HID Retrofit 2009 Tacoma Extended Cab

X3

I found the hardest part was trusting in your own abilities. AnT and I PM'd quite a bit as I got ready to do the retrofit. He was very helpful.

For my abilities I would want to do at least 3 retrofits before I would want to tackle anothers persons headlights to do a retrofit. Just take your time and measure 3 times befor you drill or cut. You should be OK.

Once you are finished you will see and know why the prices charged by the guys that will do a retrofit for you are pretty much a decent deal.

The down time alone waiting for the paint to dry, if you do a BHLM, took up most of my time. But I was anal and wanted to do the mod in BSP to match my Tacoma color.

 

Got it all back together only to find I didn't have enough adjustment on the drivers side. Pulled it appart, found out I'd forgotten to snap the ball & socket together. Only burned an hour on that, but it was frustrating re-baking it.

Will get some photos posted tomorrow I hope, once I can take photos in decent light. I might have a bit more tweaking to do on the alignment, but it's usable

Notes:

• The grey plastic of the housing will melt at about 320, have a trivial dent on 2 spots the back that doesn't affect anything now. Everything else did fine at 300 repeatedly
• A cup or 2 of bleach in some warm water stripped the chrome off the shrouds in around half an hour.
• Blue masking tape took off some chrome for the running light bowl, luckily it's behind Fresnel lenses & not obvious, that chrome is really weak, unlike the chrome on the bulletproof non-stick chrome on the shrouds
• Scuffing & priming the shrouds was useless, like trying to paint teflon, the chrome on the bezel scuffed easily & didn't seem to have a problem with adhesion
• Mount the headlights & go for a test drive before you seal them back up to make sure the alignment actually works on the road, not just on your wall
• Pull the windshield washer bottle... Unplug the wire at the bottom & 2 bolts, then pull it straight up our of the grommet, it's trivial & makes aligning the lights & installing things easier, didn't feel I needed to pull the battery though
• I put in the 4th bolt on the bottom on the headlights, they were a hair loose without them
• Get a new housing to do this to, I hear Denso's are only $100. It's depressing to realize how beat up mine actually were once I got em apart

 

Crappy cell-phone photos shooting into the sun this-morning, but it's a start. I'm liking the look I think. The bowls are stock chrome, but end up looking really dark due to reflecting everything else around them with is now black. Had been thinking about trying to tint them darker (with the lens blackout spray or something), but it just so happens they get that affect all on their own.

The running lights & signals stand out a bit more than I'd like, but dechroming those would cut into their function. Don't want to be one of those kind of drivers, much less worry about the legal ramifications.

Going to do something with the badge so I pulled it while the grill was off. Probably try for the same dark metallic red I have on the badge on the wheels.

 

Nice job. I did mine the same way and love it.

 

D2S projectors
Apollo shrouds
Blacked out reflectors, left the shrouds chrome.

 

Nice Job Rich. I like the loook of the shrouds and the total black out looks good with the white Tacoma.

 

Does the smooth side of the centric ring need to be face away from the reflector bowl or towards the reflector bowl? I currently have mine facing away. Your centric ring looks like its facing towards the bowl. Does it matter? I'm about to seal up my lights and I want to make sure the way I installed it is correct.

 

I installed the ring as pictured. The ring just fits on to the projector. I did use the high temp sealant on the projector to seal the shroud to the projector. I was worried about the shroud vibrating off the projector. The mod has been on now for almost 9 months with no issues.

Here is a pic of the projector with sealant applied before the shroud is set on to the projector.

 

Thanks. So I'm assuming it doesn't matter what side the ring faces. Hopefully one of the TRS guys can clear up my confusion.

 

I thought the ring could only be installed one way, with the "U" shaped groove securing the ring into the shroud lip.

 

On mine, the ring was notched, and matched up with fingers on the shroud. The shroud will not rotate on the ring, and the ring sits 100% inside the opening of the shroud.

But that's the current Apollo shroud. Might be different from the Gatling Gun.

 

Could be Rich. I have only tackled my headlight retrofit. Seems like it worked correctly and I have not had any problems so I am pleased with the results.

 

When I called TRS about problems fitting the Gatling Gun shrouds to my FX-Rs after fighting to get a good fitment without breaking things. They told me the Gatling Gun design was rather old & didn't fit modern projectors.

I ended up ordering a pair of orbits (the "low quality" ones, but never could see any dings or scratches on em before I dechromed em) and have been very happy with them. They just snapped right on as you'd expect. No slots for light leakage from mounting angel eyes or what not like the GGs, but I spent my cash on better HID bulbs rather than cosmetics lighting (I leave my lights on all the time anyway).

 

Better Bulbs

 

Ditto.
On my D2S I spent the extra $45 for the Philips lamps.

I just don't see the point in the halos. You can't wire them to your DRL because the turn signal flashing will kill them, and there's no point in wiring them to the parking lights since you aren't supposed to drive around with just the parking lights on.

They look cool and all, but they add complexity to the wiring for something that really has no use in the US.
In Europe, the halos are a projector-based replacement for the old "City Lights", which used to be a regular lamp like a 1034, that was used instead of the headlights when driving in a well-lighted city where headlights are not actually needed.
The US doesn't have a parallel for that mode of operation.

Did I mention that they do look cool?

 

Rich:
I went for the "Look Cool" factor on the halo rings. That is one of the reasons I left the reflector bowl chromed.

Plus I am an old fart and like chrome. I think that comes from the era when I grew up, late 50's and 60's. I did purchase gray aftermarket wheels for summer use and not chrome. After talking with some younger guys that I respect I decided on the gray and not chrome. I am very happy with the choice.

 

I'm happy with my BLHM & black shroud. The bowl is still chrome for some contrast in there, but ends up really dark due to only having black paint around it to reflect.

 

I swing the other way.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s with chrome (and contact paper woodgrain).... but I got so sick of cleaning chrome that I trend toward de-chromed, de-badged.


Except on my bike. Some things MUST be chrome....

 

I have found that aplying two good coats of a quality sealant wil protect the chrome and make it easier to clean. Wheels do get hot when dissipating brake heat. Most waxes will melt at temps close to 100 degrees. A sealant will not melt.

I perfer Zaino as my sealant but Megs makes a nice sealant at half the cost.