Okay, I promised instructions to how I converted my lights to be "Sleepy" with HID fog/driving lights housed inside. The first I've seen this mod was when Wael did this. Not too many details were given how he did it so here you go. Here's the way I did mine. There is definitely some differences, ex. they go down from the "sleepy" height instead of up then down, but anyways:

First, this is one-off, so it's not the easiest thing to attempt. But it isn't the hardest thing either. Here's some finished pics:



Sharp cutoff(not fully adjusted yet)


Stock height comparison

The Highs and Lows stay on together for the highbeams

 

I want! (for my second gen)

I'll be looking forward to checking out this write up!

 

First step is removing the complete headlight assembly. I'm not posting a how-to on that, but it's bolted in with 5 bolts and 2 nuts all 10mm. Then just disconnect the light and headlight motor harnesses and your good to go Next thing I did was figuring out how to modify the motor arm to only bring the housing so high and bring it back down. This requires making two new rotating arms that are the same height closed, but shorter when open. Here's my test arm made with spare copper:


And here's the testing with that copper arm:


That worked for me so I went and bought supplies to build more solid ones. Here's what I got, from Home Depot, about 12 dollars:


I cut the metal here:


I drilled holes in the longer piece and bent the smaller piece like so:



Put them together with washers, rubber washer and a binding post. I used the red thread lock stuff to keep it together:



Notice, same height closed yet it's shorter when extended:

 

Before the arm is bolted down to the motor, make sure the motor is in the extended position by popping the lights to the up position and just plug the motor harness back in and it will rotate the spindle? to the open setting.
Then I rounded the corners of the arm on the grinder and used a long bolt, washers and a spacer to bolt the arm to the housing:


Then straighten out the arm and bolt it to the motor. and turn it down onto the teeth of the spindle to set the position.

 

Now the hard part is out of the way. Next, unbolt the arm you just bolted to the housing, remove the headlight from the housing (if you didn't yet) and the housing from the metal bracket held by two 10mm nuts.
Next step is to cut this brace from the metal bracket. You can bolt the housings back on afterwords.


Then I drilled and cut the housings like this:



I later cut a little more off of the corner to accommodate the wiring of the Opuluxes. You should be able to pick it out in later pictures.

Speaking of which, here's the Hella Opulux DE Xenon H.I.D.s I got off ebay for about $300:


To mount them, I used the bracket that came with them, turned it around, and mounted it where I showed that hole drilled on the little shelf. I also used 5 washers to provide the height I needed.



Next: what I did for the highs.

 

Ok, for the highs, I had to make a choice. Hella makes two lights that would work. They're both called Micro DE's, but one is Halogen and one is Xenon HID. They cost $150 and $600, respectively. So, if one goes with the HIDs, they can have the lows and the highs come on one at a time separately and wiring is a cinch. Or go with the halogens because of the price and wire it so the lows stay on when the highs are turned too (because the HID lows are way brighter than the halogens). It requires one more step of wiring. I went with the halogens and wired it like so, and I may switch to the HIDs later when they come down in price. But anyways, that's your options.
Here's the Hella micro DE halogen fog lights:


I initially mounted them different, but this is what I ended up doing. I went and got two more of the right angle brackets and bent it like this:


Then I mounted the light bracket onto it:


Then mounted the whole setup to the housing with a couple of bolts:


And that's how they look from the top. This is the driver's side headlight.


Now just do the reverse for the passenger side. And all that's left is wiring and putting them back in the car.

 

Thanks for writing this up. I'm going to try this in the near future although I'll probably opt for a pivot control unit versus cutting new control arms. Are you doing a write up on the wiring also?

 

Coming up It got too late last night.

 

Very nice, Ill attempt to do this myself with tsx projectors though .

Thanks for the writeup

 

Okay, now you have the whole assembly ready with a ballast hanging off. To mount the ballast i looked at many different options, but what I ended up doing is bolting a piece of metal to the screws used to mount the oil coolers. Then I zip-tied the ballast to that for easier removal if needed:



Then I plugged all the harnesses in and bolted the whole assembly in. Here's before the cover is put on (the 7 now has eyes ):


As for the wiring, I went the easiest possible route (no relays). That said you might want to wire them as you see fit and feel comfortable with. I simply took the neg from the halogen and the HID ballast together , put a flat male connector on, and plugged it into the stock ground from the harness. Then I put a male connector on the halogen positive and connected it to the red/white wire from the stock harness for use as the highs. Did the same for the positive of the ballast except I wired it to the red/yellow wire for the lows. To make them come on together when the high beams are hit, I modded the connector under the steering column. It's explained in this thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/headlight-wiring-mod-low-beams-high-beams-395535/

So that's about it. I may have forgot something writing this beast up, so if there's any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Thanks, that sounds interesting. We'll need pics when your done

 

Thank you for taking the time to write this with pictures.

 

This is exactly the way I've been wanting to do my headlights, but didn't know how. This is amazing. Thanks for writing it up.

 

No problem Where in PA are ya?

 

I nominate this thread for the Nobel Peace Prize!

 

Yea, hidden in this article is the formula for world peace Good eye!

 

I'm in the burbs of Philly. Bucks Co.

 

Nice work. Thanks for the pictures and the write-up.

Where could I find those L brackets at home depot?

 

awesome writeup.. looks great! If anybody wants bigger projectors i have various projectors from cars.. ranging from 2 - 2.75 inch lenses.. can't wait to do my sleepy eyes :P

 

Be careful with certain projectors, I'm not sure if tsx will fit in there. I'm thinking maybe valeo? Unless you test fitted a bunch?

 

I don't have any TSX projectors.. I do have a bumch of different Valeo ones though.. Never tried to fit them.. i usually just sell them and have way to many projects on the rx7 to start another one right now haha

I'll test abunch of them in the near future.

 

Test fit them, I'd be interested in the futute. Valeo's are getting harder and harder to source.

 

wow thanks for the awsome write up!!!

is it possible to give dimensions of both projectors ? i think i wanna go ahead and start mine in no time!

 

I think you can find dimensions on hella.com. If not I'll get back to ya. I'm in the process of moving right now: )

 

dude i am so sorry i meant to say ' the dimensions for your custom rod' lol
sorry bout the typo.

the bendy part.