In this project, I upgraded my Oem HID IS250 projectors. Although bright, the output doesn't look impressive. There's no color, has soft cutoff, and looks awkward with a short width. So, I've been wanting to replace it with a better projector. From my past experience and experimentation, I already come down with several choices: rx330, s2k, tl, and fx, in that order. The only problem is that the IS250 projector is both bi-xenon and has AFS. Going with RX330 and S2K would mean given up bi-xenon and AFS functionality. Going with TL and FX mean no AFS functionality. I don't mind givn up bi-xenon feature because the IS headlamp has a separate halogen high-beam housing. However, I would like to keep the AFS feature. After doing some initial testing, I have found a solution that would allow me to keep both bi-xenon and AFS while giving great output. The new improve projector is a hybrid is250/rx330 projector. It will use the front-half of the IS250 projector along with the back-half of the rx330 reflector bowl.
The IS250 front-half portion includes the 3" lens, lens holder, cutoff shield, bi-xenon mechanism, and afs mechanism. I replaced the back-half of the IS250 reflector bowl with an AFS rx330 reflector bowl. The rx330 has a huge round reflector bowl, throwing much of the light along the cutoff line, which making the cutoff stand out. Of course, the rx330 reflector bowl is not a direct fit into the IS250 front-half. So I had to do some trimming to the bowl. Once this is done, I faced another problem when fitting the hybrid projector back into the headlamp housing. The oem IS250 projector is shorter in depth whereas the rx330 reflector bowl is longer and bigger. There were lots of internal fabrication that have to be worked out. This includes trimming the mounting bracket and cutting a hole in the back of headlamp housing.
While I was at it, I also blackout my headlight for a little more aggressive look. The oem headlamp has too much chrome going on. I also did a custom prism-tail cutoff shield to give it a multi-color flickering effect. Yes, it can be distracting to other drivers, not because it's glaring but because of the dazzling effect. Living in SoCal, there's so many cars with HID and even more plug-and-play kits. So, I wanted to make my retrofit unique and to show what true HID can do. While I'm at it, I also added cobra eyes and fangs to my headlamps. I spent a week on this project, longer than I expected, but at the end, I am really please.
The following pictures are put together randomly along with some explanation. Enjoy.
This is an oem IS250 projector with fresnel lens and side-mounted bulb. I'll be keeping the front-half of the projector to keep the bixenon and AFS functionality. The back-half will be replaced with a larger rx330 reflector bowl to give better light output along the cutoff beam.
Top view, front view, and back view of my IS250-front/RX330-back hybrid projector. I used 4 #8 brass washers for proper spacing. The hybrid projectors are held together with #8 1" long screws. The oem screw is not long enough. The rx330 reflector bowl has to be trimmed considerably in order to make it fit with the is250 front half.
I replaced the 3" oem fresnel lens with an 3" STi-R replica clear lens from TRS. This yield a sharper cutoff beam and also help defined the color band.
Before-And-After Comparison of the Projector Swap
Here's an output of oem projector with just the clear lens swap alone
Here's an output of the hybrid projector with both clear lens swap and reflector bowl replacement
The hybrid projector produces has more intensity in the center and along the cutoff beam. On the road, the cutoff beam can be seen spreading distinctively toward other lanes, more intense than my beloved s2k.
Headlamp/Bumper Removal
Removing the headlamps from the car wasn't too bad. There are various screws and nuts that needs attention. Be sure to make note of where they go, as you will need to put them all back at the end. The hard part was putting it back when everything is done. It took me about 40 minutes to take off the headlamps. Putting everything back took me about 2 hours the first time around. Sub-sequent tries took an hour to do.
I use the oven method at 200F for 10 minutes to open up the headlamps. Bulb and wires do not need to be removed. Be sure your oven is larger enough to house this projector.
Blacking Out the Headlamp
To make my retro looks a little different, I blackout the headlamp for an aggressive look. Use masking tape to cover area you don't want to blackout. I didn't blackout the headlamp completely. I kept some chrome area around the bezel to give it that oem look. I applied 3 layers of flat black paint with 20 minutes in between. Allow an hour to dry before removing the masking tape. Afterward, I slightly baked it in the oven at 100F for 3 minute to remove that paint odor.
Adding LEDs To Headlamp
I also added LED to my blackout headlamps. I'm using flexible LED strips which made up of multiple 3mm LED bulbs running in series. This is much brighter than running LED through a window rod in my previous CRX retros. LED stripes comes in a strand of 24 leds, but can be cutted in multiple of 3. It has a protective rubber for water-proofing. Be sure to remove the protective rubber before you solder new wires. I tested the LED strips and put them in a closed container like my water bottle to simulate a closed headlamp, and let them run for 2 days straight. If they can run that long without burning, they are good for retrofitting. These LEDs are pretty reliable and super bright. They can be glaring if you look at them directly. Be sure to use a resistor to lessen the brightness. The LED strips already have built-in resistors, but to ensure longevity of the LEDs, I recommend extra resistor. I used 22ohm resistor.
Initial LED Designs
The LED strips give me more freedom in my design pattern, as they are flexible and can be cut to different length. The LED can be mounted outside the car during testing. Here are some of my initial designs:
Final LED Design
I watched alot of Japanese animation when I was young (Robotech, Battle of the Planet, Voltron, Thundercats, Akira, BubbleGum Crisis, you name it) and I like how the characters' eyes look. They're very aggressive. So, I want to design my cobra eyes in similar way with sharp eyelids and fangs to get that hungry look. The IS250 headlamp has slanted half-circle highbeam housing and lots of acute angles; so this design matches pretty well:
This is the pharoah's eyes from YuGiOh animation series. The pointy eyelids and slanted half-circle eyeballs give him that toughness look.
I tested out my cobra eyes with my blackout headlight before putting them inside my headlamp. The LEDs are clearly visible even in the day unless direct sunlight shines upon it. They are white in person than what you see in the pics.
I blacked out the foglight area, giving it a sharper downward angle to match the slanted LED strips:
Custom Projector Shield for Prism-Flickering Effect
I really like my prism-tail custom shield used on my S2K retrofit. The multi-color flickering effect is so amazing to watch from a third-person view. So, I'm going to do the same for my hybrid projector and make my IS unique. The flickering effect comes to life as the cutoff beams bounce up and down in respect to the car ride. The shield is made out of thin .2mm aluminum sheet. The slit in the cutoff shield has to be super thin to make the prism colors appear without glaring. If the slit is too thick, you'll end up creating glare and this is bad for on-coming traffic. I created hooks at the ends of the custom shield so that it can be attached to the oem flippable shield. The oem shield has to be sand off in the center before attaching the new custom shield. No screws or glueing necessary.
This is how it look like as the car rides on the road. The prism flicker gives it a unique touch to the headlight.
Fabricating the Headlamp Housing
The oem is250 reflector bowl is side-mounted and has a shorter depth. The rx30 reflector bowl is back-mounted like many other projectors, and it will not fit inside the headlamp. So, I had to cut open a hole in the back of the headlamp to accomodate the longer hybrid projector. To close up the opening, I created a cover out of Lexan sheet. Lexan sheet is very hard to cut and work with. So, I used a microwave-safe food container as an alternative. It's easy to cut, easy to work with, and it works out great. I use jb-glue to hold it in place. For extra protection again moisture, I used weather-proof taping.
A lot of my time was spent on fabricating the internal mounting bracket in order to get the rx330 reflector to work with the AFS mechanism and to allow it to move side-to-side without hitting anything. This is the most time consuming part of the entire project. But at the end, it all come through.
Putting Every Back In
Before putting the bumper back on, I had to do the wiring and testing out the headlamp along with the LED cobra eyes to make sure everythhing work. The LEDs are wired up to my parking light. This allows me to turn them on and off manually. You can also wire them up to your DRL or to a separate switch. You can run the LED at full strength; but just to be safe and for longevity of the LEDs, I recommend using a 22ohm resistor. It still very bright and clearly visible in the day.
After the wiring are hook up, I put the bumper back onto the car. It was harder to put the bumper back on than it was taking it off as you have to get bottom lip of the bumper aligned correctly with the screw clips. It would be helpful to get a second set of eyes and hands. The next step was to take the car out and check for alignment. Upon firing up the new headlights, the cutoff steps comes out similar to oem specs, where the upper step of the driver-side cutoff aligned with the lower step of the passenger-side cutoff. The IS250 headlamps have both vertical and horizontal alignment.
Miscellaneous Output Shots
The followings are outputs taken randomly at various distants and in different environment settings. Output is really good with great amount of foreground lighting. The cutoff is sharp up close and still remain relatively sharp at distant. The rx330 reflector bowl throw a lot of light along the cutoff line, making the beam stands out. I am really impressed with the intensity on the sides. It's more visible than my s2k retrofit on my CRX. The center cutoff steps is not as sharp as on the sides. It get softer at distance. I used a little too much spacer on the lens.
This was a very time-consuming project I've ever done as I went all out on this one. I'm glad I finally got it done. I've been running it for a month now and we just got over a really heavy storm in Socal. I'm glad everything is still intact, no fogging inside the headlamps and the LEDs are still working. The only thing I plan on re-doing is to remove a few lens spacers to give a more sharper cutoff step and a thinner blue color band in the center. I sacrificed sharpness to get more blue color in this setup. So stay tune for an update ...
wow thats an involved project! congrats on finally finishing. nice job with the documenting too
the leds do look like the pharaoh's eyes props for being creative.
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wow pretty impressive. any pic with the headlight on and the led halo on?
I added some pics showing both the headlights, foglights, and LEDs turned ON. It looks better in person.
Quote:
Originally Posted by is300soon
I love the project... Congrats on doing it. Im not so sure the leds will grow on me.
Any link to the trs site for the replica glass beams?
You can google "The Retrofit Source" and you will have your answer. I'm new here. I don't know if there's any rules against posting vendors' website. The STi-R clear lens is a perfect fit for the IS projectors. No lens spacers needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by raptor22a
wow thats an involved project! congrats on finally finishing. nice job with the documenting too
the leds do look like the pharaoh's eyes props for being creative.
you got skills my friend, good stuff. I wouldn't do that to my car, but you do what YOU want to YOUR car. I would have just put 1 (or 2) short horizontal strip of LEDs below each side of the lower grill - subtle yet baddass!
I can appreciate the quality of that retro, because I've done a few myself... but I guess I'll never understand the anime carry-over into the car design. Whatever.
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This thread is very impressive and makes me want to
do this project to my headlights but unfortunately mine are the
non-hid headlamps and wonder if by just replacing only the lens
would I be able to better out the output of my aftermarket hids?
toHn
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So many pics, most Ive seen ever in a thread! And oh yeah, great work!
Thanks. It was a lot of detail work, but I'm glad it's finally done. I've done several retrofits, but this is/rx hybrid was a challenge, especially getting it to work with the AFS system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by toHn
This thread is very impressive and makes me want to
do this project to my headlights but unfortunately mine are the
non-hid headlamps and wonder if by just replacing only the lens
would I be able to better out the output of my aftermarket hids?
Replacing the fresnel lens with a clear lens will definitely make your cutoff beam very sharp. Even with aftermarket hids, the output should be sharper and brighter. The hid projector version uses 3" lens. I don't know if the non-hid version uses the same lens. So you may want to check first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karasha
So creative, that's definitely one of a kind.
Only thing is, I think it would look more clean without the LEDs in the fog light area, or a different design with the fog lights.
Overall, great topic and good job!
The led design is limited by the shape of the headlamps, foglight area, and the bumper. I can do so much. But this one work to my liking.
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props for being creative.
looks awesome, thanks for sharing! Nice detailing BTW...
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