That is, Retrofit-In-Progress

Yeah I didn't wanna deal with those random splotches of light everywhere with the new projector design, so here's my E39 retrofits moved from my old headlights to brand-spankin-new lights!

PS - Please forgive the cracked bumper... That's the next project.

Here's old vs. new - old w/ retrofit, new just ... new


The other headlights (Already taken apart, obviously)


I ground down the beam guard so it was flat all the way across -- I'm worried that now I won't be able to aim the headlights correctly. I guess we'll see on this one. If it doesn't work, I'll haveta take them apart again and figure something out.


This is what the brand new projectors look like (Factory made after 02 projectors) Not much room for light to go through...


Here's the E39 projectors - Lots of light transmission


More pics to follow...

 

Lit up: The old retrofitted, seriously needed attention, grossly miss-aimed headlight


New, retro'd headlight.... Now THAT's what I'm talkin about!


Old, jacked up cutoff (This is only from about 2 ft. away. My car's on jackstands at the moment, so I didn't pull it off for long-distance cutoff comparisons.)


New, way sweet cutoff (It looks way better than this in person - my digital camera's not the best at determining over/underexposures...)


And.... A comparison


I haven't driven it yet - radiator flush/new Koyo going in =0).... SO... I'll put up a few more of the cutoff when it's mobile again (if it doesn't start snowing.. Boo Nebraska!)

Peace,
~Joe

 

Why did you grind down the shield for? Now you won't have a ___/````` cutoff line...

Good job on doing a retrofit though...

 

Yeah I ground it down because I hate the crooked cutoff line... I wanted a perfectly flat cutoff line. It doesn't look at close range like I was successful though - I'll try to find out this evening.

 

Looks good man, quite a difference.
So you cut into your new headlights for the retrofit?
I think I would have just opened them up and switch the outer lens onto the old retrofitted units. Could have sold the newer projectors for some cash back.
On the other hand, you did say that the aim was off on the old projectors. Also, I guess it saves you some trouble if you don't want to deal with opening them up via the oven.

 

Nope, no cutting - I baked em. The new glue comes apart more easily that 10 year old glue =0). I was really nervous about putting $500 worth of brand new headlights into the oven, but it actually came out really well. I thought about just switching the lenses, but my housings were SLIGHTLY different in places; not to mention they were a little beat up and in not-as-good condition, so I just used all the good stuff from the new headlights and switched the projectors. I might see if someone wants the 02+ projectors - no reason to have them rot in my garage.

 

I might be interested in the projectors, you have pm.

 

You said you didn't want to deal with random sploches of light that comes with the new projector design right? Well couldn't you just find something to block off the extra hole where the light comes out on top inside the projector?

 

i thought i read that the brand new headlights had a lot better cut off lines and brightness compared to the older headlights?

 

this is correct.

 

You lose output by grinding down the shield flat. I don't know why you would do that.

 

Yes I could have done this, but I would've had to open up the new headlights to do this, which was the only reason I didn't want to move my retrofit over to the new ones. Since I had to open them to do one or the other, I just went with the retrofit.

They do.

Um... I would do that because I didn't know any better, and losing output by grinding a shield down doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm willing to be wrong. The only thing I'm worried about is if I'll be able to aim them properly or not. If not, I'll just crack them open again and make some new shields. No biggie...

 

That looks awesome!

 

Maybe its just me but aren't optimal and properly aimed lights supposed to have a cutoff similar to these:

 

Like the upper one, yes. Mine looked like the lower one with that HUGE step up in the middle. I, personally, in my own opinion, think that looks retarded. The little step up in that top picture is just fine, but not the one on the bottom. I actually just fired them up in the garage a minute ago and am very very impressed by the cutoff, and I'm glad I did what I did. Let's see if I'm still glad when it comes time to aim them properly. I wasn't able to finish all that I'm doing to my car today, and my garage is a disaster area, so cutoff pics will haveta wait a couple of days.

~Joe