Some of you may have seen my posts the last month or so of me asking questions about these elusive headlights as I gathered the parts together necessary for the conversion. I got out there today and did the installation and to be honest it's really not difficult at all. In regards to modifications, I basically had to remove some padding to fit in the left side assembly and purchase some extended length screws to allow me to fit the thicker non-OEM ballast underneath the assembly. I left the DRL bulb cap off to run wires through, otherwise it's pretty air tight. I tucked all the wires inside the assembly, and with the ballast hidden underneath you can't tell it's not 100% stock, when in reality it's actually pretty damn close.

Here are the pics. The result is very impressive, much better beam pattern and visibility with far less glare than the halogen assemblies with HID's. I'm even gonna raise the elevation to get another 10-15 feet of visibility. The only issue I have at this point is the drivers side assembly is a little dirtier underneath. If anyone knows how to remove the front cover and clean under there I'd much appreciate it.

 

Nice job!

I'm jealous.

 

+1
how much did it all come out to?

 

Any pics of the cutoff? I'm curious to see how reflector HID's fare against projectors.

 

pretty awesome, best part is...those bulbs will probably last longer than you'll own the car!

stupid H7's

 

the cutoff doesnt compare to that of the hid projector.
but oem hid is still far better looking than factory halogens.
OP, to open headlights, there are two philips screws on each headlight that need to be removed, then start oven and turn to 260 bake, and let warm up for about 3/5 minutes, place headlight assembly on a cookie pan and center it in the oven for about 4 to 5 minutes, and slowly start prying around.
goodluck, that glue the hid assembly uses is serious crazy sticky and cools quickly.
Charley

 

The total came out to a little over $400, including both assemblies, bulbs, adapters and shipping.

I put it next to our '03 ES which has auto leveling HID's and then aligned them to the same level. This greatly increased the distance and doesn't create any additional glare for oncoming drivers. IMO the cutoff and beam pattern is very good compared to the '03, albeit slightly choppier as you can probably tell from the photo's. The '01 is on the left, '03 on the right and the lights meet right in the middle of that 1 foot space in between the two garage doors.



Charley is right, HID projectors are the best. Although to be honest, I think the beam pattern is just as good between the '03 ES and '10 RX, although the cutoff is better on the RX plus you have the swiveling factor which puts the projectors a tier above the reflective housings. I will try and get a comparison between the three sometime if it interests anyone.

And thanks for that info charley, I was afraid I'd have to use the oven method. I polished both sides up with meguirs plastx and now the right side looks excellent and the left very good, so I think I'll wait for them to get a little dirtier before I go ahead and take them apart.

 

looks wonderful. totally jealous.

 

I'll be taking these apart within the next few weeks, the dirt is visibility reducing the amount of light that's put on the road for the left side, I'll probably also do the right side while I'm at it. I'll post up some pics of the process.

I also compiled a short list about a month ago of yards/sellers that had damaged assemblies if anyone's interested, I'd be happy to share it, perhaps someone would be interested in a cheap HID assembly that they're willing to repair.

 

^^ please share this info. If you want PM it to me...

Knowing US sellers though, they won't ship to Canada...

My local yards rarely have an ES300 and never have the parts i need!

 

I went ahead and used the oven technique. That glue's pretty sticky, but after a few times or taking it in and out of the oven I had it apart. I whiped it down with windex using a clean sock, and it came out looking pretty good. Unfortunately, I was using winter gloves that have those little dimples on the outside for gripping and when the housing was hot from the oven the gloves left little imprints from those grippy dimples. I think I can buff those out though with some plastx.

Besides that, I think the plastic cover itself has become discolored over the years. I tried my best to get a picture of the blotches on the cover I'm referring to (these were taken before the gloves left marks on the cover),

 

Can someone help me, I did this same mod and headlights work fine but when I turn on the high beams it blows out the headlight fuse.

 

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