Ebay dual halo projector headlight retrofit

Here's my write-up for the retrofit I did to my ebay headlights:

What I bought from TRS:
Morimoto Mini Stage III Kit (H1)
H1 relay harness
H1 male > H1/9006 female high beam splitters
H1 Morimoto 3Five 5000k bulbs
2 sets of 2 x 100mm halos in white

So first I disassembled the headlights including all wiring that I could get to, rubber plugs and plastic caps:





Baked them at 300 F for about 11 minutes
(thanks to all those that have done this before me, I followed the instructions for baking them here: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/65226-how-black-head-light-mod.html)

Remember to turn the oven off when it reaches 300F and then put the lights in. After I pulled them out of the oven, it took about 30 second to pull them apart.


Took the crappy dim halo's out and cleaned up some of the sealing compound that stuck to the insides of the housing as I split the lights.


I then took a template of the mounting and adjustment locations from the old projectors and made a pair of my own mounting brackets to fit the new projectors.....brackets were made from 0.095" thick aluminum sheet



Mounted the brackets to the projector.....I forgot to do one thing that I wish I did before installing and completing the projector.
What I should have done is treat and prime the brackets before installing them, this way there's a bit more protection from dissimilar metal corrosion....aluminum on steel, not a very good combo, but it should be fine as long as there's no moisture trapped in the housing


Mounted the projector back onto the housing


Tested for horizontal alignment, how I did that was by clamping the housing to the table and adding spacers to get the headlight to sit in the same position as it would be on the truck (took the inner bolt location and measured down as my reference point then took measurements from the other mounting locations, some basic math, then transferred those numbers to the table)


the picture doesn't look like the light was level but I did take a carpenters level to it and it was pretty darn level!

I forgot to take a picture of the XB LED halo's that I put in them.
I siliconed the halo's onto the old halos that came with the lights because when I test fitted the led halo's the old mounting holes for the old halo's were showing. So to get rid of that problem, I simply removed the led's from the old halo's and glued the new ones onto the old and mounted them.

Cleaned the housing and inside lens and cover before baking, baked the headlights at 300F for about 5 minutes.......or so.......then squeezed the two together, attached the clips and screw removed before the mod and then done....on to the wiring....


So I wired up the halo's and LED lights to the parking lights, only because I do have the amber/white dtrl's from Chris (csjumper2003) and they are bright enough that I didn't want to have too much when the daytime running lights were on, also didn't want the halo's blinking everytime I turned my signals on.
Wire loomed everything to keep it a bit neater



mounted the relay beside the battery


the ballasts mounted on the self beside the headlights and the wiring from left side to right side tucked under the trim




The wiring schematic with High Beam splitters (H1 male > H1/9006 female) and the diode location. Sorry the picture is sideways.


before and after pictures of the headlights with csjumper2003's dtrl's



The finished product with projectors on


For headlight removal and install instructions I followed:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/221513-2nd-gen-headlight-removal-pics.html but I didn't remove the inner fender cover to get at the lower outer bolt, I simply reached up and around the outside of the fog lights and removed and installed the bolt that way, you gotta do it blind and by feel. This was easy for me since I have to do that daily at work (there are lots of blind tight spots that components are installed in on commercial aircrafts)

 

Thanks, for some reason I feel like I missed something!

 

I'll post pics of the cutoff when I get a chance to tonight.
But here are pics of the stock headlights, and pre-mod ebay projectors.....pictures are taken from inside the truck with the truck 3 meters from the wall




Retrofitted headlights from 3 meters and 25 feet

 

Nice work man! I posted a thread earlier today because I'm thinking of buying this exact light, but put in my own HID bulbs..... would this be adequate?? I really don't want to take them apart, and would rather just switch out the bulbs to HID, and just wire them up accordingly.

I'm not really too fussy on light output... as long as it's an improvement to the original. I also read that we should seal them upon arrival?? What would use us?? Clear Silicone ok??

At this point, I'm thinking I might just update my 05 lights to the newer still TRD lights with the smoked inner reflectors..... less trouble....

 

Woah thats pretty cool.
Let me see if I completely understand this DIY. You get better light output and more focused beam? Its a straighter line and not a little light on top?
I wonder if I could do this with other Ebay lights.

Also halo is brighter? Can you measure diamater of halo? I know a website that sells colored halos if I did this I would want a different color like red. (i know can only turn on in park)

 

Thanks dude

The halo diameter is 100mm and it is way brighter than original...the retrofit can be done with other ebay lights, but I can't say for sure that the mounting would be the same

 

Thanks man, you can definately go that route, if your not too concerned with light output...stocks will give better light output as you can see in my conparison pictures.
If you do go this route, definately seal the housing with clear silicone prior to install...a good one to go with is the GE II clear.

But if you do want the look of these lights, it would be better to do the retrofit...imo.
the light output is not as good as stock even with HID's unless you do the retrofit.

Hope that helps

 

thank you for that info. May I ask why you chose white? Also I'll have to find the website but I bought halos for my chrysler white really bright leds and an oznium switch for like 2$ a piece if thaf.
You make brackets with stencil and dremel? Im interested in doing this because I like the look and increased/better light. Rep+

 

I like the look of the white, and it matches my 5000K HID's. I bought the whole kit from TRS - www.theretrofitsource.com

 

If you find that link I would be interested.

 

I made a stencil of the original mounting location of the old projector, then cut it to fit it onto the new projector (H1) then copied that onto a sheet of aluminum then cut it out using a band saw and dremel to do the final fitting.

 

question...where did you get the upgraded halo rings?

 

TRS - www.theretrofitsource.com

I got everything from there except the headlights

 

another member on here has also done the retrofit on ebay projector headlights...you can check his build here http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...se1988s-super-duper-stormtrooper-build-8.html

you can see that he has the same lights that I have but the mounting is different

 

I see. I ordered 4 red ones off ebay. I am also wanting to replace the 4 leds with red ones. if im correct they are 194 type push led's? The same type we put in our map lights? would it be illegal to run these while on the road?

also, are you running the halogen high beams? would it be possible to convert them to hid with the existing high beam unit? what about installing another projector?

 

yes the 4 Led's on each side are the 194 type (same type as the map lights)...I do believe that red in the front is illegal...I've read several posts on other threads saying that it is in fact illegal in all states (same as here in canada). But if you had them on a switch so that you could turn them off while driving than I think that you would be ok.

I am running halogens in the high beams, hoping to put super white halogens in them soon. You could also put in HID's into the high beams, but I'm gonna stick to the halogens.
I've considered running a quad projector set-up but I can't justify the additional $$$...with that said, it has been done before, so I've been told

 

Nice write up, i want to do the same exact thing down the road, i think these headlights look so sick

 

Thanks...I have had some other taco owners turn their heads when I drive by, mine's the only one in town

 

Yeah that looks really cool. Good job!

 

Thanks dude