Another 4th Gen Projector Retrofit and halos

[ashcheema2000]

Hey all this is my first time posting here so please be patient and i'm open to any suggestions and advices. I've searched a lot on this forum for retrofit and halos for the 4th gen but there are very few people who have done this or atleast posted here and i didn't find any threads on halos for 4th gen headlights. I decided to go with Morimoto complete retrofit kit from www.theretrofitsource.com and got the CCFL Halos from Oracle. The flexible pvc led strips were ordered from ebay.

The parts being used for the project:

Morimoto Mini H1 6.0 projectors
Mini Gatling gun shrouds
Morimoto 3five digital ballasts
Morimoto 3five 6000K bixenon bulbs
Morimoto standalone canbus harness
Flexible PVC LED strips (White and amber)
Oracle 6000K CCFL Halos

Posting final pictures of project on this first post as there hasn't been any input or comments from any of the users. Kinda disappointed because when there were no threads on halos then people would post whether where to get them and now that there is one then no one even shows the interest. But oh well I'm happy with my final product amd thats what matters.

Can't really see the halos properly since the photos were taken with phone. And the halos are backfeeding parking lights so in these pictures parking and halos are on together.

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Amber and white led on with parking lights

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Headlight housings and reflector buckets painted matte black

Amber Leds that will function as marker lights and turn signals

The white leds are going to be on along with halos
And amber will be functioning as marker lights and turn signals
There's lot of glare as the picture was taken on my phone and also it was inside the house so there wasn't enough natural light. But these are just to give and idea and inspire others. More pics are on the way

I'll post more pictures and info tomorrow in the evening after work.

 

[Ronin8002]

Hey, cool thread.

I'm doing a similar retrofit but without halos. I will be using mini H1 projectors with mini gatling shrouds, 35W 4300k bulbs, Digital 35W ballasts, and the Morimoto standalone canbus harnesses.

My headlight bezels are already black since they are the ironman variety, but I am going to paint my reflector bowls black. I have a matte black paint but was considering maybe a glossy hammered black. Don't know if it will be all that visible so maybe it doesn't matter. I was going to leave the projector shroud the normal silver color to have a little contrast.

Just waiting on my canbus harnesses to come in the mail and I'll get started.

 

[ashcheema2000]

Thanks James. Also, can't wait how your headlights turn out. Make sure you post pictures
I never had 6000k in any of my rides so I thought I'd go with that since I like the white light.

As far as I think the matte black would stand out more on your lights since you've painted your grille matte black as well right. I'll post a pic of an Ex that made me go with matte black. And, the reflector bowls are actually going to be visible.
I'm still not done painting the shrouds completely. I'm going dual tone color on them. Black and the orange color on marker reflector bowls. Because that same color is going to be on my brake calipers so I figured I'd look neat all together.
Oh and are you going to paint the back of projectors bulb reflector since they are chrome and it'd look odd but if you're leaving the shrouds as chrome as well then it might look nice.. I painted mine matte black as well

You didn't order the standalone canbus at the time you ordered projectors?

 

[Ronin8002]

Yeah I'll definitely post pics. You sold me on the matte black. I may paint my shrouds a hammered silver color or a hammered grey instead of leaving it chrome. I didn't realize the other chrome parts of the reflector would be visible when installed, but I'll shoot them with the same paint as the shrouds to make them match.

I didn't order the can bus at the same time. I went through Retro-Solutions for my retrofit kit order. They use a relay harness for their kits but the load resistors for cancelling the headlight out message were not included (didn't find that out till after I got the order). Would have cost me $15 or more to get some so I just decided to go with the can bus harness from TRS for a little more money. ...seemed a much cleaner solution to me. I can always sell the harness or use the connectors for test leads or whatever. At the end of the day I ended up spending the same as if I had ordered everything from TRS in the first place so no big deal.

Thanks James. Also, can't wait how your headlights turn out. Make sure you post pictures
I never had 6000k in any of my rides so I thought I'd go with that since I like the white light.

As far as I think the matte black would stand out more on your lights since you've painted your grille matte black as well right. I'll post a pic of an Ex that made me go with matte black. And, the reflector bowls are actually going to be visible.
I'm still not done painting the shrouds completely. I'm going dual tone color on them. Black and the orange color on marker reflector bowls. Because that same color is going to be on my brake calipers so I figured I'd look neat all together.
Oh and are you going to paint the back of projectors bulb reflector since they are chrome and it'd look odd but if you're leaving the shrouds as chrome as well then it might look nice.. I painted mine matte black as well

You didn't order the standalone canbus at the time you ordered projectors?

 

[ashcheema2000]

Haha glad my advice helped. Either or both colors would look nice on shrouds. But I'd personally lean more towards the hammered silver since it's a bit lighter color and can be seen even from a distance without concentrating much. Yeah I also didn't realize that the other chrome part of projectors would be visible until I actually tried test fitting the projectors with shroud. I had thought that the shroud would probably cover it but they only cover the rop half of projectors. So I just took off the projector lenses and painted projectors as well.

Yeah I guess the canbus would be way better than putting resistors and capacitors under the hood that'd get hot. True that it'd be a clean install with canbus. I also didn't order my canbus at the same time but then I read about it in some thread and called TRS two days after placing the order. Luckily my order wasn't shipped yet and they were able to swap the regular harness with canbus at no extra charge. I got my parts during black Friday sale and got 20% discount excluding shipping.

 

[ashcheema2000]

Also, James I was wondering if you've figured out a way to disable the DRL or are you just going to leave you hid's on always using a relay?

I don't want my hids on with the halos during the day. So far I've only got two options. Either go to dealership and have them programme it for me or put a swith in line for low beams.

 

[Ronin8002]

Also, James I was wondering if you've figured out a way to disable the DRL or are you just going to leave you hid's on always using a relay?

I don't want my hids on with the halos during the day. So far I've only got two options. Either go to dealership and have them programme it for me or put a swith in line for low beams.

Mine doesn't have DRL, so I'm not sure. Though I think MustangP51 wrote about it in his 4th gen retrofit thread in the performance lighting forum, so check there.

 

[ashcheema2000]

Oh really I thought they all had DRL. I guess you're lucky then that you don't have to deal with disabling the stupid DRL haha

Mine doesn't have DRL, so I'm not sure. Though I think MustangP51 wrote about it in his 4th gen retrofit thread in the performance lighting forum, so check there.

 

[ashcheema2000]

I just sent a pm to MustangP51 and invited him to the thread

 

[Ronin8002]

Got my can bus harnesses today....which means I may try and begin tackling this over the weekend

 

[wafflejones]

ashcheema2000
how did you paint the chrome piece of the housing matte black i really like it. What kind of paint did you use

 

[ashcheema2000]

Got my can bus harnesses today....which means I may try and begin tackling this over the weekend

That's a good news.
You'll probably finish it before I do since I still have to figure out the DRL and my work hours are kinda mehh

 

[ashcheema2000]

ashcheema2000
how did you paint the chrome piece of the housing matte black i really like it. What kind of paint did you use

I sanded down the chrome paint so the primer would stick better. Used 1000grit sandpaper and then sprayed the primer. After it was dry I did 3 coats of matte black paint. First 2 light coats and final heavier coat all 10 mins apart. Then i let it dry for a day.
Sorry I didn't take any pictures during sanding and painting as my hands were dirty. But feel free to ask any questions.

I just used the regular spray paint that I got from Canadian tire. It was a high heat low gloss black engine enamel.

 

[ashcheema2000]

*Update* the white leds are put in the housing too now. The halos and projectors will be installed before the weekend. The delay is caused due to the repaint needed on my shrouds. Trying to finish as much as possible. Once the shrouds are painted again the project should be nearly complete

There's lot of glare as the picture was taken on my phone and also it was inside the house so there wasn't enough natural light. But these are just to give and idea and inspire others. More pics are on the way

 

[Ronin8002]

I've read about some guys prepping the surfaces of the reflector bowl and shroud by "dechroming" them. Basically if you spray oven cleaner on them the silver will come off pretty easily. I'll probably do that then clean them up well before painting.

 

[ashcheema2000]

I've read about some guys prepping the surfaces of the reflector bowl and shroud by "dechroming" them. Basically if you spray oven cleaner on them the silver will come off pretty easily. I'll probably do that then clean them up well before painting.

Actually James the first paint on my shrouds came out real nice and it did hold pretty well on both the reflector bowls and shrouds but i messed up while i was trying to do that dual tone paint i had told you on the shrouds. Which is why i have to sand it all down again and start fresh with shriuds you should be fine if you just use the 1000grit sandpaper like i had or like you said use the oven cleaner. If you do end up using the oven cleaner try to wash off all the chemicals off before doing primer.
I had read on the TRS website that you don't even need to sand down the shrouds if you're planning on painting them so the oven cleaner might not be required, although i still had used the sandpaper just to play it safe because in the end it all comes down to what satisfies you the most

And i don't think that you checked out the new photo i posted on the top. So i made sure i edited my last post and put it in there as well. Just thought of that since i didn't hear any comments about the white led haha

 

[Ronin8002]

All right so I've made some headway on this thing finally. Baked and opened up the headlights today, 260 for 12 minutes seemed about right. I used a table knife to pry them open, seemed like it gave more prying surface than a screwdriver and didn't nick the edges of the lens.

The screw that holds the halogen bulb shield was giving me some trouble, couldn't turn it with needlenose pliers so I just ended up taking a drill and a small bit and drilling through the side of the screw...essentially cutting it with the drill so I could remove the shield.

Fitment is the challenge right now...I cut off the bulk of the plastic tab on the shiny reflector side but it still seems like the bowl on the back of the projector won't go quite deep enough on the other side for me to install the positioning ring, the nut, AND the bulb retainer. Probably need to trim some more so decided to call it a night for now. I think I need it to be completely smooth where the tab was....may also grind out a few of the teeth that are in the opening so I can get the projector back further.

 

[Explorer0693]

Would you be willing to make them and sell them?

 

[Ronin8002]

If my full time job wasn't crazy busy I might. It's not that hard though, if you're unsure just buy a second set of headlights and use those for the retrofit.

Drilled the hole for the bulb out to 32 mm, that got rid of the teeth in there, dremeled the plastic tab completely out of the reflector bowl too. Also used a 2" sanding disc on my drill and sanded down the bulb pedestal on the back of the reflector. Anyway all of this made it easy to install the projector straight, and to get the bulb retainer on. I also used the OEM rubber gasket on the back to keep things dry.

Tested everything, adjusted the alignment, now I'm baking them back together. After that, just a matter of installing the ballasts and hooking up the harnesses. Tonight I'll fine tune the aiming on the truck and it will be finished!

 

[Ronin8002]

Hmm. Should have thought to check these things with the truck running. With the engine off they work fine....engine on...they flicker and go out.

Going to try using my relay harness instead of these can bus things...I really hope that fixes it.