I made my own projector headlights b/c I got sick of the HID glare in the reflector housing. I wanted to stay close to the stock look, so I fabricated a crappy housing and it seems to work. However, I'm not sure what I should use for the lens cover. I bought some 1/8" Lexan (polycarbonate) from Lowes, but it seems to scratch pretty easily. Is there a different material I can use that doesn't show scratches quite so easily?




Here's a picture of the housing during the day. You can't really see the scratches, but at night you can (i'll take some night pictures later if need be). It's not terrible, but if there's a better material to use (aside from glass) I'd like to try it.

 

Any pics of the housing itself?

 

I would go outside right now and take a pic but it just started pouring, so I'll prolly have to wait till tomorrow am. When you see a pic you'll realize how badly I molested the housings , but I can still convert back to stock if I ever need to.

 

From a distance (5-10 feet) it doesn't look too bad. However, I'll admit that up close, or with the hood popped, it looks kinda ghetto IMO. Personally I don't care though since I don't take her to any car shows.

I'm working on the other set of lights right now, but since I don't really need em I'm taking my time (an hour here, hour there).

 

What the hell is that made out of? Duct tape? Fiberglass? Alien snot? Seriously.... WTF?

 

You are quite the astute individual kind sir. Thank you for your educational input regarding extraterrestrial excrement. You can see I already stated they look bad up close. So if you're gonna act like a dick, at least act like an informed one.

If you can come up with projectors for 93-97 Camaro that look somewhat stock, are less than $100 for Right & Left sides, and have a good beam pattern, let me know and I will buy them.



Lowbeams


High beams



I understand it's not the quality of the TSX or S2000 projectors, but it's far better than HIDs in a reflector housing.
If you genuinely want to know how I slopped them together, and not just to mock, let me know and I'll share. Constructive advice is welcome.

 

Alien snot is brite green ,not black, any idiot should know that.

What does matter here though, is back to the original question.

Most headlight lenses are lexan (polycarbonate), sheet acrylic (plexiglass) could work also. Lexan is more shatter resistant, acrylic yellows less. You may get off fall size pcs from a home or commercial glass installation company besides plastic fabrication shops.

I made an entire 2010 Camaro housing assembly from acrylic for my el camino conversion. corian used for countertops is also acrylic. Used lexan for lenses.. Not sure what would be the ideal mounting glue for lenses you could find yourself. Windshield urethane I used didn't completely hold. Manufacturers use some type of butyl sealant. You want something you can split apart again when/if needed.

 

Hello, Mr. Dick here again. LOL

Forgive my smart ***-ness, i seriously wanted to know what you made that out of. Your response did make me laugh though.

 

What projectors did you use? I see some heat sinks there.

 

jlcustomz: For mounting glue I used some no-name brand thermal adhesive, so I'll see how long it lasts for. I've used RTV Silicone sealant before on my old headlights and it held with no problem, so I may try it for the second set of lights. I used some 1/8" Lexan from Lowes for the lens covers, but I seem to scratch it when I clean it off (after I cut the piece to fit). I'll try using a softer cotton towel and see if that makes a difference.

MeenZ28: no worries, it's all good man I secured the projector housing to my stock headlight housing using JB weld, then covered it in aluminum tape b/c there was a LOT of open space. I then covered that in some more JB weld and just spray painted it black so it wouldn't be noticeable. The whole point of me covering it in tape and epoxy was to create a watertight container. It would undoubtedly look better if I used black plastic to make a box of some sort, but then I would have to figure out how to mount it to the car and still retain vertical adjustment of the light.
I can take some more pictures of what I'm talking about when I get home tonight. I'm currently (slowly) working on my other set of lights.

VIP1: I used some cheap ones off of amazon (just typed in "mini HID projector") shipped to my house for $45. From some of the reviews (not sure how reputable though) they seem to be nearly identical to the Morimoto minis, except the lens is made of a plastic instead of glass.
My rationale for the heat sinks was since I was enclosing the bulb in a smaller space than usual I thought I should do something to help dissipate the heat. I bent the heat sinks to better fit the curve and secured them with thermal adhesive. I just wish they were black so they weren't as noticeable. I have black anodized ones for my other set of lights, and I thought about learning to anodize the sinks I already have, but from what I read I need a couple of different chemicals and I'm not sure I want to go through all that trouble for something so insignificant.
I also ground down the "step-off" that was present on the projector shield so I could have a more linear cutoff line. In hindsight I shouldn't have b/c now I have to have my lights pointed lower than typically necessary to not blinding incoming drivers.



DISCLAIMER: I have no actual engineering or mechanical training, or access to fabrication equipment. All I have is a dremel, soldering iron, and some creativity.

 

The generic mini-h1 projectors typically don't perform as well as the Morimoto, but with some tuning, or from a reputable source, some can get close.

I'm surprised by the lenses being plastic. Are you certain? That seems odd. All the generic ones I've seen still had glass lenses.

 

Just a random idea about sourcing your acrylic if you go that way - the aquarium guys. I always go with acrylic aquariums because you can see the colors without the green tint from glass. The guys who fab the acrylic aquariums can make you something custom - even bend rather than seam in some cases. (most local fish stores have some guy local who puts them together on the side in addition to the companies) Lots of different thicknesses - and if you want to do it yourself you could look to get an acrylic aquarium off of craigslist or something that has popped a seam and is going for cheap.