FXRs anyone?

[Nabs]

Just thought I'd share a little project I've been working on the past few days and see if anyone had some input on how it looks.

Since my car came with halogens I was slightly disappointed but decided to retrofit factory bixenon headlights until I heard about people retrofitting FXR (replica of Infiniti FX45) projectors as an upgrade to the stock projectors, so I decided to go that route. In order to make it look OEM I decided instead of retrofitting the projectors into my halogen bowls I'd look for and buy a set of OEM projector frames/bowls and use those. Turns out there is a lot of modification involved, not only of the frame but the projector and shroud as well.

This is what I started out with


halfway there


Done cutting and fitting






Just the one side took me about 5 hours or so, cutting then test fitting then repeating x100. I still have to bolt and epoxy the projector and shroud in place after test fitting it in the car to make sure the rotational angle and height are correct, then do the entire process over for the driver's side.

I'm pretty pleased with the result so far and I think it looks as stock as I can get it to look. How do you think it looks?

[exist]

Do quads!!

[IhateUSERnames]

quads!!!! it would be pointless tho!

[Nabs]

Quads are just a bit overkill, plus wiring them up would be a pain, unless someone decided to lend me some mini H1s, ballast and bulbs
I'd rather go with some projector fogs considering I'm setting up the headlights to act like euro-spec with the bixenon + halogen highs.

I'm almost done the driver's side frame, just have to trim it a bit more and grind down the other projector, but unfortunately all that is going to have to wait until after exams. I'm hoping to have it fully wired and mounted up by the 21st if all goes well

[Blokeswagen]

Nice job!!! I love to see the custom work...

[exist]

I don't have any mh1s in stock but I do have some bulbs kicking around and can get you everything off trs for quite a bit less.. let me know before you order

[Nabs]

I may need some shroud centric rings if you have any. I'm not a fan of the idea of using epoxy to hold the shrouds in place and then making it difficult to remove if I ever need to. Or do you think I could dremel the opening of the shroud a bit more to slide it over the projector?

---------- Post added 04-09-2012 at 02:54 PM ----------

I was also thinking of what I should do with the shrouds in terms of customization. I do like a nice stock look with the chrome shrouds but I ended up scuffing one that I used for test fitting. It's not extremely noticeable unless under the right light but I'll know it's there. I thought it might look nice if I paint the full shroud white to match the car, or something similar to this

[exist]

I have 2 spare E46 shrouds actually ... I only have 1 spare shroud centric ring however.. Order to Rydens as shipping the rings across the border took 3 weeks, compared to 3 days to Rydens.

What I would do, if I were you.. Is crazy glue the ring to the shroud, as at least with the replica shroud the little clips that hold the ring on break instantly.. The ring should sit on the FXR pretty tight and shouldn't need to be secured with anything more than tension.. But I'd put a drop or two of silicone (pretttttttttty common practice from what I hear) on the ring to FXR to just make absolute sure it doesn't pop off.. As for colours I'd paint the inside towards the projector lens part red, just to give you a small thin accent that would work really well with other small red accents (calipers, interior etc. etc.)


I'm re-doing a shroud mount on some D2S projectors tomorrow because the tension setting didn't survive the bumpy solid axle ride..

[speed6]

Looks pretty good to me. I think painting the shrouds white would looks pretty good. Something custom and unique but not over the top

[Nabs]

Thanks, I can always keep the shrouds that I have now and buy another cheap set and try painting them to see which one I like better. I'm also thinking about painting the headlight bezel white to give the car a cleaner look, seeing as there is quite a bit of black on the front end now. First I have to finish getting the car safetied and get the lights put in, then I'll go from there.

---------- Post added 04-09-2012 at 07:56 PM ----------

I have 2 spare E46 shrouds actually

Are they premium or value ones?

What I would do, if I were you.. Is crazy glue the ring to the shroud, as at least with the replica shroud the little clips that hold the ring on break instantly.. The ring should sit on the FXR pretty tight and shouldn't need to be secured with anything more than tension.. But I'd put a drop or two of silicone (pretttttttttty common practice from what I hear) on the ring to FXR to just make absolute sure it doesn't pop off.. As for colours I'd paint the inside towards the projector lens part red, just to give you a small thin accent that would work really well with other small red accents (calipers, interior etc. etc.)

I think I may just use some high temp silicon to hold it in place, I just wanted to try the rings to get the same look on both sides, but I don't think it's worth it to go down to Ryden's just for that.

[exist]

I don't know how else you'll hold the shrouds to the projector otherwise..? And I have the premium versions - one might have a small scuff as well due to being in a box with other projector parts but if you want a spare set to paint go nuts, you can literally just have them..

[Nabs]

From what I had read, Caesar and others recommended putting some epoxy on two sides of the shroud but I wanted to see if there was another alternative since the shroud centric rings aren't supposed to work without modification and I didn't get any with my order. I also completely forgot about silicon until you mentioned it. I'm free anytime after next Monday, so let me know when I can stop by and pick them up. I'll see if I can get the headlights done earlier so I can show you the final result in person as well.

[exist]

If you want I can swing by and check out your progress so far, I'd like to see how it's coming first hand.

What are you going with in terms of bulbs/ballasts ? 50w? DL50 bulbs? Did you see the output of the FXR 3.0's compared to the 1.1's? Some think it's an upgrade, others think the 1.1's are where it's at..

[Nabs]

I have 3 exams within the next week so I'm a bit swamped right now, and the car is stuck in town until the safety is done so I can't do much more.

I finished cutting both frames and projectors and with the shrouds on they look almost identical to the stock setup, like the pictures I posted up at the end of the first post. All I have left to do is remove the halogen bowls from the headlights and swap these frames in to test and make sure the alignment is correct then bolt them in place with the bottom two factory mounting points and put some JB weld on the top of the projector. As for wiring them, I've decided to wire them into the factory light control module so that I can properly code them to get rid of the can bus system and the need to splice the solenoid into the high beam wires.

I purchased the full FXR kit from Lightwerkz so I'll be running their 35W ballast and 5000k D2S bulbs. I have seen the output shots of both and I still prefer the 1.1's. While the 3.0's have a nicer low beam I prefer the high beam and width of the 1.1's. If I were to go with 3.0's it would mean more work retrofitting as well, as I wouldn't be able to use the mounting points on the projectors or frames. The 25% discount on the full 1.1 kit was nice too

If you want to see more of the pictures I have an album set up here: FXR Retrofit
I'll try and take some more pictures of the projectors and frames when I get home.