240Z-280ZXT S30-S130 Tech Tips For 70-83 S30's & S130's

comprehensive projector retrofit writeup

 
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Old Oct 30, 2005 | 09:12 PM
  #1  
007max's Avatar
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From: Tempe, AZ
comprehensive projector retrofit writeup

The first time i tried to retrofit projectors into my headlights i used the regular 'diamond cut' headlights from ebay. I must warn everyone that those headlights are crap. This time i got the 'angel eye' ones, also off ebay, these are of much better quality and are much easier to work with.

tools needed:
- dremmel
- flathead screwdriver
- philips screwdriver
- access to an oven or heatgun

from left to right: one of the new 'angel eye' headlights, one of the 'diamond cut' lights with the projector swapped over, the original Sylvania sealed beam headlights



a closeup of the new 'angel eye' headlight and the old 'diamomd cut' headlight



here's what happens when you try to take the lens off the 'diamond cut' lights



removing the lens from the headlight i wanted to use required a little more work. leaving it in the oven at 250*F for about 10 minutes softens up the glue enough to pry off the lens without the risk of breaking it



Old Oct 30, 2005 | 09:14 PM
  #2  
007max's Avatar
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From: Tempe, AZ
there is a little notch that you can use to pry the lens from the housing (sorry about the blurry pic)



the headlight with the lens removed



you can see that the headlight has an inner and outer shell, this is unique to the 'angel eye' lights



the headlight is going to look nice with the new bezel



very nice



there's a slight problem the bezel not clearing the lens, this will be adressed later

Old Oct 30, 2005 | 09:16 PM
  #3  
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From: Tempe, AZ
the projector that i will be using



unfortionately it will not fit into the housing without some modification



to start of, seperate the inner and outer shells of the housing





here is where you start hacking away with the dremmel

Old Oct 30, 2005 | 09:17 PM
  #4  
007max's Avatar
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i put the shells back together to test fit the projector



looks like i need to cut a little more



thats better





now about that bezel, time to sand it down a bit, though i suggest something safer than my rig



you can see i took of a quite a bit compared to the unmodified one



and here it is with the projector installed



now just to make sure theres room to install the bulbs that light up the angel eyes



FINISHED


Last edited by 007max; Dec 20, 2006 at 02:47 PM.
Old Oct 30, 2005 | 09:37 PM
  #5  
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Man! You put a lot of work into that! I just popped the HID bulbs right into the place of the stock bulbs. They're not as focused as the projectors, but enough.
Old Oct 31, 2005 | 12:28 AM
  #6  
007max's Avatar
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Originally Posted by NismoPick
Man! You put a lot of work into that! I just popped the HID bulbs right into the place of the stock bulbs. They're not as focused as the projectors, but enough.
nah, it only took me about 3 hours to do the swap, and that was while i was taking all the pics for the writeup. plus i like working on my car so even if it did take a long time that really wouldn't pahase me


as far as your HIDs, well they're probably blinding everyone who's coming at you. HID capsules aren't designed to work with regular reflector type headlights, so you will be putting out an immence ammount of glare if you put them into headlights that are designed for halogen bulbs. have you looked at what your beam pattern looks like against a wall? i doubt it has a clean cutoff like projector headlights provide.


what your beam pattern looks like with projectors


what your beam pattern looks like with an 'HID kit'
Old Oct 31, 2005 | 03:11 AM
  #7  
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Unless I missed it, you forgot to mention what kind of projectors those are, where you got them, and how much. ^^
Old Oct 31, 2005 | 07:09 AM
  #8  
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very nice....yes sticky this most def.
Old Oct 31, 2005 | 09:15 AM
  #9  
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From: Seattle, WA
Also what are those bezels from that surround the lense to clean up the look?
How or where do you attach the projector unit to the H4 housing?
Old Oct 31, 2005 | 10:00 AM
  #10  
NismoPick's Avatar
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From: Wild Wild West, UTAH!
Originally Posted by 007max
as far as your HIDs, well they're probably blinding everyone who's coming at you. HID capsules aren't designed to work with regular reflector type headlights, so you will be putting out an immence ammount of glare if you put them into headlights that are designed for halogen bulbs. have you looked at what your beam pattern looks like against a wall? i doubt it has a clean cutoff like projector headlights provide.
what your beam pattern looks like with projectors
Actually, mine are pretty focused.... they make a lil bit of a wider beam, but about the same height as yours. I don't have any pics against a wall @ the moment, but in this pic, you can tell where the beam is focused (the right headlight is easiest to see in this pic). And in my sig pic, you can see the height from the reflection on the side of the garage.

Old Oct 31, 2005 | 09:11 PM
  #11  
007max's Avatar
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the projectors i used are of the junkyard type, which i pulled from some lexus a long while back. i think it was an ES300, though i'm not certain of that. i'd suggest using OEM parts beacuse they are of much higher quality than the aftermarket kits.

i attached the projector to the headlight housing using GOOP glue, this stuff seriously kicks ***, i doubt you can find a higher quality glue for this project.

the bezel i bought off of ebay, but you can be innovative with what you use on your own project. i'd suggest looking at www.hidplanet.com for more ideas, but the site has been down for a few days now and i don't know when it'll be back. there was a huge thread on there where people posted different things they had used for bezels. a popular one is those metal shields that go under the burners on an elecric oven, i would have never have though of that one myself.

any other questions?

EDIT: now that HIDplanet is up, here is the link to that thread: http://hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2822

Last edited by 007max; Nov 3, 2005 at 01:02 AM.
Old Jun 18, 2007 | 08:07 AM
  #12  
rb25sileighty's Avatar
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From: in JDM land
pretty nice write-up
Old Apr 9, 2008 | 05:54 PM
  #13  
mudtoy1986's Avatar
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yes those projectors are from an es300 some where in the yrs from 1992 n1997 i work in a junk yard
 
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