Projector Retrofit Picture Thread and FAQ

[Ed_C]

thanks. that is what i figured. oh well. ill just stick with stock. i am looking for better low beam performance for general driving. i dont think ive used the high beams yet.

what is the difference in lighting performance between a stock height vehicle and a lifted one? i have a 3" lift. is it because the headlight is physically higher than a stock height vehicle? wouldnt you just adjust accordingly?

The usual aiming method is a 2" drop in cutoff per 25 feet; so say your headlight centerline is 35" (random number) from the ground, the cutoff against a wall from 25 feet away would be 33" from the ground.

Now aim yours the same way and the cutoff will 3" higher than it should be, which could shining at oncoming vehicles. If you aim the headlights lower to match OEM height you'll lose distance lighting.

If you haven't experimented with the headlight aiming yet, the whole headlight shifts during adjustment, not just the internals like other headlights. So a major adjustment can cause the headlights to fit oddly against the corner lights, grill, and the panel between the light and bumper. It's more of a cosmetic/aesthetic thing but I'd expect stuff to fit right for that kind of $. So my headlights may sit nice and flush but if we put them on yours it's going to like the headlights are suffering from underbite :biggrin1:

I found some pre-made and affordable projectors designed to fit a foglight opening, still trying to get more details but it sounds like they're better performers than some of the projectors people have used in this thread. You'll get the distance lighting without blinding oncoming drivers because of the lower position.

For highbeams I've been running a small Harbor Freight light bar behind the grill, it works great and I'll still use it when I get this retrofit completed.

 

[mesooohoppy]

The usual aiming method is a 2" drop in cutoff per 25 feet; so say your headlight centerline is 35" (random number) from the ground, the cutoff against a wall from 25 feet away would be 33" from the ground.

Now aim yours the same way and the cutoff will 3" higher than it should be, which could shining at oncoming vehicles. If you aim the headlights lower to match OEM height you'll lose distance lighting.

If you haven't experimented with the headlight aiming yet, the whole headlight shifts during adjustment, not just the internals like other headlights. So a major adjustment can cause the headlights to fit oddly against the corner lights, grill, and the panel between the light and bumper. It's more of a cosmetic/aesthetic thing but I'd expect stuff to fit right for that kind of $. So my headlights may sit nice and flush but if we put them on yours it's going to like the headlights are suffering from underbite :biggrin1:

I found some pre-made and affordable projectors designed to fit a foglight opening, still trying to get more details but it sounds like they're better performers than some of the projectors people have used in this thread. You'll get the distance lighting without blinding oncoming drivers because of the lower position.

For highbeams I've been running a small Harbor Freight behind the grill, it works great and I'll still use it when I get this retrofit completed.

thank you for that info. this seems more complicated than i thought. i just assumed you moved the housings down not to blind people and that was that.

id be interested in some improved fog lights for my 99 fatlip, but id need them to be plug and play. I don think ive ever used my highbeams. since when does harbor freight sell light bulbs?

 

[Ed_C]

Ah crap, I hit post too soon and forgot to say it's a Harbor Freight LED light bar LOL.

Mine's a fat lip too. It won't be plug n play but not going to be super complicated...definitely not as much work as a retrofit

 

[shadow247]

96 - 02 Toyota 4runner retrofit headlights | BXBuilt

This is the best deal I've seen on Pre-Fab retrofits. Anybody else have experience with this guy?

 

[Rallysport]

96 - 02 Toyota 4runner retrofit headlights | BXBuilt

This is the best deal I've seen on Pre-Fab retrofits. Anybody else have experience with this guy?

No personal dealings with him, but From what I’ve seen he’s highly respected and done a ton of these. I wonder if it includes bulbs and ballasts at that price, though.

 

[BXPhoto]

He's now using LED projectors for the 3rd-gen retro.

Looks reasonably priced. I sent him a message and got a response in minutes, pretty detailed too. He sources his own 3" lens bi-led projector and planned to sell DIY type "builder" kits, but the covid thing is delaying that.

Thanks guys! And sorry I do not post much on the forums anymore. But yes Ive built hundreds of third gen headlights using everything from Morimoto, NHK and now our own. I dont post about it here because I am just a member of this board as a builder and have no advertising permission. As far as my current personal build the plan was a single turbo 2jzgte swap and for my headlights for sema Im using the 2020 GR Supra headlights as donors. Ill be custom fabbing in their LED projectors into custom fabricated housings. Currently we are doing MDX jewel eyes with the buggati start up feature for another car of mine.

Ill try to post more often to help out. Just slammed busy with customer service and covid-19 issues locally and internationally from our suppliers.

 

[BXPhoto]

And sorry forgot to mention, I own BX Built. We are available 7 days a week to help anyone out.

 

[Toy2play]

And sorry forgot to mention, I own BX Built. We are available 7 days a week to help anyone out.

Would you happen to have any customer pictures that shows your chrome and black projectors on a white 3rd gen? Kinda torn which color I want to go. Getting closer to buying these. Not much more I want to mod on my 3rd gen and the stock lighting on these 3rd gens are horrible.

 

[BXPhoto]

Would you happen to have any customer pictures that shows your chrome and black projectors on a white 3rd gen? Kinda torn which color I want to go. Getting closer to buying these. Not much more I want to mod on my 3rd gen and the stock lighting on these 3rd gens are horrible.

I can definitely get you some. Forums really make it hard as we have to save the photos, upload them to our computers, upload them to a photo stream site etc. If you can send us a message either on our website or on any of our social media pages (@BX_Built on instagram) I can easily share with you hundreds of images. But I can get 2 up for you real fast.

IMG_5804 by Andrew Abalos, on Flickr

IMG_5805 by Andrew Abalos, on Flickr

 

[sugjavier]

And sorry forgot to mention, I own BX Built. We are available 7 days a week to help anyone out.

bxbuilt.com/product-page/96-02-toyota-4runner-retrofit-headlights

Is this a full kit like ready to install or do I have to like DIY build it?

Sorry for my ignorance but I am not experienced at all in working on cars and from what I've seen and read, most people have to DIY build these projector retrofit.

 

[Ed_C]

bxbuilt.com/product-page/96-02-toyota-4runner-retrofit-headlights

Is this a full kit like ready to install or do I have to like DIY build it?

Sorry for my ignorance but I am not experienced at all in working on cars and from what I've seen and read, most people have to DIY build these projector retrofit.

EDIT - stay away from BX

 

[sugjavier]

They're complete headlights.

So it's just a matter of removing the stock headlight assembly and putting the new one back in, no other mods necessary like maybe wiring harness etc.?

 

[Ed_C]

So it's just a matter of removing the stock headlight assembly and putting the new one back in, no other mods necessary like maybe wiring harness etc.?

EDIT - stay away from BX

 

[BXPhoto]

bxbuilt.com/product-page/96-02-toyota-4runner-retrofit-headlights

Is this a full kit like ready to install or do I have to like DIY build it?

Sorry for my ignorance but I am not experienced at all in working on cars and from what I've seen and read, most people have to DIY build these projector retrofit.

Hi they are complete headlights with a morimoto wiring harness. The relay harness is what powers the LED Drivers for the projectors inside your new headlights. It will hook up to your batteries positive terminal as well as your driver side H4 oem headlight plug. Then behind each headlight you will need to remove/scratch off paint to screw down a ground screw location. After that, the rest is plug and play. We provide 7 days a week assistance direct on our social media pages via their DM and messaging features.

Not many know but our cars are a ground switched system. And also that we have 4 different wiring possibilities of our H4 plugs. 96-97, 98-00, 00.5-02 and DRL cars. one of the 3 main ones requires a de-pinning of the H4 harness, but it is a super simple task. Why toyota went with a negative switched high beam trigger is beyond us.

 

[BXPhoto]

Also guys, lets do our best to not turn this into a Dealer FS thread. I have no right to be attempting sales or services on this forum, until Ive gotten permission from the website moderators. Please send me a DM or just message us on our store page for now. I will work on getting approved by T4r.org shortly.

 

[Ed_C]

EDIT - stay away from BX

 

[BXPhoto]

I actually prefer the ground-switched headlight systems. There's no need for a Motocontrol type wiring harness because the lowbeam stays powered @ highbeams so a standard relay harness can be used, just a matter of connecting the negative of the harness' "trigger" connection to a ground instead of the negative of the lowbeam connection.

My 1st-gen Tundra is ground-switched; unfortunately my 4Runner isn't but I figured out a way to run a standard harness by tapping into the DRL relay (although I bypassed the actual DRL function many years ago)

Very good work brotha! The Tundra/Sequoia def work with standard h4 harnesses. However we have yet to find an affordable/generic (not that the motocontrol is expensive per say) and reliable harness that works with 3rd gen 4runners thats plug and play. And also reliable. Years ago when we began to offer our services we started with affordable/generic parts to get prices low. As we had issue after issue to deal with I made the choice to only use the most reliable stuff. Saved us thousands a year in warranty work, return shipping etc. Sure we dont sell $300.00 retrofits, but we are more than likely the most fairly priced company using higher end components.

Also we plan to be helping out other builders as soon as the world allows us by providing our own line of projectors and complete build kits. We spent a ton of money having our own Bi-LED projector setup designed after years of installing morimoto, nhk etc. Just really sucked that Corona Virus has put everything to a halt. We used a "Neutral White" LED system vs a "Cool white" thats used by everyone else which we felt was too blue for bad weather conditions. We also retained use of a much smaller and removable install stem for the beginner retrofitters, vs the massive D2s tube size of the Morimoto Bi-LED v2.0. And then we had that install stem cantered upwards to allow 3rd gen 4runners and many other reflector bowl platforms to not need as much vertical adjustment and shroud trimmer.

Here are some output shots of them from customers

BX Built Bi-LEDs by Andrew Abalos, on Flickr

BX Built Bi-LEDs by Andrew Abalos, on Flickr

 

[sugjavier]

Very good work brotha! The Tundra/Sequoia def work with standard h4 harnesses. However we have yet to find an affordable/generic (not that the motocontrol is expensive per say) and reliable harness that works with 3rd gen 4runners thats plug and play. And also reliable. Years ago when we began to offer our services we started with affordable/generic parts to get prices low. As we had issue after issue to deal with I made the choice to only use the most reliable stuff. Saved us thousands a year in warranty work, return shipping etc. Sure we dont sell $300.00 retrofits, but we are more than likely the most fairly priced company using higher end components.

Also we plan to be helping out other builders as soon as the world allows us by providing our own line of projectors and complete build kits. We spent a ton of money having our own Bi-LED projector setup designed after years of installing morimoto, nhk etc. Just really sucked that Corona Virus has put everything to a halt. We used a "Neutral White" LED system vs a "Cool white" thats used by everyone else which we felt was too blue for bad weather conditions. We also retained use of a much smaller and removable install stem for the beginner retrofitters, vs the massive D2s tube size of the Morimoto Bi-LED v2.0. And then we had that install stem cantered upwards to allow 3rd gen 4runners and many other reflector bowl platforms to not need as much vertical adjustment and shroud trimmer.

Here are some output shots of them from customers

BX Built Bi-LEDs by Andrew Abalos, on Flickr

BX Built Bi-LEDs by Andrew Abalos, on Flickr

Looks good brother, I'll hit you up via PM once I'm ready to order.
I'm glad you guys have a complete ready to install kit not a DIY ones.
Are those pics on low beam btw?

 

[BXPhoto]

Looks good brother, I'll hit you up via PM once I'm ready to order.
I'm glad you guys have a complete ready to install kit not a DIY ones.
Are those pics on low beam btw?

Yes those are low beams.

 

[the great him]

Here are my Panamara projectors