BMW E46 Projector Retrofit Complete

[Ocelaris]

Just finished my Bi-xenon projectors from a BMW E46. Check them out Here's some pics

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNjA1NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

[Ocelaris]

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNjA0NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

[Ocelaris]

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNjAzNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

[Ocelaris]

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNjAyNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNjAxNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNjAwNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTk5NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTk4NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTk3NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTk2NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTk1NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTk0NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTkzNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTkyNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNTkxNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg
And the last one!
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDczNjA2NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

[DoMahMeGok]

3pics with the same messege "sorry you are trying to access an image outside of imagestation.com"

are those lights pointing towards the middle or is it an optical illision effect?

[Zodiac]

Yeah.. you might want to find a new host for those images.. they just arent working for me =\

Im not sure I entirely love the way they look, but thats my opinion only.. Its one of those things I think Id have to see in life and not in a picture and it might grow on me :) Hows the light they're putting out?

[Ocelaris]

I like the look, others may not. The benefits lie in that you get a true non-glaring sharp cut off beam pattern, and the blue shimmer without any blue bulbs, these are "color enhanced" (modding the projectors) so they have a more blue tint to the cut off... i.e. shimmer. They're 4250K Osram and Bosch Projectors and Bosch Ballasts, OEM BMW 3-series DOT. There are much better projectors, and part of me wishes I had spent more for those, but these are pretty easy to come by and relatively inexpensive. cost me about 550$ after 5 days of work... need to aim them a little before I can give definitive answer on the light since they're like cockeyed at the moment.

If nothing else, I now have a working Bi-Xenon Bixenon bi xenon (repeated for search accessibility) HID for our H4 system... it was a pain in the A$$ may I say. I will scan the schematic/diagram I made for the harness. BEst, Bill


I bought the Bi-Xenon projectors, meaning the have a solenoid which drops a shield which makes them hi and low... you can get just low beams if you have headlights which have hi and low beams seperate. Mine only had one bulb for both Hi and low, and chose to go with the bi-xenon option. I don't think you actually need High beams to pass inspection, well, almost positive you don't here in VA, YMMV.

Check out this forum anyone who's interested:

http://hidforum.com/forum/

that's the place where it's goin on in retrofit world... or this faq gives alot of good info as well

http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/



hehe, you mean it is supposed to hit the wall ? :-) I made the mistake, when sealing the projectors, of sealing them with a permanant epoxy (jb-weld) which defeats the aiming ability... tommorrow I Have to cut a hole open in the back to give them some play.

There are already alot of good DIYs, much better than I can explain, but I do have pertinent Wiring info for our civics... I'm not sure if coupes/sedans ex/dx etc... have H4 as well? There wiring may be different, but I had a hard time getting my wiring straight since it's ground switched (two negatives and a positive, rather than 2 positives and one negative for highs and lows)... I will post that schematic up later when I get it scanned in.

Here is THE DIY for projectors, you can pretty much apply your situation to this guy's general instructions.

http://hidforum.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=6214

My situation was bad because I had Bi-Xenons with the solenoid at the bottom, which meant I couldn't mount the projectors too far inside, so the projector had to be mounted behind the original reflector, which caused all sorts of problems with space issues... if you've ever been inside a Civic Si or RSX engine bay, you know why... ZERO space, my ballasts are tie strapped to the windshield wiper fluid on the left side because there's just no room, and the ballast has to go within like 12" of the lightbulb... Anyways, I'll post pics after I get my situation straightened out, but I did post what one projector looks like against my wall, note the slight blue tint... check hid forums for different projectors with awesome beam patterns. If I am able to get my projectors aligned tommorrow, I'll give myself an 8 out of 10... This project was by far my hardest mod I've done to date, harder than switching out the gauge cluster for LEDs, harder than doing my coilover, less work than gutting my car and sound proofing it, but much more frustrating because everything has to be "pretty" this takes patientce and delicate hands... of which both I lack. I degress it's late. enjoy the pics, feel free to ask any Qs

I followed basically this guy's Pictures for a guide

http://members.rogers.com/wewong_hid/

there are alot of retrofit ideas here:

http://www.hidretro.com/navigation.htm

and a linky to the 7thgen discussion where those quotes were from...
7thgen mirror thread (http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2130327)

I originally had all the pics there, but got we-todd-did hosting for them, and brought them home where they belong :o)

[raiyo]

http://www.photobucket.com/
http://www.clubphoto.com/_cgi-bin/members/sign_up.pl?r=cp_join_homepage
http://we-todd-did-racing.com/

[Civicvtec1ps]

Looks awesome.

[SF-SI-02]

That is DISGUSTING! Man awesome job, no bleeding whatsoever from the bevels, I am very jealous, again, great job! :shadesm:

[1 fstr si]

badass. thats all i have to say.

[oogy-boogy]

Once again....great work!

First the DIY LED color swap and now this.... ;)

[Ocelaris]

Thanks :) Bump for all new pics.

[DownTheHatch]

Im impressed, mainly because those took alot more work than my 350z retro job and came out looking great :) Very nice!

[skooba]

nice work, where in nova do you live?

[RockEP_SS**]

Nice work! A buddy of mine did it on a 01 Civic, and he was tryin to explain to me what he did but nothing ever registered in my head! He got the BMW lights with HID's, and the beam moves up and down when you turn em on. Does yours do that?

Rocky
Showstoppers USA

[siver-SI]

:shockm:

Wow those look great.

Just wondering how much did that cost and how much time?

[Ocelaris]

Im impressed, mainly because those took alot more work than my 350z retro job and came out looking great Very nice!

heh, If I could locate some Nissan/Infiniti projectors I might have those instead... but they're some of the hardest to find, also some of the best :) Might have taken a little more work with the bi-xenon part, but at least yours work at the moment! If i drive too much longer with them like this I'm gonna go crosseyed :'(


Nice work! A buddy of mine did it on a 01 Civic, and he was tryin to explain to me what he did but nothing ever registered in my head! He got the BMW lights with HID's, and the beam moves up and down when you turn em on. Does yours do that?

The automatic leveler? no, I didn't install that, I didn't get that, nor would I understand the mechanism for how that would go together... But if you could get me in contact with that guy, I would love to ask him how he did it! But what I have is the shield that covers the lower half of the projector normally (inverted gives you the correct throw on the ground), well that shield falls forward with a solenoid pivot point and then you get light through the entire projector which goes much further, that is Bi-Xenon. But I just threw away an S500 Mercedes headlight with an automatic leveler on it :-/ maybe should have kept it... I'm gonna make a light out of that headlight !

Skooba, I'm in fairfax, you?

[Ocelaris]

:shockm:
Just wondering how much did that cost and how much time?

Oops sorry forgot before. I got the projectors, bulbs, ballasts etc.. hardware for 400$ but after all was said and done it cost probably 550$... granted I bought too much stuff that I didnt' need, but you could probably do it for 500$ with forethought.

Time wise... I got back in town monday evening... I started on tuesday morning, and I worked at least 4-6 hours a day if not more until saturday, which I put 8+ hours in... and I still have to take them apart and cut them up, and then weld their A$$es back together because of stupid mistakes since I was tired and not thinking late friday... But Iwould say 30% of my work was wasted because of figuring stuff out. If I had to do it again It'd probably take me 5 days to get it done and right the first time. I still have some time off before school, and am not beyond the thought of selling them, but they're so much work, somebody'd have to make a ridiculous offer and give me their headlights so I could make another set for myself.

The reason it took so long is because I did Bi-Xenons... if you just did low beams and used like fog lights triggered/relayed off your high beams, it would be 100x easier. Low beams you can just cut a hole in the back of your oem reflector and JB weld them in relatively straight and then use stock aiming to get the rest right. Some Bi-Xenon projectors may not be as difficult, but they are then more difficult to find... the 3-series Bi-xenon are small, and have a pretty good color and very common and cheap comparatively...

I was kinda nervous the first few days beacuse with a stiff suspension and such a bright blue cutoff, it's like you're one of those lighted buoys out in the water, but now I'm kinda digging the lights... can't imagine what they'll look like when they're aimed properly!

[Ocelaris]

3pics with the same messege "sorry you are trying to access an image outside of imagestation.com"

are those lights pointing towards the middle or is it an optical illision effect?

Images fixed :-) And yes they are aimed incorrectly... it's a long story, I feel like I've repeated myself and are boring people... but basically the bi-xenons have solenoides to drop the shields, which required me to mount them from behind the main OEM reflector, which led them to stick out too far the back, which led me to freak out about clearance and sealing them, so I JB-Welded them shut, and forgot that the HID reflector bowl needs to move freely so it can be aimed... so I have to go back and cut out the JB Weld a little circle so I can aim them... to be completed hopefully by friday.

and for anyone in the future looking for wiring diagrams, I took the liberty of scanning in the Helms version of our Headlights schematic... wires 6, 4, and 12 are the wires that you see in the actual H4 connector... and it is not obvious whether they show ground or not... read my schematic for an explanation of what wires show what in what condition.

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDc1MDI0NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

[cHiNoYbOi14]

You did a damn good job on those.