update: 4-18 Projector Build Thread

[intimdatr]

Well as we all know the headlights in the SHO aren't the best. Im pretty big fan being able to see at night when im driving a road at...well above the posted speed limit. The best way i know to do this is with projectors. No way to get around they are amazing pieces of engineering and work amazing! As someone called them, they're the Polite-ist headlights on the road. Lol. But ive notice NOBODY makes any sorta of after-market any thing for SHO/Sable. So ive picked up a set of old head light housing s and went to town thinking about how to do it and ordered a set of projectors to stick in there and bought headlight covers to make clear lenses out of (which are not here yet ) i got one side installed tonight and drove a bit to get the feel of these things and HOLY COW do they put out light. I have yet to install the harness to run the HI's on it so all pictures you see will be LO's and also the other harness i have for this kit will also run the LED ring around the outside and are running on 55w DDM tuning ballast . But i figured you all would want pictures of what I've got so far. If the response is fair from you all and enough people are willing to buy sets i shall consider making a sets of these for sale.

Oh and the projectors i got are HUGE and needed a little cutting to get them to fit, if i start making larger numbers of these i will try and find a smaller projector to stuff in there and mount.

Let the picture fest begin:














This is hole i had to cut to get it to fit, most likely could be smaller for future production.



















So, what do you think? Comments? Who wonts a pair?

 

[calvin0325]

Looks good so far....I know when I did my projector install I had to trim the shrouds to fit nicely, any possibility of doing that to avoid cutting the housing? Looks like a H1 buld setup, be careful running the 55W with the small projector as it likes to burn the bowl area of the projector. I have a similar projector in mine but it is D2S bulb and I have stuck with the 35W to keep from burning the bowl area. Next question ...is that a 70 or 69 Cougar....Had a 70 as my first car...lol.

 

[intimdatr]

I think im most likely going to find a set of 35w ballast to run. I had thought about cutting the shroud to help it fit inside the housing but on a trial run id rather not mess with my projector till i got a better understanding of how this was gonna work. So i will most likely end up using different projector to run in the housing to make room. Im not for sure on the style of bulb they use, id like to know, I grab a picture and throw it up of the bulb.

And its a 69 with 351 stroked to 377 swap in it by my dad. Beast of car.

And thanks for the PM! i shall look into that site.

 

[mutkokhan]

What kind of price are we talking about?

 

[intimdatr]

As of the moment its still were the trial stage and we have yet to determine the style of projector were going to be using. But if i had to but a rough estimation no less than $275 for a ready to install setup, which would include Projectors installed into a housing with some sort of clear lens a wiring harness with ballast and bulbs. Calvin0325 and me are currently testing out different projectors and working on how were going to assemble the whole thing. Hopefully the projector we go with will be a smaller size and wont require near as much cutting to fit. I.e. no holes in the housings.Currently the largest issue im dealing with at the moment is figuring out how to produce the clear lens. As i said in the original post im going to try to create them out of the headlight covers SHOsource sells.

The eventual plan is to be producing projectors for all 3 generations that are of pretty high quality and look professional and will offer the best light out put of any thing out there for the SHO. Once we start to get moving on producing them i will defiantly get a set price i will broadcast but as of the moment it will likely be around 275 and up.

 

[calvin0325]

As stated, I have been working on getting a nice projector together for the SHO community. I have a set that I have installed in my own SHO that I have gotten to enjoy over the past couple months. I now plan on trying out a couple more projectors to see if I can step it up a notch more from what I am enjoying. The base system will be as stated a 35W system due to the size of the projector (any more and you will burn the bowl area). The 35W system puts down very good light and is easy on the eyes. The other projectors that I am going to be playing with offer even options as they can be ran with more wattage if the buyer wanted to. The buyer will also get to choose the shroud design they want and with or without angel eyes. These will also be bi-xenon, but a set of low-beam only could be done if the customer wanted that. The attached picture is of the baseline projector I plan on using. Anything else will be a step up and I will let you know before I build them what it will cost you.

 

[TwistedD85]

I'm actually kinda curious, why cut the headlight housing and not the projector shroud to fit in the headlight housing? I usually see it done the other way.

 

[calvin0325]

Was done only as a mock up .....Didn't want to destroy the shrouds. Probably could have just taken them off instead I guess.

 

[calvin0325]

I am also sure there will be more than housings worked on and tweeked to make these lights turn out the way we want. If I am going to put them out there, I am going to make sure they are worth it. I have had mine for 3 months now and i am still amazed at the diffrence, but am also coming up with ways to make them better for my next set.

 

[TwistedD85]

Ah, gotcha. I'm a bit interested in all this stuff since I'm looking to try my hand at it some day. Although instead of sanded lenses or headlight covers I was looking to cut just enough of a circle out of the headlight in front of the projector lens to try and fit a molded bubble, just something that protrudes 7-8mm and gets rid of the fluting.

 

[calvin0325]

The lens is the biggest problem with the GEN 2 lamp.....The GEN 3 not so much as it came with a clear lens. That is its biggest hurdle to making it look right.

 

[intimdatr]

I'm actually kinda curious, why cut the headlight housing and not the projector shroud to fit in the headlight housing? I usually see it done the other way.

As Calvin said i didnt want to damage the projector on a trail run. Not ideal but it'll work for what its designed for.

Was done only as a mock up .....Didn't want to destroy the shrouds. Probably could have just taken them off instead I guess.

The style i got has the shroud and lens all in one... terrible terrible terrible design.

 

[intimdatr]

Although instead of sanded lenses or headlight covers I was looking to cut just enough of a circle out of the headlight in front of the projector lens to try and fit a molded bubble, just something that protrudes 7-8mm and gets rid of the fluting.

If you were to do this i have access to a a supplier of clear plastics that could be used to do this. BUT i would not make it a bubble because it will mess with the projectors focus. I think that maybe be do able though. Im going to finish my trial run with covers and see how it works/looks then start to design a more final product.

 

[intimdatr]

Update on the other side. I found that the way the projector was being pushed a bit down so i had to remove a bit on the top and now the projector slides in and out easy. Also it insures the it seated on the back of housing making them aiming a lot easier. I used very high quality tape to seal it all up. Overall it looks very good on the inside. cant even that its been cut to fit.

Pics:












I plan to copy the the removing of the top bit of plastic seams that the projector isn't being pushed down and made the aiming better.





Heres a picture of the bulb:


And the back of the bowl:

 

[intimdatr]

I plan to take a drill bit and drill out a small hole for the LED ring and for the Hi/Lo power in the back out of sight and seal it up with some form of caulk.

Just waiting on the lenses from shosource.

Pics to come of what the light out put looks like. Got busy tonight and never got around to playing with them inside the car. But i did get the harness installed so next time i will have Hi's to show. Expect another update tomorrow weather depending.


And if you cant tell, i LIKE pictures :angelnot:

 

[intimdatr]

Well the Covers came in today and i started to think on how im going to do it but once it got dark i gave up on it and went out to play with them in the car. Man oh man are these things awesome. The light out put is unbelievable, and they look mean as **** on the car. Hopefully sometime this week i'll get LED's wired up and get pics of them running. But im gonna be working on the lenses almost full time now. So expect them to be done before the weeks over.

Now on the the good stuff, Pictures:









heres the hole. hidden behind it. you cant see it all from the front.


I cut the lens out on one and decided to wait before i did the headlight cover. but heres how far i got.




To show what the final product is going to basically look like.




Low Beams




High Beams





And heres a shot of them running in the car. Ignore the beat to **** car.

 

[JahMan12]

Any progress on this?

 

[intimdatr]

Gotten really busy here of a late and still working on the lenses but hopefully i should finish them this weekend.

 

[calvin0325]

still working on this end also...will post updates as I progress more...

 

[intimdatr]

I think when im done with my other side im going to try and either pick up or take apart my Headlights and start building a mold for Vacuum forming sets for production.