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.