Projector Retro, It FINALLY stopped raining for 2 consecutive days! Options

[Lil-Joe101]

Kinda reminds me of Number Johnny5 from Short circuit.






[/quote]

Great Job though. Better than anything I could've done.

This post has been edited by Lil-Joe101: Apr 10, 2009 - 6:49 AM

[d0w0rkS0n]

Kinda reminds me of Number Johnny5 from Short circuit.

!!!!!!!!!!!

[GriffGirl]

Totally!

[razor7]

Yeah, I was thinking rivets

Holy fcukin sh*t - nice job Griffy
Now make me some

Dude... seriously, it took a LONG time and a lot of work. I can see why people charge a lot for this mod, not to mention the cost of the projectors themselves. Luckily I made nice friends with this mechanic guy who gave 'em to me for nothin'.

Nice,
Something about snuggling up next to a mechanic for free projectors is something that few of us can do (most mechanics don't like other guys rubbin all over them...) The retrofit looks great! I'd be pretty bummed if one decided to be lazy on me, but at least it's fixable. I can't believe how you made that shroud, I would never have thought about that. Once again, you're giving us more options to consider before doing the project ourselves. I am curious though, exactly what projectors did you use? I like the size and shape of them. Are you planning on putting HID's in them (since I know you do the GB HID sales)?

Man, this just makes me want to do mine now. I have the lenses, housings, just about everything except for the projectors.

Hate to say it, but you need a new paint job.. and is that a crack in your front bumper? Looks like you got angry when installing your fogs :-P

The JDM high beams look like this



vs. the USDM ones (Rayme's)




Looks like they don't have the plastic shroud around the edge, and that the actual reflector is a little bit smaller, more directed. Not sure why ours come out as more of a spotlight to be honest.

-TC

This post has been edited by razor7: Apr 11, 2009 - 11:50 PM

[GriffGirl]

Nice,
Something about snuggling up next to a mechanic for free projectors is something that few of us can do (most mechanics don't like other guys rubbin all over them...) The retrofit looks great! I'd be pretty bummed if one decided to be lazy on me, but at least it's fixable. I can't believe how you made that shroud, I would never have thought about that. Once again, you're giving us more options to consider before doing the project ourselves. I am curious though, exactly what projectors did you use? I like the size and shape of them. Are you planning on putting HID's in them (since I know you do the GB HID sales)?

Man, this just makes me want to do mine now. I have the lenses, housings, just about everything except for the projectors.

Hate to say it, but you need a new paint job.. and is that a crack in your front bumper? Looks like you got angry when installing your fogs :-P

Looks like they don't have the plastic shroud around the edge, and that the actual reflector is a little bit smaller, more directed. Not sure why ours come out as more of a spotlight to be honest.

-TC

No, most mechanics don't like dudes rubbin' up on them. Good thing I'm a girl. Actually I contacted him through Craigslist, but it took so long for us to coordinate schedules that he just wound up giving them to me for free along with a box of random parts. Gotta love a box of random parts! He had them listed as Acura projectors; judging by their size I'm guessing they're MDX projectors or something? I'm not sure. They look bigger than TL projectors though, but I'm not sure.

Yes, I've got HIDs in them. Still haven't driven at night though, but at dusk the light quality looks excellent. Once I get the lazy eye fixed and aim them, I expect good things from them. I think they're gonna work out just dandy. Dandily. . . ? Anyway I think they'll be fine.

As for the paint job - are you volunteering?! LOL j/p I know I need a paint job BAD. The hood is faded, and it drives me insane. I'm exploring my options for paint. I can paint it myself and hope that I do a good job or I can save up for a cheap paint job and hope it doesn't suck. Looks to me like six and a half dozen of the other if you know what I mean. I just can't afford a good quality paint job and don't forsee that in the near future at all. And I have yet to make friends with anyone in the biz up here in Portland. I've actually considered seeing if I could find a part time job at a body shop, just for the opportunity to learn how to do that stuff and use my own car as a guinea pig. But it's hard to find part time body shop work at night since I work F/T in my corporate career-land.

And yes, my front bumper is cracked. It was an added bonus provided free of charge by the previous owner of my car. I plan to repair the crack when I pull the bumper next (SUNNY!!! OW!) weekend to fix the lazy eye.


Now if someone can give me some guidance about that fiberglass action for the shroud, I'm all over that. I just need to know if I need to make some sort of form or something to lay the FG against to get the shape and contours? Anyone? Bueler.... Bueler.... Bueler....

[malpaso]

that's totally cool making own projectors... the best way how to make your car look unique!

[KAOS]

Nice work Michelle...

Or in the words of Johnny 5, "Nice software, Stephanie!"

[razor7]

No, most mechanics don't like dudes rubbin' up on them. Good thing I'm a girl. Actually I contacted him through Craigslist, but it took so long for us to coordinate schedules that he just wound up giving them to me for free along with a box of random parts. Gotta love a box of random parts! He had them listed as Acura projectors; judging by their size I'm guessing they're MDX projectors or something? I'm not sure. They look bigger than TL projectors though, but I'm not sure.

Yes, I've got HIDs in them. Still haven't driven at night though, but at dusk the light quality looks excellent. Once I get the lazy eye fixed and aim them, I expect good things from them. I think they're gonna work out just dandy. Dandily. . . ? Anyway I think they'll be fine.

As for the paint job - are you volunteering?! LOL j/p I know I need a paint job BAD. The hood is faded, and it drives me insane. I'm exploring my options for paint. I can paint it myself and hope that I do a good job or I can save up for a cheap paint job and hope it doesn't suck. Looks to me like six and a half dozen of the other if you know what I mean. I just can't afford a good quality paint job and don't forsee that in the near future at all. And I have yet to make friends with anyone in the biz up here in Portland. I've actually considered seeing if I could find a part time job at a body shop, just for the opportunity to learn how to do that stuff and use my own car as a guinea pig. But it's hard to find part time body shop work at night since I work F/T in my corporate career-land.

And yes, my front bumper is cracked. It was an added bonus provided free of charge by the previous owner of my car. I plan to repair the crack when I pull the bumper next (SUNNY!!! OW!) weekend to fix the lazy eye.


Now if someone can give me some guidance about that fiberglass action for the shroud, I'm all over that. I just need to know if I need to make some sort of form or something to lay the FG against to get the shape and contours? Anyone? Bueler.... Bueler.... Bueler....

That's pretty cool, I'm going to look into the MDX projectors now, should be able to pick them up at a junk yard for fairly cheap.

As for the paint job, I am actually learning how to spray. Now that my dad just picked up a spray attachment for our compressor, I figure it's a great time to learn. I plan on doing a custom paint job to the motorcycle (white pearlescent with red flakes), and I'll probably paint my skirts/splitters/spoiler once I get them. I have a buddy who's going to lend me his car for practice, but cars require a TON of prep work, and realistically should be stripped of all interior pieces before you do the job (so that it's not a completely different color on the outside than it is in the inside). So I'm not saying that I'll do it for sure, but maybe if I feel up to it over summer we can discuss something. I just need a lot of practice under my belt beforehand.

The crack shouldn't be too hard to fix. Bondo or a fiberglass repair kit should do the trick. Only issue is that it'll need to be repainted in order to get a seamless look. Bondo will be easier to flow.

Fiberglass repair kits usually include an epoxy and fiberglass sheets IIRC. You can make a mould out of them, but it requires a little bit more work. There are other options like using a type of hardened foam that is moldable, you basically just make the shape you want and then cut out pieces with a knife and sand down the rest till it flows properly. The Fiberglass repair kits use basically fiberglass sheets covered in epoxy that are shapable and similar to paper mache. Once the mould is set, they're rigid and extremely durable, but this also comes at the expense of not being able to fix errors.

That's the only knowledge I have. I used a FG repair kit on the tail section of one of my mini bikes. It's held up great for a couple of years.

-TC

[GriffGirl]

It's supposed to be warm and sunny this weekend, so if I can gather support and minimize the resentment at home, I'll be delving into the wonderful world of fiberglass this weekend! I've looked it up on line and I think if I use some thin-ish felt to make the form, and then glass over that, it should work out pretty alright. Now I just need to decide what color to spray the shrouds. I think I'm actually going to stick with chrome. I like how it looks and it looks more OEM to me than spraying it an actual color. If my car were black, I'd do matte black, but since it's silver, I think the black would stick out too much and not flow as well, visually speaking.

All ideas and input are more than welcome!

[vile_v]

you should maybe to try painted all the shiny silver part black.. that way it doesn't look so much like bug eyes just a thought.

like this:


I know it looks more like its been tinted, but yeah i think you get the point! but great work i hope to retrofit mine one day!

This post has been edited by vile_v: Apr 19, 2009 - 7:17 PM

[ra65_22re]

you should maybe to try painted all the shiny silver part black.. that way it doesn't look so much like bug eyes just a thought.

like this:


I know it looks more like its been tinted, but yeah i think you get the point! but great work i hope to retrofit mine one day!

lol like mine that would look pretty sik but silver looks good on your car 2

[GriffGirl]

Well that's actually what I wound up doing when I redid my shrouds this past weekend. They came out okay - the design is better than the execution. I'm feeling REALLY frustrated and burnt out on this project, so this is how they're gonna stay for a while until I come up with something different. No lazy eye any more though! Oh and the crack - well, is "less" cracked. I repaired it from the back side of the bumper, but I haven't puttied the front because I don't have touch up paint yet. Once I get some paint I'll probably just paint the whole bumper and hood since they look like sh1t anyway



This post has been edited by GriffGirl: Apr 21, 2009 - 5:24 PM

[95CelicaST]

You should really put some drift ties on that crack.

[96bluevert]

good work... I think they are fine as is.

[GriffGirl]

You should really put some drift ties on that crack.

Looks like Frankenstein

GI Joes has gone belly up and is liquidating. Yesterday I learned their automotive touch-up paint is like 40% off, so I'm gonna go see if I can't find 199 and fix the bumper up a little better. I figured having the crack still showing for now was better than having it patched and sanded. Something about bare primered patches that just says "put me up on cinder blocks" to me.

good work... I think they are fine as is.

Thanks... but if you saw them up close you'd probably disagree. Really, the concept is better than the execution. I struggled all weekend on this damn thing!

On a more positive note though, I'm really glad you got your HIDs worked out! Do you totally heart them!?

[96bluevert]

good work... I think they are fine as is.

Thanks... but if you saw them up close you'd probably disagree. Really, the concept is better than the execution. I struggled all weekend on this damn thing!

On a more positive note though, I'm really glad you got your HIDs worked out! Do you totally heart them!?

Totally! lol

Seriously though, they are such an improvement

I need to get projectors or something now...hmm how to make $800 for new headlights?...

[KAOS]

good work... I think they are fine as is.

Thanks... but if you saw them up close you'd probably disagree. Really, the concept is better than the execution. I struggled all weekend on this damn thing!

On a more positive note though, I'm really glad you got your HIDs worked out! Do you totally heart them!?

Totally! lol

Seriously though, they are such an improvement

I need to get projectors or something now...hmm how to make $800 for new headlights?...

In todays economy: prostitution. Its the only way to make mad cash, NOW. LOL

[razor7]

Well that's actually what I wound up doing when I redid my shrouds this past weekend. They came out okay - the design is better than the execution. I'm feeling REALLY frustrated and burnt out on this project, so this is how they're gonna stay for a while until I come up with something different. No lazy eye any more though! Oh and the crack - well, is "less" cracked. I repaired it from the back side of the bumper, but I haven't puttied the front because I don't have touch up paint yet. Once I get some paint I'll probably just paint the whole bumper and hood since they look like sh1t anyway

Very nice, I like the execution.

I think I have it lucky, I have all of the shrouds that I need to drill and mount the projectors in, so I won't have to take off my bumper until they are perfectly ready for install. However, I must say that it's an intense job for just one weekend, and on a DD it's almost more challenging. It came out very nice, give yourself a pat on the back!

-TC

[GriffGirl]

Where'd you get the shrouds? I'm at the point that I'm ready to start scrounging around for broken parts just to build from. PM me or something', eh?

Thanks for the compliments, btw. Much appreciated!

[razor7]

Where'd you get the shrouds? I'm at the point that I'm ready to start scrounging around for broken parts just to build from. PM me or something', eh?

Thanks for the compliments, btw. Much appreciated!

The shrouds and plastic light deflectors (not the reflector) I bought from Rayme about 6 months ago. They've just been sitting in my garage ever since. My local yard just got in some MDX's, so once I put aside some money (I have to pay for new tires + installation + my mechanics time in helping me replace a bad rod bearing on my SRAD along with a full tear down...) I should be able to start working on that.

Just check out Craigslist for broken celicas, I'm sure you can find shrouds pretty easily. I would snag you some fubar'd headlights, but the tabs are all broken...

-TC