So I decided to take pics of my E36 swap and do a detailed account on how to do the swap. I will try to answer as many of the questions people have in this thread. I hope this helps everyone out that is thinking of doing the swap. I took all the info I gathered from the privious swap threads and rolled all of what they did into one and added some stuff I did as well.

Anyways

First off I used the E36 euro lights that you have to cut the rad support for and looking back I think it was the right move for me. I think they are better made then the set you dont have to cut the rad support but thats all in what you want to do

PIC OF THE LIGHTS WHEN I GOT THEM






We all know what the old stuff looks like so no point in doing the before shot and showing it

SO lets start buy removing all the old head lights and wiring from them till you are left with the headlight bezel only. Remove everything like all bolts, the plastic divider, and the alignment screws too. Just saves you on hitting them or them getting in the way of cutting the bezel is all. Heres a few pics of it and it trimed out to start with. I will get to the final triming of it in a min





So Basically with that done and out of the way you can start on measuring and cuttung the rad support hole. I started small and worked my way out so I didnt take anymore then I had to and i saved my rubber levelers for the hood in the process which is what I wanted from the beginning.

I used my plasma cutter and I cannot reccomend a more useful tool to do this swap and is a must. If you dont have one rent one as it will cut down the time to do the swap by half if not more. Plus who doesnt like playing with a plasma cutter LOL

I started small with the first hole



Then fit the head light in a few times just to get the proper size and depth. Like I said I only wanted to cut what i had to. This pic is in the early stages of fitting it in




Keep triming the hole as you go till you end up with it being tight and as close to the headlight housing as possible. I ended up with mine looking like this. Keep in mind that the front bolt on the fender had to go. I didnt want it to but its a nessity to do so. The plasma cutter fused it together pretty good tho. I will hit it with a couple tach welds just to make sure it stays for good. Its a big hole I know but its what has to be done. You can also see where I started to mark where to cut the front bumper as well.





Front bumper cuts. Start small and work your way out fitting the headlight in everytime as you DONT want to cut too much here or it will be seen big time here by anyone who looks at your car. I got it to the point I pushed them in and the bottom of the headlight fell in so the glass lense is sitting on the bumper. Oh when you cut the bumper use a mask as when you cut it the thing smells like chemicals huge and drove me nuts for an hour. First pic is of the first cut and I got it to fit in 2 cuts which I thought was pretty good but was getting nevrvous as i was thinking I was cutting to much. I was on the money thi with it on both sides.Also at this point trim up the headlight bezel as close as you can the the center of the car and on the fender follow the metal of the fender line

 

Next is to trim up the head light to get rid of the annoying tabs on the sides and top of them. I recomend doing the FENDER ones before you start as it makes it easier to fit the light in and out on a angle s you get a tight fit which is what you want.

Heres all 4 tabs the need to be removed before and after

BOTTOM ONE ON THE FENDER SIDE




TOP ON ON THE FENDER SIDE




TOP TABS BOTH NEED TO GO




BOTH SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS WHEN YOUR DONE

 

Heres the fianl fitment for the driver side and to me it turned out pretty dam good





This is all the stuff I removed from the driver side to make it fit which is really nothing

 

Here is the process repeated on the passenger side in pics as they help everytime. There is 2 pics here showing how far to cut the bezel back on both sides

 

Heres the final outcome. I must say it looks pretty clean and looks like it should be there. I will be making up mounting brakets tomorrow night I hope when I work on the car and will post that up as well as no one has covered that yet to my knowledge. I will also cover the wiring as well as i know people have questions about it as well

 

Wow, that looks great! Definitely gives it a fresher and more modern look. Definitely was worth all the hard work.

 

excellent!
do you know if they have a projector version?
do your lights have a halo ring?
kinda looks like the 5th gen lights

 

Not sure on the projector version at all. I havent seen any as of yet. Mine do have the rings that should look pretty good. I hope to get the brackets made and the wiring done this sunday if all goes well. I will update the thread as I go and answer any questions along the way people have

 

heres a pic how i mounted mine made 3 brackets one top one bottom and one side . lights are very solid

 

What screws did you use to hold it and the lenght. I was gonna use the mounting tabs that are still on the bottom to hold it in on the bottom. I just got to figure out something for the top. Yours works but I want it to look cleaner so I might try something you did but see if I can get it a little different is all

 

Saweeet! Great how to. Very interested.

 

Thanks man im gonna keep this up for everone as I know there are a few people that want to do the swap

 

Ok i started making my brackets the other night and I think they should be solid enough to get me by on the bottom. I still got to figure out what to use for the top just to hold them still so they stay solid and not move. Heres a few pics of the brackets I made

HERES A PIC OF THE ACTUALL SIZE OF THE PIECE i TOOK OU OF THE HEADLIGHT BUCKET



heres the pics of the brackets I started to make. I made them like a pillar on the inside and like a brace on the fender side. Heres how they started out. just 2 plain 1 foot pieces if sheet metal of a decent thinckness so its sturdy but still bends



Then I drilled a hole and welded a nut to the one side so I will never need to get a wrench in there as its gonna be a tight fit. I used allan key bolts as it was easier to get a long allen key down behind the lights as a socket would be tight




Here is the bracket when I bent it up to get it tothe right height.



Here is the bracket welded in as I didnt want to drill holes and mount it and I had a welder beside me so why not. Its not the cleanest welding Ive done but hey it works and no ones gonna see it. You also can see how much is trimed out of the bezel and the corner of the headlight bucket i trimed



Heres the bracket I started making for the fender side. Its a piece of 1inch angle iron that I notched to use the existing bolt for the fender.



Heres the mounting surface I made with 2 inch angle iron. I did the same as the other bracket and welded the nut to it. I also had to rocker the bottom piece so this piec would sit flat on it so it wouldnt angle and lift the headlight higher then i wanted it



Sorry I didnt get any pics of the headlight mounted but I will for sure next time I work on it as I have to paint the brackets and the area I cut out of the rad support too. Im also gonna paint my headlight buckets too as I cant stand them body colour. I also have to make the driver side brackets and hope to start the wiring of them. Dont worry I will post everything up for everyone that ever wants to do the swap

 

Well I finish the mouting brackets for the driver side and painted the buckets as I couldnt stand the body colour anymore. Heres some pics of what was done in the few short hours I had on it

Painted the buckets. For a rattle can job it didnt turn out too bad. Ill get a prop to do it down the road eventually





Heres a couple pics of the headlights mounted on the brackets




Heres a final pic and all I got is the wiring next to do which should be next weekend

 

Looks Great!! Good job

 

Rather slick! I was looking at all sorts of newer model lights to do this at one time. I have to admit the look fits.

 

thanks guys so far it looks like im only gonna use the bottom mounts for the time being as its pretty much in there and not moving at all. I might brace it still behind the housing just to make sure. I did this write up so everyone can see its not that hard to do and I wanted it more detailed so its easy to do for everyone as well

 

Really good looking man! Nice job!

 

Well I got the lights working last night but only had a few hours to get to work on it so I still got to tuck the wiring away and mount the ballasts for the HID's

Heres a few pics of the lights sorry my camera on my phone is crap as I forgot mine at home




Heres the way it looks with the halos and parking lights on



Halos and HID driving light on



Halos and high beams



I still have to line everything up and so on. I got to swap out those clear bulb parking lights either for LED ones in white or ambre as the stock blubs just throw everything off

 

heres a pic of the wiring i spliced up. I will better explain everything in a later post as I have to go over it all still and make sure everything is 100% good

 

Here s a video I did of the car last night so you can see the lights for abit in the begining

 

Please post more man you've got the exact car I'm going for but I'm quite aways off.

 

What did you need to know. Sorry I havnt posted more yet as I havnt had time to work on the car recently.

Heres the wiring I did

Passenger Side

1 Brown and 2 Black wires for the low beam
1 Green and 1 Black wire for the high beam
Their is 2 other green wires you have to join to make sure the high beams work. I assume its the wiring from the driver side to the passenger side that sends the power over
I used the brown wire off the side marker light to get power for the halos

Driver Side

2 Brown and 2 black wires for the low beam
2 green and 2 Black wires for the high beam
Brown wire from the side marker for the halos

Only issue I have found so far is when all the lights are off the front and side turn signal works. When I turn the lights on or just the parking lights for whn the halos come on I lose the front bumper signal light? I guess Im gonna have to tap into somewhere else for the halos

 

I alomost had to relocate my battery but I moved it half a inch forward and attached a bracket to hold it from the side as well so it doent move at all. I will get pics of it next time Im working on the car as I hope to bring it home this weekend

 

How much did it set you back? I would love to do this to mine

 

What year are those? I cant find those exact ones. When I type in E36 headlights they look to big, Or to round on the ends the face outward.

 

Nevermind, I see what was happening. The ones that I was looking at included the turn signal.

 

They where around $250 shipped to my door then I added the HID kit to them as well. Its expensive but looks awsome

Yeah dont get the ones with the turn signals.

If anyone is doin the swap Im open to helping people out

 

Wish some1 in so cal could do this for me out lights are hard to see with at night

 

Where exactly did you get yours?

 

KG427KG427 - Its stupid easy to do if you got a weekend an the deadication. The only advantage I had was I had a welder and a plasma cutter which just makes it a heck of alot faster. You could always do 4x6 housings with HID's in them as well but to me it just isnt as nice. I like the fact it bring some new age into a older car

penguinpanda0 - I got them from ebay. you can get these with out the angel eyes

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BMW-E36-DEPO-...item27d1d25824

Or these with them and HIDs and H4 highbeams like mine

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/DEPO-92-99-BM...item27d2120b65

Hope that helps. Its the same guy I got mine from

 

Do you think these will work?: http://www.ebay.com/itm/171028127975

I sent them a message they said they will take 25 off if you Request for the turn signal to not be included when you buy them.

I'm getting these if I can.

 

Wow... Great job! The whole car is gorgeous!

 

AndreTheCaptain - they should work but i dont like projector housings personally so I went with the OEM ones instead

Psychoz28 - thanks man i appricate it

 

Now that I look at it, I like yours better I don't want the car to look over done. (But that price is Lol)
Its $299 Us for the ones that you have.

 

Looks really really good! Almost like it belongs on the Camaro.

 

awesome job man, ive put this specific page on my favorite bar, thank god I have an "In" at a body shop lol it don't look to hard but it does look bitchin when done right as you did!

 

Did you only splice one of the pig tails on both sides or just one?

Did you add relays or did you just splice right in?

Thanks for the write up!

 

NotsosleepyZ - Thanks man and Im glad you bookmarded it as I did the write up for everyone thats want to try and do it. Its a pretty easy to do mod if you go time and a plasma cutter. If you dont it will take longer but no big issue there still. If you got a body shop to use your set for sure. Let me know how you make out

Podium - I slpiced into the existing harness and added the weatherproof connectors for the lights. Wasnt to hard as the hardest parts was figuring out what did what and if I left this wire out what would happen. I didnt add relays but im not sure if I really had to and I used both sides of the headlight harness. No proble for the write up Im just glad I can help everyone out

 

I used a cut off wheel. It took a while lol. Did you use the harness for the halos or did you wire them directly? If I connect power to mine (with out the supplied power wire) and ground it to the brown wire (ground for the headlights) it works. If I used the supplied power wire with the relay they wont work? Im going to use my fog lights to powert them as I deleted them.

 

I pluged mine into the side marker light but Im gonna have to move the wire as when they are on my front signal on the bumper doesnt work. DOHHHH. Im gonna do the same as you and wire them on a switch or find another wire / item that comes on with the driving light

 

was out driving the other night with a few friends on a cruise. All of them had no clue what I did and all of them liked it and the bonus was I could see at night for once

Also ran into a few BMW's at a local coffee shop as there is a import meet there usually every thursday night but anything really goes there. They where all impressed they fit.

 

Those are sick, I wish I had the budget for this. Really great job 6six6

 

Thanks Man I think they turned out really well. It didnt cost as much as people think. I think I got the headlights for $340 and the rest was my time into it. Its a MOD that will really push you as once you cut the support there is no going back really. To me to see at night is so worth it as the stock lights are horrible.

 

Heres a few reant pics of the swap on the car

 

How did you go about reinforcing the top support, or did you not need to?

 

I didnt as its still solid as hell. I will most likely be modding the rest of it as I wanna turbo the car so I might have to move the rad. Other then that I wouldnt worry about it as long as you dont go to town and hack alot of it out

 

Might be something I end up doing sometime, I have a import junkyard down the road, they want $65 per headlight assembly. Now 6six6, did you wire the angel eyes as daytime running lights, if so how? Hot in run? Thanks, Pete

 

very nice

 

Nice GTA wheels I have a set. Also own 3 BMW's 88 M5, 01 740i M and the wife drives a low mileage '05 X-5 with M sport wheels. Used BMW's are cheap and not hard to work on. I would never bastardize mile low mileage 91 Z-28 to each his own I guess.