I traded my Audi s4 for my 4runner about 8 or so months ago, I loved the s4 but I needed something bigger, I love my 4runner and have no regrets about the trade, BUT I missed those bright ass HID's.

I have an 04 4runner and I've been contemplating swapping out the 06+ headlights / trim pieces / grille, and then putting some HID's in, but from doing months worth of back and forthing, reading reviews and blah blah blah..... I finally decided that I wanted to retrofit projectors into my stock 04 headlight housings

This is the story...

Parts:
Bi-Xenon Morimoto Mini D2S Stage III Kit from TRS
-Morimoto 5Five 50watt Ballasts
-Morimoto 5Five 5000k D2S Bulbs
-Gatling Gun Shrouds
-Centric Rings (make the shrouds fit the projectors)
-I also bought their headlight resealing 'glue', it really wasn't necessary, there's plenty enough already in the headlight to reseal with no problem.


After removing the headlights from the truck, I set them up on a table so that I could mark off the beam pattern on the wall



This is the stock halogen reflector beam pattern on the wall from 20'



Then I was getting a little hungry so.. baked some headlights, I set it at 225 for 8 minutes (make sure you remove everything you can from the headlight before putting it in the oven, like the rubber gaskets around the bulbs, the bulbs, the bulb holders, the screws holding on the lens..)



Once out of the oven, just pry the lens from the headlight, I used a putty knife and put it between the two and then twisted, it's pretty easy, once you get one corner started just pull the lens off. To get the reflector out you have to turn both headlight adjustment screws all the way "loose" and then use a flat head to pop the pivot point ball out (sorry I didn't get any pictures of this, I had headlight glue all over me)



This is where the factory halogen bulb mounts



This is a problem, the shaft on the projector has a bigger diameter than the hole that's currently present, and the shaft is sort of short, so even if that hole was big enough, you wouldn't be about to utilized the treads on the shaft for mounting. (I know.. that's what she said) So first step was to dremel



Next, a hole saw



Now I could put the projectors shaft through and put the nut on the back to hold it in place (note: do not tighten it down to hard at this point, you actually have to test fit the headlights on the truck first in order to make sure both projectors are rotationally correct before tightening the nut down all the way, it is a really soft metal designed to deform when tightened hard)



And this is what the front looks like



Now back in the headlight housing, you see the shroud mounted on the projector here, I had to cut some of the mounting tabs in the shroud to make it fit flush, then used JB weld to hold the centric ring onto the mounting tabs, then used a little JB weld to mount the centric ring onto the projector, it's pretty straight forward, unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the process.



Now to test out the beam (this is a standard halogen bulb, I didn't have a 12v power supply with enough current to fire the HID's, didn't really matter, just checking for beam pattern right now)



Now compare it to the factory headlight



Then do the other headlight (that's my helper)



Then you have to test fit both on the truck, but keep the front lens off, you do this to make sure the projector's horizon line is level, as long as they both over lap you're good, but if one is rotate just a little bit, then one headlight beam will look like this / and the other one will look like this -



Wait till night and make sure both cutoffs lines over lap, if they don't, rotate the projectors until they do, once you do this tighten down that nut on the projector shaft as hard as you can while making sure the projector doesn't rotate (I used needle nose pliers)



After you get them rotationally correct, and the nut is tightened down, take them back off the truck, at this point I put JB weld all around that lock nut and dripping down onto the back of the headlight reflector, just to make certain the nut wouldn't come loose and let my projectors rotate later on

Then blow all the dust out of the head light and off the lens, put the two back together, put back in the oven for 8 mins at 225, when you pull the headlight out of the oven, put clamps all around the edges so that it seals tight. Once the headlight cools, take the clamps off and remount all the hardware you took off before the original baking. Time to remount your headlight.



and BOOM



Got some awesome freaking headlights!

Just make sure you align your lights after you're done.

I was really surprised how much the projectors / shrouds looked like they were supposed to be in my headlights, they look like they came like that from the factory.

The Morimoto stuff was amazing, it's some really high quality stuff, and the guys over at TRS were great.

Sorry I didn't show cutting / mounting of the shrouds, wiring / mounting the ballasts, I thought we got pictures of everything but, some parts were a little intense and I guess we just forgot.

Since i cant see pics on my phone, u should of spent the extra bucks on fxr for that amount of work done, its way better than the mini d2s, but you can and should use oem projectors like tl, s2k, rx, they do have a better spread of light with distance that the mini 2d2s dont have.

Looks good OP, I have the Morimoto Mini D2S in my '06 lamps and am very happy with them.

I knew when I saw you had posted in this thread that it was going to be you telling him he should've spent more on projectors...

This^^^

Looks like you have better looking help than I ever have had.

Looking good, props on the retro. I was hoping it was showing how to do the pnp retro, but yours is quite impressive

Looks good man, nice work.

Gatlin Gun shrouds look awesome!! That's what I wanted to get, but had to settle for the ones I have now (Apollo's). I'm mostly a DIYer, but doing retrofits kinda scare me........ I'd have to practice to get it right....... Great Job, looks really good!

If you're talking about the '06-09 retroquik kit, I did a writeup for that here - Mini Morimoto RetroQuik Bi-Xenon Projector Swap for '06+ Headlamps

edit - whoops just realized you posted in that thread so you must know about it and this post is just a waste of space.

these are decent projectors, if u decide to upgrade, fxr would be a better choice, but if using an oem projwctor, it will blow those away.

deff not what I was expecting for the first post after doing this long tedious job BUT you're right, this is my first retrofit and I knew the Morimoto Mini's where semi easy since they mount through the original bulb hole, but now that I've done the retrofit and learned a few new things, I'd love to use the Bi-xenon: Acura TL / ZKW-R Lens, I think when I have some extra time and extra money, I'm going to buy a set of new headlights and these projectors and do the retrofit; don't get me wrong, these mini's came out PERFECT and have amazing light output, but I always want the best, and that retrofit was actually a lot of 'fun'

Thanks! The wiring and all is pretty straight forward, sent me a pm if you have any questions; although I will say, I wish I had posted pictures of the components! I've never seen such high quality ballasts / wiring from an aftermarket kit. Even the relay connections are encased in ceramic and then rubber, I was really impressed.

Haha I feel you man, I must of spent the better part of 3 days working on my retrofit. Even if you do end up getting a new set of headlights, I would save the mini's to use as replacements for the stock halogen high beams, then use the larger projector kit (such as the FX-R) in the low beam. In fact, I might be doing the same in the future. I learned a lot from doing my retrofit, and would probably be able to do a second one in a day (I spent way too much time adjusting the holes I cut in the reflector, not realizing that my mounting setup allowed me the ability to adjust the projectors independent of the reflectors)

Cheers.

Yeah I hear ya on the 3 day adventure, I knew it was going to take a while but I didn't think it was going to take 3 days haha, but everything turned out perfect and was done right so it was well worth it.

If I got new headlights and did another retrofit, I may do the quad projectors, but these minis are jb welded in place so, no taking them out! I'd probably sell them if I ever decided to do another retrofit, the main problem is that I can't find actual Toyota headlights for less than $400, I'm staying away from those ebay "oem" ones

What do you think would be a good set up for dual projectors?

i.e. What would be good for Hi and Lo? When I get around to doing my headlamps, I think I'll get some OEM '06+ to work with and go that route. I forget who on the forum did that, but looked good (was like a year or two ago I remember seeing the thread.) Also, for the retrofit kits, do they come with some way to adjust the level or do you have to do that while installing? I'd like to be able to adjust them afterwards, just in case.