HID headlight install and comparison

[NitroDann]

I know what it meant also, but the disregard for the life of animals in general among humans is disgusting.

Dann

[droo]

Still working on ways to improve it all, and so i've decided to take the retrofit path and experiment along the lines of a more formal HID setup.

My lenses arrived this morning, so i made a little test rig and filmed the results.

I'll stipulate again that the video's glare/lens flare/JJAbramsness is a result of the camera being over sensitive to light in the mode i filmed it in.

I wasnt about to film two lots of exposure settings as then i'd cop sh*t for faking the results.

You can watch the testing video here. ;-)

[Mr Morlock]

if you want to see how it is done in a proper optical laboratory you may be able to do this by contacting Hella- Southern Road Mentone. You can count the number of photometrists on one hand in Au. What mere mortals rely on is what a light looks like and engineers still do night drives to assess a lighting system but the science is in the engineering of the lighting units and the way the light is distributed. The manufacturer can adjust the light distribution in fine detail and often at quite some expense in a newly developed lamp.

[droo]

That may be the case, but i have spare globes, spare headlights and assemblies and spare time and some money to throw about and am keen to play and create. So, while the engineers can do the research they want during 9-5 monday to friday, i want to occupy myself on my weekends doing this. If it fails, then i can say i've given it a go and learn in the process. If it works out well then good for me. If it breaks in 2 weeks or 2 years, then i have my original factory issue headlights i can refit.
I really don't see the harm in personal experimentation, and i'll do a much more comprehensive video once i've done my refit, on the road, driving and direct comparison between globe Hellas and my HIDs.
I'll let others draw their own conclusions then.
The video posted, was a 'project in progress' update.

[Mr Morlock]

you can do your own experiments and there is certainly nothing wrong with that but if there is a real interest in photometry and the science behind it then seeing how professionals do some things is only going to add to a knowledge base. Seeing how models are made ie rapid protyping is also very interesting- the days of wooden pattern making are past.

[droo]

all true all true.. I'm very curious to see how the pro's do it, but i wont have the precise machinery, and never will, to fabricate a moulding system, coat with a chrome reflector etc.. And i dont have the software, or mathematical skill set to acheive any of that. Hence, i'm using premade off the shelf lens assemblies now for this project.

These lenses only accomodate a H1 size HID globe, not a halogen. It appears focussed pretty well, and i promise i'll demonstrate in a future video what it all looks like on the road, with, as best as i can demonstrate, its light distribution, throw distance and cut off. I'll also do my best to demonstrate a direct comparison with HIDs in the hella reflectors of the mx, as well as halogen globes.. This time not from the convenience of my own driveway.. (for what it's worth, theres an amount of setup in doing that with a camera too, and i'll do me best with that setup.)

I'll post a slew of photos up on here later this weekend when i get more work done, and for now it's too time consuming to setup the images for forum linking and posting etc.

So far, the single trickiest bit i am up to is getting the housings aligned (as far as not-using-teams-of-engineers-using-super-expensive-calibration-hardware as possible).. ie, its always ever going to be a backyard hack job. It's not too detailed for an NA headlight as theres a fair degree of latitude with our lens setup.. If it was for an NB or other moulded headlight setup, i would be a heck of a lot slower in doing this.

[droo]

HID retrofit install:

having purchased a pair of HID projector lenses


they are right hand drive as shown by the cut-off shield


these were the horridly nasty ebay "projector" specials which i'd compared in my original post


As they had a glass cover, they were an ideal donor for the retrofit.
I'd removed the glass, gutted the stupid plastic lens (incidently, had a focal length exceeding 2" from behind the parabola) and carved out the back to fit the projector lens gatling



After painting the reflecting surface a matte black (it looked too shiny originally) and setting the projector orientation, and up an aligning it's horizontal plane, then mentthen epoxy glueing the gatling to the back of the parabola..


Re-sealing the front glass back on


Test fit. aligned up exactly where the original reflector lens left off.




and both fitted.


All up, including waiting for the epoxy to set, and painting under 6 hours from start to finish.
(as mentioned earlier, i already had the HIDs installed on the OEM reflector lenses)

The parts i thought which would be complex ended up being very straight forward to the point of being frankly easy.
The hardest part was epoxy glueing, because that involved mixing and applying.. hardly hard but that was literally the only time consuming part which required any "amount" of concentration. Not trying to sound bragging but it really wasnt a remotely difficult or tricky setup.
Cutting out the backs of the parabolas took less then 5 minutes per lens.
Setting up alignment of the gatlings (the projector lenses bolt in to them, and are critically structural to the setup) took 2 minutes. (literally)
I layed the glassless parabolas face down on a flat surface, put the gatlings in facedown so they were touching the same flat surface. This evened out any irregularities with the rear grinding out of the parabolas. Glued in place.
Waited 10 minutes to set, then left the assemblies over a heater to cure.
Then epoxied more.
Then filled all the edging with black silicon to light and waterproof the interface.
Waiting for the epoxy and silicon took the most time in the entire process.
The flat surface ensured a perfect right angle mating of the projector lens to the face of the parabola assembly.

The best part for NA roadsters is that we have a massive degree of latitude on the install alignment - the horizontal alignment can be done purely by rotating the lens in the roadsters mounting assembly. Later secured with a dab of silicon if needed. (my driver side assembly was a bit rotationally loose until that silicon dab)

Being late tonight as i squeezed in a movie, an amount of facebooking, stupidly large amounts of SMSing and an hour chatting to my brother on the phone and having dinner in the form of fish n chips, i slacked off in getting the actual night shots of the lights in action.. The fact that it was raining nearly constantly didnt help either. When the weather dries up, I'll get some night shots of it in action, and it is/was insanely cold to be outside for too long.

Again, the output is as per my earlier posts quick video on youtube. : )

To folk contemplating this, its not a stress to do, easily done in a weekend with nothing more then an angle grinder, an oven, a plate and mixer for the epoxy and a calking gun with silicon sealant.

I wouldnt personally do it on an NB headlight setup as that would involve creating a pretty secure jig for testing, and personally, i'm honestly rubbish at that sort of fabrication.

[Mr Morlock]

so the light source is a 35W XGD bulb for your projector lamp? Guess "gatlings' refers to the bulb holders in the reflectors. They often use glass lenses in 7in round inserts because its actually cheaper to manufacture than PC which has to be hard coated.
Its an interesting exercise and ingenuity on display.

[Jace]

and it looks even more like a face!

[droo]

..and finally a simple followup video of the result from my car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id4o1fqfJkw&feature=youtu.be

[Regie]

looks like a great result there!

[bruce]

It does look like a very happy face!

[Regie]

bumping an old thread. Ive done a proper HID conversion in my NC. The RX8 HID projectors fit straight into the NC headlights

Here are some dodgy IPhone pics, But no glare above the cutoff unline the old conventional setups

If any NC owners want some info about it shoot me a message!

[Mr Morlock]

If it's a proper conversion how do does that sit with self levelling and a cleaning system or has that been discarded?

[TieNN89]

If it's a proper conversion how do does that sit with self levelling and a cleaning system or has that been discarded?

A screw driver and a rag?


No there's no self levelling or cleaning system

What Regie is saying is the headlight itself is properly done