For your viewing pleasure.... I think I've got my hands tied through winter w/ this little project.. The projectors are TSX HID, which have good output and a colorful cutoff.

I was going to put the projectors in the usual spot, but I kinda like them in the high beam location, they just fit so snug. What do you think?


The mess....








FINISHED PRODUCT...



PHOTOSHOPPED BLACK 1


PHOTOSHOPPED BLACK 2


And because I have too much time on my hands, I'll post an artists rendering of what it looks like on an IB MCS...

 

How did you get the lights apart? Bake them in the oven, or cut open with a dremel?

 

They look awesome and very OEM hidden in the high beam socket.....but are the TSX projectors bi-xenon? It would be really cool if you switched the TSX's out for the Porsche or RS6 bi-xenon projectors.....their cutoff is amazing too.

Eager to see how this goes

 

TSX are lows only, but Im just putting the highs in the old low beam socket. Im not sure what the high beam pattern will look like, so I'll have to test it out.

Bixenons are usually too big, and the TSX are cheap, good output, good color, and are small.

Should I do the joey mod?

 

Looks good Mike. Nice job.

Maybe you could rewire so that the projectors are the low beam, and use the lows for the high beam.

EDIT: I have no idea if that would work, I would run it by Greatbear.

 

I would say yes to joey mod...but maybe just a matte silver? I dont like the idea of black on your car.

In terms of using the lows for highs that's not really gonna work. The shape of the reflector is incredibly different...and that would hurt the high beam performance....but more importantly, as you know, the low beam and high beam reflectors are all one piece of chrome plastic. This means that when they are aimed (with those two *****) they move in tandem. The high beam reflector is aimed upwards a tad more and the low beam reflector is aimed down.....this way, when the low beam is set to shoot forward, the high beam is pointed upwards a bit to light up more of the area ahead. If you are using the projector, you would have to aim the headlight downwards to get the highbeam area pointed where a low beam should be pointed......but the problem is that this would leave the low beam reflector pointed very far down. So, using it as a high beam wouldn't work too well as the new high beam would be pointed further down than your projector low beam.

 

Im am swapping the highs and lows. No rewiring needed, just swap the position of the wires. They are long, and just reach around the corner, so the projectors are for lows.

Baked and pried, baked and pried... not for the faint hearted..


I'll just have to play around w/ the high beam to see if this works. If not, I'll just put it back the way it was, w/ the projectors on top. Im thinking that I can just aim the projectors down, and also aim the entire headlight down w/ OEM adjustments so everything is aimed correctly.

I wanted the projectors on the bottom because they are further forward, therefor making the beam pattern wider.

I think I'll stick with the chrome look, since my car is a Cooper, and already has lots of chrome on it. Joey mods look better w/ black out cars.

 

I say do the joey mod, I like Rallys matte silver idea. I mean since you are already in there why not? Anyway cool mod idea, I'm envious of you skills. I don't have the ***** to even open my lights up, let alone something like this.

 

You dont need ***** when you have an extra set of lights just in case you screw up.

Just kidding partsman, those are yours... I'll just have to make sure I dont screw up.

 

Yes, please be careful and don't screw up. Be sure to post the final pics.

 

That's pretty cool. Hope that works.

 

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while now. Just don't have spare lights.

 

Just need a 4 day weekend, or regular weekend w/ out sleep.

 

Very nice work ........where did you score the projectors ?

 

what happened to the opaque Half-Circle shaped lens that covers the factory low beam? did you decide to leave it off? and are there any ill effects to doing so?

 

Ebay.. About $140 shipped, which is about average. The cutoff beam is way sharper and brighter than the OEM Cooper's 05+ projectors, which i think are bosch.

Took it off. Since Im not using that socket for the low beams anymore, I dont think it will matter. The lens is just a diffuser, which spreads the light. I may put it back for esthetics, if it works w/ high beams.

 

I just tested the highs, and they seem to work pretty well, and w/ the glass lens on, it really spreads the light evenly.

 

i wonder would u do the work again if i ship you my lights...

 

Uhh.. Let me add up the hours and pints of blood I've lost while slicing my hands open on sharp parts. When I wrap this up, Im guessing the price wouldn't be worth your while. Also, theres the liability, because I might screw up.

If anyone lives near by, I could show someone how, or work on it w/ you. Im in flyover country though....

 

Update...

The projectors have nothing to bolt onto in the high beam spot, so I'll have to scratch that idea, and put them where they used to be, up top.

Now i have to buy some sort of shrouding to hide the projectors... too bad, I liked the look of them in the bottom.. Looked clean. Oh well..

 

Bummer....i was wondering if you would be able to fit the bolts down there. I bet with the right shroud you can make it clean up top too.

 

Just got the projectors mounted.. Lots of trimming and hacksawing..

A giant mess later, they are mounted, and in desperate need of a good leveling. I think the light reached the roof of my garage...

BEFORE (OEM '03 XENON)


AFTER (TSX PROJECTORS @ 10')


Needless to say, the results are worth the effort compared to the OEM reflector xenons.

 

If you take them apart again, I'd like to see what you had to cut apart and how they are mounted inside the housings.

 

I haven't sealed them yet. I just stuck them in the cooper to get the aim, which Im still working on.

I'll get some pics of that up soon, but basically the reflector cracked from the bulb up to the top when I was cutting them, so I cut WAY more than I wanted, but its working out so far.

 

wow.... impressive! :: golf clap ::