How To: Projector Lights (part 1)

[Kryton]

Part 1....
As a few of you are aware, I was after a way to make my lights brighter & eventually settled on a HID kit for my dip & main beams. The result was great as they are far brighter than I actually wanted. The issue however is that the beam pattern is a little bit extreme & most people flash me. In addition to this, I very much doubt it will pass its next MOT. The plan, to fit proper reflectors, but the only ones I could find are mega expensive, got angel eyes, or in china so set-up for LHD so would need modify. I was convinced there must be a cheaper way & came to the conclusion that a set of GTO lights would do the trick. They are setup for RHD, have 4 reflectors (giving enough for dip & main), & technically I would be fitting geniune Mitsubishi parts (they are made by seeley so very good units). So far I have got this far & all for £60 inc delivery........

Step 1...
Find some lights (I got mine from someone breaking his car on GTO OC, kindly sourced by Miller :) )

Step 2...
Pre-heat oven to 150 deg C

Step 3...
Place lights in oven...
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Step 4...
Leave in oven for 4 minutes
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This will be long enough for the glue to go soft so you can remove the lenses

Step 5...
Remove from oven (using oven gloves as these will now be very hot)

Step 6...
Prise open from the front edge, using 2 flat headed screw drivers. This will leave you with the lights looking like...
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Step 7...
Remove the plastic internal cover. There is 1 screw on the top edge that will need removing, then prise open from front edge (one corner will have a fairly decent gap, so you will only need one screwdriver & then just get your fingerrs under & lift up.
This will leave you with the lights looking like...
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As you can see, you can now access the reflectors. One for each side, for dip & main beam. All with correct beam patterns for dip & main, & for RHD. All for £60, what a bargain!!

Step 8...
Simply unbolt the headlight leveling bolts on the back (2 & 3 can be done with a socket, 1 needs to be done with a special tool or a flat head screwdriver gradually moving the side around.
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Once this is complete, it will leave you with this...
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As you can see below, the beam patter is ideal for RHD...
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Step 9...
Unscrew the individual reflectors to leave you with 4 units. There are 4 screws holding in each reflector & now the mounting bracket has been removed, are easily accessible...
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Step 10...
Time to attempt the VR4 lights. Repeat step 1 - 6 using the Galant / Legnum lights. These lights arer slightly bigger so you may have difficulty fitting these in your oven. To compensate for having the door open, I increased the temperature to 200 deg C.
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Step 11...
Once removed from the oven, be extra careful prising these apart. As they are plastic, they are far more likely to crack. I found the best way to do this was to open up the edge closest to the cars grill (right side of the picture below) using 2 flat headed screwdrivers.
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Step 12...
Once this has opened up (as below), leave to cool for a minute. This will leave the sealant warm enought to still prise the light open, but cool enough to cut using a blade or scissors. If you wait until it is too cold, you will not be able to move the plastic, if too hot, the sealant will stretch & be difficult to remove. As brute force & ignorance is not the way forward with JDM lights, DO NOT force apart like the GTO lights.
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Once removed, you will be left with this...
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Step 14 (no 13 just in case anyone here is superstitious)...
Whilst the lights are apart, de-tango the lights. This is a 10 second job & can be done by simply unscrewing the one screw & lifting the orange lense out. Put the screw back in to hold the reflector in place & remeber to change your bulbs to orange or silver ones!
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This will leave you with this...
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Step 15...
Remove the factory reflectors for dip & main beam from the VR4 lights. This is done the same way as the GTO lights, using the 3 headlight level adjusters. It is easier with these lights though as all 3 can be done using a 10mm socket. There are 3 for each light (6 per side total).

Step 16...
Once these have been removed, pull out the clips using a flat head screwdriver or pliers. These will be needed later to make new mounting brackets.
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[aboo]

Nice right up Chris. Looking forward to seeing the finished item.

[Kryton]

Thanks Andy :) Still work in progress but finally had a chance to finish of the GTO part of the write up. Should have a chance to get this done now i've finished for Christmas.

[miller]

Nice work Chris, quite ingenious using the GTO lights!

[richy rich]

Nice write up.
Just a quick look on ebay sounds like you got the lights at a bargin price.

[VR4Kaos]

great right uyp bud have some rep !
you should make em up and sell em to fellow members

[Kryton]

Thanks guys & the best way to source these is the owners club or salvage yards as it doesnt matter if the lights are smashed as long as the internals are ok. I found several sets in the end but more like £80-£100 delivered (still cheaper), or you could buy 4 FTO lights (damaged go for approx £15 - £20 each) but would have to mess around with beam patterns again.

[cyprinis]

That's my kitchen!!

[Kryton]

It sure is. Maybe I should amend the write up to say use your / someone elses oven?!

[sonicsoundzdj]

you should make em up and sell em to fellow members

Id be interested, i tried HID lights and like you said the beam pattern is all over the place.

[mattnz]

Sorry if I'm missing something, but are the GTO lights a direct replacement? (i.e no extra drilling etc)

[Beastlee]

Matt, I think we're only on part 1, the strip down of the GTO lights, I imagine there's going to be a lot of work to get them into the Galant lights but at least they'd be Mitsi parts.

[swinks]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from pictures seems that mounting bolt pattern is different from Galant one. I mean those dual purpose bolts that are to adjust reflectors (vertically and horizontally) and keep reflectors together with cluster box. Maybe just pictures... but otherwise somekinda work involved, not an easy p&p.
I'd love to see detailed pictures of them finished in Galant clusters :)

[Kryton]

No they will not be direct replacement, just slightly less work than buying aftermarket ones & far cheaper. The plan is to make custom brackets so they will fit straight onto the Galant headlamp level bolts & be adjustable using the existing factory mounts. I am about to update thread 1 but just doing it as I go, if not I would never get round to doing a write up.

[Kryton]

Write up still to be completed but now includes how to de-tango / remove the orange lense from in front of your indicators :)

[Beastlee]

Looking good. Following with interest as I have a spare set of JDM lights I want to do this to as LHD, if that works I'll make a second set for RHD for journeys back to the UK. Ideally I'd love to make a set where the pattern can be easily swapped.

[Kryton]

I can't think of an easy way of swapping the beam pattern. As you intend, you are probably best to just have 2 sets as its only a 10 minute job to do anyway.

Is anyone on here a qualified mot tester? Just before I go any further need to know how I stand with putting the side light in with the indicator & also whether either of them actually need the reflector behind them, or as long as there is a functioning light, they will be ok?

Also, post 1 updated

[Kryton]

How To: Projector Lights (part 2)

Part 2....
Making the brackets

As both sets of lights are now in pieces, I thought I would place the projector units into the VR4 lights just to make sure that everything would fit ok...
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Step 17...
To make the mounting brackets, I opted for a 5mm clear perspex. Start off by cutting them down to the approx size, by drawing round the factory reflectors & cutting to size. Don't worry about the curves as this will make them too big to fit. Instead just cut straight down these edges (as if you are cutting the curves off).
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Step 18...
Put the perspex into the light cluster for positions of the headlight level adjuster bolts. These will need to be cut square to put the original brackets back in (as seen in step 16).
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Step 19...
Cut a hole in the middle of the perspex large enough to hold the projector but small enough for the 4 screws to be able to hold the unit to the new bracket. I cut this square so all the screws on the back of the projector unit are easily accessible without dismantling the entire unit.
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Step 20...
As you can see in step 19, futher cuts need to be made to shape the perspex in order to get it to sit correctly. Once one side is complete, you can simply trace around the finished brackets (2 different versions for each side), & flip for the opposite light.

The perspex used is clear but still has a protective film on it (similar to new number plates) so it will not be noticable once the project is complete.

[Kryton]

Updated & starting to shape up a bit :)