Headlight Retrofit (non high bandwidth users beware)

[Gswin10Spd3]

Anyone on here done a headlight retrofit before? I decided to make this thread to inspire anyone out there who has a 2010 speed3 without HID headlights and those few of us who are a part of the forums and have a regular gen pu 3.

The last 3 cars I have owned I have retrofitted aftermarket HID projectors into for better night visibility and for aesthetic purposes. Since my 2010 PU didn't come with factory HID's I figured why should it be any different.

So I started out with all the parts I needed.


A new set of aftermarket headlight housings to work on so I could take my time and still drive my car. Morimoto Mini D2s 4.0 projectors, and a set of Morimoto XB35 4300k bulbs I have used in my last retrofit for my Cobalt SS. Ballasts used are Morimoto XB 35 watt ballasts I have been using for several years now.

Housing with lens and H11 halogen projector removed.


Custom bracket my father-in-law and I designed to mount the HID projector. It was designed in solidworks and cutout with a waterjet then bent for sturdiness with 4-40 Penn Engineering studs pressed into plate to use nuts and washers to hold the projector to the bracket. The bracket itself uses the H11 projector mounting point to mount to the housing aiming assembly and is slotted to allow rotational adjustment of the light itself to get the light cut off perfectly level which I'll show in another picture later.


[IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d153/Marty95/Headlight%20Retrofit
/Mazda%20Headlight%20Retrofit/IMAG0060_zpsudexx0pw.jpg[/IMG]

Sanding with a dremel is required to fit the physically larger hid projector where the stock one is located.




Because of the larger assembly it does have to sit slightly off center in the housing which is no real consequence.


The factory shroud opening has to be enlarged in order to fit the larger 3" lens vs the stock 2.5" lens. Easiest way I found was to use a half round coarse file and use a filing/twisting motion around the perimeter of the opening to enlarge and maintain roundness. Test fit every so often to gauge how much material needed to be removed and where since the lens is off center from the stock one so the hole in the shroud is a bit off center as well but not enough to tell unless looking directly into the assembly head on. I didn't do a spectacular job on maintaining a uniform circle on the first piece which is pictured due to being in a hurry but on the driver's side I took more time and got it much closer to perfectly round without dips and unevenness.




Here is the preliminary results.




P.S - Pay no attention to the dark spot in the last shot, it's a shadow from the tennis ball hanging from the ceiling to use as a parking guide.

That's all I think for one post. I'll post more pictures later of my custom made relay harness and routing.

[Gswin10Spd3]

Time for a continuation of sorts heh.

This is where I tapped into the factory fuse box to get my positive power from.


You can actually run a wire around the relays in the under hood fuse box and down through the bottom since the box itself is open underneath. Sorry for the blurry pic, guess I didn't hold my phone still enough, but you get the idea.


Perfect place on Gen Pu's to mount the ballasts with double sided foam tape.



Here is a couple pics to show what the ballasts look like tucked in the corner under the headlights.



Various wiring pictures. The wiring by the relay isn't perfect but I plan to replace the relay with a waterproof one in the future since it is exposed to the elements. It's easy enough to get to so no big deal.



Custom made foreground limiter that is adjustable.




I bought these rubber housing caps to seal the opening behind the projector. I cutout the center of these caps to fit over the threaded portion of the projector to make a good seal.



Now for the grand finale haha

Final output pictures.



The high beams consist of both the HID Projector and the stock 9005 high beam so it's around 8000+- lumens of output on high beam.

Here is a close up of the final product looking like stock with my cheap ebay switchbacks installed. I plan to upgrade those in the future.




Any questions or comments feel free to ask.

[hamfisted]

Thanks for sharing. I've installed TRS kits into a couple of my bikes, but those were H4 and were much easier to install. Was contemplating doing this on the Speed too, but don't think I want to bother with custom brackets so will probably just keep the crappy stock projectors.

[Gswin10Spd3]

The brackets make it easy to fit the projector itself. Most difficult part by far was filing the shrouds to fit over the larger lenses but with a large half round file it wasn't that bad, just time consuming. The other issue I found with the stock housings, or at least with the aftermarket housings I bought, both lights point towards the middle of the vehicle. Without a side to side adjustment screw I just used washers on the two mounting points on the inside (towards center of bumper) to aim them more towards the outside edges. Worked out pretty well with just a single #6 washer under each.