Custom Retrofit, FXR Projector into Quad Headlights

Custom Retrofit, FXR into Quad headlights. FINISHED PICS on PAGE 2

* * * COMPLETED 11/28/16, PICS ON PAGE 2 * * *

So I decided to dive head first into this project yesterday. I want to start out by saying that I know there are other options like buying factory projectors and swapping the FXR or Retro'ing the quads with the MiniH1's, etc. I am aware of all that, but its not what I wanted. I really like the way the quads look with the switchback halos, so I decided to make it work. I spent damn near an hour to get one headlight open. I've opened a few different headlights over the years and I've never experienced such a difficult time as I did with these lights. I let them bake for 15 minutes at 275 degrees and they still gave me a hard time.

I ordered a pair of FXR's from JJ and they will be here tomorrow, but I figured I should start building a prototype bracket today, so I grabbed some scrap steel and went to town. The stock reflector is not used in any way other then to take the black clips off that attach to the mounting "pegs."





I drilled out a piece of 1/2" steel round bar and threaded it for 6mm x 1.0 screws so I could attach the black retaining clips. The other piece is 3/4" tube with a 16 gauge wall thickness.







I had to trim the inner headlight bezel a little to fit the bracket. In hindsight, I could have notched the tube where it attaches to the flat piece into a half circle shape and possibly avoiding the notching, I'll have to try it on the other headlight. I just made some rough cuts with a cut off wheel on a dremel. I'll clean them up and paint them black before I finish.





Thats all for today. Once the projector some in I can test fit one and work on the "real" brackets, which I intend to make out of aluminum. The flat part of the bracket isn't really straight, it was a pre-cut piece of steel I had laying around that just happened to fit in the light, so if it looks crooked, thats because it is, LOL.

I'm excited to watch this unfold

Cant wait to see the results

So I received the FXR's today. I started to make some templates tonight, looking to cutout some brackets tomorrow and get a test fit going. Hopefully more pics of progress tomorrow or Saturday

nice project... anxious to see how she turns out!

Nice work man. Can't wait to see the finished product..

So I made a good amount of progress last night and this morning. Last night I mounted the projector into the steel bracket. When I designed that bracket, it was my intention to keep the projector housing centered in relation to the round opening on the back of the headlight housing. In doing so, I realized that it caused the solenoid on the bottom to hit the headlight housing above where the high beam bulb hole is, no good. I scrapped that steel bracket, made a few small adjustments and then fab'd up another one out of aluminum. I drilled large 3/4" holes in it so I could have a place to start my jig saw to cut out the projector opening.



I used 3/4" standoffs to push the projector back into the housing. Using hose standoffs, the very top of the back of the projector just barely hits the housing near the cap on the back. I'm going to switch to 5/8" standoffs which will easily remedy that problem.



Here it is mounted up. I forgot the upper mounts on the FXR are a little bit set back compared to the lowers. I used some random hex nuts I had laying around to act as spacers for now, I'll get the correct length standoff to use when I finish these up.



It just BARELY fits inside the stock quad bezel. I will have to trim the lower area of the bezel so I can fit shrouds on the projector.





I have it temporarily mounted on the truck so I can check for rotational level of the projectors. I rigged up the D2S HID's from my retro'd headlights in my galant, just so I can get these lined up. I plan to run D2H's on the final version so that it will all fit under the back cap.





Not sure which shrouds I'm gonna run yet. I ordered E55's and I like them, but I might have to run something different, we will see.

Looking real nice, really nice!!


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Great work

Awesome work man!!! I've been wanting to tear my factory projectors apart and install the fx-r's. I keep hearing how hard it is to get the factory lights apart and having never taken any lights apart I'm just afraid of ruining them. So I'm just chillin over here with the crappy light output.

so I made a little more progress today. I trimmed the quad bezel and to my surprise, I was able to fit the E55 shrouds without cutting them. Still not 100% certain these will be the final shrouds, but I do think they will look good once the quad bezel and projector bracket are painted flat black.

Matchbox projector mocked up



That's it for the pics. I'll post more when I'm done.

I'm back at it again. I literally haven't worked on my truck in nearly 10 months. Work has been busy and my son learned to walk, so he is an absolute handful. I pretty much finished these lights back in February but never closed them up and wired them. I'm hoping to get them done ASAP.

My hat is off to you....I went the easy minih1 route lol

Nice work.

I'm surprised you went with the fxr's. I can't say they are my favorite projector. With that being said it's great your going against the norm and I appreciate the effort of you doing so. Something awesome about having something unique.

I myself opened my OEM projector headlights and swapped to FXRs. I currently run a 5500k morimoto bulb and 50w morimoto elite ballasts. I also retro'd my stock vertical fogs with morimoto 7.0s and 5500k morimoto bulbs and 45w hyutek ballasts.

I'm a big fan of retros. My 87 firebird has 4 MH1 projectors 4 50w ballasts. My 90 Suzuki gsx has custom bixenon dual MH1 projectors. I've also done hella low beam projectors. But haven't messed with much else due to size of the OE projectors like the Lexus etc with clear lense upgrades.

Lol sorry for the rant. Back to the FXRs... I find the beam is wide and crisp with a sharp colorful cutoff but I feel like it lacks distance and a bright hotspot like I feel like it should. I was sort of bummed when I turned them on and I feel like I had more distance with the stockers with 5500k bulbs and the same 50w ballasts. The FXRs def are wider and project more foreground light compared to the OE projectors but again the distance is lacking I feel. I honestly feel like the new 7.0 MH1 has better distance and the FXR. If I were you I would be looking into the new D2S series 4 and comparing to the FXR to compare output. Either way it's huge compared to the quads you had. Loving the rest of your setup and about to do a 42" single row LED bar in the bumper as well and a 14" single above the license plate. Even with all 4 projectors high beams activated and high beams 9005 I feel like I need more brightness. I hope the bars solve that issue lol.

OK guys, I know it has been a long time since I started this project. I have been so busy with the kids and work that I haven't had time to mess with these. I would work on them for 20 or 30 mins here and there. Last week I had a little free time and motivation so I finished them up. FINALLY!!! I want to thank JJ from The Retro Shop for his suggestions and help along the way. I sourced all my parts from him and he is super helpful and ships fast.



I painted the shrouds semi-gloss black using Krylon Fusion paint. I scuffed up the chrome with a red scotchbrite pad and I used nice and light coats, it came out pretty good.



Testing out the HALO's and demon eyes. I only put the demon eyes in the FXR's. I also wired up the HALO's so they change to yellow and flash with the turn signal.





I made up some harnesses and put the connectors through the OEM back cap. At the end of the day, even after a ton of adjustments, the back cap doesn't fit. Due to the projector being mounted so far back in the housing, once the connector is installed on the bulb, it just hits the back cap. The cap goes on but cant be turned to be locked in place. I ended up getting a rubber back cap instead of the stock plastic screw in cap. This made it work, but I forgot to take a pic of that.



Finally, they are DONE!!!!!



Excuse the RGB reflection from my Christmas lights









This is the best place I could find dark enough to do pics of the output. I realized after the fact that I accidentally left my lightbar turned on. I also need to aim the right one a little higher. I'll have to try doing these pics again.

Lows


Highs and Lows


All in all I'm very happy with the results. I got the projectors like I wanted and also the quad style HALO's which I fell in love with the first time I saw them.

Great job. Those lights are killer and I'm sure the satisfaction knowing you did them yourself feels good as well.

Man those are awesome! I get my quads apart and ready to order the components.. glad I seen your thread cause I'm gonna have to bite off those Halos.. they are sick!! What are they called and what projector did you use for the high beam?


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The highs are morimoto micro projectors. The HALO's I used are made by LED concepts specifically for the 4th gen with quads.