DodgeIntrepid.Net Forums banner

First Gen Projectors? No way! (way)

3K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  Mr_Spork 
#1 · (Edited)
Since there's no kits, I'm blazing my own trail here. I posted a little sneak peak on YouTube, mostly for the viewing pleasure of my DI.net brothers (and sisters, and misc.). More to come...



Here's a crude (but accurate!) cut template for the Intrepid headlight. Note: This was made using the OEM housing and is probably only good for the Intrepid, since the other LH vehicles had varying shaped headlight assemblies. If you want to do this on, say, an Eagle Vision, you're going to have to adapt the process a bit. Also, aftermarket housings may be slightly different. I know mine are, but I'm not sure to what degree the differences matter. More on that later...
 
#2 ·
I think this is awesome. I just did a retrofit on my Saturn I have now. The main problem I see with retrofitting a 1st gen housing is the mounting tabs are very fragile. I went through several headlights on mine and every one of them the tabs would break over time. another member here and I had an idea to reinforce them but I personally never got around to it.
 
#3 ·
YES they are fragile! I've been through that new hell just this evening. I am disappointed in my "good" housings. They're only a couple years old; I put them on when I did my engine swap. When I went to take them off to do this retrofit, the tabs were cracked and broken already. TERRIBLE design. I've got a fix for that, though...

JB WELD!!1

I actually took an extra set of brackets that I had in my garage, brought them inside and I carefully (not carefully) cut the old tabs off completely and remade some using crimp-on electrical eyelets and JB Weld. The new tabs are definitely stronger than the originals. They're bulky and irregular shaped, but they are aligned properly for the mounting bracket. This is a problem that I recall having when I put these lights on the car a couple years ago. The holes in the tabs didn't line up well with the channels in the brackets. They probably were stressed/cracked from then, but they hadn't completely disintegrated until I removed the housings a couple days ago.

I've got some notes on my progress:

1. As though I didn't know this already, silicone sealant is really damned messy. I'm going to have a lot of cleanup to do once I get my "second prototype" ready to install.

2. Even with a good template, adjustment at the time of fitment is still necessary. Whatever guide I come up with will be more of a rough walkthru, and less of a cookie-cutter "you can follow this exactly and get a perfect result" kind of a thing.

3. The aftermarket housings (Eagle Eyes) that I'm using must have a more rounded slope where the top edge of the lens rolls off and goes down the face. Using my old yellowish hazy lenses, I had no interference between the shroud and lens. With the "new" lenses, further modification of the shroud and even the lens itself a bit was necessary. I think when I do my "final" install, with brand new housings/lenses I will pain the interior edge black all the way around to help conceal the raw edge of the shroud that I end up with. The edge is behind the section that has longitudinal flutes molded into it so I had glued some aluminum foil over the cut upper edge of the shroud and through the fluted lens you couldn't really tell it wasn't chrome. With needing to grind out a bit of a pocket in the interior of the lens for the shroud to fit, I think the best course to conceal the work done will end up being a nicely masked black strip all the way around. The Eagle Eyes housings that I have deviate already from the OEM in that the floors are already flat black instead of dull silver, so this should match up well with the unit when put in place. They also used grey sealant on these housings which I attempted to remove entirely but still missed some of the more aggressively stuck patches, these contrast with the black RTV that I am sealing the housings with so in the final, greater care will be taken to prep this joint. I'm being "quick and dirty" with prototype 2, so I don't really care that much. Nothing I end up doing is going to necessarily be show-car quality, but I'd like people to follow along and maybe get much closer than I do to that level of perfection.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Sporkjectors!

Just a thought. What I believe is a picture of your Low beams might need a little "adjustment". The passenger side headlight isn't level and the cutoff should be above the drivers side. Drivers side looks level.

The "On Center" aiming should match up where the "Steps" should overlap as one. Right now you have two distinct steps where the left and right are aimed outward from each other.

Nothing really bad but any headlight aiming has the drivers side aimed lower than the passenger side to prevent blinding/annoying oncoming drivers.

High beams look great.

Overall a very good job.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the input. I'm going to have to rework some of my stuff soon, my mounting tabs broke again. I'm thinking about making a sheet steel bracket that encompasses a big part of the rear of the assembly to mate up to the headlight mount since JB weld ain't cutting it. They seem to point lower than they should now, so right now, I'm not blinding anyone. I think I need to adjust my cowl modifications and/or make changes to the bulb mounting plate at the back of the enclosure to cause the whole inner assembly to point down more within the overall enclosure, since it seems like I'm having to point the whole enclosures up too far, and there's a wide gap between the bumper and the bottom of the font lens.

But thanks, I'll integrate your aiming advice into the next iteration.
 
#8 ·
Final update:

The Intrepid is now parked for the forseeable future (Return of the Knock). I drove it for a year with broken tabs and slightly saggy, but still totally serviceable projectors. Never any problem, aside from a little less than great down-the-road light output. If I were to do this mod again (and I might, on my new vehicle) I would choose higher grade LEDs. This was always really just a proof of concept for me though. Anyone wanting to take this on, I highly suggest getting the very BEST LEDs you can afford, get new housings with new lenses (of course) but also get replacement brackets and hard-mount the housings to the brackets and seal up any openings you make in the housings to accommodate the height of the projectors (integrating the housings and the brackets can best accomplish this, as you won't have to worry about there being room to maneuver the housing into the bracket if your patches are too "thick"). A good quality install shouldn't require removal, really, ever. You can afford to make the housings "more permanent", whereas with halogens that you have to replace every couple years, you wouldn't want to do that. This would also help get around the weak ass tabs that these housings have. My JB Weld didn't hold long, yet the fit was tight enough it really didn't matter in the end.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top