Megafast13

Just finished up my quad projector retrofit with Morimoto FX-R 3.0 bi-xenon projectors and Morimoto Mini's powered by LED's in the inner housings for DRL function. I love how they turned out and the output is remarkable Enjoy.

I used the housing of the 2006 ES model for this job and they are coated black chrome. The Shrouds are Apollo 3's and the inner ones were the shrouds from the old ES projectors.

hypervish

That look's amazing!! Nice job, you nailed it!

funcrusher

How do the DRLs look? Pics!

LeX2K

Excellent upgrade, love your car colour as well.

Megafast13

Here are a few snapshots during my test drive, it was raining so I will have to do a shoot tomorrow. These things are incredible lol. In the pics I have the high beams on.

Megafast13

Here are the DRL's. I took 4 of those already projector style little 9watt LED's and put them together in a a square formation and placed them behind the actual projector lense. The colors they project are mainly 6K, but if you move around the car, or you hit a bump they give off a very deep blue hue, and they appear yellow when off because of the diodes projecting through the lense. These are blinding compared to my HID's haha. I also have one of them in those top corner city lights that I used to not have anything in on my old housings, but I think they go together now.

funcrusher

Looks good my dude. I've thought about putting LED's in ny drl's on my 2000 es. That or just disabling them. I dont want to hook up a kit or anything like that.

Chocolate

Awesome!

Two questions:

Do your clear side markers provide any additional light to the side? The original amber markers are thick plastic but the clear ones leave the bulb exposed.

Night pics of the light cast by your side markers would be great.




I'm guessing you baked your headlamp to separate the housing. How did you get the black chrome coating? Looks great. :thumbsup:

I upgraded the reflector HIDs in my 2004 to the 2005-2006 projector Xenon housing, using the same ballast. I went with Osram Xenarc Night Breaker bulbs. The only thing I would like to change is to get rid of the fluting where the 194 parking light LED sits on the corner of the headlight. Not that it really matters with the projectors, it would just allow a little more light outside the cutoff.

I also upgraded my fog lights with 25W LEDs, but they are just for looks and make absolutely no difference in light output beyond several feet. They are too deep inset into the bumper, too shielded, and too small. I've thought about retrofitting projectors in there but really don't need to with the current setup.
Overall, far more light - there is no comparison.

Color temp. appears a little whiter in person on the HIDs - rated at 4250K.
(pics taken in fixed position - open in tabs to compare brightness)
Highbeams only: (65w Unshielded Halogens, Sylvania Silverstar ZXE) https://i.imgur.com/3JgnDPS.jpg
Lowbeams only: (D2S 35W Osram Xenarc Night Breaker) https://i.imgur.com/OMESuJC.jpg
Highbeams and Lowbeams: https://i.imgur.com/1kAbfei.jpg

I would be genuinely curious to see a similar comparison of your projector LED output alone, HID alone, and combined.

P.S. Every time I see your car I regret not getting that color.

Megafast13

The clear side markers definitely provide more light, I had upgraded them to amber LED's and have since rewired them to work with the turn signals instead of just a parking light.

For the black chrome look I used VHT Nightshade, about 3 coats. It has a cool effect over chrome pieces.

Yours looks pretty good chocolate. That's about the best you are going to get with the stock projectors. The big difference with mine, regardless of bulb quality and temperature used is the engineering of the Morimoto projectors with the clear STi lenses that make the light go as far as possible and give a crazy spectrum of colors at the cutoff!

I had the regular 06 projectors for about 5 years, and put off the retrofit until I gave up on polishing/sanding the housings that I purchased off a scammer on here years ago.

TomsCelica

Very nice! I'll be doing a retrofit with my 2004 330 once they get shipped. The Retrofit Source has the harnesses on back order, it's been a month! I complained and got some Morimoto T10 LEDs for the parking lights in the headlights.

I got the Mini H1 kit, can't wait to get them in there... I'm not going to bother with the high beams. Haha!

Davec73

I have the same color ES 330 and I am getting ready to do mine. I am going to pull the lights apart and paint the inner part black. I was just going to use the stock his but after seeing this I'm intrigued