get rid of the refracting lines or just to smooth out the scratches? and could i keep my stock cover? well thanx a ton guyz i'm gettin some spare housings in a day or so, so then i can play and see what u all are talkin about THNX LATA!!

~ sam

[curtklze]

BMW Z8's have the High Beams in the front grill and a xenon projector and a daytime running light projector in the head light assemblies on either side of the car.

The high beams look lke rally car spot lights in the front grills, but they are just the high beams.

[curtklze]

<img src="http://photoserver1.trader.ca/autotrade ... 30-02.jpeg" alt=" - " />

[Taras]

Originally posted by Sam Baker:
like what paint is good for that.. or what covering would work?

Hi-temp enamel. Like an engine enamel in flat colour so it does not reflect. You would also have to pre-bake it before assembly, so the fumes from paint would not pollute your components when the lightsource would heat things up.

[Sam Baker]

LOL cool curt! ya that IS another option :p but i'm now actually considering keeping the high beams inside the housings.. cuz i played around with how far my stock beams go and they're really far!! i just wanna keep em all together i guess. also it would look really clean! (like the Z8's headlights with the 2 projectors inside)...

and cool thanx taras, i'll see about paintin em too. adding to my list: hi beams and paint! btw, do you have any pix of the lights on ur car? well, i'll most likely have more and more questions when the assemblies come tomorrow and i get to play. :p anywayz thanx a lot guyz

~ sam

[mxer4eva]

Jdm or Aiden,

Would either one of you be willing to do a write up for me or the board in general? I guess you can say that im a visual learner and some pics would really help out a lot. I know that people might have criticized your work, but not all of us did. Contrary to those people and their views your pics would really help a lot of others who would appericate the knowledge that you do have in lighting and the work you have done. Heck if you dont want to post them you can just send me a pic and I wont show it to anyone else.

That applies to anyone who has done a conversion if you would be so kind to just send me a pic or two id be greatly appericative.

[millionflame]

Sure, I can send you a few pictures of my projectors.

I've got bi-xenons, so just one projector per headlight, but it will show you an idea of how to mount them.

Also, my bi-xenons are so long that the glass lense from the projector touches the front plastic lense on the stock headlights, as well as my igniter on the back portrudes far back as well.

If you want to stick two projectors into the headlights, then the flat wall at the back is probably the ONLY way to go.

With this way, you can have them bezzeled, or staggered, to different depths in the headlight, have a flat area to mount and aim them on, and it would look a lot better too.

Once you go this route though, you'll just have to come up with some fancy way of mounting the stock headlight housings again, since it'll probably destroy the stock brakcet - but this is a good thing anyways, since it's a very old design and it fails eventually.

Sanding the stock lenses down needs to be done too, unless you want to make a new clear lexan cover.

Both ways have their pros and cons.

If you're going to sand the lenses down, then make sure they are brand new, or not yellowed at all. It's not worth it if they're old and yellow.

If you want to make your own lexan lenses, then just make a mold of the stock ones, and heat up a sheet of lexan to conform to the mold. It really is pretty easy, just very time consuming, and you'll probably screw up once or twice to get the hang of it - lexan browns when it's heated too much, but it wont bend if it's not heated enough.

Also, I'd do a write-up, but Taras is the moderator of this section of the forum (and Jeff too), he'd probably want to do it.

[Taras]

I have not finished mine, so I shall post when I am fully done. I am open to criticisms as well, because sometimes people have good ideas and may be able to suggest something different that I have not thought of. For now it is just words.

What kind of a write up are we talking here about? Most of the information that was posted here is available elsewhere on the net.