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Official Retrofit Thread

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Old 12-06-2012, 09:49 AM
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Originally Posted by padlock
they shouldnt look any different. the mini's and the e55's are both 3" lenses.. and the shrouds will fit and look the same on either one.. really the only noticeable difference between the two will be your cutoff line and output (more performance than direct appearance)
******INCORRECT!!!


Morimoto Mini H1 Projector has a 2.5" Lense, where the Hella E55's have a 3" lense! they are not the same!

But the shrouds should come with center rings to make it fit.

On a seperate note im running into a couple issues with my retros I wanted to get some advice. I cannot seem to bolt the headlights into the car the same way everytime with all the wiring from the lights/harness/angel eyes. Could someone take a picture of there retros pulled out just a bit so I can see where you run your wires in the car? I feel like every time i align the projectors right on a bench they arent able to sit that same way in the car.



And also Im still having the same wiring issue im just going to have to try a new harness. When i turn my headlights on they dont come on until i flick the high beams, then they stay on. My low beam and high beam are switched.... Ive repinned several times with no luck.

Now heres the PAIN IN THE ASS. Ive gotten used to the backwards beam, but after over 30 minutes of driving, literally on every ride home from work it happens right when i get to my house, the high beam will not work....cant figure it out, open to diag suggestions.

Last edited by breds2k; 12-06-2012 at 09:58 AM.
Old 12-06-2012, 09:56 AM
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Originally Posted by padlock
everyone and there mother runs the gatlins

If this suggestion means anything to you heres my take on shroud choice, the bigger shrouds look better than the smaller ones in our headlights as they cover up more of the stock reflector. TRS has sizing listed in the description of each shroud. Our headlights are big enough for any shroud without trimming as well so dont worry about picking the largest one. Another additional suggestion would be to make sure you epoxy the shrouds on, or they have the possibility of falling off... had that happen on a set I did in the past, so now I epoxy everything on to avoid that happening again -__- lol
Good to know haha. And yeah that's exactly why I'm staying away from the mini gatling, they are just too small. I've pretty much narrowed it down to either Apollo or Gatling 1.0 at this point. Both seem like they take up a decent amount of space.
Old 12-06-2012, 09:58 AM
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FYI Gatling 1.0 and 2.0 need to be trimmed to fit
Old 12-06-2012, 10:02 AM
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^ Also good to know, thanks!
Old 12-06-2012, 10:14 AM
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Originally Posted by mkulrey13
FYI Gatling 1.0 and 2.0 need to be trimmed to fit
interesting.. I never trimmed my 2.0's that I've done and they fit fine, suppose we shall go with your advice though as you have made more than me lol

Last edited by padlock; 12-06-2012 at 10:19 AM.
Old 12-06-2012, 10:17 AM
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Originally Posted by breds2k
On a seperate note im running into a couple issues with my retros I wanted to get some advice. I cannot seem to bolt the headlights into the car the same way everytime with all the wiring from the lights/harness/angel eyes. Could someone take a picture of there retros pulled out just a bit so I can see where you run your wires in the car? I feel like every time i align the projectors right on a bench they arent able to sit that same way in the car.
thanks for the correction. long night lol





to answer your question regarding wiring I can get back to you on that when I get home from work. I have pictures on my photobucket that show how I tucked all my harness/ballast wiring. its about as clean as it gets. as far as aligning goes, its a pain but all the sets I've done I've aligned when installed on a vehicle (with the headlights dissassembled obviously to be able to make adjustments). it sucks to do but I know the cutoffs are level at least, which matters most

I'm not 100% sure on the diagnosis of your issues, but I'd probably point to the relay first just because its the cheapest fix and seems most probable cause

Last edited by padlock; 12-06-2012 at 10:23 AM.
Old 12-06-2012, 10:23 AM
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Does anyone have pictures with retro fit headlights with the E55-R shroud or mini gatling gun??
Old 12-06-2012, 10:24 AM
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I fed all my wiring from the back of the headlight through one of the holes in the headlight bracket right behind where the wiring comes out. Only a few inches stick through, then when I connect everything and go to put in the light, I just feed the wires back through. Virtually no wires were bunched up behind my lights. Much easier to fit correctly.
Old 12-06-2012, 10:26 AM
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Originally Posted by MP Cobalt
Does anyone have pictures with retro fit headlights with the E55-R shroud or mini gatling gun??
google my friend


Old 12-06-2012, 10:31 AM
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Originally Posted by MP Cobalt
Does anyone have pictures with retro fit headlights with the E55-R shroud or mini gatling gun??
e55 shroud. Smooth, oval shape. Silvery front great for making halos look huge

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Mini gatling shroud, most common since they come free with mini h1 projectors. Look terrible and small on cobalts imo

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side note: I NEED to do a retrofit on my car someday. My OEM projectors are some of the worst I've seen. Maybe I'll take a few days off work next summer to do it.
Old 12-06-2012, 10:34 AM
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^any output shots of what your current setup looks like stock? just curious. what are you considering retrofitting in place of OEM?
Old 12-06-2012, 12:55 PM
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Originally Posted by TommyP


looks like my car....
Old 12-06-2012, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by riceburner
WAY NICE!

heres mine


are your parking light covers tinted???? looks that way but cant tell lol. if so, yours looks very close to mine!!
Old 12-06-2012, 02:22 PM
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Tommy, yours suck? my little bro has an Evo X MR and his output is pretty damn good!
Old 12-06-2012, 03:20 PM
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Originally Posted by padlock
^any output shots of what your current setup looks like stock? just curious. what are you considering retrofitting in place of OEM?
Yep, they're pretty bad. Some of the worst I've ever seen. Very narrow output, and dim as well. I'm probably gonna retrofit FX-Rs in place since I don't have hardly any room to work with. I wanna fit something big like a TL or LS460 but that will never happen, the turn signal housing sits far too close to the projector.
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I should mention that this pic was taken with brand new Osram CBI bulbs as well, some of the brightest bulbs on the market. And the cutoff is nowhere near actually that colorful in person. Oh, and they're single xenon, not bixenon, so I have halogen high beams, though they are fantastic high beams for halogen.
Originally Posted by keiserX13
looks like my car....
lol didn't even look to see who posted it.
Originally Posted by 07SSYellow
Tommy, yours suck? my little bro has an Evo X MR and his output is pretty damn good!
The Evo 9 and 10 use different projectors. The 10 uses a Hella projector similar to the e55 from mercedes, cadillac, etc. MUCH better than the horrid one from my car.
Old 12-06-2012, 05:17 PM
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oh nice didnt know that.
Old 12-06-2012, 07:33 PM
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So i'm having an issue, I broke off one of the things that hold the reflector bowl to the housings, Also.. the little white "Tabs" in the same things that hold the reflector, they all snapped on.. is it ok to epoxy the **** out of them so they stay off (The slightest bump to them causes the reflector to come off...?

Also, how do you guys get your projectors level?
Old 12-06-2012, 07:52 PM
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Originally Posted by CannonBalt
So i'm having an issue, I broke off one of the things that hold the reflector bowl to the housings, Also.. the little white "Tabs" in the same things that hold the reflector, they all snapped on.. is it ok to epoxy the **** out of them so they stay off (The slightest bump to them causes the reflector to come off...?

Also, how do you guys get your projectors level?
i put my partially assembled headlights onto the car and manually adjusted them as needed using a garage door
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Old 12-06-2012, 07:56 PM
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also breds2k, heres my wiring. the only thing not in the pictures thats visible are the AMP leads from the ballasts which just run up right next to the high beam solonoid wire from the relay (which is pictured). the ballasts are underneath the black headlight bracket, and the ground is connected in the front on the headlight bracket metal support.
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Old 12-06-2012, 07:56 PM
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Hmm, I'm going to have to figure out a way to keep the bowl in the housing.. see the black "Cups" in the picture? the little tabs in those are missing on my headlight, I snapped them off being too rough. Would epoxy work good?
Old 12-06-2012, 08:00 PM
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Originally Posted by CannonBalt
Hmm, I'm going to have to figure out a way to keep the bowl in the housing.. see the black "Cups" in the picture? the little tabs in those are missing on my headlight, I snapped them off being too rough. Would epoxy work good?
yeah I've heard that happen before. I'm not super sure how they go about "fixing" it. I'm sure you could attempt to try alot of things, I'd maybe PM mkulrey for just a new one honestly if he has any laying around. thats the reason I dont remove them anymore, i just work on the reflectors still on the housing
Old 12-06-2012, 08:05 PM
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Well i do have a spare set of headlights... but I don't want to open them up too.. lol. Is there enough room to dremel the back of the bowl with it in the housing?
Old 12-06-2012, 08:12 PM
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Originally Posted by CannonBalt
So i'm having an issue, I broke off one of the things that hold the reflector bowl to the housings, Also.. the little white "Tabs" in the same things that hold the reflector, they all snapped on.. is it ok to epoxy the **** out of them so they stay off (The slightest bump to them causes the reflector to come off...?

Also, how do you guys get your projectors level?
you are supposed to clamp your halogen setup down once on a table once you have opened up the lens and tape or mark the original cutoff line on the wall. then when you attach the projector into assembly you reclamp the housing in the exact same spot and line up the new HID cutoff exactly where the old halogen one was.
Old 12-06-2012, 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by CannonBalt
Here's mine i just finished..

How did you get your retro kit already???
Old 12-06-2012, 08:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Wert842
How did you get your retro kit already???
I ordered them a week and a half ago lol

Originally Posted by thedude411
you are supposed to clamp your halogen setup down once on a table once you have opened up the lens and tape or mark the original cutoff line on the wall. then when you attach the projector into assembly you reclamp the housing in the exact same spot and line up the new HID cutoff exactly where the old halogen one was.
Would be easy enough to do if I didn't have to put the projectors into the car to power them, I have no way of test lighting the bulbs in my apartment.


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