rocket

iTrader: (1)

By far the best retro that i've seen. Your attention to detail is good as it gets. Very nice job!

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

As promised, here's what I spent:

PURCHASED:
Donor Headlight - Driver..........35
Donor Headlight - Passenger....60
H4 Wiring Harness.............. ..30
2 Hella Gen3 Ballasts..............50
2 Phillip D2S H4 4300K Bulbs. ..50
2 Infiniti FX45 Projectors........75
2 Acura TSX Projectors..........150
4 Malibu Light Covers.............30
Total......................................480

SOLD:
Donor Headlight - Driver.........-58
Donor Headlight - Passenger...-55
Acura TSX Projectors............-55
Infiniti FX45 Lenses...............-27
Grand Total............................285


There were no misc cost involved b/c I already had plenty of tape, RTV silicone, zip ties, dremel bits and what else just laying around the garage.


Thanks. This was the first one I had ever done before, so I really did not know what to expect going into it. Seemed like it took for ever though, but it was a good experience nonetheless.

racingcameron66

That's tempting, but I'd have to charge you an arm and a leg. I put more time in this retro than I ever planned too. I could have done them much quicker, but with as busy as I stay, I was doing good just to get an hour's worth of work in on a Saturday! Might be a while, before I get around to doing another retro...


just let me know

pfdaxe

I'll be starting my second retro in a couple of weeks. I think this one will go a bit smoother and quicker. If I can get it down to a relatively good time frame for turn-around, I may start doing some for people....

UNR.Grad

2 Hella Gen3 Ballasts..............50

Wow, great deal!!!

pfdaxe

Hey UNR.Grad:

Did you get my PM? Do you have any close up pics of your TLs installed? I'm trying to see what the shrouds look like with that solenoid.

Thanks,

Paul

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

It's all about timing


Oh and for anyone interested. since I did not have any photos of how the back of my headlights looked after I finished the retro, I just posted a picture in my 1st post (that I found on WeCool.net) that illustrates how the back of my lights look after the retro. My lights look very similar to that photo.

Mtriple

Looks great, where did you find the projectors? I checked ebay and they are considerably more than what you paid.

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

I purchased both the FX & TSX projectors from Ebay. At the time, there were plenty of other auctions for FX projectors going for double what I paid too. I just patiently waited until I found a set worth purchasing at a decent price. Took me about 3-4 wks before a cheap quality set popped up.

The TSX projectors...well, they are always high. I needed the lenses, and a cheap set rarely ever pops up. Fortunately, I was still able to sell the TSX projector housings for a decent price when I was finished.

UNR.Grad

I'll check and get back to you. I am pretty sure I do. The TLs are A LOT harder to work with than FXs in the 4Runner headlight, I've retro'ed both in them.





Also regarding the TSX lenses, E30's work well too. I am tuning an FX projector for my brother's mortocycle (pic shows a slightly blurrier cutoff):

pfdaxe

[I'll check and get back to you. I am pretty sure I do. The TLs are A LOT harder to work with than FXs in the 4Runner headlight, I've retro'ed both in them.]


Sounds good. I'll look forward to seeing some pics. What was hard on the install? I know they are a bit bigger. I'm looking at ways to cover the solenoid. The angel eyes I'm installing will cover some of it...

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

It aint much, but here's 2 photos showing the cutoff...

aviator

That is a nice crisp clean cut off there. No apparant glare or scatter at all.

hiloracerboy84

sorry to dig up an old thread, but hey UNR, i got the same question as pfdaxe. what made mounting the TL's difficult? they look like they would mount up nice since they already have holes for mounting. im definitely looking into building another retro. My murano's were terrible to mount, as they dont have any nice mounting tabs/holes on them. they do put out some nice light though w/ the clear lenses, and i want to try them side by side w/ a TL for comparison.

TheloniousMonk

Good job on the HIDs. I'll give you credit if I do it, which I probably will.

Hopefully, someone with no skills like me can do the same thing and make it look good.

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

Trust me...if I can do it, anyone can do it.

I admit, I almost gave up half way thru the retro. I got a bit over whelmed and thought about just scraping the whole idea. But I decided to push on and finish it. Afterwards, I was so glad I stuck with it. The results are truely amazing.

elblako91

Why did you almost give up? Was there a hard part we should know about if we decide to do this mod? Oh and how did you get the bezel from the solar light to stick to the housing of the headlight? Screws? And lastly so far every one that has done this mod I've seen them use the diamond cut housings. Do you have to use this type of housing or will the euro version work?

Thanks-Blake

hiloracerboy84

actually its quite straight forward once you do it. (i'm going on my 7th retro now...doing em for subaru's on the side now). for a first timer, measure once, twice, 3 times, then cut and drill. the solar cover is probably put on via jb weld or some sort of high temp resistant adhesive. imo, there's other options that can be utilized now that will still hide the whole projector if thats the look youre going for.

i thought the diamond/euro were the same...idk as long as they're not the 96-98 frosted/fluted headlights, it'll work great.

anyone interested in my retro? im going to be selling it soon specs in sig.

elblako91

Well seeing how you have already done this seven times you must be getting good at it. lol But the reason i ask is because the diamond cut housings are clear and the euros are not. I wonder if it would affect performance. Hmmm

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

lol, I almost gave up b/c I had a ba-zillion other things going on at the time. I was not able to direct the majority of my time to this retro, so it seemed like this retro took forever to finish. If I choose to do another one, I will do a better job of time management.

To mount the bezel to the projector, I used a tube of clear, high temp RTV silicone. Been working great thus far.

The diamond cut housings ('99-'02) work great simply because they have have a clear lense...not frosted like the '96-'98 versions. Better light output IMO.