customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

basically what the titles says guys, got sick of my stock headlights with H4 100/90W bulbs blowing up and the headlights randomly getting stuck in the up position. so this is what i did!

1.)purchased a H4 HID conversion kit, 35w ballasts, 35w 8000k bulbs. I then converted the H4 kit to a 9005 HID 35W 8000K bulbs... it was a direct swap and uses the same weather pack connectors. (reason for this is the projectors im running at 9005 bulb type)

2.) Bought 2 new HELLA 60mm projectors with 9005 sylvanaia bulbs, comes with mounting instuctions and is water tight with 9005 bulbs. ( i used the 9005 halogen bulbs to get the lights aligned before installing the HID kit)

3.) made my own vacume forming kit for like 30$ and made 2 custom covers out of .090" lexan. molded after original design headlights with bubble (or bug eyes) for projector clearance.

4.) ripped out old headlights and assemblies, weighted in at 11-12lbs each side.

5.) new lexan covers, steel brackets and projectors weigh less than 2lbs each side

6.) wired up HID kit, plugs into stock headlight bulbs socket and thats it... no cutting or anything.

7.) completed and i have to say that these HIDs are amazing... even being a 35W kit... the light up the road 20x better than the 100/90W hyper white bulbs i had installed for 3 yrs.

8.) some smart guy will say... swapping the 9005 bulb for a HID bulb will change the projectors light direction! and your correct UNLESS u measure the bulbs filament and make sure its the same distance as the halogens... which it was lucky for me but if it wasnt i would have to shim the bulbs socket for the correct placement.

let me know what you guys think.

first pics are mounting and positioning of the hella projectors. steel backets have been made.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

placement of the projectors with the hood down to show how high the projectors will sit above the hood line

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

now u can see the molded lexan cover ive made with scoop which will fit over the projector, the lexan is clear at the moment but will be painted black on the underside to match the car.

i have to say it looks cool clear lol. this is also my 3rd mold ive ever made EVER with vacume forming, the driver side comes out much better bc i learned from this one.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

here the cover has been painted (last 2 pics) and is mounted on the car... the lense in front of the projector has not been painted on the cover.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

driver side. compeleted and painted.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

some better shots of the car after it was washed. but my dads vette got in the way.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

some better shots, one of the car by itself. you can see how i tried to make it work into the car... im not complelety happy with it as it looks odd to me bc im used to how it looked stock. still tho it works beautifully!

last pic shows the HIDs 8000K running at night. the projector housing is small so it doesnt give off alot of bulb surface which makes the car look cleaner/sexier than it does with the HUGE stock lights popping up. but the light output was increased 20x easily. these projectors also have cutoffs which u will see in the next pics.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

first 2 pics are of the HIDs only, wall was roughly 20ft away. the covers i made dulled out the projectors HARD cutoff line slightly but u can still see the cutoff clearly here.

last pic is of the HIDs and the 55w halogen fog lights i have in the bumper.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

last pic! this is a front shot of the HIDs and 55w halogen fog lights from the front of the car.

these shots werent taken on a DARK DARK road... this was a lot that was lit up so the pics dont do the brightness/quality of the light that is produced by the HIDs and projectors. it really is a night and day difference.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

well done! well done indeed.

im not 100% on the layout of the light and the cover though, looks like its missing something, maybe another light, or some different style of the new cover for the light area.

but again, this has got to be the first time i;ve seen thins done that doesn't look like poo. Good job!

make me a set

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

thanks man appreciate it! it was a pain in the ARS to get the vacume forming thing to do wat i wanted. and lexan isnt cheap lol.

well you are right it is missing something. the HID kit i got was designed to use the fake Ebay projector housing which i have, and the kit uses a HIGH beam halogen bulb thats bolted next to the HID bulb in the bulb socket. so basically i said eat me to that idea and now im only running low beams. i thought about adding another projector like a 50mm or something for running lights etc or high beams but i have them under in the bumper area. i tried to keep it simple and not too many bulges since the stock look is insane clean until u pop up the headlights.

EDIT: making sets would be super easy since i have the mold. but its an unproduction like finish so things would have to be done to smooth out the curves/edges etc. but seriously its just a lexan cover bolted down over the projector. super simple. and it can all be converted back within 30min.

Gumby

Ever seen the ones RedRaif did???

A little to simple but keeps the smooth look of the lights down position.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

yeah i did, dont like it for some reason.

Gumby

Oh and what he said, but could just be that the norm is to have 1 big and 1 small next to each other[Like ya see on ricerockets], so it kinda out of place, might be a new fad .

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

lol just trying to start something up i guess lol. yea most ricers have the multiple bulbs/projectors staggered next to eachother so they look like bugs. again this is prototype 1 and wanted it to be simple and to flow with the car still.

yea i saw rads too... i have thin halogen H3 fog lights and for some reason i dnt like them that much. thats what u see in the pic with the yellow lights center of the bumper below the headlights. too me his looks like he cramed his in there AKA not enough space around them so they fit. still tho he was the first to do that and i commend him for it.

Gumby

Its a girl but yes it was a bit to simple, if done more modern like yours and vacum molded so its all fit nice, might be nice.

Knock on wood, my only problems have been with my light switch

Gumby

Oh and directions n pics of your $30 vac form machine would be useful to post..........

likeyoumeanit

^^^ Iagree, Ive looked into vacuum forming before but Ive never tried it.

They look really slick though, I might have to try that myself

Shift06

Should put two projectors in there, like these vette lights. But awesome work nonetheless!

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

oh i didnt know she was a girl haha... oops! still it was a good idea none the less.

vacume forming took me 45min to make. simple. 3/4" MDF board 2'x4" cut to 2'x2'. cut hole in the center for vacume hose/line to fit snuggly.

place rubber weather stripping from home depot on it to form a seal against the "frame" thats gona hold the plastic.

cut frame from 1/2" MDF board. mine was 16"x20" bc thats all i could fit in my oven. and it was 2" thick so i couldnt miss the rubber weatherstripping and get a bad seal and ruin the job.

i used aluminum screen door that i had lying around but its at homedepot for like 8$.

i was running a 2.5hp shop vac and it was enough.

total cost:
3/4" MDF =10$
1/2"MDF= 8$
rubber seal 10'=5$
painters tape 1" wide= 3$
cost: 26$ for the vacume former. but i spent 60$ on lexan two sheets of 2'x4'. i got 2 full molds from one sheet. first 2 molds were poop bc my mold wasnt sturdy enough or i didnt like the design.

this was the instructions i followed since it was the most detailed, but i looked at 2 different sites for things like temperature setting and baking time etc for my thickness of plastic since i went with .090" which is rather thick, since most do .060" or 1/16".
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make...-plastic-vacu/

ill post a pic of my vacume former.

GUMBY! wat problems u having with your switch? my headlight switch got really really hot with the old lights and it doesnt get as hot now with the HIDs but i was just wondering if i should worry about this and replace it.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

that looks really good! i wish they would fit the firebirds! i would gladly hack up a original hood and old bumper to get them to fit but im not messin wit my 700$ hood and 200$ new bumper lol.

my first design was to mold a inside peice like the chrome that u see in the pic and it came out pretty cool. but increased the difficulty of the project alot since i had to account for added thickness of the inner shroud plastic, then mounting the 2 together and to the car.

i will def be going back to something like this though once i figure out how to get my prototype to be near perfect finish. i was using cut 1/4" MDF board with nails and glue lol. and FOAM! what i need is a CNC machine to hack one out of wood!

87WS6

iTrader: (1)

That looks just aweful. I think some people are just too nice to tell the truth about it. So I'll be the bad guy I guess. That just ruins the lines of the car. It looks worse than the pop-ups do and its quite possibly one of the worst looking projector style light installs I've ever seen. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just being honest. I'm not saying the original poster didn't do a quality job in terms of workmanship, but aesthetically it leaves a LOT to be desired.

No pop-up headlight delete has EVER looked good. The Wraith and Redraif probably did it the best, but I've still never warmed up to it.



And before anyone rakes me over the coals for my opinion realize its just that, an opinion. Secondly when you post something on a public forum, expect some criticism.

Gumby

Nothing big, have to push hard so the lights flip up and on, though wired in a back up switch for when it fails, not gonna pay what they want for a new one Though better then when I had it wired into the fog lights which carried the load just fine.

If something is hot, it probably has an internal short or a cruddy wire making lots of resistance/heat.

87WS6

iTrader: (1)

If you need a headlight switch I've got one you can have for shipping plus $5.00. The text is worn off of it, but if you need one that works I've got it. PM me if interested.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

lol thats fine. not taking it personally critisim is welcomed. i agree but not to your degree, i feel it could be done better and i will continue to refine the design, this is as stated a 1st prototype, but i def think its better than the stock popup look.

maybe you could throw up some new ideas or somthing. you should post pics of other projector installs that do AWAY with the stock popup style then just saying this is one of the worst projector installs uve seen.

gotcha gumby... ill have to rip it out and take a look.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

thanks ill have to let you know. but i have another switch i think... ill have to dig around and see if i can find it. weird thing is the switch works fine... just gets warm

itsMikey

dunno if i like em..but thats some good fab skills
Mikey

oscarsrs

ok the look is not the best,sorry you miss that one by far, but you are obdiously very craffty, have you thought of maybe the same way you did your fog lights and put the driving lights in the bumper also? kinda like the KITT bumper but with a modern touch. just an idea....keep up the good work.

jj74sd455

not something i would consider, but i think you did a great job of fabricating to make it all flow.

CaliChevyLover

so are those hid projectors or halogen?

if they are hid projectors...are they bi-xenon?

just curious if you have high beams or not

87WS6

iTrader: (1)

The problem is that these cars have flat surfaces, sweeping curves and projector headlights just look out of place on them. A flat headlight strip where the headlight bezel edge is would fit the lines of the car far better. Almost like an extension of the front marker lamps would provide the best look. Unfortunately nothing like that really exists for these cars but with the LED technology we have today it should be possible at least.

As for the pop-up deletes, if you are hell bent on doing it then I'd go with at least two per side. The problem is that I can't figure out how they could flow better with the car's body. I saw some on a Corvette once that weren't hideous, but again not to my taste but it would be a decent template to start with. I'll see if I can find the ones I saw.

Something more like this would be a better look for our cars: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...26tbs%3Disch:1

I think a more recessed look would be better. The lights sticking up past the fender and hood lines just doesn't flow well in my opinion.

norcalz28

iTrader: (13)

Crazy unique, kudos for going the distance and coming up with something out of the box

firbird

Looks good, I am sure the pictures do not give justice to how much better you can see at night.

A second one would be nice since it is not bi-xenon. Hella has a matching lamp but it is not a projector.

Are you any good with fiberglass? One thing that would make it have a cleaner look would be adding to the hood to where it covers the headlights as well, Integrate the bulge and I think it would look great. That would complete it in my opinion.

87WS6

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, filling in the area in front of the headlight and contouring it for the projector lamp(s) would make for a cleaner look.

Gumby

I wonder about that myself as I got a Stanley LED spotlights for xmas, and its super killer bright. LED should be replacing the hids n halgoens[Side note they don't use crap for power, have used its a bunch and still yet needs to be recharged. which is amazing on its own.]

ls1fiend

Definitely looks sick IMO, I like it. I do think however if it was lowered and molded into the bumper it would flow better, but like you said no point in messing up a new bumper. All in all 2 thumbs up.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Hmm... Not a huge fan of the appearance. I agree with some others that if you had two it might help balance it out. The fact that you have a ram air hood def helps, because those would have really looked weird on a flat hood bird.

BUT...I have to say that that is EASILY the best looking, and most well thought out pop up delete Ive seen to date. Ive seen raif's...and they look ok. But at the end of the day, they are still two slim fog lights, for headlights. These DEF function better than that, and thats more important to me.

Im still trying to find time to work on my pop up HID projectors. I can never do away with my pop ups, I love them too much. But you did a great job!!

Ide really like to see more about your vac table. Do you have the capacity to make a video of you using it to form something? Thats the only thing that stunted my progress...making lexan covers. I gave up on the idea, but I have two sets of FX35 bi-xenon projects sitting in my garage that are begging to be installed into something haha.

Good work again!

J.

87WS6

iTrader: (1)

I've got some Stanley LED flashlights with deployable tripods and pivoting heads that I use for work lights. I've left them on for 6 hours or more and they'll still last me several uses beyond that. LED's don't use squat for power, which means you won't need ballasts and high voltages to get decent brightness out of even a collection of LEDs.

Orinackra

thats what I thought when I first saw them. Still though, nice work! I like the uniqueness of it

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

they are hella 60mm projectors, designed for 9005 halogen bulbs, so its a halogen projector. they cost me 50$ each and came with 9005 halogen bulbs.

originally the H4 HID conversion kit came with a halogen bulb screwed next to the HID bulb in the H4 socket this allowed me to use my brights and use the HID kit to keep it legal... but throwing the HID kit into a Fake projector housing is illegal in itself. if i need to i can flash with my fog lights. as of right now i have no high beams... but im considering placing a second projector for high beams with a white halogen bulb.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

most if not all of wat everyone is saying is what i wanted to do originally... but as its been stated i would have to modify the 700$ ram air II hood as well as the new 200$ bumper. im pretty good with fiberglass as i have made my own stock type wrap around spoiler and a custom low profile heater box. but i cant bring myself to ruining a already fine/espensive hood.

i thought about mounting the projectors back deep like a recessed projector to keep the stock hood lines but theres a problem... on the firebirds theirs the front metal frame or the steel thats behind the headlight bucket... this would have had to been cutout extensively to set the projectors back deep. Im unsure on how much structual support i would be sacrificing with cutting that out as well... but i will tell u this MOD was MORE for BETTER SAFER light output. im not willing to sacrifice the strength of the car for a cleaner look. But the HID and projectors increased my lighting tremendously!!! i have better lighting than my upgraded headlights and fog lights. now i dnt even bother turning the fogs on. ive already contemplated upgrading to a 55w HID system

basically i didnt want to hack the car apart for this install just looking for a better lighting situation. now that i have 460-480hp i wanna be able to see where im goin in a hurry lol. I can also convert back to stock within 30min which is nice.

my head is going in the direction of lowering the projector and moving it back... this would mean that i would have to hack into the bumper but allow the hood lines to continue to flow. this is where a fiberglass bumper comes into play since i can work with fiberglass.

anyone know who makes firebird fiberglass bumpers.

Gumby

I always like the look of this front bumper that was made the the KITT cars, got 3 banks of lights on each side down low. Only thing Id do is fill in the LED scanner light slot.

Then the stockers never have to open.




http://www.copperhead.cc/knight.html

firbird

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.d...721~r.87047508
This is a 900 lumen led. Actual output is less but its rated at 900lm. I have made multiple dive lights and bike lights out of this P7 using available circuit boards on the site. A 35 watt 5K HID bulb puts out 3500 lumens or less depending on the temperature and quality. One of these is near comparable to a stock headlight. My dive light was in fact brighter than my friends ford explorers headlights.

You could use this to do just about anything and only needs a inch dia. for a reflector (larger is more efficient) . Will need a good heat sink, can run them at partial power, and only 10 watts.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

sry man not a fan of the kitt bumper... on a kitt car they look great but not on a regular bird... im trying to keep mine stock lookin besides the hood and small tweeks. the stock firebird bumper is my favorate due to the lines. better than the trans am bumper

edit: my stock bumpers lines flow with my ram air hood perfectly! i normally dnt like the ram air II hood on the 90-92 birds with the stright flat bumpers.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

thats awsome! maybe i could have some crazy rear lights or fab up a new fog light system! wat circuit board are u runnin and how

firbird

The driver I used was not used for 12 volts.

The voltage varies from the 12 volts so a robust driver is needed. Here are some that can run automotive applications.

http://www.taskled.com/products.html

You can run multiple drivers to get an output of 2800 mA @3.7 volts or just keep it under driven. I would look at a lower output LED for tail lights such as maybe the P4 or something smaller that would not blind the people behind you. With any LED, heat dissipation is important. You will overhead and burn them out if you do not have enough cooling despite their efficiency .

firbird

I can understand their reasoning for popup deletes. Looks good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBnSu...eature=related

87bluebird

i love bumper. how would you remove the scanner section? just fiberglass over it? that is interesting way to eliminate the pop up headlights

noecker55

I actually really like it, its almost Ferrari-esq (the Fxx). I think it might look better with the projector moved to the outside and a smaller projector beside it. Nice work though

Gumby

Yea something like that or pay the folks who make it, to do it.
Just extend the lines straight up like the nose.
I just like the 3 lights per side was down low, very Euro like and where you want the lights.