2nd Gen 4Runner Headlight Conversion
03-17-2011, 04:04 AM
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2nd Gen 4Runner Headlight Conversion
Hello there,
I am Kevin from Tucson, AZ. I just wanted to share a little project I had been working on recently.
Every since I got my 4runner I have been looking for a solution to my weak headlights. I was toying with using the existing headlight housings and retrofitting some mini H1's or a similar bi-xenon projector, but I decided against it because the glass on the housings is "rippled". I'm not sure how that would have affected the output of the projectors and some of the alignment mounts were broke on the housings. There doesn't seem to be many projector retrofits for the 2nd gen 4runners. After lurking for a while I ran across Blizzard's headlight retrofit for his 2nd gen 4runner. I really liked how it looked on his truck so I set out to replicate it with my own twist on it.
To start I picked up some Hella 90mm projector lows and reflector highs from Yellow and Blue Lighting.
They came from the factory with 65 watt H9 halogen bulbs, but they were swapped out for some 5000K HIDs from DDM Tuning.
The output from the halogen bulb wasn't bad, and it did throw some color at the cutoff. The step is also very large.
The HID kit helped a bit with the color.
The high beam has a very efficient pattern for throwing light down a ways.
I couldn't resist messing with the shield.
The test bench I set up for screwing around.
Ok, I was liking the lights, time to throw them on the truck.
The bracket I made out of some mild steel. I should have spent more time measuring precisely, I just used a tape measure and my eyes.
Lights mounted on the bracket. The hole was cut with a jigsaw. I tried to set them up with the inward slope to make the truck look like it is angry.
Sneaky mounting spot for the ballasts. Straps made out of leftover sheet metal.
Bracket with lights on the truck.
Finally some lighting comparison. I forgot to get some pictures of the differences in the output. I drove around like that for a couple days, the difference is night and day. The Hella's are so much wider and controlled than the stock reflector.
As for wiring, I wanted to use dedicated relays and fuses that were connected straight to the battery. I was trying to make the wiring as inconspicuous as possible. Mounting the ballasts in the fenders helped a lot with that. I wired the relays' coils to the existing 9004 headlight connector. It took a little multimeter work to figure out which wires were which. I have one relay for the low beams and another for the highs. They are connected in a way that the lows stay on when the highs are on. I used some 14 gauge extension cord to run power over to the driver side ballast's.
I got a chance to finish the other side and paint the mounting brackets.
Low beams.
Low + high beams.
As a finishing touch I got some 12" LED strips to make an eyebrow over the lights. I tried various mounting methods, two part Harbor-Freight epoxy seems to work the best so far (hot glue and JB Weld failed). I think they turned out pretty good.
So far this is the only output picture I have. I will try to get some more for you guys soon.
The truck as it sits now.
Thanks again to Blizzard for the idea. Also thanks to the people over at HID Planet.
Overall I had fun with this. If I were to do it again I would spend more time on the bracket. Driving over washboards or similar terrain makes the lights shake, the brackets just need to be reinforced a bit. Driving around with the new lights is so much nicer than the stock lights. The cutoff has a large gap, and the low beams has hot spots and weird artifacts. Even so, they are still worlds better than the stock lights.
I am Kevin from Tucson, AZ. I just wanted to share a little project I had been working on recently.
Every since I got my 4runner I have been looking for a solution to my weak headlights. I was toying with using the existing headlight housings and retrofitting some mini H1's or a similar bi-xenon projector, but I decided against it because the glass on the housings is "rippled". I'm not sure how that would have affected the output of the projectors and some of the alignment mounts were broke on the housings. There doesn't seem to be many projector retrofits for the 2nd gen 4runners. After lurking for a while I ran across Blizzard's headlight retrofit for his 2nd gen 4runner. I really liked how it looked on his truck so I set out to replicate it with my own twist on it.
To start I picked up some Hella 90mm projector lows and reflector highs from Yellow and Blue Lighting.
They came from the factory with 65 watt H9 halogen bulbs, but they were swapped out for some 5000K HIDs from DDM Tuning.
The output from the halogen bulb wasn't bad, and it did throw some color at the cutoff. The step is also very large.
The HID kit helped a bit with the color.
The high beam has a very efficient pattern for throwing light down a ways.
I couldn't resist messing with the shield.
The test bench I set up for screwing around.
Ok, I was liking the lights, time to throw them on the truck.
The bracket I made out of some mild steel. I should have spent more time measuring precisely, I just used a tape measure and my eyes.
Lights mounted on the bracket. The hole was cut with a jigsaw. I tried to set them up with the inward slope to make the truck look like it is angry.
Sneaky mounting spot for the ballasts. Straps made out of leftover sheet metal.
Bracket with lights on the truck.
Finally some lighting comparison. I forgot to get some pictures of the differences in the output. I drove around like that for a couple days, the difference is night and day. The Hella's are so much wider and controlled than the stock reflector.
As for wiring, I wanted to use dedicated relays and fuses that were connected straight to the battery. I was trying to make the wiring as inconspicuous as possible. Mounting the ballasts in the fenders helped a lot with that. I wired the relays' coils to the existing 9004 headlight connector. It took a little multimeter work to figure out which wires were which. I have one relay for the low beams and another for the highs. They are connected in a way that the lows stay on when the highs are on. I used some 14 gauge extension cord to run power over to the driver side ballast's.
I got a chance to finish the other side and paint the mounting brackets.
Low beams.
Low + high beams.
As a finishing touch I got some 12" LED strips to make an eyebrow over the lights. I tried various mounting methods, two part Harbor-Freight epoxy seems to work the best so far (hot glue and JB Weld failed). I think they turned out pretty good.
So far this is the only output picture I have. I will try to get some more for you guys soon.
The truck as it sits now.
Thanks again to Blizzard for the idea. Also thanks to the people over at HID Planet.
Overall I had fun with this. If I were to do it again I would spend more time on the bracket. Driving over washboards or similar terrain makes the lights shake, the brackets just need to be reinforced a bit. Driving around with the new lights is so much nicer than the stock lights. The cutoff has a large gap, and the low beams has hot spots and weird artifacts. Even so, they are still worlds better than the stock lights.
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