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Old 05-30-2014, 11:59 AM   #176
alt14
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That's a good idea, not sure if the depo reflectors are any different though but there wasn't even enough of the shaft sticking out to start threading.
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Old 05-30-2014, 03:45 PM   #177
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alt14 View Post
That's a good idea, not sure if the depo reflectors are any different though but there wasn't even enough of the shaft sticking out to start threading.
I see. I should note that the pictures I posted are not from a bugeye. But if there is zero amount of thread sticking out, the notched method I posted definitely won't work.

This was for a retrofit where I didn't want to deal with any stray plastic dust (from cutting or grinding the reflector) to stick all over headlight internals.
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Old 06-03-2014, 09:00 AM   #178
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FYI:

MiniH1 Pros:
Better beam width (due to curved shield design)
More prominent color band (but totally an aesthetic thing)

MiniH1 Cons:
Mediocre foreground illumination (horrible for tall ground clearance vehicles)
Mediocre highbeams (due to design of foreground shield)
Less uniform beam pattern (due to design of reflector bowl)
Limited bulb choice (as compared to D2S bulbs)

MiniD2S Pros:
Better foreground illumination
More uniformed beam pattern
More defined highbeam
More bulb choices along D2S models (Philips, Osram, etc.)

MiniD2S Cons:
Poor beam width (due to flat cutoff shield)
Mediocre color band (due to flat cutoff shield - but still just an aesthetic thing)

Please note both projectors uses the same exact clear lens (afaik). The MH1 might look more appealing because of it's bowl design in conjunction with the cutoff design whereas the MD2S has a flat cut-off which limits the color spectrum on the step-up. Sharpness of the cutoff should be the exact same for both projectors due to the use of same lens. However, sharpness can be hindered or improved based on the distance of the cutoff shield from projectors lens and bulb distance from cutoff.

A quick and easy tip to get a sharper and cleaner looking beam is to take the cutoff shield off and sand the top flat and smooth (almost polish like). There are miniature scoring marks on the cutoff when it was stamped from the factory and it's a good idea to get rid of it.

I've been tweaking MH1s and MD2S for a long time now and I can say for certain the MD2S is capable of having the same color band as the MH1. If you asked me, I like the D2S more - but that's just my opinion. Both projectors are great. Below is a tweaked output shot of a MiniD2S 2.0 that I've toyed with for my customer.

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Old 06-03-2014, 11:16 AM   #179
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^
You might want to specify which Mini H1 and Mini D2S you're talking about. There are generic versions, and there are several Morimoto versions:
Mini H1: 5.0, 6.0, and a new 7.0 prototype, as well as older versions
Mini D2S: 2.0, 3.0 with round lens, 3.0 with squared edge lens

Afaik, the bowl design of Mini H1 is about the same up to 5.0. Mini H1 6.0 changes to a multi faceted bowl. The 7.0 prototype looks different altogether. Mini D2S 3.0 is a sibling of the Q5-R.
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Old 06-03-2014, 11:35 AM   #180
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^
All of the above are MiniD2S 2.0 vs MiniH1 6.0 from Morimoto. On a side note... I've had more success with Texenon MiniD2S. I'm not sure if it's due to the better cut of the lens.. but the cutoff and colorband is sharper and more prominent straight from the factory.
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Old 06-03-2014, 12:15 PM   #181
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^
Hm.. now that you brought up TeXenon.
It might be useful to also note the other Mini variants (e.g. "Super Mini" H1 and some of the 2.8" lens Minis). I don't have first hand experience with them, but I've seen them online.
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Old 09-01-2014, 08:59 PM   #182
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Im starting on taking my headlights apart tonight, my morimoto mini h1 6.0s and morimoto relay harness are supposed to come in tomorrow. Going to be following this write up.
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Old 09-05-2014, 02:56 PM   #183
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Awesome write up! I'm in the process of renewing my bugeye and this is definitely on the list!
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Old 09-08-2014, 09:18 PM   #184
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Here are mine all done, I followed this write-up and installed morimoto mini h1 6.0s they require a little more trimming than the ones you put in or a little more extra tightening of the nut as I was only able to tighten the nut down far enough to get one of the screws on the bracket that holds the headlight bulb in but its pretty secure though so no worries. I also bought the morimoto 9007 relay harness, the new style that has the gold block relay and had to repin the wires on it as well but after everything was all good. Mine is paired up with a 55w hid kit and 5000k 55w hid bulbs and light output is pretty insane so overall im pretty impressed. I also got a mothers headlight restore kit with the powerball drill attachment and polished my headlight lenses inside and out. These are original 03 stock headlights not new modded depo ones. I also painted the chrome pieces with krylon satin black for plastics and it worked well. Thanks for all the time you put into this write-up man it helped me out a lot!



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Old 09-12-2014, 12:37 AM   #185
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Old 12-10-2014, 09:20 PM   #186
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Just to hopefully help out, I did a retrofit using the larger D2S projectors which require a bit more modification to the reflector housing, the biggest modification being: that you need to do is enlarge the opening in the housing much larger to allow for the projector base to pass through.

Here are some hints I can provide:

-Repinning the harness is necessary. I followed the one how-to here but even that was off. I would get high beam when I wanted low and vice versa. After a bunch of playing musical wires, I finally got the right combination: Brown-white-blue flat side facing down, wires towards you, plug end out. This is with the newest Motocontrol harness that TRS is shipping out.

-Sealing the back: You basically invert the OEM cover so it's fully extended and cut off about 3 inches of it from the end. You want enough to have about 3/8" when folded back to normal. I cut a tiny slit at the very bottom of the bellows, before it squares up with the back of the headlight to pass the solenoid wires through.

Refold it on itself (back to normal) and use a 2" rubber pipe cover shoved into the center with a hole cut for the D2S plug in the middle. I used the o-ring from the 9007 light on the plug itself to seal against the pipe cover just to ensure watertightness.

This is something that I find most people do not address when doing a retrofit. Everything fit so snugly that I did not use any adhesives to seal further.

*I just found that TRS has replacement rubber plugs that are extended for this purpose: you want the 75mm cap.

-Centering the projector for rotation: You can eyeball the projector by using the lines in the reflector housing as they're parallel to the ground. You can also just sight inside the projector and use the reinforcement ribs on the ear of the headlight to ensure parallel. Another trick is to use the bulb itself as the ears are 180*.

-I did not use the silicone cone. This would not allow enough room for the bulb holder as well as the locknut to be installed. I instead used a turn of electrical tape and made sure that the projector sat squarely in the bucket by using a Dremel cutting disc to make sure the entire base would be flush in the reflector. The fluting needs to be ground down to accommodate the larger D2S projector base.

Also, the amount to cut off from the end to the reflector bowl is roughly 25mm (same as the OP). Any more and you would run out of material as the former glare shield hole now only has about 3-4mm of material left. The hole also has to be enlarged to the same size as the largest taper in the bulb hole (test fitting still recommended).

-Aiming: the one thing that most people seem to not mention is the horizontal cutoff.

I measured 2" down from the center of the projector (if using an OEM housing, it's the molded circle in the lens) and used the lowest step. Setting the centers should be self-explanatory but most guides don't mention the horizontal and where to measure from.

Besides figuring out the wiring, running wire and figuring out how to seal the back of the headlamp, it was a pretty step-by step process. Much better lighting and super clean if you take your time.

Hope this helps someone out.

-Randy

Last edited by tomacGTi; 12-15-2014 at 09:00 AM.
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Old 12-19-2014, 08:25 PM   #187
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So I'm planning on doing this retrofit in the very near future. So first id like to thank the OP for the great write up and all the pictures!! Very helpful as this will be my first retrofit. I think I have everything under control my only question that I didn't see in the thread anywhere is halo's.

1. Is there room to put them in there? Those of you who have done this mod, do you think there is enough clearance between the shroud and the lens to fit them in there?

2. How does one attach them to the shrouds? I did see a video from TRS that said to use picture wire but I'm not sure if I really like that idea. I would ideally prefer no visible way that they are attached but at the same time I don't want to have to split my lenses again in 3 months because the halos fell off.

3. I want to use blue halos on my car but I saw that on TRS you can get white or amber, or the whole fricken rainbow. I will likely never change them from blue so I don't feel the need to buy the fancy color changing ones for $80. I did find a cheaper set from www.superbrightleds.com for $33 they are also the RGB ones but they are the only set they carry that fits the MH1's. Has anyone used the halos from SBLED? Do they last? Or is this a get what you pay for kind of thing.

Thanks
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Old 03-14-2016, 01:18 PM   #188
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WIwrecx View Post
So I'm planning on doing this retrofit in the very near future. So first id like to thank the OP for the great write up and all the pictures!! Very helpful as this will be my first retrofit. I think I have everything under control my only question that I didn't see in the thread anywhere is halo's.

1. Is there room to put them in there? Those of you who have done this mod, do you think there is enough clearance between the shroud and the lens to fit them in there?

2. How does one attach them to the shrouds? I did see a video from TRS that said to use picture wire but I'm not sure if I really like that idea. I would ideally prefer no visible way that they are attached but at the same time I don't want to have to split my lenses again in 3 months because the halos fell off.

3. I want to use blue halos on my car but I saw that on TRS you can get white or amber, or the whole fricken rainbow. I will likely never change them from blue so I don't feel the need to buy the fancy color changing ones for $80. I did find a cheaper set from www.superbrightleds.com for $33 they are also the RGB ones but they are the only set they carry that fits the MH1's. Has anyone used the halos from SBLED? Do they last? Or is this a get what you pay for kind of thing.

Thanks
I know that halos are an option, if you check retrotfitsource.com for morimoto mini h1 (https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...-3-kit-h1.html) LED halos are an option.
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Old 03-18-2016, 10:04 AM   #189
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Dead thread, here's my progress anyways
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Old 03-18-2016, 10:18 AM   #190
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That's looking pretty good. I bought a spare set of headlights about 3 years ago with the intention of doing this, but something always got in the way. I think I'll take your work as inspiration to get started.
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Old 03-18-2016, 10:31 AM   #191
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Awesome man! Feel free to ask questions about any part of the process, me and a buddy did this and ran into some unexpected issues, all of which were relatively simple to solve. I did this with no experience. Thanks a lot!
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Old 03-18-2016, 10:44 AM   #192
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I started my retro years ago, and the only reason it took so long is because I work from home and rarely drive my car. Though, now every time we go out at night I insist on taking my car. Took roughly 2 years to get this done, and if I did it again I'd use those projectors that fit into the stock headlight mounting holes. Maybe in a few months I'll buff the lenses These are the first run of the FX-R projectors, and not only do they have the "laserbeams" on the ground, but the cutoffs aren't the same between projectors so it looks funny if I'm close to a wall. But it's 1000x better than stock.


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Old 03-18-2016, 11:11 AM   #193
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Haha, 2 years?!? At least it is done lol.. Looks nice! It took us 20 minutes to get the headlights off the car, an hour to get them separated with heat gun, and then I had them all painted by the next day and ready to wire up. I ordered the wrong bulbs at first so I had to wait for those to ship out and get to my house, so it took us about 4-5 days of a couple hours at a time, now I just gotta aim them.
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Old 03-18-2016, 11:19 AM   #194
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Issues not covered in OP's post:
1) Use two people and a heat gun to separate the lens from the housing. Once you pop it open somewhere, have one person pry the lens apart while the other cuts the epoxy with the heat gun and use screw driver to prevent epoxy from falling onto the lens like OP suggests. Once we figured out this system, the second headlight was split in a couple minutes.
2) The hidden screw on the back of the housing that OP refers to, is reverse threaded.
3) In order to get the projector solenoid wire to fit through the back of the housing, you gotta modify the hole that OP refers to, it is not large enough.
4) Make sure you buy H1 bulbs if you are using H1 headlights, maybe this is obvious but when I ordered my kit from ebay I ordered 3five bulbs like OP said, however the guy only asked for what type of wiring harness which is 9007/9004, so he also sent me 9007 bulbs. I overlooked this.
5) We could not fit the rubber grommet, it was too thick and a little mishaped from the factory. We bought felt washers and used that instead. We could not shave anymore off the back of the reflector bowl like in OPs instructions. Used belt sander to shave as much as we could, but the threads weren't portruding enough out the back for us to lock the bulb in with the spring clip.

If I think of anything else I will post it up, you can feel free to ask me to clarify any of this.
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Old 03-18-2016, 11:27 AM   #195
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Thanks for the tips. First, I should probably get the turbo back on (leaking coolant line) then is can get started on the lights. Has anyone looked at the mini D2S instead of the H1? They cost more, but I wonder if they might be worth it.
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Old 03-18-2016, 12:25 PM   #196
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In this thread there is some talk about those projectors. I think those require some more modification to the stock headlights in order to fit. I would suggest taking the easy route personally.
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Old 03-18-2016, 02:01 PM   #197
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThatGy View Post
Thanks for the tips. First, I should probably get the turbo back on (leaking coolant line) then is can get started on the lights. Has anyone looked at the mini D2S instead of the H1? They cost more, but I wonder if they might be worth it.
Whenever possible, D2S gives you more bulb option, especially OE bulbs.

TRS' Mini D2S 3.0 has better distance reach imho than TRS' Mini H1 6.0 or even the 7.0. There are generic H1 and D2S projectors, although their optics design are closer to prior generation Minis (e.g. D2S 2.0 and H1 5.0). The generic ones can be had for not very much money, but you'd want to upgrade soon after.

Having said that, the Mini D2S 3.0 is a bit wider and longer than the Mini H1 7.0 (and 6.0).
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Old 03-18-2016, 02:19 PM   #198
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I used e55 shroud and I really like the look compared to the other shrouds. Here it is
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Old 03-18-2016, 05:16 PM   #199
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^^ Looks good too.
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Old 03-20-2016, 06:44 PM   #200
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I finished



I suggest using a small dab of adhesive to keep the shrouds on the projector. Also I would recommend cleaning them and putting them back together in the closest thing to clean room as you can find. And don't break your adjuster screw >.<
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