GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

Hey all,

I'm about to do a full retrofit and I'm trying to decide between the FX-R and RX-330 AFS offered by TRS. I'm leaning towards the RX-330 because Integras already have pretty good high beams and the RX is the low-beam king, but there's always the price difference to consider. FX-Rs are a bit cheaper and bi-xenon high beam + halogen high has to be better than just halogen. On the other hand there is a solenoid to have to make room for.

I was just wondering if anyone had thoughts or wanted to weigh in. I'm planning on doing an in-depth DIY so if anyone has a preference of what they'd like to see that may factor in to my decision making.

1998GsRIntegra

If you're going to do a write up, I'd love to see you go with the RX-330. A proper HID retrofit has been on my endless list of things to do for a long time and a good write up might just force me into making time for it

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

Oh man I forgot about this poll. This subforum is totally dead LOL.

As it happens, I did go with the RX330s! I've got non-AFS RX330s I am bi-xenon modding. So the writeup will have the whole tomato from tuning the cutoff to installing in an Integra to wiring bi-xenon with existing halogen high beams.

TunerN00b

Isn't that projector a bit large to fit though?

Subscribed for the results.

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

I believe the RX-330 non-AFS that I have is about as small as they get. It is the newer kind without the big flange. The bixenon solenoid fits within the housing, too, so it doesn't add bulk. But I will know for sure in 20-30 minutes!

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

OK I'm 80% of the way through the retrofit and while the stock bracket does have to be trimmed a lot to fit the RX330 projector, it is a good fit and there are zero clearance issues with the headlight housings. Soon I'll attach pics in this thread and a how-to in the Integra subforum.

vietsimpleminde

Can't wait to see the write up! been very interested in doing a bi-xenon retrofit into the OEM housing. I've seen people do it but I could not find 1 how-to on any forums.

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

PatrickGsr94 has/had bi-xenon in his Gen3. I do not know what projector it is but it looks like an OEM bi-xenon. Large bi-xenons can be trouble in the stock housing but his looks to fit just fine. I like the bi-xenon modded RX330 because it is very compact, you get to use an OEM projector, and it is easier to tune a MiniH1 bixenon shield than it is to make your own custom RX330 lowbeam-only shield.

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

I will post a full how-to at some point, probably in the Integra subforum, but here are some pics of the process that should be enough for someone with some lighting experience to see how I did things.



The bi-xenon solenoid comes from a Mini H1 projector. To use it you cut the cutoff area out of an RX330 shield and screw on the Mini H1 shield.





Because the cutoff sits off the RX330 shield a bit, you may need to bend the cutoff back a bit to get it the correct distance from the bulb.





Here is the assembled bi-xenon modded RX330 projector next to the stock projector. It is a little wider and shorter.





Here is the stock bracket with the projector cut out and a hole made for the RX330 projector:





The horizontal and vertical adjustments are easy to eyball and easy to adjust in-car because of the external vert/horiz adjuster screws in the factory housings. However rotational adjustment is not as easy. To make rotational adjustment possible in car, put the mounting bolts "backwards" so you can reach the adjustment nuts with the headlights (but not the plastic covers) installed.







If you drill out a "path" for the mounting bolts to go, its easy to do rotational adjustments in situ.







Here I am tuning the rotational adjustment against my garage door:





For final assembly, tighten the bottom two bolts on the car, and then add a bolt on the top of the assembly to act as a spacer. This does not need to hold tight. For final assembly I welded it with a dab of epoxy.





Note that the projector is spaced ~1" away from the mounting bracket. This is necessary to get the projector lens in the factory position. If you do not do this it will not look flush with the clear cover installed, you may lose some throw angle, and you may also get more distortion from the clear cover.

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

Here is the projector mounted inside the headlight housing:







...and on the car. This is not a great picture, but the headlight is OEM-flush. It has a very clean look in person.





At night:





Some output shots of just the projector with M1 shield at ~30 ft.









The RX330s have a beautiful output with a sharp, colorful cutoff and very good light along the sides.

The cutoff is dulled slightly when the clear cover is added. It does not warp badly, but the clear cover adds some unintentional "squirrel finders" on the sides. This is not bad enough to be a problem for other drivers.

I cleaned my headlights pretty thoroughly but they are still beat up and pitted after 17 years and 200k miles on the road. You may have more luck.





I don't have my aperture settings correct on these wall shots. There is not nearly as much glare as these pics show (see the pic above for the "real world" cutoff), but these do show the effect of the bi-xenon highs combined with the factory halogen highs.







In the real world these lights have a fantastic output. The foreground is very mild which is great for a lowered Integra which has headlights very close to the ground. The good light along the cutoff to the side illuminates the sides of the row nicely and there is enough scattered light that signs light up very well. When the high beams are on, the entire road is visible for a hundred yards or more. This setup is supurb for rural night driving.

I'll post more high/low and bixenon on/off comparisons in the future. I'll also provide a link to my detailed how-to once that is up.

TunerN00b

1998GsRIntegra

Very nice job. One thing I've found through reading is that those three horizontal "diffusers" on the inside of the headlight cover for the low beams tend to mess with the cutoff line and overall pattern a little bit. From what I saw people were either sanding them down smooth and polishing the cover back out or buying the $100 ebay halo headlights and stealing the covers off of them because those are completely clear/smooth.

I'm about to attempt to do a quad projector bi-xenon setup in a set of Gen3 headlights. Should be rather interesting after taking into consideration my level of experience with HID retrofits(zero). I figure worst case I can't make it work with four so I end up just using two and I have a complete second retrofit kit for another vehicle. No real need for a quad setup for everyday driving from a practicality standpoint, I just want to do something a little different. Planning to use four of the fx-r projectors, matsushita ballasts, osram cbi's, ect. Just waiting to hear back from TRS before I pull the trigger. One advantage I do have is a spare set of headlight assemblies. I figure I can experiment with them before hacking into the ones currently mounted on my car.

Will try to take some during shots of the project, but will most likely forget and only end up with shots of the finished product.