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Problems with a TSX retrofit purchased used..

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Old Jan 4, 2008 | 11:52 AM
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Default (Update, photos added) Problems with a TSX retrofit purchased used..

from another clublexus member. I didn't expect it to be pristine as I was able to negotiate the price down to $250. But I didn't realize how bad the headlights were until it started to rain here in Cali. I was able to reseal one of the headlights to keep all moisture out on the drivers side but I could not on the passenger side headlight. The reason that the passenger headlight didn't seal properly is because it appears that the housing was taken from a crashed SC. The whole right side of the headlight was fiberglassed and was missing one of the mounts. I'm guessing that water is seeping in through the fiberglass and collecting inside. I took it apart and saw that there was extensive damage to the plastic housing all over.

Now I've done about 20+ S2000 headlamp modifications so I do have a little bit of experience opening and resealing headlamps. But the damage is pretty bad so I am thinking of just transplanting the TSX projectors to my good stock passenger headlamp.

The person who did the retrofit on the ones I bought did a kind of hackjob and did not make a good bracket, he just ziptied the TSX projector to what appears to be a cut up stock SC projector bowl. I'd like to do a proper job with a good bracket instead of transplanting the hackjob.

My question is, does anyone have a bracket template or better yet, have access to a person who can make the metal brackets for me? I am willing to pay a reasonable amount to have a pair made.

Sorry for the long winded post, but I just thought that I'd give a little history to cut down on any questions people might post.

Update: Purchased brackets and photos of transplant with new brackets down at the bottom

Last edited by Dougspeed; Jan 17, 2008 at 10:36 AM.
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Old Jan 4, 2008 | 02:53 PM
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sounds like u got jerked basically.
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Old Jan 4, 2008 | 02:56 PM
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From who did you buy it from? I think the one who makes brackets is not around anymore.
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Old Jan 4, 2008 | 04:05 PM
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I have a pair of metal brackets that I'm not going to use...PM me...

Tony
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Old Jan 6, 2008 | 08:42 AM
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You my friend, are in the same boat as i am (bracket wise) lol

If you buy the pair of brackets from Tony can you go to a machine shop and see if they can make a copy and get a price? I need them to finish my retro also.

Goodluck!
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Old Jan 9, 2008 | 01:36 AM
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Ahh that sucks to hear. I'm in the middle of doing a retrofit myself too (RX330). Just a question, how long do you leave the headlights in the oven for? I left the RX330 lights in for 6 minutes and one was easy to pull apart and the other was ***.
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Old Jan 9, 2008 | 01:42 AM
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Originally Posted by DZLEXIK
You my friend, are in the same boat as i am (bracket wise) lol

If you buy the pair of brackets from Tony can you go to a machine shop and see if they can make a copy and get a price? I need them to finish my retro also.

Goodluck!
I should have bought a pair and made my life easier.
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Old Jan 17, 2008 | 10:30 AM
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Ok an update to this thread. I finally met up with Tony (ACleanSC) to purchase the brackets, big thank you to him! And after much hemmin and hawing, I finally cracked open the botched headlamps and retrofitted them into my good stock housings. Well here are the results after 3+ hrs of fitting, cutting, and cleaning up the other guys work. I can tell that life would've been easier if I had just done it myself from the beginning.

Here's the original, work was very hackjob and sloppy, not to mention extremely leaky. First rains turned those headlamps into aquariums. Notice how far back the projectors sit. This is because he didn't use any brackets, just JB welded the plastic adjusting screw clips to the TSX housings.



And here are some photos I took after cleaning the projector housing up and fitting it to my original housings.

Bracket

Fitting








Final result



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Old Jan 17, 2008 | 10:37 AM
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Nice job bro! My TSX projectors is sitting farback unlike yours. I should have bought a bracket something like that.

I don't feel like reopening the healights because it is a PITA.

Do you have more pictures of the back of the headlamps? I want to see how did you cover the bulbs.
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Old Jan 17, 2008 | 10:41 AM
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Here's mine and look at the gap between the housing and the projectors.

How much are the brackets?

By the way I have the same Nissan ballasts.

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Old Jan 17, 2008 | 10:41 AM
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Hah, I'm still trying to figure that part out. The other guy used fiberglass and custom made a cover for it, but it was glued to the housing so I couldn't move it to my new housings. Not sure what I'm going to use to cover them right now.

As for the brackets, I got em from Tony since he had an extra set for what he paid, $50.
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Old Jan 17, 2008 | 06:50 PM
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Looks much better now. What length screws are you using to hold the projector onto the bracket?
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Old Jan 17, 2008 | 08:06 PM
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great job bro...
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Old Jan 17, 2008 | 10:41 PM
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What shroud is that on the TSX projector? I need to get brackets like that, so when I do a retro it'll be easier.
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Old Jan 18, 2008 | 10:32 AM
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The guy who sold me the headlights had mounted the shrouds so I'm not 100% sure where they're from. But what I think he did was mount the stock SC300/400 shroud over the stock TSX shroud and then he used jbweld to keep it in place.
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