DIY: HID Retrofit with FX35 Projectors
DIY: HID Retrofit with FX35 Projectors
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself, nor FITFREAK.NET endorse, recommend, encourage nor take any responsibility for the outcome of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Let me know what clarifications and pictures are needed to make this into an understandable DIY.
DIY: HID Retrofit with FX35 Projectors
I used FX35 projectors for this HID retrofit and the smallest size dog bowl for the shroud.
If you need instructions on how to take apart the headlight please go to this link.
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...headlight.html
If you want instructions on how to paint your headlights and smoke the amber signal and clear running light cover please go to this link.
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...eadlights.html
You will need to trim the projector so it fits into the reflector bowl. Pretty much you are removing the old mounting points used to mount the projector inside the FX35 headlight. Once you look at non-modified projector picture vs the modified you will see what you need to trim off.
Virgin FX35 Projectors
Disassembled the projector into two pieces and this is the rear section that needs to be trimmed.
Top are the pieces trimmed from the reflector bowl and bottom are the pieces trimmed from the projector.
You will also need to purchase a total of six 2” screws. I am sorry, but I forgot what size screws they are, but the size is identical to the original screws that hold the projector together. I just took the projector to ACE Hardware and made sure it fit. The important thing is that they are 2” long since that is the ideal fit. I also picked up twelve lock washers, twelve washers, and twelve 7mm nuts that would fit the screws. If you look at the pictures carefully you will see the outline you need to cut to fit the projector and also the three holes for the mounting screws. Just pay attention to the lines inside the reflector bowl on those pics. You can make the center hole a little bit smaller and the projector will still fit fine. Make sure you do not make the hole too large and destroy the three mounting screw hole locations that are necessary for mounting the projector.
An alternative (not as good as accurate) way to figure out the mounting points is to undo three of the screws that hold the projector together and replace them with the new 2” screws. Lay the projector in the housing and you can get an idea where the holes will be. Either way replace the three original screws on the projector with the three 2” screws.
If you create the mounting holes properly lined up with the lines on the reflector bowl as the pics the projector should be pretty much dead on centered. You can still tweak it later by how you tighten the mounting screws on the reflector bowl.
Two of the three holes were made with a dremel and multi purpose cutting bit (http://www.dremel.com/en-us/attachme...=66357&I=66359)
To cut out the center pieces I used a dremel with a cutting disk.
Exact mounting hole locations from passenger side headlight's reflector bowl.
Exact mounting hole locations from driver side headlight's reflector bowl.
Go ahead and prep the reflector bowl by sanding it lightly with some 1500 grit sandpaper and cleaning it thoroughly. It’s now ready to be painted with whatever color you would like…I painted mine with semi-gloss spray paint. Let this for about 10 hours and mount the projector on the reflector bowl.
If you look at the following picture you will see how the washer, lock washer, and nut are on the screw prior to putting it into the reflector bowl.
Once you get the projector into the bowl you can fasten them from behind the reflector bowl with the washer, lock washer, and nut. To make the mounting of the projector easier, back out the reflector bowl from the headlight adjustment with a 10mm socket so you have more space on the back of the reflector bowl to tighten the nut etc. It may get tricky here so be patient. If you still are having more trouble you can undo the bottom clip on the reflector bowl. It is circular shaped and you have to squeeze it together to pop up the reflector bowl. You may need to squeeze on side and then turn the clip and squeeze the opposite side since there is not a lot of to squeeze the two clips simultaneously.
BTW, you also know the projector is fitting well when you see that the back of the projector is lined up in the center of the hole in the back of the headlight. It may not be perfectly centered yet until you move the headlight leveling to the proper height. You can do this when you align the cutoff or later on after the headlights are sealed back up and on the car.
Once you get it mounted you are ready to do an alignment on the cutoff line to make sure the projectors are sitting leveled. Follow the same procedure as taking off your headlight but backwards and put the headlight on the car like in the following pics. You want to be about 20ft away or so and make sure the light is level. This is where you make your adjustments with the screws where the bottom 2” mounting screw will make the biggest difference on alignment. Just mess around with it and you will get it straight. Then tighten them up real good. Now you are ready to put the headlights back together.
Pics of the painted dog bowl/shroud.
Dog bowl mounted as a shroud.
If you need instructions on how to put the headlights back together please follow this link.
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...tml#post189105
Comparison of complete vs incomplete headlight.
Pic to get a better idea what semi-gloss black looks like.
Pictures of the final outcome.
Let me know what clarifications and pictures are needed to make this into an understandable DIY.
DIY: HID Retrofit with FX35 Projectors
I used FX35 projectors for this HID retrofit and the smallest size dog bowl for the shroud.
If you need instructions on how to take apart the headlight please go to this link.
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...headlight.html
If you want instructions on how to paint your headlights and smoke the amber signal and clear running light cover please go to this link.
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...eadlights.html
You will need to trim the projector so it fits into the reflector bowl. Pretty much you are removing the old mounting points used to mount the projector inside the FX35 headlight. Once you look at non-modified projector picture vs the modified you will see what you need to trim off.
Virgin FX35 Projectors
Disassembled the projector into two pieces and this is the rear section that needs to be trimmed.
Top are the pieces trimmed from the reflector bowl and bottom are the pieces trimmed from the projector.
You will also need to purchase a total of six 2” screws. I am sorry, but I forgot what size screws they are, but the size is identical to the original screws that hold the projector together. I just took the projector to ACE Hardware and made sure it fit. The important thing is that they are 2” long since that is the ideal fit. I also picked up twelve lock washers, twelve washers, and twelve 7mm nuts that would fit the screws. If you look at the pictures carefully you will see the outline you need to cut to fit the projector and also the three holes for the mounting screws. Just pay attention to the lines inside the reflector bowl on those pics. You can make the center hole a little bit smaller and the projector will still fit fine. Make sure you do not make the hole too large and destroy the three mounting screw hole locations that are necessary for mounting the projector.
An alternative (not as good as accurate) way to figure out the mounting points is to undo three of the screws that hold the projector together and replace them with the new 2” screws. Lay the projector in the housing and you can get an idea where the holes will be. Either way replace the three original screws on the projector with the three 2” screws.
If you create the mounting holes properly lined up with the lines on the reflector bowl as the pics the projector should be pretty much dead on centered. You can still tweak it later by how you tighten the mounting screws on the reflector bowl.
Two of the three holes were made with a dremel and multi purpose cutting bit (http://www.dremel.com/en-us/attachme...=66357&I=66359)
To cut out the center pieces I used a dremel with a cutting disk.
Exact mounting hole locations from passenger side headlight's reflector bowl.
Exact mounting hole locations from driver side headlight's reflector bowl.
Go ahead and prep the reflector bowl by sanding it lightly with some 1500 grit sandpaper and cleaning it thoroughly. It’s now ready to be painted with whatever color you would like…I painted mine with semi-gloss spray paint. Let this for about 10 hours and mount the projector on the reflector bowl.
If you look at the following picture you will see how the washer, lock washer, and nut are on the screw prior to putting it into the reflector bowl.
Once you get the projector into the bowl you can fasten them from behind the reflector bowl with the washer, lock washer, and nut. To make the mounting of the projector easier, back out the reflector bowl from the headlight adjustment with a 10mm socket so you have more space on the back of the reflector bowl to tighten the nut etc. It may get tricky here so be patient. If you still are having more trouble you can undo the bottom clip on the reflector bowl. It is circular shaped and you have to squeeze it together to pop up the reflector bowl. You may need to squeeze on side and then turn the clip and squeeze the opposite side since there is not a lot of to squeeze the two clips simultaneously.
BTW, you also know the projector is fitting well when you see that the back of the projector is lined up in the center of the hole in the back of the headlight. It may not be perfectly centered yet until you move the headlight leveling to the proper height. You can do this when you align the cutoff or later on after the headlights are sealed back up and on the car.
Once you get it mounted you are ready to do an alignment on the cutoff line to make sure the projectors are sitting leveled. Follow the same procedure as taking off your headlight but backwards and put the headlight on the car like in the following pics. You want to be about 20ft away or so and make sure the light is level. This is where you make your adjustments with the screws where the bottom 2” mounting screw will make the biggest difference on alignment. Just mess around with it and you will get it straight. Then tighten them up real good. Now you are ready to put the headlights back together.
Pics of the painted dog bowl/shroud.
Dog bowl mounted as a shroud.
If you need instructions on how to put the headlights back together please follow this link.
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...tml#post189105
Comparison of complete vs incomplete headlight.
Pic to get a better idea what semi-gloss black looks like.
Pictures of the final outcome.
Last edited by smeister; Oct 28, 2007 at 10:41 AM.
Thanks for the compliments everyone.
I don't remember the specs off hand, but I did drill a 3" hole in the middle so I am guessing the bowl was 5" big. It fit without any modifications inside the reflector bowl, therefore I used it over the stainless steel funnel that I was originally going to use.
smeister. I had a couple questions:
i know this is the fx35 bi-xenon projector headlights, how did u run the wiring from inside the headlight to the outside of the headlight? What did u do for wiring?
So did you have to use d2s bulbs and ballast from the fx35 also or did u just use the projectors and some retro-fitted HID'S with a H4 base? I don't want to have to buy another set of HID'S.
i know this is the fx35 bi-xenon projector headlights, how did u run the wiring from inside the headlight to the outside of the headlight? What did u do for wiring?
So did you have to use d2s bulbs and ballast from the fx35 also or did u just use the projectors and some retro-fitted HID'S with a H4 base? I don't want to have to buy another set of HID'S.
I am actually running an OEM HID kit from the fx35 and I bought the wiring harness online for a bi-xenon setup (but it does not work properly yet) so my bulbs are D2S.
The person who bought my second retrofit is using a plug and play kit, so maybe he can shed some light on it when he gets it all put together.
The person who bought my second retrofit is using a plug and play kit, so maybe he can shed some light on it when he gets it all put together.