78_elky

Ok so I've been meaning to post up a how to for this for a while. I was told to join this site to let people know how to do this and that you can do this.

Background: I have a 98 Camaro as my daily driver it is a v6 and I was pretty tired of the stock yellow hazy lights. I got the cheap ebay halos. They are horrible as we all know. I could have lived with it but I live in the Northwest and it rains a lot so good lighting is good to have. I then tried to fix the lenses on the factory lights it went OK not the greatest but not bad! I put some halogens in and it was about as good as the ebay lights. I looked into HIDs but I didn't like the idea of using one for my high beams, or having to flash one on and off for the high beams. I'd already wired the lights to all stay on with the high beams to get more light on the road. Then I stumbled onto the retrofit source, their prices scared me. I did however end up buying my projectors from them, and they are amazing.

I got 4 Morimoto Mini Bi-xenon projectors and 4 Mini Gatling Gun shrouds.
I bought 4 35W 6000K HID H1 bulbs and ballasts from DDM tuning.
This cost me about 160 bucks.

I added some blue LED strips to the inside of the shrouds (I know for sure this isn't everyones cup of tea but I liked the idea) they match my interior LEDs.

Anyways on to the How To!
I baked the lights on low ~200* for 15-20mins

made sure stuff fit

Painted the entire housing and reflector flat black, and drilled some small holes for the solenoid and LED wires to exit the housing through.

Again checked things fit right, I used a dremel to sand some of the material out of the high beam bulb hole (took 2 seconds literally could have used a file)

I took this picture (the flash lit up the lenses)

Then I waited for my other parts to arrive. Got the ballasts finally DDM takes a few weeks FYI

Got my LED strips in and checked if they'd fit...I had to trim stuff, but that goes with anything you modify


Car was messy in this pic the retrofits are on top (I hope its obvious)

All the wires that leave the housing now! I run the blue lights on a switch (I don't need tickets every day LOL)

Here is the difference between one 100W and one 55W halogen (right) and two 35W HIDs (left) It isn't mounted it is sitting above the old headlight thats why it is so much higher than the halogen beam.

The blue eyes lit at night.

The housings installed

And turned on.


Thanks for putting up with the long post! I know it is probably missing some stuff here and there, please ask me to clarify I can explain any of this. I don't have an output shot as of yet...I still haven't played with aiming them to perfection. All the beams are parallel to each other but the cutoffs are not exactly lined up. I will stress that this is my daily driver and I don't really mind having the cutoffs a little off as it helps to spread light out a lot better in the country roads where I drive and I'm not obsessive about fixing it at this time. Oh and if you don't like it thats OK too I wanted 4 projectors I like symmetry so I didn't want two halogens in there for basically no reason. Once you put an HID projector in with Bixenon capabilities it will wash out a halogen high beam. Oh and the blue LEDs are not for everyone, I bet some will hate it; I'm ok with that.
Jessica

78_elky

Oh and this is how I have my switches set up on the dash. I'm running LEDs in the interior and the instruments.

Jess

VIP1

I've added this to the Lighting FAQ:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearanc...hting-faq.html

Nice results.

Having all 4 on at once might be a little too much. Your eyes might end up focusing in closer to the car. Either way, you might be able to aim the outer projectors out a bit compared to the inner ones for more width/spread.

78_elky

Well I hope this helps someone, it was super simple! I've rebuilt engines and done fiberglass work and taught myself most of it. This was much easier than any of that!

I haven't had too many problems with excessive foreground lighting yet but I figure if I hate having all 4 on I can unplug 2 of them or I can rewire them on a switch or with the fogs or something. I have heard that the Morimoto's don't have the best spread (not nearly as wide as an OEM projector) so with the 4 I get more light on the side of the roads. It makes spotting a dear or a street sign a lot easier. That was my biggest complaint with the ebay lights I couldn't see any street signs at night unless I had the high beams on.
Jess

VIP1

Actually the width of the Morimoto mini-h1 is decent. Its close to the FX.

98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

Great info dude. One thing I can't tell, how are the projectors secured? Sorry if I looked over it

78_elky

Nope I missed it the back is threaded and it slips through the housing and then you secure it with a nut. It comes with silicone washers and gaskets but I used some silicone from a tube so it didn't take up as much space. This let me get more thread engagement with the nut.

It is hard to see but there is a huge nut on the back holding the projector in the housing


Lemme know if you need any other info
Jessica

UnVMySS

iTrader: (31)

Jessica. Those look amazing actually. I considered doing quad projectors but I didn't end up doing quad's... But wondered how they'd look and they're awesome. Even though the blue led's aren't my thing... But overall great job!!!

98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

Thanks Jessica!

78_elky

I'm not 100% sold on the blue LEDs myself. I thought the heat from the HIDs would kill them right off! I have blue LED interior lights and since I had the lights apart I wanted to do something kinda wild. I usually try to keep things really simple and classy. But sometime in the last few years I decided to have fun and do what I want to my cars its been a nice change. Its not like I'm gonna add a Supra wing to the Camaro though
Jess
Here's the other car almost forgot to post it!

UnVMySS

iTrader: (31)

Nice! What part of oregon are you in? Im from there too.

78_elky

I'm from the Portland area

UnVMySS

iTrader: (31)

Haha me too. The "portland area" is what I tell people cus no ones ever heard of Molalla... Although I got lucky and the military stationed me close to home. Fort lewis, WA.

Conrad

iTrader: (20)

I like it! I just got the same projectors in the mail today, can't wait to install them. I'm going to be blacking out the entire housing including painting the shroud black, and put it in the low beam bucket, and I'll have my custom halos in the high beam bucket (in signature).

VIP1

There are some other install threads in the Lighting FAQ too.

78_elky

Yeah, I'm from the 'burbs of Portland haha. I did go to school in Seattle and had a lot of friends stationed at Ft. Lewis. Hope you're having fun up there!
Jess

78_elky

Those sound like they will look pretty awesome! I'm sure you'll be happy with the light output, it is like driving a completely different car with the projectors.
Jess

VIP1

Some more pics and info in this thread which may help:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearanc...install-2.html

78_elky

I've been meaning to aim these and get an output shot, but it has been pretty wet and I can't even see the cutoff on the side of a wet building. Luckily it isn't raining today so if it is dark enough when I leave work I will get an output shot.
Jessica

78_elky

Well I got the output shot. Its on a garage door, I went home to work on my El Camino so I didn't stick around work to get a shot on the side of a warehouse.
I haven't aimed these, but on the road they work great, they really help with lighting up the side of the road. I also don't have anyone flashing their high beams at me so I think they are OK.


They really need to be aimed hahaha!
Jess