So a buddy of mine at work was telling me a few weeks back about these new-to-us Mini Morimoto projectors. I looked them up on The Retrofit Source's website and stumbled upon the Retro-Quick (D2S) kit. So now armed with this new discovery and researching and checking out other retrofits, I decided to take this a step further and not only get the kit, but also get the H1 Morimoto to go in the high beam location as well. OK so now I've got D2S Retro-Quick, H1 Bi-X projector, D2S AMP connectors (already have PnP HID kits), H1 HID bulbs from TRS, and to finish it off, new housings that I bought off of Rock Auto so that I can take my time and do this project right. Now on to the pics and writeup:

Headlights already baked and apart (did 300* for 5 minutes plus armed with heat gun). After this point an initial test fit of the H1 in the high beam location turned out that the threaded back would not readily slip into place. Armed with a drill and brake cylinder hone, I worked on this for about 10-15 minutes until the threaded back would go in. Why the hone? A perfectly round hole is acheived giving the tightest fit possible to minimize movement on any axis. I have seen guys on the Dodge forums retrofit with a dremel and the result is what I'd consider a tad sloppy when tight tolerances is crucial at this point. Here is a mock up test fitting of the projectors:





Here's a closeup of the Retro-Quick bracket and Morimoto D2S projector:



Front bezel loosely in place:




Of course now I'm continuing the blacked out theme so I gave all exposed chrome and the projector shroud a shot of matte black texture paint. These look much better in person and the pictures cannot do it justice:




More pics/posts to come...

OK, I did some more work on these yesterday. Here's a shot of the bulb opening honed:


This step may be little overkill to some since this cylinder will be grounded down, but the hone works more in a cylinder than a hole.

This shows the back of the reflector. The grinding wheel I used was large enough to grind the inner ring in one plunging motion which helps to keep the cut even all the way across. Finished off by grinding the outer two rings down flush as well. The overall trick to this part of the project seems to be to grind the plastic of the inner two rings down to where the gapping disappears all thie while keeping everything even. This is critical when screwing down the reflector and keeping it correct on the vertical and horizontal axis.





Front of the reflector looking at the rubber gasket/mounting ring that goes between the bowl and housing:


Refitting the pair:




Bi-Xenon shutter check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfx_7NiuZPE

4/20/2011

I drilled a hole into the high beam reflector bowl to pass the bi-x solenoid harness through. I started it off with a small pilot hole and followed up using a step drill. This is the way to go - very and even hole.


So here we go, a quick test of both bulbs fired up. Before everyone tells me the cutoffs aren't right, I'm not done with this. I was just checking it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5nKFpViHTU

Ok the headlights are all done and buttoned up, here are the final shots of the project:





Cutoffs:



As you can see I've got the cutoffs about dead even in each headlamp. You will sill see there are funky overlaps as the D2S and H1 projectors had different style cutoff shields. So there's not much that can be done with that. Overall impressions, WOW! Haven't been flashed and have driven past cops, no issues. Cutoff in the distanced is nice and sharp. HUUUGE improvement over over the HID kit in the stock projector. Highbeams are killer. This project was overkill, but with the RetroQuick system there's almost no excuse to only do this.

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Can't wait for the end result photos, especially the one showing the wide spread on a wall.

Do you have Donor Headlights?

Or are you just currently disabling the 4Runner so you can work on the retrofit?

Do you have any website links for the parts? Also is that factory shroud or one supplied in the kit? I think I'd like to watch how this goes and refit the '04's lights in a similar fashion. Good luck man!

@ KC - Negative, I bought new housings from www.rockauto.com. I wanted this install to be fresh, clean, and new without being pressured for time. Plus the T4R is my DD so I can't afford to have down time with the truck.

@ Blackworksinc- The Retrofit Source online: headlight upgrades for all applications is where I bought all HID components. The shroud on the H1 projector came with it. I chose the smoked/clear one that came with the kit and sprayed the paint to the inside of the shround as it wouldn't get knicked during handling from the outside.

make sure to use oem d2s bulbs, i had to buy some osram off the retrofit source, and the alignment on the morimoto bulbs is a lil off compared to the oem stuff, make sure u mess with the high beam plunger on the projectors, i should of sanded that peice down a lil but now i dont want to deal with it no more. my highs start to get stuck and not activate, i should of lube it up tho. hidplanet has alot of tutorials.

275 for 9 mins is perfect timing, enough to seperate the glass and housing.

OEM bulbs I have tons of around the garage, so no problems there. I only picked up the H1's.

Thanks for the advice on the plungers. I was looking at them, and they "feel" ok, but like you said, I should do this now as I will probably hate fixing these after I have everything back together.

Awesome, I did a retro on my acura and always wanted to do one on my 4Runner, unfrotunately my 03 doesn't have projectors so that would make the process harder than yours, but I love the work that you are doing

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Nice Job MIKE!! They look awesome! Where are you installing the ballasts?

Very cool!

I like it. I would find a shroud that fills the high beam area a bit more though.

so lows its single beam and highs its dual beam? Hmmm.....ideas.