taco's new ride!!!

[phunky.buddha]

Yes, I'm talking about a proper retrofit. You take the projector from a car that designed to have HIDs and then mount them into your stock headlight housings. It's a lot more trouble if you're not comfortable working with plastic, but you get MUCH better light quality for driving at night, don't have to mess with someone's chintzy re-based HID capsule (that's what ALL the direct swap kits are) that may or may not line up correctly, and you won't throw glare all over the place and blind people. Trust me- I've seen too many HID kits installed into cars that really don't need to have them. They blind everyone on the road, don't have good beam patterns, and just generally piss me off.

If you replace the headlights with projector housings like you have in your post, then you'll do slightly better- but those housings are still designed for incandescent bulbs, not HIDs. No matter what a retailer tells you, there's no way for an HID capsule to produce the proper beam pattern when just mounted in place of the stock bulb in a headlight made for incandescent bulbs.

I was going to retrofit HIDs into my truck and into Katie's xB, but the stock headlights on both have so far been really good without need for extra output. If and when I do though, I'll drop in a true bi-xenon (high and low beams) HID projector from an Audi or BMW. You can find them on eBay all the time for the price of a mid-range plug-in HID kit.

 

[Taco15]

ahhhh ok. i'll look and see if i can find some projectors.

the shop just threw away some aftermarket smoked headlights with projectors in them.

My buddy has some projectors in his civic with the same 6k as the wife but its not the same. Mrs Taco's are still by far bright during night driving.

You got any idea what the best projector i should look for? I'm sure some of them are bigger or smaller and some will make the install dificult.

Anything in particular i should look for from the back of my Acura?

 

[AHHVTEC]

i like the acura tsx setup myself

 

[phunky.buddha]

Pretty much any OEM HID projector will work, but the Audi and BMW units tend to be pretty popular online. Most of the older Acuras use D2R capsules, meaning that they're not really in projectors- they were built to be inside of reflector housings like how normal incandescent lights operate. D2S capsules are what you'll find in projectors like the BMWs.

An easier and cheaper way to do it would be to get an aftermarket projector headlight housing, remove the low beam projector and then mount a true HID projector in its place. That way the installation is easier, and you're not looking as hard for a way to mount a projector inside a large headlight housing so that it's not just floating somewhere in the middle. OEM projector measurements are readily available online- so you can match up the projector diameter to the housing hole.

 

[Taco15]

damnit i knew those headlight we threw away would be good for something! crap.

thanks Cal. I'll look around and see if i can do that pretty easily.

 

[phunky.buddha]

I'm sure you can find a set with damaged projectors on eBay for next to nothing.

 

[ripperbone]

heres a write up someone did for projectors
https://hondaswap.com/body-exterior-interior-cosmetics/howto-hid-projector-retrofit-95475/

 

[Taco15]

heres a write up someone did for projectors
https://hondaswap.com/body-exterior-interior-cosmetics/howto-hid-projector-retrofit-95475/

damn. I'm gonna try this first. I like the way they look and seems very straight forward and cheap. thanks man.

i used to think that buying it 'smoked' would be the only way.^_^

 

[ripperbone]

i did forget to tell u that if you use the hids in your stock lights without projectors you need to get some x-clips
Modified X Clips - FREE with XenonDepot HID Kits! - Club RSX Message Board

I do recommend the projectors but I didnt do the projector install and my hids dont have the glare i have seen in other cars.

there is a company that sells the headlights with the projector retrofit. or does the retro fit
custom HID conversions, HID kits, LED, CCFL specialists - retrosolutions

 

[Taco15]

i read on the same club rsx that you can do it with a dremel to make them a little wider. I;m gonna do the black housing before the HId's dont have the money yet.

 

[ripperbone]

i read on the same club rsx that you can do it with a dremel to make them a little wider. I;m gonna do the black housing before the HId's dont have the money yet.

yeah you can, i just ended up buying the x-clips myself

 

[AHHVTEC]

or you can even do them without the x clips like i did, all you do is bend the wire that holds the bulb in. works great

 

[Taco15]

theres alot of stuff at the audio shop. i'm sure we can figure it out when the time comes. if all else fails i can solder the plastic together or something.

i would start on it asap but the weather here in tally sucks. its dark, cloudy and misty. a little windy but nothing major

 

[Taco15]

well i got the windows tinted. We redid mrs taco's with 15% and decided to do mine as well. I went with 5% (limo). Its dark as hell but i like it.

Also found out that the car does in fact have a full buddy club exhaust and not just an axle back piece.

 

[ripperbone]

love the window tint, makes the car look that much better.

 

[ripperbone]

also open your sunroof and look on the inside frame for rust under the rubber gasket, I found some on mine and my car came from florida

 

[Taco15]

already did. I thought there was trash under the rubber molding but it seems that the way its supposed to be. Its on all 4 corners.

I've been super busy but hopefully this week i start running more wires and at least installing the amp for my highs.

i ended up choosing a box with fberglass face and both amps kind of floating on each corner... the headliner is going to be suade and i'm painting the a-pillars black. Pretty much its gonna go ALL black.

I have all the tools, and material. I just need the time

 

[ripperbone]

I thought there was trash under the rubber molding but it seems that the way its supposed to be. Its on all 4 corners.

Thats what I thought also when I found mine.

 

[Taco15]

I'll look again. Now you have me worried.

 

[Taco15]

the exhaust i have now is hella loud.Quick question, if i were to weld a muffler before the resonator that should make it quiet no matter what exhaust tip is on there right?

i would like to keep it looking aftermarket but remain quiet. The diameter i think is 2.5 but not sure i have to check. looking to weld a turboII muffler from autozone ($20). It flows pretty good and should be plenty for the K. buddy ran that brand on his turbo charge delorean with no problems.