ok, so here's the story: being sick and tired of the stock 16+ year old headlights, and the fact that i drive 70% of the time when the sun is down, i wanted some better headlights. originally i was going to get some Hella H4 200mm drop in replacements.
however when i was browsing the website, i saw their 90mm projector modules
, which are reasonably priced, and used on race cars as headlights.
so i decided for a little custom project.
i really didn't care how they would look asthetically, just if they would give me some excellent lighting.

this took WAY too long as i had to modify the stock frame, weld a bracket on, drill holes with my shitty drill, etc.

thanks to gergrx7 for helping me out with some of the details, he has also done a custom headlight job using these projectors.

i'm kind of tired right now so i'll just post some pics. excuse the poor quality, the pics didn't like being compressed...

low beam 90mm module:


grinding the stock "frame":


stock frame grinded and drilled holes for module adjusters, and welded bracket:


frame with modules mounted back on:

 

modules installed with stock plastic/rubber surround:


low beams on:


high beams:



i'm currently doing a whole brake swap so the car isn't driveable, but i'll post some pics at night once i get it back on the road and they are adjusted properly. they already look brighter though so i am happy

- Aaron

 

How did you get the low beams to fit on the outside? i tried to on mine but it hit the bumper when they closed. looks decent right now, you should have put them higher up and made them low rise like mine. Im glad yo see you got them in there.

Close up of mine

 

hey greg, quick of you to chime in (just edited my first post to thank you)

well they BARELY cleared, i had to take out the stock rubber weather thingy that is directly in front of the headlights on the bumper.
i had to regrind things several times because some part of the low beams kept hitting.

 

yea i had to cut that rubber thing to, my lights BARELY clear, they are so close to hitting the bumper. The way i mounted them if i did them the way i orignally wanted to low beams on outside it hit the bumper because the low beam light is so long.


These lights are SOO awsome at night i wouldnt trade them for anything else.

 

I thought you were selling them?

 

damn gerg i love your car, where did you get the blue stuff under the hood done?? you got any pics of them at night gerg, im still considering buying a set from you, i just wish they had surrounds hehehe

 

yeah, i guess i got lucky on the way i did the bracket. they are as far back as you can go with this type of mounting design using the stock frame.

and yeah, i can't wait to try these lights out at night, i'm already loving the low beam projector cutoff on the garage wall.

 

Does anyone make a housing to enclose each light? Like a fiberglass cowl to surround them.

-Justin

 

both are looking really good

 

this is a totally custom job, so there wouldn't be anything specifically made.
they only other things i have seen with enclosure are the fixed-postion conversion kits that use projectors.

- Aaron

 

im gonna be honest, i dont like the look of them lights, but the "quality" of your install looks good and its all what u like and not what i like..

 

thanks for the compliment, i guess, lol.

yeah, like i said looks was secondary here, i really just wanted some good lighting. and i'm still sticking with the retractable setup, which i think will always look better than any fixed-conversion out there.

 

Might wanna blur out the plate in the 1st pic of the lights...since you blurd the others

 

damn i need sleep, lol!

meh, what do people do these days with plate #s anyways, haha.
*runs to close garage*

 

nice... Id like to try this if I had the time

how much are the lights ??

 

i bought these from here:
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/90mm_modules.asp

really good service dealing with these guys^

- Aaron

 

Hum..I remember seeing a kit somewhere that does such a thing. CP racing or knightsports or something like that. Would cost like $500 or was it more?

 

CP racing sells a whole replacement kit that gets rid of the pop up's and uses a flush mount setup.. They sell it for $550. I mean like a surround to enclose the bulbs in the stock pop ups.

-Justin

 

I put Bosch e-code headlamps in my daily driver with special standard wattage bulbs. None of that blue crap either. The difference was huge and it bolted right in. I know this guy---> http://www.danielsternlighting.com/ He has Cibie on his site and he told me I could save a few bucks with the Bosch.

 

yeah, that daniel stern guy knows his stuff, i've been to that website before, lots of good general lighting tech.

another really good automotive lighting site:
http://faqlight.carpassion.info/

i should also mention another reason i went with these projectors is that fact that the low beam can readily accept an HID conversion properly. i say properly because the projectors have the necessary cutoff for HID bulb use, compared to retrofitting an HID kit into H4 halogen housings.
Hella sells these projectors in Xenon and Bi-Xenon HID form, but are very expensive.
in the future i'm going to try to retrofit a D2S HID kit, a much cheaper and just as effective alternative.

more info found here:
http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hella-90mm/

 

Looks good! Glad to see you are finding time to do the lights AND the brake conversion!

I guess it's time for you to test your fiberglassing skills no to make a nice enclosure for the front of the lights. You could also make them out of metal and paint them black too....

 

thanks Nick, yeah i got too many projects on the go with my car, it's getting to the point of "RX-7 syndrome", AKA car spends more time in garage than on the road.

i was kind of thinking of doing some sort of simple enclosure. i've never worked with fiberglass or anything, but maybe it's a good time to try, lol.
i was thinking maybe just buying some hard black plastic or something, but not quite sure where they would sell that.

 

Try Home Depot... you can buy hard plastic there...

 

Take some measurements as to how big each enclosure needs to be, and if the need to be curved at all. Then take a trip to Office Depot, Staples, or even Home Depot and have a look at their Garbage Cans. You are bound to find a nice black plastic can that will have the shape and curviture you are looking for. Buy it and cut the enclosure out of that!

Be sure to pick up a garbage can that has thick plastic, and is flexable. That way the enclosure wont crack or warp, and will look great. The industrial cans work really well. A Dremel and a hole saw will work perfectly for this project.

Take a walk around these places - it's amazing what you can find and subsequently use in an unorthadox way! The prototype for my airbox was originally made from the cover off a computer disk holder.