Thoughts on this HID beam?

Michael.

 

I was going to IG blast TM but that guy is Alex.

 

I believe there are two people who run toyotamaniacs. Mjb477 was Michael Brown and who I had all my dealings with.

One other thing I failed to mention, when the headlights(alleged $950 value) were shipped, he only insured them at a $50 value.

I can honestly say I am glad to hear he is out of the retroscamm..... retrofitting business, although I'm not sure I believe it.

As far as not being able to test them due to different year truck, that is an unacceptable excuse.

I can go buy a 2×4 stud from any home improvement store for less than $3. You would simply need one basic measurement, the width of the headlight centers on each model truck. Mount the headlights horizontally level at the desired spacing(supporting the bottom of the headlight as they are cheap housings) and power them up in a basement, garage or out in the backyard with a spare battery or altenate 12 volt source.

I almost did this very thing in my basement to test them out before installing them, sure wish I would have in hindsight. Then again it would not have fixed the lense issues I am having.

I'll be interested in a future update from Makanouchi on whether he has the same issues in that regard.

 

No lens issue so far, bit I'm hanging on to my stock headlights just in case.

 

Just looked at this thread again. OP I feel bad for you that is way too much work to be doing for a product that should be plug and play. I hope the seller realizes how much he has inconvenienced a customer.

Back to the alignment issues. Did you ever figure out why it was off so much? I mean with the H4 plate installed I don't understand why it was that far off. Mine was a tiny bit but enough to be fixed easily. Just curious.

 

I don't know what really caused it as I have never really messed with projectors until having to try and correct this.

The seller kept referring to some alignment tab that was in the correct position. I didn't really look for anything like that. I basically just held the back up to a light and looked through the front and could see the projector shield, I used a wide blade screwdriver and was able to put it in the slot at the bottom and was able to rotate it until it looked level. The slot I'm talking about looled like the at on the bottom of the image below.

I did similar to the passenger side but they both still need tweeked a bit. The small phullips heads on the passenger side were already stripped but I was still able to get rotation out of it.

Whenever I get brave enough to try the lense swap(if the OEM lenses will even fit the Eagle Eyez housings) I might look into it a bit further, but will definitely get them horizontally level.

I still carry both OEM headlights in the back floor board with all tools in case I need to swap them out if something fails when driving. I just don't trust the things

 

Yeah I don't blame you with carrying the extra set. As for swapping out the lense I recommend using a heat gun if you have one. It makes life easier and the heat is only directed in the area you want it to be so you don't have to worry about the entire thing heating up. Plus it doesn't take as long. If you don't have one you can get one at Walmart the probably for around $20 for a cheap one doesn't need to be anything special

 

I can get a heat gun, doubt it will take much to remove the retro lense, it looks to be only attached with clear silicone and the screws. Just hope I can get it all cleaned up for the new lense.

My biggest concern is the fit of an oem lense with an aftermarket housing, have a feeling I will be dealing with some sort of issue, either moisture or contours being slightly off.

What do customizers normally use to reseal the lenses? I have some pretty good new silica packs already so I'll probably thrown one in each housing if I opt to go that route.

Only other option is to find someone to do my factory headlights the right way. I haven't ruled that out yet, but by that point I'll be in it for $1500+.

Bought the passenger assembly on ebay Monday morning and he has yet to ship it, headlights just don't get along with me I guess. Once it gets here I'll be more inclined to make something happen

 

I know mine is an 04 Tacoma but I used just the lense on my housing and it fit just fine you should be alright. If you go to theretrofitsource.com they have the same glue that you use to seal up the housings

 

Yet another strike against toyotamaniacs, I hope everyone who reads this learns from my mistake.

Research, research, research....

I have a drivers side OEM assembly already here. I might try to remove it from the factory housing tomorrow just to grt annidea of what it's supposed to look like and go back together. Maybe try to replace the one lense if it goes well and see if it's an endevour I wish to pursue on my own.

I can fix anything with a wrench, but sometimes delicate isn't my strongsuit lol. Wouldn't be a bad learning experience either way.

I'll post some pics of the reassembly by @toyotamaniacs (can never have too many google search references) when I get them back out. Starting to realize just how big of a mistake I made to begin with.

 

Geez, the saga continues.

The replacement passenger side headlight assembly I ordered just showed up. Went from label created to out for delivery overnight. Purchased on ebay and paid $15 for the shipping charge, but when it showed up the mail carrier stated there was an additional postage due of $23.25, which I refused to pay.

At this point I think I'm going to put my factory headlights back in and put all this stuff on the back burner. It's just not worth it any longer.

Waiting to hear back from the ebay seller now.

 

Headlights failed this morning. Haven't had time to troubleshoot, but was a long dark drive to work.

The guy is lucky he's not local......

 

Ended up being a blown fuse. Not sure what it takes to pop the 25 amp fuse in the morimoto harness, but doesn't seem right.

Not sure if blown fuses are a common occurence or not.

Might see if I can get the pair of lense donor assemblies to install and see how much someone competent would charge to transfer everything over to my factory housings. I'd supply everything but the paint(don't want hazard shipping for aerosols). Just want it done right.

 

I would definitely consider having someone who isn't a shitbag rebuilding them.