My 50W FX-R Retrofit Build

I decided to take advantage of the group buy on here and get some HIDs a few months back. I finally have a long weekend and decided to crank out this mod. .. unfortunately I'm already stuck and think I need different shrouds than the ones I have. Let me know what you guys think.

Lights and grill out in under 25 minutes. That bottom bolt really was as irritating as everyone said.


Driver's side housing apart. Oven to 300F. Oven off. Baked for 10 minutes... no joy. I baked an additional 10 after it had cooled down and was able to pull it apart.


The massive hole that I cut... :-/. I think I'm going to have to make it larger still.


The modifications to the FX-R v2 itself. Notice that the top "tab" has been cut off and that I cut the corners off of the lower mounting tabs (this will likely end up as a .




And you can see how trimming the tabs allowed me to set the shroud around projector body.


Eventually it will look something like this.


And throw a beam like that.


Now the rub... the shroud just seems way too big for our reflector bowl. I don't want to cut up the shroud because the edge will be visible and I will hack it up to the point of looking like crap. If I set the projector body any deeper (which I want to) then I will have to really cut the shroud back. Any suggestions? I'm at a loss and could really use some tips from the pros.

Progress is slow today.

I enlarged the hole in the reflector bowl some more to the point that the projector sits where I want. I also cut back the mounting tabs of the projector a bit more to fit the shroud better.


I trimmed the shroud back at the top to clear the reflector bowl. I may cut it even further back. I'm not sure yet.


Test fitting in the truck to make sure I clear the battery and check the aim of the projector.






This may need to be close enough to level. Otherwise I need to enlarge the bolt holes to get a little more wiggle room. It is pretty close considering the truck doesn't sit level .

Answering the age old question, "Does it blend?"



I picked up 2 cans of Krylon Fusion Black Satin to cover up the hack job.
I'm open to tips from the pros! This is a royal PITA.

 

i can't to start mine, Matt is sending me another ballast i think as the plastic housing at the end of the red/black wire was busted. looking foward to your progress. i am going for a murdered look, you keeping yours chrome?

 

I was originally going to leave the chrome. My truck is already black on black on black, and I thought that leaving the chrome in the housing might make the lights look better.

If I end up hacking the crap out of everything, I might end up using filler and going flat black to hide the mess that I make.

 

So I have made the hole even bigger to get the projector in to the point I'm happy... Now the shroud isn't even close to fitting so I need to cut up the shroud. This sucks. Right now I wish I never started.

 

I updated my top post.

 

Looks good so far man just remember to take your time and dont rush things. You might want to get your cut off a little more level I know that was the hardest part for me.

 

So far so good.... I'm in the middle of retrofitting my lights with FX-R's as well. I got one done (right side), and waiting on a new ballast for the other side so I can't do it until it arrives.

At any rate, like my friend Adam is saying, adjust the light horizontally. Trust me, of all people, I know what a PITA this mod is. Pretty much everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for me (burning bulb, blowing fuses, headlight leaking in cold weather, dead ballast, poor aiming... etc). After JB welding my projector to the housing and installing everything I realized I had my projector aimed WAYY to the left, even after maxing out the stock adjustment screws. It was hell, so I pulled out my dremel and cut out an even BIGGER whole around the projector that was glued. I also had to cut off the screws that I JB welded... again, it was hell. After I released the projector I had to switch to a grinder to file off the remaining JB weld. So, now I was left with a big freaking hole but it was still salvageable. To get the aim right held the projector in place and put a little cold weld tack (JB weld Kwik) on the top to hold it in place. I had to keep my hand in one place for 4 minutes but I knew it would be spot on. After this I drilled 3 additional holes (one of them still worked with the new adjustment). To cover up the large gap and the 'holyness' I used aluminum tape as it looks chrome and I wanted to leave my shield chrome. I've found that most murder there retrofits out and it just leaves a big black void IMO, plus I like the chromed look as the fogs aren't blacked out and it goes with them. Everything else is pretty much blacked out on my truck anyway, badges, wheels, lights, grill. Makes it look like a cyclops... there's just something technical about it. Now, nobody is really doing to see your aluminum tape or even know its there unless they come up to your headlight and stick there face in it, and really, the only person that is probably going to do that is you.

I also was going to go with the orbit shrouds, but they look like big pancakes, no offense, they do have a cool factor to them. The only other shroud that will completely cover the FX-R is the Panamera, and they look like, well, a porsche. Don't give up, never give up on these things, cause if I can do it so can you! I've had my headlights apart so many times now I can't even remember.

 

Thank you for the advice, words of patience and encouragement, and tips. I took the projector back outside hand-held and checked out what it looked like on the garage door... about the same *looks like it slopes down to the right.* Tomorrow I will reassemble the headlight and set the adjustment screws to the middle positions. I'll put my truck on level ground and use a measuring device to confirm that the cutoff is level.

The reflector, housing, & shroud are drying right now from the krylon fusion black satin paint. I decided it was just easier and would still look good. I did want to keep the chrome. Oh well.

The orbit shroud is huge. If I had seen it in person, I don't think that I would have chosen it, but the TRS description of it sold me on it.

I trimmed the shroud to the point where it is touching the bowl in about 5 places. I think I am going to reassemble tomorrow morning and reevaluate the product.


Oh almost forgot, where is the little 'jaggy' in the cutoff line supposed to be aimed? should it be direction infront of the projector or off to the right?

 

The step or 'jaggy' thing you're talking about should be in front of the projector, or slightly to the left at 25 feet away.
This helped me when I was aiming.

 

Today was more or less a disaster. I found out that the shield in one of the projectors is all jacked up... It is why I couldn't get a good cutuff that was level and straight across. I tried the other projector and ... magic.


Then the ballast I was using for the testing developed a nasty short. There must be a loose wire internally because there was a spark gap formed on the surface of the ballast and the light started to strobe.

I managed to completely mess up the BHLM paint in the process as well. I scratched the crap out of my very nice paint job. When I laid down a few more coats of paint today (after scotchbrighting) I got a nasty orange-peel. I'm not sure if it was the 50F temps in my garage.


I can't upload to picasa right now for some reasons... pictures to follow when able. (..added)

 

why did you want to mount the projector so deep?

the hole i drilled isnt nearly that big. mine is a little larger than 2" so the curved part of the projecter rests on the reflector bowl.... i have the gatling shrouds which appear to be even longer than the ones you have and i didnt have a issue at all with the shroud length.

cutoff looks awesome though!

 

i personally would cut the reflector bowl like the following pics so you can fit the solenoid and not have to make a bigger hole!




i know its crooked, but those pics are from a while back..... now they are more clean and round and more even

 

also, have you tried to start your truck?? maybe not enough juice is going to the lights and you are getting the strobe effect......


happened when i did the ford F150.... had to start the truck

 

Its a bit hard to explain without laying eyes on it, but here it goes.

I picked the orbit shroud since it was supposed to be large enough to cover the FX-R 2.0 Projector. It isn't without cutting the projector up. This was confirmed with TRS after purchase. It apprently covers the 1.0, but not the 2.0.

I trimmed off the lower mounting tabs and drilled new holes in the projector body so that the shroud can completely cover the projector.

Next, I wanted to have the shroud as close to the reflector bowl as possible instead of there being a large gap. I think the gaps look poor and make it look like a retrofit instead of factory.

By cutting the hole as large as I did, all four mounting tabs on the projector body are against the back of the bowl. I then trimmed a small portion of the shroud to clear the reflector bowl. The end result will hopefully be a straight projector that is snug against the reflector bowl and a shroud with almost no gap.

I will use 4x 8-32 bolts to hold to projector. Once I'm content that it is in the proper place I will epoxy it to the reflector bowl so it can't work itself loose.

As far as how deep the projector is set, the back of the bulb is about even with the back of the housing. I think it will be a good depth for installing the rubber boot. (FINGERS CROSSED!)

 

Nah, I'm using an external power source. It isn't the truck battery... also there is a standing spark/gap on the surface of the ballast where the metal shielded plug comes out of the body. The other ballast works like a champ. Tapping on the ballast seems to affect the behavior.

 

^

ooo ok.

 

Ohh ya... that sucks with the paint getting scratched as you're adjusting and moving the projector, I know what you mean as I scratched mine as well. What ballast do you have? One of mine took a dump as well which is why I haven't finished yet.

 

Morimoto 5Five ballasts. I laid down fresh paint last night. Hopefully when I get home to check on it it looks good.

 

There was a long hair in the paint! Damn it. I just sanded it out and sprayed again.