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I wish i had some pics to show you guys but there was a post a while back for those who wanted to get aftermarket HID's for their non hid JDM headlights.

Well, i went the same route. I had OEM Acura HID's in my car but i got into a accident and went JDM ( that explains the conversion, i would never spend 5 grand for accord headlights ). I got to take apart one of my USDM headlights tonight only to realize that our OEM USDM headlights only had the bottom metal shield inside the projector housing. I installed my OEM HID's back into my JDM non HID headlights but the beam pattern was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY OFF!

Skafia was the inspiration to do the project and modify my housings but i didn't have the Audi projectors anymore but i still couldn't stand the horrible beam pattern. After getting back from Maryland, i was hanging out at a friends house and we tooled with his FD for a lil bit before i got to take my headlights out. As soon as i took the headlights off to compare the inside of the projectors to find out why my beam pattern was so off!

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The USDM projector only has the bottom beam shield. I looked inside my NON HID JDM headlights and it had one on the bottom and top~ The little window that allowed the light to pass through was soo narrow, after i installed my HID's into the NON HID housings, i couldn't see anything! The beam was scattered towards the outside and the front of the car. There was a big dark spot in the middle and the beam wouldn't shoot too far. This isn't as great as what Skafia did with his projectors but i did the next best thing. I think my beam pattern was nice with the USDM headlights so what i did was in flipped the headlights over. I used a big screw driver to knock out the top beam shield so it would match up with the USDM projector shield. Its a pretty small piece and i don't have the money for another set of JDM headlights so i was pretty careful with it. Just take a long screw driver and use a hammer to knock out that shield and you will have a matching projector. Im pretty sure the top shield influences the beam pattern even if you do get retrofit bulbs so it might be a good idea. After you knock out it, shake it around and just use something to pull the piece out. Simple as that. I wish i had some pictures to go along with this but at 4am half awake and still pissed that i couldn't see anything, i didn't think about bringing a camera till i was done. Good luck to those who had the same problem.

 

were the accord hids on your stock oem headlights? i'm curious to know how this works.

 

They were OEM acura CL-S HID's. They went in like a beauty. I had to modify the bulb a little bit. I used a dremel to trim off the rim of the bulb so its flush against the NON HID housings of the JDM and the USDM headlights. There's a plastic ring with 3 tiny screws behind the housing where the bulb goes in. As soon as they were trimmed just enough and flush against the inside "ring" of the housing, i used the plasting ring to screw back on behind the rim of the actual D2S bulb to support the back and hold it in place. It worked really well and the beam pattern wasn't off by that much. I wish i had pics...i didn't have a camera handy but as soon as i do, i will post em. If you guys have any questions about retrofitting the HID's into the NON HID housings, PM or post up on this thread. Im always down to help out with whatever i can.

 

Ummm CL-S uses D2R bulbs, unless they switched to projectors and I didn't know it. D2R bulbs in a projector housing would be


[Modified by PatrickGSR94, 9:57 AM 3/29/2003]

 

whoops, i guess i got it mixed up. What difference does it make? The color looks the same, the beam pattern is just fine. Just like my old HID's. Whats the difference between the 2 bulbs performance wise?? Does the housing and bulb combination make that big of a difference or will it not be worth my time to even change them? I get them cheap, $50 a bulb so do you think its worth it?

 

heh. your light problem is probably due to the d2r bulbs, which contain a shield.

whatever makes you feel safe....50 dollars doesnt sound bad


[Modified by Soup ****, 12:25 PM 3/29/2003]

 

you know what would be helpful?? Soup ****'s gonna sponsor me for 2 new D2R bulbs for a grand total of $100 bucks! hahahahaha
Well, my beam pattern with those bulbs were pretty nice even before.



Those are not real great pictures that show the beam pattern but i assure you that they were beyond the stock ones. I was cruising with my cousin and a few girls one night in the Orland park area of IL and through most of the roads through the " Forests" that have no real street lighting, my cousin was able to see with his headlights off when i was behind him with my HID's on. Im not saying that his headlights didn't need to be on but he was still able to retain some vision while he was driving in front of me. Im 20 years old trying to finish off my car payments ( less than a year left~~!~!~!~!), i think i'd rather hold out on the bulbs as long as i can till i really have nothing better to do with my hundred bucks cause it should be fine right? Im just curious about how the beam pattern would look if i tried both bulbs? I guess the only way to find out is to get em.

 

So let me get this straight, you had OEM Acura CL-S HID bulbs inside your stock USDM projector housings before, correct? Then your car was wrecked and you changed to the J-spec front end w/ halogen projectors. Then you installed the CL-S HID bulbs inside the J-spec halogen headlights, right?

I still think you should have used proper D2S bulbs in the first place.

But I have never seen a projector w/ 2 shields, except maybe on the 350Z, which has a very wierd headlight setup anyway.

 

D2R bulbs and D2S bulbs are identical other than the shield that covers some of the light on the D2R bulb.

The reason for that shield is because with a reflector housing, there's too much useless light coming out so it got blocked.

D2S bulbs are focused in one point so there is no useless light really.

BTW, I ordered another Audi A6 Projector to fix my left headlight, it's going to be sweet!


[Modified by skafia, 1:03 PM 3/29/2003]

 

The HIDs in my jdm headlights make a good pattern without modification.

 

Oooooh? Well I accidentally got my phillips HID kit for my usdm dc2R with d2r bulbs... so I should just knock off the shield instead of going back and buying d2s bulbs? WOOHOO!

 

yeah, all you have to do is sand off that stuff on the D2R bulb to make it look like the D2S bulb, then clean it with alchohol

 

looks like you put your camerea setting TOO BLUE
like this

 

You got a light out in your bumper lens. HA!

 

how can u sand it ? what should u use ?

 

Ask MTK Kommander I forget what grit you use. And just do it real light till its all off.

 

PatrickGSR - you got it, thats basically what i did. In regards to the shield, its weird because if you've seen the inside of the housing (skafia, you should know what im talking about), its like an half egg shell shaped shield on the bottom of the projector.When i looked inside my JDM headlights, they had 2 shields, one on top and the egg shaped one on the bottom. I wonder what the inside of the JDM HID housing looks like? I should have used the proper bulbs but i didn't think they'd make that big of a difference with it.

Skafia - Does your little article about the projector swap work the same way with the JDM headlights? I wanted to try but i don't have the cash laying around incase i mess up for a new headlight. Have fun with your headlight project

SGT - Well, i guess the explaination to that one is that the retrofit bulbs sit deeper in the projector emmiting more light.

GettluvR - Yeah, i want to do it too.What grit sand paper.


black R - My beam pattern was fine with the USDM housings, they didnt' look as great as the retrofit ones but they were really close.The USDM has the bottom shield only so you should be fine. Another one of my FBP guys got the phillips and its just fine, the beam pattern was awesome. There shouldn't be a problem with it. Post some pics when you get em in!

Bryant - You sure you can just sand it off? the bulb looks kinda fragile, have you done it yourself? I might consider giving that a try.

ITR1244 - Hahha, the blue settings fine.I took that on the "magnificent mile " in Chicago in front of the Tribune building where they had blue lights in the background. i thought it would be a good backdrop for Some wallpaper to make the HID's look more in place. I was looking at your turning lense on your pic, hahha

 

I have not done it my self But I have seen web sites suggest it and MTK I have seen suggest it. There was another guy on the board that did it, But im not sure what grit. Search google or just ask MTK but yes it can be done saftly.

 

oh, good **** man! i gotta find out, if anyone knows, post up the sandpaper grit, this might be useful for those who search this when it becomes archived.

 

you think 180 super fine Grit Sandpaper is enough to do it?

 

.....**** it, I'm gonna use a DREMEL on these bitches! LOL

 

mine too