Black HIDs

[boxster7614]

Just got done with another set of HID retrofits this set is all mine!
No more blinding glare with just those "swap out the bulb" HID kits, I don't know why I haven't gotten around to this on my own car before now.


Before


After


It's kind of hard to see in these pics but they do have CCFL angel eyes




I toyed around with leaving the chrome reflector but I liked the solid black better


If anyone cares or follows HID retrofits: this setup I used the Morimoto Bi-xenon mini H1 projectors and angle eyes. I designed a custom side specific foreground and cut-off shields that I have fine tuned, along with a custom hinge pin to eliminate any sticking problems the mini H1 suffered from. The ballasts are mounted to the back of the headlight housing just like the original Litronic set up. This means a clean factory look install with no messy wiring kit to play with every time you have to remove the light, its just plug and play. As far as people telling you need a relay/wiring kit to run HIDs, this may be true with some vehicles wiring but our cars already support wiring for the HID/Litronic lights from the factory. The only difference was a control box and suspension sensor used for the auto leveling feature in the Litronics. The aftermarket ballasts also draw less current than the OEM ones, thus the relay wiring kits are really just overkill. But if you like sales "scare tactics" by all mean feel free to run a wiring kit they don't hurt anything, the're just messy, more complicated and not needed.

So I don't know if this is breaking any rules on here cause I'm not a vendor. I'm just trying to help my fellow Porsche buddies out. I'm seeing these cheesy aftermarket LED headlights selling on Ebay. I just wanted to let you guys know what is possible customizing the original Porsche lights and retaining OEM quality while retrofitting a projector that is designed for HID (not a halogen projector like the Ebay ones) with a clean cut off and a brilliant color output that rivals the stock Litronics. This can be done for a fraction of the cost. I don't want to break any rules on here so I won't list any prices. So feel free to use this as guide for inspiration on your own DIY retrofit, but for those of you who feel this type of project is a little over your head PM me and we can work something out. Obviously if we get a group of people together I can get a better deal on parts buying in bulk and save some $$.

[cbbepop]

I like it! pics of on the car!

[Deserion]

I'd also like to see more steps on how you added the projectors, if you had photos of the process handy. It looks good!

[rgriffin]

Beautiful! It would be great to get some detailed step-by-step directions on these. I'd love to do this but don't want to screw up the only lights I have. Very intimidated by fitting projector/reflector in housing.

[Skrapmot]

That looks great! I
Like that better than the Depo setup.

[boxster7614]

I finally got the car washed and was able to take some pics. I didn't realize how hard it is to get good pics without getting glare off the lenses, I did the best I could with my iphone LOL.

I don't have step by step pictures for this as I didn't really mean this to be a how to thread. There are already tons of guides out there showing how to retrofit HID if you do your homework.

I wanted to show a before pic so I searched through some old pics and found one when I first put my bumper on, I have since painted my grills black. It's not the best pic but hopefully you get the idea. (and no that's not my motor home in the background)


As you can see I also de-ambered the lights and installed silver bulbs


Please ignore my paint chips lol my car is a daily driver with 117,000 miles

[cbbepop]

WOW
That makes your car look both more modern (ALA 981) and more mean!

GreAT WORK!

[dascar]

That looks amazing!

[copsahl]

The car looks awesome! Please share some more details...

[SoK]

What guide did you use? Looks awesome

[boxster7614]

Thanks guys, I'm very happy with the way they turned out I really think it does update the look of the lights.

I really didn't use any specific guide. This is not the first pair of headlights I have retrofitted. Years ago when I first purchased my clear lights for my 986 I ordered them separately off ebay and it turned out one was for a 986 the other was for a 996. I assumed they were both the same however, some of the 996 lights had an extra chrome piece in them. I wanted to remove this extra piece and I had heard you could bake open headlights, as I had an extra set of the amber lights lying around I started experimenting putting them in the oven. I broke the first light trying to get it open.....its not like you just heat them up and they pop off! It takes some considerable and careful prying and pulling to get them apart. Once I learned how to open them playing with my old lights, I felt comfortable enough to open my new light and remove the extra chrome insert.

I don't like taking my car to a mechanic, I fix everything myself. I do all my own customizing including paint and body work. I have done a lot of work for friends and friends of friends. Retrofitting headlights isn't the hardest thing to do but it does require some skill with a soldering iron, using the right sealant, quality parts, painting, grinding, cutting and baking LOL It also require an eye for detail. google is your friend try typing in theretrofitsource and see where that gets you, there are many forums out there with guides to learn from. As far as cost goes you can look up that place I mentioned above to see what the parts would run.

I would be willing to do a few sets for board members while I have time if you want to ship me your lights. PM me for details but it ends up: shipping cost + $200 Labor + $200 projectors & supplies + what ever ballast & bulb kit you choose to use. I just use the $50 ebay ones and have had great luck them. I would think by time you ship them you could end up at right around $500 total. Definitely not looking to get rich off this just trying to give you guys some options but I can't do it out of the kindness of my heart as it take me about 3 days to do a set.

[SF-Rockster]

That looks great!
Want to sell them to me?

[Msw-986]

That really looks nice! What kind of wheels are those? They look fantastic on your car.

[tanque55]

Beautiful looking car. What type of front bumber is that on your car?

[cbbepop]

You fit a projector now over where the fog lights are. I just dont know what projectors come in that size and will fit over that area. But I think it will look awesome if its doable!

[SoK]

I'd have you do a set for me if I had the clear headlights already, mine are amber...

[sasha055]

I looove these, it looks amazing!
Boxster7614 you need to put a step by step how to guide.. I'm willing to pay for it..

Couple of questions:
What did you do to plastic inside the headlight? cut it off?
Projector has 3 bulbs, I see only one in your deadlight.. where did the other 2 go?
Did you put some kind of black film inside? or it's just our headlight look like that on the inside?
How did you mount new projectors? Where did you buy them from?

I have a pair of clear lights with broken lens which will be perfect for it..

Please "How to" us!

[ekam]

This is how it should be done... not the other clown looking headlights with LED from ebay...

[boxster7614]

As I said I don't have a how to. Yes the inside of your light looks like that after you break off the front lens. But it's chrome not black, see first post there is a pic before I painted it with a semi gloss black paint for plastic. As for the 3 bulbs, the original setup used 1.high beam 2.low beam 3. A very small back light. On this set up the projector uses a movable cutoff shield so blubs 1 & 2 are combined into one light, thus the name bi-xenon. When you turn the high beams on it acts as a relay to activate a selinoid that moves the shield and allows the light to function as a high beam. This is how many OEM hid lights are setup. The 3rd light I connected to the angel eye which is hard to see in the pics but it's a bright white ring that lights up around the projector like BMW uses.

I agree with the remark about the led lights, i think they look a little cheesy and look like a cheap aftermarket light. But I kinda like their led tail lights.

As for the car, front bumper is a polyurethane GT3 look bumper, with TA style side skirts, splitters on rear bumper, robins top with back glass w defroster, 18" ruff racing wheels. Painted calipers red with Porsche logos & high temp cleared over.

[Ghostrider 310]

7614 You did an excellent job on those lights, they look truly unique in a good way.