Lobitz68 Posted September 29, 2014 Report Share Posted September 29, 2014 Well, I finally ordered and received my replacement headlamps late last week, so I began my retrofit over the weekend. I've been super busy lately, so I may not get to the finishing touches for a week or so, but here is where I am at as of today... I ordered the NSF certified TYC replacement housings from Rockauto.com. Cost for both sides with shipping was right around $200. I did this for 2 reasons...(1) if I ever need to I can always switch back to the oem housing at any time and (2) if gives me a little more time to complete the job since I'm just too busy to dedicate an entire day to the project. The headlights took about 3 days to get to me and when they showed up they were in excellent condition and appeared to be very well built. I bought the TYC's due to some quality issues I have had with past retrofits using other manufacturers and I was glad I did when I received them. The first order of business was to separate the lens from the housing... Luckily these were sealed with butyl and not the permaseal that the oem headlights use (another good reason to go aftermarket), so they were pretty simple to open. After removing all of the bulbs and the rubber boots on the back, 20 minutes in the oven at 220 degrees F got them apart pretty easily. The next step was paint. I have an all black DJ with tinted tails and the front end and wheels are all blacked out...black seemed like the obvious choice for the headlights as well. Since I am planning on keeping the high beams I decide to black out everything except the high beam reflector. For those who haven't seen it, there is a chrome surround (which contains the side reflector) that is screwed to the lens, and all 3 of the reflector bowls are attached to the back half of the housing. In order to paint the chrome needed to be removed from all of these pieces, so I separated the surround from the lens and removed the turn signal reflector bowl from the housing. The high and low beam reflector bowls are a single piece and are connected to the adjusters, so I just left those in the and taped off the high beam to protect its finish. I also removed the amber reflector from the surround. In order to remove all of the chrome I sprayed everything thing down with oven cleaner and waited about 15 minutes. The chrome finish rinses away at this point, leaving only the unfinished plastic behind. The turn signal reflector bowl ended up being a very shiny black...score, I don't have to paint these! The chrome surround was also black, but the finish was dull, so those got set aside for paint. The low beam reflector bowl ended up being a hideous puke color...DEFINITELY needs paint. For paint I decided to go with UV protected plastidip... I plastidipped all of the above mentioned components (except the blinker bowls) as well as the shrouds for the projectors. After above 5 coats of black plastidip I also sprayed some "glossifier" on these parts to give them some shine. I also tinted the side reflector with niteshades and shot it with clear coat to give it some shine. After paint I put everything back together, but kept the lenses separated from the housings. This is all I was able to complete this weekend due to a hockey tournament that my son was in (as well as a game or two for myself). The plan is to let the dip cure for a week and then get the housings installed on the DJ so that I can set the horizontal orientation of the projectors and get them dialed in before re-sealing the lenses onto the housing. I'll try and get some pics of the process posted up and will update this thread as I complete more of the job. Thanks for looking! Lawdog1911 and DTSGUY 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerz69 Posted September 30, 2014 Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 WICKED, I cannot wait for the pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Chornobey Powley Posted September 30, 2014 Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 I am about to start a retro fit as well! How do I remove the headlight from the DJ? Do I remove the bumper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTSGUY Posted September 30, 2014 Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 I am about to start a retro fit as well! How do I remove the headlight from the DJ? Do I remove the bumper? You dont need to completely remove the bumper but you do need to looses the ends and to do this you will need to access a bracket that is right in front of the front wheel well. Its kinda awkward to get to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4ZINGA Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Looking forwad to seeing this progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Sorry I haven't gotten any pics up yet... been busy. I am playing in a hockey tournament this weekend, but I will try and get some progress pics up Saturday or Sunday as time allows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 (edited) Here are some pics of the mock up... These are just loosely placed together to get a feel for the finished product. I still need to shave a little off the back of where the projector mounts... Edited October 6, 2014 by Lobitz68 Lawdog1911 and Totemus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerz69 Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Looking good! What are your plans for the signal lights? Just curious because you stripped the chrome off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Looking good! What are your plans for the signal lights? Just curious because you stripped the chrome off. Beneath the chrome is a very shiny black finish... at this point I am planning on running the stock bulbs, but I may change it up depending on how it looks. It should still be plenty bright and easily visible as is. If it is not I will make appropriate changes to ensure it is safe and legal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4ZINGA Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Turn signals only need to be visible, they don't need a chrome finish behind them to project a light beam forward as low and high beams do. If the incandescent bulb isn't bright enough, a single LED tower will do the job. Project looks good so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockey_puck Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Sorry I haven't gotten any pics up yet... been busy. I am playing in a hockey tournament this weekend, but I will try and get some progress pics up Saturday or Sunday as time allows. Get any goals? Hell of a lot more important than lights! Lobitz68 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Get any goals? Hell of a lot more important than lights! Ha! Yes, got a couple...missed a couple more because of ice that was beat up real bad (bounced over my stick on the backside move, damn!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Chornobey Powley Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 How much room is there with that shroud on the projector? Could we go a little bigger? I've had the mini h1 6.0 before with the gatlingun shroud, seems a bit small for our housings tho......looks good BTW I woul just use a bigger shroud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerz69 Posted October 8, 2014 Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 Turn signals only need to be visible, they don't need a chrome finish behind them to project a light beam forward as low and high beams do. If the incandescent bulb isn't bright enough, a single LED tower will do the job. . Yes, but the turn signals also have the bulb shield in front of them. I'm just thinking if the bowls are black the reflection won't be bright. I'm just wondering if the bowls are black maybe the bulb shield should be removed to exposes the front of the bulb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 Yes, but the turn signals also have the bulb shield in front of them. I'm just thinking if the bowls are black the reflection won't be bright. I'm just wondering if the bowls are black maybe the bulb shield should be removed to exposes the front of the bulb. I guess we shall find out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 How much room is there with that shroud on the projector? Could we go a little bigger? I've had the mini h1 6.0 before with the gatlingun shroud, seems a bit small for our housings tho......looks good BTW I woul just use a bigger shroud Yes, there is room to go bigger... I'll see if I can remember to get some measurements tonight and post them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 Yes, there is room to go bigger... You would likely have to trim the shroud though. All of these parts were sitting around in my garage, so I decided to use what I had to save some money. I may go bigger later on, but I think it looks fine as is. I'll see if I can remember to get some measurements tonight and post them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 Ha! Went back to edit my post... must have hit the quote button by accident... Woops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4ZINGA Posted October 8, 2014 Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 Yes, but the turn signals also have the bulb shield in front of them. I'm just thinking if the bowls are black the reflection won't be bright. I'm just wondering if the bowls are black maybe the bulb shield should be removed to exposes the front of the bulb. That's what I would do. I've never left a shield behind when opening a foglight capsule on my Special. If I retrofit projectors for my Journey, I want to play around and redesign the assembly a bit, so that shield would hit the trash anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 That's what I would do. I've never left a shield behind when opening a foglight capsule on my Special. If I retrofit projectors for my Journey, I want to play around and redesign the assembly a bit, so that shield would hit the trash anyway. Would require a bit more fabrication as the shield on the turn signal are part of the bowl... Would need to be cut and refinished in order to look good. Lots of work there. It is NOT like the ones on the low beam which are screwed in from behind. You can't even tell the shield is there since it is all black, and it will hide the bulb so you aren't looking at an ugly ass bulb all the time. Personally, I think keeping it is the only sensible option. Trust me, I thought about it for a while before moving forward with it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerz69 Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 How much room is there with that shroud on the projector? Could we go a little bigger? I've had the mini h1 6.0 before with the gatlingun shroud, seems a bit small for our housings tho......looks good BTW I woul just use a bigger shroud The shrouds that fit 2.5" - 3" projectors will be too big. I'm in the process of fitting a MD2S 3.0 projector with Apollo 2.0 shrouds. This is turning out to be a full blown retro. Projector needed to be cut into housing as it stuck out too far with the shroud on. Now the shroud needs to be cut because it's to long, and the headlight surround part needs to be notched out so the projector has enough room for up/down adjustment. Right now I'm wishing I would have stuck with the MH1 because I don't have the time needed for a MD2S retro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Haven't done a damn thing with this since I posted the pics... I have 3 days off at the end of this week, so I plan on spending one of them getting this finished. Hopefully I'll have an update by Monday with finished pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerz69 Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Take your time! There's no point in trying to rush it and end up redoing them cause you weren't happy with something. At least the paint will be fully cured now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobitz68 Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Here are a few pics of the completed project both with the headlights off and with them on... The "off" pics kind of suck, but hopefully I can post some better pics later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4ZINGA Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Did you have issues getting the HID to work? I've heard Journeys have the same issues as LX cars. My Charger was still giving me problems even after getting error-eliminators and upgrading to CAN-BUS compliant ballasts. I'd always have one on the passenger side not turn on the first time on occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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