FX-R HID Retrofit in a Camaro
 

After doing some homework on other retrofits, I decided to call the retrofit store and order a kit. I talked to them about putting them in a h4656 bulb and they recommended the fxr kit. I guess I should have dug a little more because these were definitely harder to do considering they are bigger than other projectors contrary to what the guy at TRS said. When I got them, I realized the issue, but told myself that I could try it at least. Overall, I am impressed at how nice these light up the road. Vastly improved over the stock light, even my h4 conversions. I used mainly a dremel and a tin snips to modify everything, so the quality does not look the best, but they do function exactly as they need to. I was not too concerned about the looks and it does so. The pics were taken from my cell phone, so the quality stinks. Whenever I take them back out, I will repost with better pics. I used some cheapy h4 conversion off ebay as the housings to modify.

Here's the housing modified to accept the projector. These housing were pretty cheap, I did not even need to heat them up to take the glass off. Just pried a bit and they did come off.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...910_151921.jpg

Here's the metal piece that holds the bulb. You can see where I cut a lot out the middle. I left two tabs on the top to bolt the projector to. I mad the mistake of taking too much off the bottom so I could not bolt the bottom up. Instead I made a tab on the inside of where the projector would mount to get the height right, them left a bigger tab on the outside to bend over the outside to secure it.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...910_150950.jpg

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Here's the finished bulb. I was not thinking, but I did not take a pic of the backside unfortunately.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...910_152154.jpg

With that complete, I needed to modify the fiberglass headlight mounts. Nevermind the crack, I noticed it when I originally changed the bulbs. I knew there was damage on that side, but I did not know it wrecked that piece. Function wise, it is still solid though. You can see the material I had to remove to make room for the projector. I also had to notch some out of the core support behind the fiberglass to allow the projector to clear.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...910_152502.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...910_152441.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...910_152638.jpg

The drivers side cleared on the backside no problem, plenty of room. The drivers side was another matter. The projector will protrude too far and hit the battery. So I had to change over to a j hook style to mount the battery securely. Not a fan of it, but it does work. The battery is all the way over in the tray towards the over flow tank. You can also see how close the connector is to the battery. Now there is about 3/4 of an inch.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...910_161105.jpg

Here are some finished pictures.

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Attachment 362289

Overall, I love the lighting, but I dont know if I would do it again. At least with these projectors but I did find out it can be done. The other thing I would change are the shrouds. They just were not the right ones. They did not even fit the projector before putting them in, but I made them work anyways. In the future, I will replace them with oval ones. If you look really close, you can tell they dont look right. I hope this someone if they choose to swap in these.

Re: FX-R HID Retrofit in a Camaro
 

Thanks for posting this. I'm thinking about tackling a retro fit swap over the winter on my car. So the FX-R projector is one of the bigger ones according to you? I'd like to find a projector that I won't need to move the battery to use. I'm using a 4th gen coolant overflow tank/battery tray and it wouldn't be easy to try to move the battery around on that with keeping it secure.

Also another question, why did you go with a bi-xenon projector (FX-R) as opposed to a regular low-beam projector?

I think from looking at your pictures one last time I answered another question I also had concerning some of the ebay housings that have a little blue LED light at the bottom of the bowl. I had wondered if there were any ebay h4 housings that didn't have that blue light because I didn't want a hole showing in my retro setup, but after seeing how large you had to make the hole in the housings for the projectors, it looks like I would be cutting out the blue LED hole anyways.

Re: FX-R HID Retrofit in a Camaro
 

There's gotta be a nicer way than to butcher up the header panel,

Re: FX-R HID Retrofit in a Camaro
 

I ordered the fxr's by mistake thinking they were smaller. As an afterthought, I searched more and realized they were actually pretty large. I figured, what the heck, try and make it work. I wanted the bi zenon because even my high beams suck and I have a hard time seeing at night as it is. I see why they are used in firebirds with the bigger housing. As I realized, they can work in the smaller housings, but is not the best projector to use to adapt them. I do however love the way they light up the road though.

Re: FX-R HID Retrofit in a Camaro
 

I plan to do a retrofit sometime this winter. I've been thinking of using FX-R as I love their beam pattern and output. Plus They're very well priced. That does suck to hear that they interfere with the battery though.

Re: FX-R HID Retrofit in a Camaro
 

Regardless of what you had to modify...congrats to you for doing it the RIGHT way and installing a projector! Ive been biting my tounge lately with all the "HID upgrades"...because I start to sound like a nagging broken record. But at the end of the day...a projector retrofit is 100x better in every way.

If i were doing a Camaro, I would DEF go with a smaller, low beam HID projector. Lots of advantages there even besides the size. They are just more simple...lighter so they mount easier...etc.

For your highbeam issues, there are ways around that. If you install a nicer H3 conversion, and build a simple upgrade harness with some heavier gauge wire, you could put a higher wattage bulb over there and really have some nice lights. Actually even building a relay harness for your stock bulbs will give you more light. Factory wiring in pretty much every car is usually lacking for headlights IMO. Its JUST good enough.

I still have dreams of putting my FX projectors with a clear lens swap into my TA. I have other considerations like making the bi-xenon shutter work, and figuring out a delay so the bulb doesnt fire until the light is in the UP position.

How about some night time shots??? I bet they look fantastic!

J.

Re: FX-R HID Retrofit in a Camaro
 

I can take some later in the week. They do look very nice though.