Lets Retrofit Some 9th gen UAE Projectors!

hotshot

hotshot

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Bought some of the OEM projectors and Im gonna see what it takes to get some razor sharp, sparkly, colorful cut off. I started this weekend by separating the plastic lens from the housing. I noticed the glass lens on the projector was lightly frosted, or dimpled, and isn't optically clear.

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The projector itself is screwed in there pretty good, so I paid a visit to The Retrofit Source this morning with the separated headlights in hand to get an expert opinion on how to separate the projector from the housing.

I left with a box of goodies to get the ball rolling.

- 4G TL Projectors
- Morimoto Ballasts and relay harness
- Morimoto 4300k bulbs
- TSX-R clear lenses (They just released Mercedes Black series lenses with some pretty nice results, so I may get those instead, if they fit)

UdnDViLl.jpg


My goal is to get razor sharp cut off at a minimal price, so I'm gonna start with simply replacing the frosted stock glass lens with the clear TSX-R lens. Jamielle at TRS suggested the 4G TL projectors, so I got those should I need them. At the end of this, this should be as close to a factory fresh plug n' play, swap as humanly possible, with as little cutting and modifying as possible. You will also have detailed pics of the results, and you will know exactly what you need to achieve them. If I don't use something, or I need something extra, I won't include it in the final price

I've also got a source for some of the factory pigtail plugs to make a plug n' play harness, if your lights didnt come with pigtails

Bear with me on this install because I only have weekends to work on this, since my job takes a lot of my time, and I'm in between building a nursery for my child (not sure if its a girl or boy yet).
 
I was thinking about doing this as well. I have a H11 Morimoto kit in my lights for now.

Can you let me know where you found the factory pigtails?
 
I'm gonna save a space here for updates, but I think the forum only lets you edit a post for so many minutes....?
 
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joshb_ said:
I was thinking about doing this as well. I have a H11 Morimoto kit in my lights for now.

Can you let me know where you found the factory pigtails?
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I found one plug for one of the bulbs through Honda. College hills has them. Gimme a few to find the part # again. The other one is a tad different and I haven't found that one yet. I'll find it though. Lol
 
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I am very interested to see if it is possible to swap just the lenses on the lights. A straight swap would be a great way to upgrade the UAE lights for $50 and a few hours of work.
 
hotshot said:
I'm gonna save a space here for updates, but I think the forum only lets you edit a post for so many minutes....?
Click to expand...

Want me to move this post after op so it will be more organized? Pm me some updates so I can edit it in the thread (if the edit option doesn't work).
 
joshb_ said:
I am very interested to see if it is possible to swap just the lenses on the lights. A straight swap would be a great way to upgrade the UAE lights for $50 and a few hours of work.
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I am thinking it would be possible. Hotshot could eventually confirm if the stock lens is a 2.5 inch lens(which is the size of the TSX-R clear lens), so a swap would be possible then.

IMO, if your in there doing all that work might as well spring for a better projector.
 
It's definitely a 2.5. There's a cutoff shroud in the factory housing, I just have a feeling that the stock dimpled glass is holding it back.
 
I have not seen too many halogen projector lenses but it makes me wonder if all of them have this same "dimpled" affect?
 
joshb_ said:
I have not seen too many halogen projector lenses but it makes me wonder if all of them have this same "dimpled" affect?
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Just look at it. You can see it.

I was selling nissans back when the 350zs came out, and HIDs were an option at the time, but the headlight housings (the front of them anyway) between the HID and non-HID cars looked identical. I think that's the case here. HIDs were just an option. The outside housings were the same to save production costs (that's why the ballast mounting spots are in all of them), and the optional HID housings just have different projectors.

I did notice something interesting the other day when I was looking at my wife's TSX. These oft-touted projectors have concentric circles in the glass lenses. So the dimpled glass may be in all of the Civic lenses.
 
hotshot said:
Just look at it. You can see it.

I was selling nissans back when the 350zs came out, and HIDs were an option at the time, but the headlight housings (the front of them anyway) between the HID and non-HID cars looked identical. I think that's the case here. HIDs were just an option. The outside housings were the same to save production costs (that's why the ballast mounting spots are in all of them), and the optional HID housings just have different projectors.

I did notice something interesting the other day when I was looking at my wife's TSX. These oft-touted projectors have concentric circles in the glass lenses. So the dimpled glass may be in all of the Civic lenses.
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If that is the case, just a lens swap should make a large difference. I will be eagerly awaiting some cutoff pictures with the TSX-R lenses installed on the OEM projector housing.
 
The actual curvature of the reflector bowls are different between hid/halogen (or they should be). The two types of bulbs emit light differently from one another, so they should tailor each one accordingly. The "frosted" nature of the lens helps disperse light a bit. Having a super sharp cutoff actually hurts seeing road signs and stuff. The frosted type will help disperse some light above the cutoff and help make things above the cutoff somewhat more visible.
 
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webby said:
The actual curvature of the reflector bowls are different between hid/halogen (or they should be). The two types of bulbs emit light differently from one another, so they should tailor each one accordingly. The "frosted" nature of the lens helps disperse light a bit. Having a super sharp cutoff actually hurts seeing road signs and stuff. The frosted type will help disperse some light above the cutoff and help make things above the cutoff somewhat more visible.
Click to expand...

Then it probably has a lot more to do with the reflector bowls. The glass on the TL projectors is optically clear. Not "frosted" or fresnel.
 
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There are older TL lenses that are not clear. They are fresnel. That's why they sell the "zkw clear" lenses for older TL projectors.
 
Once you find some time to get further into this project would you mind doing some side by side comparisons - OEM Halogen vs TL reflector bowls?
 
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