Homemade headlight projectors

[lsmalley]

My obsession with wanting projector headlights, but not wanting to spend $400+ on some, especially since I bought euro aftermarket lights off ebay for about $200 caused me to finally make my own. Total cost to me was about $30! I was in the junkyard and I purchased headlights from an Infiniti and headlights from a Daewoo (yes the Daewoo had projectors, go figure!). I dismantled both lights when I go home, the Infiniti lights came as dual lights which would not fit in my current housing, but the Daewoo and a single projector which I could easily fit after some modifications. I used the Daewoo casing, and the Infiniti lenses and reflectors. Since the Daewoo casing would not fit on the Infinti reflector I had to use some aluminum tape (best tape I've ever purchased). The lense sizes were standard so they fit the casing just fine. I had an old 300E front passenger seat backing which I used for the housing back. I had previously taken off the leather. I cut the backing and the leather to create the housing platforn in which the projector would rest. I put everything in place and it fit perfect. I used more aluminum tape to secure everything down inside the housing so the lenses wouldn't bounce around. It looks great. I ran my HIDs H4 in the projectors and I must say that I am a little disappointed at the light output. I did order more lights before I even started this project so hopefuly they will make a differnce, they are 6000k 55w HID, which would ultimately be toned down to about 4300k-5000k once installed with the higher wattage.

[lsmalley]

More photos

[97 SL320]

" I used the Daewoo casing, and the Infiniti lenses and reflectors. "

Cool, I like home made stuff from the salvage yard.

If the focus ( distance from the burner / bulb to lens ) has changed, the light output might be affected.

Also, are the bulbs used? Does the glass look silver or dark? Bulbs wear out before they burn out. Filament bulbs throw off tungsten the silvers the inside of the glass, arc discharge bulbs probably do the same with mercury.

K is the color temperature not light output.

[lsmalley]

Originally Posted by 97 SL320

" I used the Daewoo casing, and the Infiniti lenses and reflectors. "

Cool, I like home made stuff from the salvage yard.

If the focus ( distance from the burner / bulb to lens ) has changed, the light output might be affected.

Also, are the bulbs used? Does the glass look silver or dark? Bulbs wear out before they burn out. Filament bulbs throw off tungsten the silvers the inside of the glass, arc discharge bulbs probably do the same with mercury.

K is the color temperature not light output.

I'm using my HID lights that I already had. Thinking about swapping those out and putting in my Silverstar 9004 stocks until my new order of HIDs that are 55w instead of 35w come in. Yes, K is the color temp, I am aware, but running 55w HID with a color temp of 8000k usually washes out some of the color so it brings it down to about 6000k. I don't know why that is, there is even a video on youtube that shows it.

[lsmalley]

Here are a few pictures of my home made projectors with the lights on. I'm pretty happy with the outcome, my new HID bulbs will come in tomorrow, so I will install them.

[lsmalley]

Fine tuned my HID/projector project finally. I am 100% satisfied.

[lsmalley]

Interesting, saw the email about this DIY project for our cars and thought, what the heck, it's worth a shot. The headlight upgrade has probably been one of my favorite upgrades on my 201 (and of course the 600 watt electric fan upgrade). But I have indeed continued to fine tune the headlights. After skimming back on this thread I realized how much more improved the lights are now, especially with the implementation of the LED technology (no longer using the HID). Here are more pics. Thanks.