HOW TO: Projector Install

[Bart-man]

VV

[4g o7 Gt$$]

just a question did that realli take you 2 hours?

[Kilzod]

About so.

[Need4Speed]

pics are down please fix. thanks

[Darkness]

Originally Posted by Need4Speed

pics are down please fix. thanks

+1

[XFactor]

Since this is outdated enough that the pictures hosted by photobucket are dead, i'm going to take a bunch of pictures of my install, in fact I already have, but I had to go back to square 1 last night because I ran out of time.

Seems none of the major forums have a good write up on this, and it's a bit of a pain in the ass, and is FOR SURE harder than I was lead on to believe. Once I take off/loosen the front bumper i'm sure it'll all fall into place, but anyway I think this install deserves a good walk through.

[XFactor]

HERE IS MY WRITE UP!! Seems to be a lot of people getting stuck on it lately.

__________________________________________________ ______________


I'm going to do this as simple-stupid as I can. Since i'm pretty dumb when it comes to cars, that shouldn't be too hard, I don't think.

There is some confusion out there, I think, about whether or not you have to take your bumper off/loosen your bumper to do this. Trust me, you do. Unless your arms are made of flubber I don't think there is any way at all for you to get to the front bolt. Even if you could, you probably wouldn't be able to tighten it properly without maybe having it crooked or something.



That's the one i'm talking about. Even with the bumper loose, it's still a bit of a knuckle biter to get out. I'm pulling pretty hard in that pic, and thats with the thing practically off. So anyway, first off then, is taking the bumper off, or at least taking off most of the screws/plastic dealies that hold it in place. Here are a bunch of pics, i'm pretty sure I got all of the ones you need to take out in these pics, if not, most of them are in the manual as well, section 7.

Turn your wheel like so, you'll need to be able to get your hands in there.





All of the ones lining the top of the bumper under the hood. \/ \/



This one is kind of hiding behind that bump in the weather guard thing. Make sure and get him. This one is only on the left side, both sides aren't symmetrical for some reason. Now that I think about it I did miss a picture of one of the screws you should take out, it's the one on the lip on the top side of the well, it will save some pain on the top side of you hand if you take it out.



Right now you should have the top screws and plastic pins all pulled out under the hood. You should have the weather guard in the wheel well really loose so you can pull it apart from the bumper itself, like so. (there are 3 screws and the rest are pins I believe, some of the pins are screw pins though, to get these out screw them a bit, then use a flat-head to pop them out.)



Next get the pins/screws lining the bottom of the bumper. I would do them all, and leave them on the ground just under where they go if you care about getting everything back together perfectly.



Ok, just one more bolt and the bumper should be loose enough to get the headlights out and do the install. Here are the bolts to take out the headlight and the last bumper bolt.

Mr. Obvious



Mr. PITA-make-tim-bust-his-knuckles. It's the one on the left there, but both needs to come out right now so you can get the next one.



If you got those 2 out, you should be able to pull the bumper loose. If not, find out where it's resisting when you pull and see which bolt you missed or which one I forgot to mention.

Here's the last one (same as I posted above)



And that's the hard part! Take out the light, you have to pull it straight forward a bit and kind of work it out carefully. The top Mr. Obvious bolt location can be pulled up if you push down on the front a bit to be able to get it over that little piece it snugs over. You'll see what I mean. Be careful on pushing the front down, though, there is a small plastic piece securing it in the front, get that out first.

Once you have it loose, twist out the bulb harnesses. Without touching the bulb, pull the main headlight bulb out of the harness. In the pic I pulled out the running light/turn signal bulb also, but you can leave it in.



Now, I took out the extra LED things on mine. So if you want to know how to do those, good luck. I'm using the eyelids and hooking those up would have been a waste of time. But, you bought Halo projectors, so of course you want the Halos to work.

Cut the MIDDLE wire on the running light harness, like so.



Now tap into it using the 4 little blue connecty dealies they give you with the headlights. The instructions tell you what to do with the black ones, but not the white ones. This is what you do with the white ones. This will make it so your halos run with your running lights.



The blue connectors are kinda of crappy, I recommend using something better. One came loose on me within a day after, but it wasn't too tough to re-crimp it together.

My dad is a bit of an electrician, so if you need better instructions on the wiring I can ask him for a better way to describe it, thats the best I got for right now.

Twist the running light into the new headlight, and plug the headlight harness into the new headlight, set her in and bolt her down.

Rinse and repeat for the other side!

I wrote this really quick at work, I will edit it when I get home, but I didn't have much to do this morning so I figured I would get a draft typed up and edit it later.

If you see any obvious mistakes or corrections that need to be made let me know! Thanks and good luck if you plan on doing this install!

ALSO! The fitments on these are NOT perfect. If you do put them in and get them to fit perfectly, please let me know how. It isn't bad, but it isn't perfect. I was mildly disappointed, but now that they are in and done I am very satisfied with how they look. The only thing that bothers me is the eyelids don't fit all that great with the hood. You can't really tell, and it's a hell of a lot better than anything i've seen with some of the aftermarket hoods, but for perfectionists (like me), you might notice it's a tiny bit off.

[Matt-Man]

im working on removing my front bumper as we speak, how did you (or anyone) remove the two bolts connecting the bumper underneath the wheel well. it looks like it is connecting it the fender or something...i just cant get any tools at the right angle to unscrew the. suggestions?

[hsalter3]

I had to use three extensions on my socket to get them out.

[Matt-Man]

ah i ound a lil nub screw driver...itsdoing the trick

[Matt-Man]

ok i suck at doing this, im completly stumped. i have a shit load of wires which ones do i take out of the equation andwhat else do i need to do

[Slippercream]

Well for starters, since you're using Xenons, take the one halogen bulb and wires off the grommet

The LED and top bar wires can all be wired in parallel into the park light circuit. Wire the lows and highs respectively, of course.

Now my take has always been different from everyone else's. I opt to take nothing but switched power (relay) from stock circuits and get constant 12V straight from the battery. Ensures that the electricals get the proper juice they need to work as efficiently (ensures ballast and stock circuit life). I don't even have to fuck with DRLs or bending pins like everyone insists on doing.

[Matt-Man]

thanks i got all that done. the projectors wasnt a problem, i have done stuff like this before. My problem is the HIDs, and al though I found a few other threads none really addressed a projector install and HID conversion. Ill try to post a very thourogh how to for HIDs as soo as i can get a chance

[Slippercream]

I don't understand your issue.

[Matt-Man]

not wanting to change a projector how to into a HID how to, BUT since you ask...

The HID ballast is receiving power from the green OEM plug. CHECK

The black tube powers the bulb by connecting the two (one male, and one female) cylinder plugs. CHECK

Now I am left with a black plug (similar to the OEM green plug) and two (one red, one black) wires with metal at the end. WTF do i do with these?? (yes i searched and the two relevant topics have gotten me this far but now im stumped)

im sure im missing something stupid, and ill probably kick myself when i figure it out.
jarrod told me to call him and that its so simple he could walk me through it over the phone ill bug him when he gets back from his trip.

the projectors are sweet! i need to level them though

[Slippercream]

omg dude... seriously?



...


My way:

XENON BULB --> HID Ballast --> RELAY (below) + chassis ground

RELAY:

1. Switched power --> OEM low beam (+) terminal on "green" connector
2. Constant 12V power --> 30A Fuse --> Battery

High beam bulb terminals:

1. (+) to OEM "green" connector high beam hot
2. (-) to OEM "green" connector ground

LED wires = who the fuck cares. PARK.

[Matt-Man]

wtf yeah seriously

everyones "descriptive" ways are confusing and no one here as ever heard of KISS. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. the more i see these damn sketches the more im like WTF. anyway thank you, this is simple and it makes sense just by reading it.

[Slippercream]

By the way, sorry if I sounded pissy, Matt. I think St. Louis may be getting to me... or the cold.
Or I'm sure you're all too familiar with my frustration over people who talk like they know everything, but can't really tell you why their methods are correct.

Regardless, I appreciate your paying heed to my suggestions when it comes to electronics. Call me old school, but there's a way to do it, and there's a way to do it safely, or correctly. That "safe" way involves the use of relays and diodes. Note that though HID ballasts are 12V accessories, they do require a high amount of current. This is why I always tell people to get constant 12V straight from the battery, and to fuse separately. This way, too, your factory electrical system doesn't get put at risk by introducing a high-load circuit that involves HID ballasts and several LED arrays. And let's not even get me started on grounding! You should always try to ground aftermarket lighting directly to the nearest ground point, and not back to the factory harness ground.



If you need more on relays (as I'm sure folks new to electrical will), click here

[Toper]

hi slippercream, i have a question regarding your Hid 12v connection,

Constant 12V power --> 30A Fuse --> Battery

Did you use a separate line of 12V power from battery, having a wire and a fuse for each headlamps, or did you just branch the wires out after the 30amp Fuse?

Also this maybe a dummy question, but the relay you used is 30amps right? (I saw 30a and 40a in radioshack)

Thanks

[Slippercream]

I'd think 30A is fine, but I'd use a separate fuse for each ballast. However, I'd think you can just use one LARGE relay and one main 12V wire from the battery for both. If you do decide to go with one wire, though, I'd suggest you make the main battery wire a little beefier, but not so much as to go 8AWG

Here's a link that'll help demystify the purposefulness of picking the right wire gauge.

The reason you'll want to get juice straight from the source is to make sure you have ample current/less resistance going to your ballasts. Bottlenecking by using small hardware, or thinner wire defeats the purpose. But hey, if you don't do it right at least you won't be frying your factory circuit faster than the folks who plug directly into the factory harness!

[Toper]

Thanks for all the info! i somehow managed to wire everything up using 1 SPST relay 1 fuse and 12 awg wires.. My problem now is the DRL,,, i know there are hundreds of ways to disable them but I got curious on this:

Originally Posted by Slippercream

I don't even have to fuck with DRLs or bending pins like everyone insists on doing.

I think Im missing something on the circuit formula. Is it diodes? How did you make your DRL work (or disable?) w/out bending pins?