6 replies to this topic

[loiselle.m]

I've searched endlessly for someone who properly retrofitted projectors in some 3g Civic headlights, to no avail. I do lots of night travelling and honestly, the stock light output is far from good. The bonus is we have glass lenses, so they don't fade over time. I purchased Bi-xenon Morimoto Mini H1 projectors from theretrofitsource.com, which were the smallest available. These are especially nice because they require little to know modification of the headlight housing; which I found was true - but I made a boo boo on the way. 

1. I started by removing the headlights from the car.
2. Separate the headlight unit from the base, by pulling the 2 springs off. Then you can pull the headlight off the 2 adjustment screws.
3. Remove lenses from headlight assembly. I put them in the oven, 1 at a time. The first one wen't pretty smoothly, at around 200F for a total of almost 30 minutes.That's the headlight with the lens removed, with the shroud and projector test fitted inside. The shroud fits pretty snug.
4. Unfortunately the splitting of the second light didn't go so well...It was more than likely human error as I was getting antsy to have the lens off. however, there was way more glue, or whatever it was holding it in place.
5. Initially, my intentions were to keep the light factory looking, eventually sanding the inside flutting from the headlight to have that desirable cut-off the projectors give. But after breaking the lens, and not wanting to pay the price, or wait for a used set (since this is my daily), I improvised. At first the projector would have fit behind the lens, and the projector is mounted through the bulb hole and screwed in from the back where it mounts permanently.
6. Remove the bulb holders from the back, don't forget the small set screw.
7. Now to make replacement lenses I decided I would just mount them flush again the metal headlight, instead of trying to fabricate something that was angled like the original lenses. This was a lot less trouble, and I thought I would turn out looking more like the 84-85 Civics with the recessed headlights.
8. Although for the projector to clear the lens that would now be flush I had to push it further back into the headlight, which meant I had to hack at the back to allow for clearance.So I did that, and glued a flat square piece of aluminum behind it, in which I also cut out a shape to allow for the projector to sit back. I would eventually drill 4 holes into this plate and mount the projectors with screws.
9. Next, the headlight "bracket" for lack of better term, needed to be altered, since the headlight would now sit back a little bit. So I glued a piece of sheet metal and painted it black, to cover the rusty and uneven bits underneath.
10. After having removing some pieces from inside the headlight the chrome scratched up a bit so I painted that all black as well.
11. Then I drilled the holes into that previously mentioned aluminum plate, and needed to use spacers (which were 1/4" rivet threaded rivet sleeves, about maybe 3/4" long) to mount the projector evenly. The spacers allowed the #8 screws to fit inside without having too large of an outside diameter that they would't rub again the projector and throw the screw on an angle.
12. Used some red lock tite on the nuts, and used the same clear glue (which is made for sealing roofs) to seal the hole between the projector and the headlight.
13. Added some glue around the projector lens and mounted the shroud

[loiselle.m]

14. I traced and cut some Lexan to make the lenses; it has a 10 year yellowing warranty, and is virtually unbreakable.

15. My first attempt at gluing the lenses to the body didn't go so well. I used that same clear glue, and clamped the Lexan down. Well not too long after, I realized the Lexan had cracked where the clamps were, and I had to use so much of the glue (because of the deep holes) that it just wasn't even drying.

 

16. What I should have done first, especially since I already had the product from the kit I ordered, was to use the butyl tape (what they use to seal windshields). After cleaning up that first mess and cutting new lenses I used the butyl tape and it sealed really well.Then we used a little amount of that clear roofing glue to seal the gap between the butyl tape and outside.

 

17. Then, since you could see the previous mess and the butyl tape through the Lexan I decided to tape off the shape of the original reflector and paint the rest with the same matte black paint.

 

18. This is the finished product!This last picture of the output is before the final adjustment...it was a little high lol.

Edited by loiselle.m, 05 November 2013 - 02:57 PM.

[PowerWheels86]

oh man, awesome write up!! may end up doing this to mine when i get back to the states!!

[TheDoughboy]

The light output and cutoff is great! Good write-up too.

[79cord]

Nicely done. What do you do for high beam though?

I know some projector lamps have an electrically moveable shutter, though most just have additional lamps alongside.

[loiselle.m]

This is a bi-xenon projector, meaning the low and hi beams are built into the same unit. For the high beam, the shutter moves out of the way via a solenoid. For the low beam the shutter stays in position and that's what causes the cut off. I took a video of the shutter in action before I installed the projectors, I'll see if I can upload it.

[loiselle.m]

Uploaded the video to Facebook, lets see if their embed feature works... 

EDIT: can't get it to work, here's the Facebook link for anyone interested: https://www.facebook...747828560421262

 

Edited by loiselle.m, 08 November 2013 - 12:40 PM.