Lets See Some Light: The Definitive Lighting Thread

[aznfab213]

Originally Posted by mad-ass

I forgot to post this here.


Cut-off of the Morimoto Mini-H1's from the end of my garage to my neighbor's garage.

In pop up headlights or silvia?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mad-ass]

Originally Posted by aznfab213

In pop up headlights or silvia?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

S14 Zenki.

You didn't really even read the page it was posted on huh?

[Bullitt_180sx]

Not headlights or taillights, (I will be doing a headlight retrofit soon). These are my 180sx quarter windows. Sorry for the dark pics, but it was...well...dark outside. They aren't installed yet, they are just prototypes right now.

[unwtdhero]

Clear lenses triple projector

[Mister.E]

Those quarter windows are dope man! Really nice job.

[mad-ass]

Well, I've been wanting to do HID on my Fog lights(S14 Zenki OEM) for a bit while since I've done the projector retrofit..so I ordered up some kit.

www.mod-express.com JL Kit, 35W, 3000K, H3 bulb.

Mod-Express is the same company that I bought my HID's from back in 2007(and I still use the ballast, working perfectly fine) for uber expensive price of $140, but it is a AC ballast unlike most DC ballasts out there. But now their kits are super cheap and I'm hoping that it would work out fine, but most appealing this is the ballast being AC(big must for me)

I ordered Monday morning, received it this morning(wednesday). it also helps that it just had to come from so-cal to nor-cal so it shouldn't have taken long time anyways.

Here's what they look like when it comes in.











I test fired them already and they do work properly.

Hoping to be able to do a clean install with these.

[EJ8 944]

Originally Posted by silviaks2nr

you take them off of the ebay/vertex style lights

I'm assuming these lenses are plastic?

[red93vert]

[/IMG]

[mad-ass]

Originally Posted by EJ8 944

I'm assuming these lenses are plastic?

If it wasn't obvious enough by a high detail picture..yes those are plastic lens.

[mad-ass]

Finished up the install on the Zenki S14 Fog Lights using the Mod-Express JL Hid Kit(3000K 35W H3 HID Kit).




^ I drilled out the dust caps with stepped drill bit to allow room for the new bulbs. This gets covered later.


^The plug that was on the fog-light unit is removed and spliced into the HID Power harness so that I can plud this into the chassis harness and not mess with the chassis harness itself.


^I taped up the out-put side of the HID Ballast in efforts to keep them moisture free as long as possible.


^Pictured of one side, pretty basic setup as 35W will only take up 3.1~3.5 Amps of power draw, no need to use relays. Here you can see that only thing that needs to be hooked up now is the patch harness I made earlier into the chassis harness.


Taped up the hole/opening in the dust cap/cover as best I could....


Finished!

I'll post a pic of it on the road later when I remember to along with actual night time driving impressions.

[EJ8 944]

Originally Posted by mad-ass

If it wasn't obvious enough by a high detail picture..yes those are plastic lens.

I'm glad we were able to solve this mystery.

[silviaks2nr]

I forgot about this thread, haven't been doing many 240s lately, mostly just new cars/trucks (i can share that too- but kinda off topic).

usdm housings with clear lenses
rx330 non afs projectors (converted to bixenon)
high beam projectors are halogen oem (forgot exactly what I took them from)

[FaLKoN240]

Seriously...?! You're killing the lighting game dude.

PLEASE make those lenses like you were talking about lol.

Do your clients go in on the Sonar lights and buy the entire housing? Or do you find them for cheap? I really need those plastic lenses in my life.

Do you do anything to treat the lenses?

[mad-ass]

I would say share them here. I love seeing new light setups on every make of cars. and plus I don't visit too many other forums nowadays.

[FaLKoN240]

If that didn't make sense... lol

Originally Posted by silviaks2nr

I forgot about this thread, haven't been doing many 240s lately, mostly just new cars/trucks (i can share that too- but kinda off topic).

Originally Posted by mad-ass

I would say share them here. I love seeing new light setups on every make of cars. and plus I don't visit too many other forums nowadays.

[silviaks2nr]

Okay here's a few recent ones then.

2013 civic with s2000 projectors and satin black painted housings. The projectors were modded with custom cutoff shields that allow for extra color flicker effect through a small slit above the cutoff edge.











WRX with obsidian black pearl painted bezels, e55r bixenon projectors, and refinished lenses



kouki s14 w/ brand new housings, retrofitted with modded rx330 projectors



2003 accord with modded rx330 projectors and obsidian black pearl paint





my personal truck I bought in January

new oem housings with bixenon converted maxima projectors with e30 clear lens swap, obsidian black pearl paint, candy orange blinker lesnes, and blue chrome bezels on the projector shrouds.

factory fog lights were also retrofitted with 2014 bmw x5 led modules









led fogs which provide almost 180* of lighting






(slightly overexposed to better show the width)

Tundra trdsport with acura TL projectors, gloss black paint, Oracle dual colored halos, and orange SMD halos around each projector for turn signal

[status]

This is my little contribution to the thread..







I've built about 30 sets of these now.

[Yellow4g63]

Originally Posted by silviaks2nr

I forgot about this thread, haven't been doing many 240s lately, mostly just new cars/trucks (i can share that too- but kinda off topic).

usdm housings with clear lenses
rx330 non afs projectors (converted to bixenon)
high beam projectors are halogen oem (forgot exactly what I took them from)

Excellent work sir.

[R33E8]

I'm currently trying to do an LED headlight retrofit with my headlights.. So far it looks like it might work...



(it lines up much better in person..)

[FaLKoN240]

Originally Posted by R33E8

I'm currently trying to do an LED headlight retrofit with my headlights.. I so far it looks like it might work...



(it lines up much better in person..)

Those are from the new MDX right? I am curious to see how that turns out.

[R33E8]

Originally Posted by FaLKoN240

Those are from the new MDX right? I am curious to see how that turns out.

Yup, 2014 Acura MDX...

[silviaks2nr]

I was thinking about doing that a year or so back. Interested to see the progress. I have a few more retrofits to post soon too.

[mad-ass]

how much was that thing anyways? looks expensive!

[turbo2nr]

WOW MDX retro.

[_kouki_monster_]

wow that mdx setup looks about perfect for kouki s14 housings!

[silviaks2nr]

What turned me off of the idea was I was worried that in order to get the rotation of the LED module correct for appropriate function it may have to sit titled inside the kouki housing which would be an unattractive look, or it may have to be titled so far that it wouldn't fit inside the housing at all. I hope I'm proven otherwise by R33 though!

[Future240]

^^I've noticed that of your retrofits have plastic lenses. Is there not a clear glass option or is it just not cost effective for glass?

[silviaks2nr]

It's actually more expensive to do the plastic lenses on a retrofit because you need the OEM housings + the clear lensed plastic housings to serve as donors for the clear lenses themselves. I no longer do retrofits in the aftermarket housings because frankly they are really poor quality all around.

I actually had a long discussion about clear lenses on kouki retrofits with a few other members in another thread. The performance of an hid retrofit with clear lenses in front is much much better and here's why... With clear lenses the light just below the cutoff line remains the appropriate intensity unlike if you put it behind glass- this greatly affects distance vision and down the road lighting performance. If you think about it the hid projectors I use for most of my retrofits (mostly newer lexus projectors, s2k, etc.) were not designed to be a light source behind thick glass lenses. The kouki halogen projectors were.

Along with causing added glare the thick glass lenses actually de-intensify the hotspot just below the cutoff line and effectively "move" some of the light from that hotspot into the foreground. This is not good as it causes the driver to concentrate heavily on the foreground right in front of the vehicle rather than distractions that may lie ahead down the road. With a lowered vehicle this problem is only exacerbated as the closer the light source is to the ground the shorter the distance vision is. Uneven road surfaces will cast shadows further and reflect less light back into your eyes than they would if the light source were higher. Clear lenses do allow for the "sick blue cutoff line" also, but that's only an added bonus if you care about that sort of thing.

[silviaks2nr]

2013 chevy cruz lights with rx8 projectors (+ bixenon conversion/clear projector lens swap)









2007 Camry lights lenses were restored and clearcoated along with a retrofit using modded acura mdx hid projectors

before (nasty!)








2010? Forte Koup lights with modded rx350 bixenon projectors and 100mm SMD halos behind the shrouds for accent lighting.

[d_nice]

i like how that looks^^^