Drift Monkey
New member
One of my stock halogen projectors is wonky so I've been mulling over doing a projector retro and had a few questions for those have been through this process.
First question, are my 14-year-old stock 2006 housings worth doing it on? The passenger side has a moisture leak, but resealing them after the retro could solve the problem. I've restored/UV sealed them but swapping the lenses with TYC/etc units could work as well, since the rest of the housings seem to be in decent shape. I'll have to pull 'em out and inspect, which I plan on doing soon. Either way, I'll probably find a way to put clear UV resistant tint of the lenses when I'm finished since that seems to be the best solution.
Second, which projectors? It looks like there are premade mounting brackets for Morimoto D2S 5.0/G5 so that should make it easier. I'm curious if the threaded shaft makes a difference for this application, since it seems to really apply to H4 bulb retros. If not, it would open the door to a few more G5 based options besides the R (BRT, EX, EX-L). Tuned/clear lens RX350 units could be an option as well, but I read they won't work here since the projector will hit the shroud once lifted and I'm not quite sure it'd be worth the price difference.
Third, regarding projector size, will 3"+ projectors fit behind the stock shrouds? I have a feeling they don't, so do they come off easily? Cutting them bigger seems like a potential pita, so maybe aftermarket shrouds would save me some pain, assuming the fitment is roughly the same as the stock pieces.
My parts list so far:
Thanks for any input!
First question, are my 14-year-old stock 2006 housings worth doing it on? The passenger side has a moisture leak, but resealing them after the retro could solve the problem. I've restored/UV sealed them but swapping the lenses with TYC/etc units could work as well, since the rest of the housings seem to be in decent shape. I'll have to pull 'em out and inspect, which I plan on doing soon. Either way, I'll probably find a way to put clear UV resistant tint of the lenses when I'm finished since that seems to be the best solution.
Second, which projectors? It looks like there are premade mounting brackets for Morimoto D2S 5.0/G5 so that should make it easier. I'm curious if the threaded shaft makes a difference for this application, since it seems to really apply to H4 bulb retros. If not, it would open the door to a few more G5 based options besides the R (BRT, EX, EX-L). Tuned/clear lens RX350 units could be an option as well, but I read they won't work here since the projector will hit the shroud once lifted and I'm not quite sure it'd be worth the price difference.
Third, regarding projector size, will 3"+ projectors fit behind the stock shrouds? I have a feeling they don't, so do they come off easily? Cutting them bigger seems like a potential pita, so maybe aftermarket shrouds would save me some pain, assuming the fitment is roughly the same as the stock pieces.
My parts list so far:
- Headlight housings? (Butyl vs RetroRubber for sealant?)
- Projectors (shrouds)
- Mounting brackets
- Bulbs - thinking Osram Nightbreaker Laser Xenarc D2S?
- Ballasts - thinking Denso Slim? Waterproofing worth it?
- H11 to ballast wiring, I'm assuming. Not sure how the wiring works for the bi-xenon solenoid portion?
- High beam splitters
Thanks for any input!