projector headlight alignment

[tanpan]

hey guys, i have a set of head lights from jmauto with e46 projectors. im using 6000k bulbs and i need help aligning them. for some reason i cant see nething on the ground to the sides..its all in front and if i lower them too much, then i cant see road signs and if i raise them up a bit, then the light output on the ground suffers so what can i do to fix that?

[carl3g]

This might be difficult but post up pics of the output. I can then help you some more.

[wetamup2k3g]

E46's aren't the widest, but they should have some width sufficient enough to see on the sides. Post up a pic of what you got in front of the car, we may be able to help out. Also a pic of how the front of your heads look would help as well.

[tanpan]

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/tanpan/P1000376.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/tanpan/P1000378.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/tanpan/P1000379.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/tanpan/P1000387.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/tanpan/P1000392.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/tanpan/P1000394.jpg

[johnygezony]

Who said those are E46 projectors, those look like the cheap halogen projector that come in those things. The semi circle underneath is characteristic of Halogen projectors with HID in them which is my basis. The E46 has a obvious hotspot right under the ECE slope. These really have no relative hotspot.

[oakrdrs187]

My Jm's cut off looks different. So maybe they are E46's.

Any-who, the reason you don't have light off to the sides is because they are to close together, aim them off to the sides using the 8mm adjusters, I believe they are diagonally opposed so just play with it until they separate enough to have them point straight out like l l rather than / \.

[tanpan]

Who said those are E46 projectors, those look like the cheap halogen projector that come in those things. The semi circle underneath is characteristic of Halogen projectors with HID in them which is my basis. The E46 has a obvious hotspot right under the ECE slope. These really have no relative hotspot.

the box that they came in said e46 on it and even jmauto confirmed they were e46 so im guessing he knows what he is talkin about...only reason they look diferent is cuz i had them opened and change the cutoff shield cuz the Euro spec cutoff was illegal as it was blinding every car i was passing ..everything else is same bu even with the shield bfor..it still wasnt wide enuff

[tanpan]

My Jm's cut off looks different. So maybe they are E46's.

Any-who, the reason you don't have light off to the sides is because they are to close together, aim them off to the sides using the 8mm adjusters, I believe they are diagonally opposed so just play with it until they separate enough to have them point straight out like l l rather than / \.

ive tried doing that..and i lose light in front ..i have to point them up a bit so i can read road signs otherwise its all dark and when i raise them up, i cant see to sides and its faint color on ground

[johnygezony]

They don't illuminate well because those are not real HID projectors.
This is what a E46 cut off should look like
http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww204/johnygezony/DSCN0696.jpg
http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww204/johnygezony/beamcomparisonstock.jpg
http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww204/johnygezony/DSCN0695.jpg

[tanpan]

so u guys are sayin that jmauto false advertised the projectors which alot of guys on here bought?

[johnygezony]

Yup. In the original thread of his he posted (which is still there mind you) a picture claiming it was what the output of the projectors was. Customers posted pictures of his product displaying that it was clearly not what he advertised them to be. Sonar makes aftermarket headlights which projectors in them that are made for halogen bulbs and perform poorly in comparison to OEM halogen projectors and especially OEM HID.

The Part Number could actually be E46 on the projector but the ones within the headlight unit bares no resemblance to the ZKW projector or the output that is still on the original thread.

[wetamup2k3g]

Yeah, johnygezony beat me to it, but that's not how E46's look. I think someone else said they are not E46's in another thread. Herein lies the problem and why HID's shouldn't be put in those cheap-ass projectors, they aren't designed for the light source at all.

All the HID projectors I've seen have a deep, wide bowl to disperse the light through the lens better, those (and other) halogen projectors have a more shallow bowl. I've seen those projectors on other cars with the halogen bulbs, they indeed suck. No distance throw at all, no side throw.

Those pics above show that there's no distance or width to that beam, you'd be better off putting the old heads back in or putting true HID projectors in there which I'm sure is a lot of work but well worth it.

[tanpan]

well i dont have enuff money to redo my heads..spent quite a few on them already so ill jus stick wit it i guess and my original heads suck so im def not puttin them back in..i get more light out of these than oem halogen heads..is it hard to swap out just the projectors for somethin like TSX?

[carl3g]

Yes it would be hard. Those halogen projectors are small while tsx projectors are a decent size. The problem with trying to swap put the two is the width. HID projectors are just bigger than halogen projectors.

[oakrdrs187]

^ Carl do you think its possible to fit TSX projectors into the projector housings for the 8G?

[carl3g]

Yeah I think it's possible but it would be a bad idea because you need high beam and TSX is not bixenon. If you use the JDM with separate high and low, that would be fine. Greddy and Aaron(QNZ) both have TSX in their jdm heads iirc

8G refers to the usdm right?

[oakrdrs187]

Right, but I meant the projectors sold for the 8G galant. Like these. Which already have a separate high beam.
http://www.cipherauto.com/images/products/2LHP-GAL99JM-APC.jpg

[carl3g]

I thought your were talking about oem heads. Like I said, I doubt you can make them fit in ebay housings. Just because the width alone already a problem. Now think about dealing with height and depth. Just a bad idea, better off retroing oem heads.

[oakrdrs187]

^ Well either that or throw in some morimoto H1's for their "petiteness".

[johnygezony]

If you have the heads
-If you want to dare doing it, you could probably squeeze a MH1, but would probably have better luck with the M-D2S since they are smaller.

If you do not have them, Don't get them. Get some OEM housing and Throw a MH1 in there, or if you want to put in the work Do something like a FX-35/FX-R etc...

[wetamup2k3g]

well i dont have enuff money to redo my heads..spent quite a few on them already so ill jus stick wit it i guess and my original heads suck so im def not puttin them back in..i get more light out of these than oem halogen heads..is it hard to swap out just the projectors for somethin like TSX?

IDK, my OEM halogens do way better than those pics you put up, they're not the greatest but I would have been changed mine if they were on that level. I'd be terrified to drive highway speeds on a dark road with those.

On another note, I wonder will a TL fit in the JDM heads.....

[carl3g]

IDK, my OEM halogens do way better than those pics you put up, they're not the greatest but I would have been changed mine if they were on that level. I'd be terrified to drive highway speeds on a dark road with those.

On another note, I wonder will a TL fit in the JDM heads.....

Greg I would save the hassle of retroing the huge tl projectors and stick in some tsx or RX in the JDM heads. S2000 if you have the money.

[oakrdrs187]

If you have the heads
-If you want to dare doing it, you could probably squeeze a MH1, but would probably have better luck with the M-D2S since they are smaller.

If you do not have them, Don't get them. Get some OEM housing and Throw a MH1 in there, or if you want to put in the work Do something like a FX-35/FX-R etc...

I do have them, and I heard MD2S are shit. I'm really thinking of going with the H1's

[oakrdrs187]

Greg I would save the hassle of retroing the huge tl projectors and stick in some tsx or RX in the JDM heads. S2000 if you have the money.

Did I see correctly? The retrofit source sells Legit OEM S2k, Ls460, Evo etc etc projectors in the VIP section?

[carl3g]

Vic def go with the mh1. I have/had md2s and went fxr.

[oakrdrs187]

I want them to fit, and as an added touch, I'm not wiring the tacky LED's or halos. And there is no amber reflector on the corner, its really all black. If all goes well with the low beams, I will remove the high beam reflector and go with Quad H1's.

[wetamup2k3g]

Greg I would save the hassle of retroing the huge tl projectors and stick in some tsx or RX in the JDM heads. S2000 if you have the money.

Well I got these FX-R's I'm probably gonna just rock these. If I'm not pleased with them (though I think I will be) then I'll see if I can't JnC the TL's in with the entire reflector removed.

[carl3g]

Did I see correctly? The retrofit source sells Legit OEM S2k, Ls460, Evo etc etc projectors in the VIP section?

Yes Vic, those are real oem heads. If you want to save a few bucks, check with your local junk yards to see if they have any projectors.

[oakrdrs187]

I thought that was good pricing!!

[tanpan]

so the H1s will fit in the heads i have now if i want to swap out the projectors? also, if i get the bixenons, how will it work since these heads have a separate reflector for high beam?

[wetamup2k3g]

The H1's are probably your best bet, but since no one has done that yet for our car's aftermarket projector heads, I can't say for sure if they'll fit. They should though, if it's me I'd make them fit lol.

If you get bixenons, they'll come with a pigtail for the solenoid, one wire will go to the high beam positive, the other to a ground. What that will do is flip the projector shield down to make the projector project a high beam pattern, and the high-beam reflector in your headlight will come on as well, so you'll have a banging low beam and a killer high beam.

Keep in mind for the projector's HID bulbs to stay on when the high beam is activated, you either need to wire a diode between the low beam and high beam to keep the low beam working or buy the harness from TRS that will do that for you. Hope this helps!

[tanpan]

hmm im gonna wait till sumone does it and see if it works or not

[wetamup2k3g]

You might be waiting a while, unless Vic does his, because most of us who want projectors retrofit them in OEM heads for an OEM look. Good luck with it all, we're here to help out.

[tanpan]

yeh i understand but i just dont have that sort of money to retro my oems unless sumbody can do it for me for a decent price and i can sell these aftermarket ones if anybody wants them

[johnygezony]

Look around at the many retro write ups over on HID planet to get an Idea of what you will be doing, look at the smaller headlights being done ie no trucks, we have limited room in our headlights.

[oakrdrs187]

I may jump the gun and do mine pretty soon. But i'm terrible at documenting shit Lol!

[tanpan]

ive seen the write ups and all but im just not mechanically good at these things and i dont wanna keep breaking or messing up and waste money..id rather have it done professionally

[tanpan]

I may jump the gun and do mine pretty soon. But i'm terrible at documenting shit Lol!

if you use the aftermarket heads and it works out, let me know

[Redhaze]

I may jump the gun and do mine pretty soon. But i'm terrible at documenting shit Lol!

If your doing OEM head with H1 tell me how easy/hard it was i have two sets of oem heads in my garage i need to do something with

[carl3g]

If your doing OEM head with H1 tell me how easy/hard it was i have two sets of oem heads in my garage i need to do something with

Its teal simple with the oem heads. Bake heads until you can pry apart the housing, unscrew that silver thing that sits infront of the bulb. From the front, you slide in the mh1 and use the proper hardware provided to lock it in place. Seal her back up and your good to go.

I've done the md2s retro for my 3g. Looms intimidating but its not.

[oakrdrs187]

It will be with the JM projectors. If I ever do the oem's it would be some big ass D2S OEM projectors for sure.

[tanpan]

Its teal simple with the oem heads. Bake heads until you can pry apart the housing, unscrew that silver thing that sits infront of the bulb. From the front, you slide in the mh1 and use the proper hardware provided to lock it in place. Seal her back up and your good to go.

I've done the md2s retro for my 3g. Looms intimidating but its not.

yeh, i seen a video of a guy install on youtube ...pretty straight forward with h1s but i kinda like the look of the aftermarket ones..i just need to kno if the h1s will fit in those and im good to go

[jgarcia]

i would like also a pair..:)

[oakrdrs187]

Seriously thinking about pulling the trigger in the Mini H1's!! As in right now....

Maybe if I could sell off the eclipse sonars I have to suppress the cost a bit.