| The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... | |
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+4GasTT Pooge onehunglo toomanytoyz 8 posters |
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toomanytoyz Club President
Posts : 6876 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 47 Location : East Hampstead, NH USA
| Subject: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:18 am | |
| Ha ha! Yup! I did ANOTHER set. This was all "off the shelf" parts, too, so it's easy for anyone to accomplish. And I'm in it for less than 300 bucks. So what did I do? HID bi-xenon projectors in a smoked clear lense. Here's the short(ish) version because it's late for me and I gotta go to bed! So I finally broke down and got a set of the Smoked Clear lights from Jason at Street Trends because I had about 3 hours in polishing a factory lense and I was only up to 40 GRIT! I also got those "straight from China with hysterical translations" bi-xenon projector retrofit kit for 9004 bulbs offin eBay. When I opened the box I was a bit disappointed because these lenses are A LOT darker in person than they look in pics. Bummer. Shoulda got clears! Ok. On to the install. I didn't even have the box open for TEN MINUTES before I'd taken a heat gun to them to soften the sealant. TAKE YOUR TIME AND GO SLOW and they will come apart with about 10 minutes of careful work for each lense. I alternated the heat gun on high and then used two screwdrivers to work my way around them until I could pull them apart. Here's a shot of the back side of the projector. These are designed as a DIRECT replacement for the 9004 bulbs! How frikken cool is THAT? It doesn't get ANY easier than this! Here it is in the bucket. The bore on the projector matches the hole perfectly. It's even marked "top" so you can't screw it up. And there is a spacer with cut-outs to exactly match the factory nubs and valleys to secure it sturdily. (yeah, I said that) It's in the hole! Thse things have angel eyes too, so you need to pass the wires for them through the bucket. There was already a small hole drilled in them (and taped over) so I just opened it up with a 5/16" bit and passed them through. I had to pull the pins out of the connnector so the wires'd go through and then reinstall them, no biggie. And that's it! Test fit! Dat looksa niy-eeeece! I won't bore you with the details of installing them onto the car though, as that's pretty straightforward. Wiring was easy. A positive and ground on each side, and you plug into the stock headlight socket and the ballast. I also hooked up the angel eyes to the parking lights. Here's a shot of the wiring. It fits nice behind the lights! One BIG surprise for me though was that even though those bi-xenons claimed to be HIDS, and even came with the HID bulbs (6000K, if you're interested in which color temp I chose), was that they DID NOT INCLUDE BALLASTS! WTF?!? So be aware of that. Luckily, I was already running HID's in the stock buckets already, so I just reused the ballasts for those. They appear to be universal, so you can just get a set off eBay if you don't have any. So how do they look? I like them! They definately give the car a modern look in front! How's the pattern, you say? Like-a diss! Low's: High's: (I did lower them AYE LOT since that pic though, just an FYI) So how do they perform? Really well. Leaps and bounds better than stock. The pattern is great and there is a TON more useable light and those Godawful pigtails of light are finally gone! But... I screwed up. The smoked lenses block a lot of the output. Like a REAL lot. My old HID's in the stock buckets (6000K's with the SAME ballasts, remember) threw out a lot more light. But it was all over the place and not usable. This is a lot "better" light, but there is less of it. But it is totally my fault because I took a gamble with the smoked lenses. If you want to get the highest output possible, do yourself a favor and get the clears. Even if you're like me and can't stand the look. I dunno... I still think the smoked ones look totally bad ass, but need to decide if it's worth the aesthetics to get clears for increased output. No, my car doesn't have cornering lights. Yes, I plan to add them in the near future! I'll get some daytime pics tomorrow. Anyways, that's my story for now, and I'm stickin' to it! Now.... GO BUILD YOURS!!!!!!! | |
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:21 am | |
| Finally, a head light thread that delivers. Great job Bill. I love how they came out. Maybe snap a shot during the day with the lights off. |
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onehunglo
Posts : 315 Join date : 2009-01-25 Age : 45 Location : Raymond, NH
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:06 am | |
| Like to see if the smoked lens' get any flashes from other cars? | |
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Pooge
Posts : 1700 Join date : 2009-03-24
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:56 am | |
| Looks badass! I'd like to see the daylight pics of the smoked lenses, cause if they are hot looking I might be interested in taking that setup off your hands if you decide to go to the clears....
Doug | |
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GasTT
Posts : 2675 Join date : 2009-01-19 Age : 36 Location : Treasure Coast, FL
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:36 pm | |
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No Moa
Posts : 3893 Join date : 2009-02-21 Age : 51 Location : Midcoast Maine
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:44 pm | |
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toomanytoyz Club President
Posts : 6876 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 47 Location : East Hampstead, NH USA
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:11 pm | |
| - No Moa wrote:
- How much?????
Did you read it? LOL. Anyways, I gotta put the brakes on these for now. It seems the projector is too close and too hot and has melted the lense a bit. Shitski. I may try drilling a couple holes to vent the heat out. Or might try baking the lenses and molding a little bump into them in front of the projector or something. Kinda sucks! This whole thing just really bums me out because my wife bought me the lights for my birthday and I was wicked looking forward to knocking this out of the park... Here's some daylight pics: And here's a couple pics of the damage: I know it's tough to see, but I did what I could. And it WAS on Macro. Worst case is I could run my old HIDs in these buckets. Or I could really hack them up and recess the projector assembly a bit. I dunno. I'll figure something out. | |
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:02 pm | |
| I was concerned about the heat a bit close to the lense. That is to bad. I would not hack them, I would put your hids back in. |
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boojum
Posts : 2182 Join date : 2009-01-21 Age : 36 Location : NH
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:19 pm | |
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_body | |
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sdstick
Posts : 4292 Join date : 2009-03-20 Location : Revere, MA
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:31 pm | |
| That darn Jason @ Street Trends sending you damaged lenses...... | |
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No Moa
Posts : 3893 Join date : 2009-02-21 Age : 51 Location : Midcoast Maine
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:51 am | |
| lol, no i didn't read it, i was to excited.... Thats to bad about the heat, if anyone can find away you can!!!!!!! | |
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toomanytoyz Club President
Posts : 6876 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 47 Location : East Hampstead, NH USA
| Subject: Attempt Numbah TWO! Wed Jul 22, 2009 7:37 pm | |
| Ok, so I decided to cut apart some factory lights for my experiments. I took a 2 1/4" hole saw to one to see what would happen. Believe it or not, it made a 2 1/4" hole. I also drilled another hole for the angel eye wires. This could work! A lil glue... And a quickie bracket... It looked so good, I duplicated it for the other side! It ended up recessing the light about an inch. I also lost my super-easy "it's in the right spot-o-meter" since I cut that hole. I got it close, angles are important here, both left/right and up/down. When installed, they didn't look as close as they did on the bench. We'll see when it gets dark... If this experiment works, then I may do this again on the buckets that came with the lenses. (I wish I hadn't glued that one side, I didn't glue the other, just in case! See what happens when you're in a rush?!?!?!?) Wish me luck! Oh, and FYI... The smoked lenses didn't quite fit on the factory buckets. *sigh* Oh well. They were close though! | |
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Wed Jul 22, 2009 7:46 pm | |
| Looking good as usual. You and Firewood are the headlight experts.
Last edited by IMPALADAKID on Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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boojum
Posts : 2182 Join date : 2009-01-21 Age : 36 Location : NH
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:01 pm | |
| Try Mike's lenses, I read on that other forum that they fit the stock buckets. Then again I also read that they don't fit. | |
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Tomz9C1
Posts : 1498 Join date : 2009-01-21 Age : 61 Location : Rumford, Maine
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:54 am | |
| What do you think about these? I'm just lookin for a plug & play, I think they'll work. | |
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toomanytoyz Club President
Posts : 6876 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 47 Location : East Hampstead, NH USA
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:12 pm | |
| - Tomz9C1 wrote:
- What do you think about these? I'm just lookin for a plug & play, I think they'll work.
Uhm... Did you forget to post a link? Otherwise, I think these suck. Don't do it. HID's in the stock buckets was far superior. And cheaper. | |
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Tomz9C1
Posts : 1498 Join date : 2009-01-21 Age : 61 Location : Rumford, Maine
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:50 pm | |
| OOPPS! What was I thinkin? Heres the link! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/new-1995-1996-CHEVY-IMPALA-9004-BI-XENON-HID-KIT-95-96_W0QQitemZ350237366918QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item518bc61a86&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245 Do these suck? Should I buy them? lol. Edit: I just saw the shipping, $29.95 for ground, a bit high isn't it? | |
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toomanytoyz Club President
Posts : 6876 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 47 Location : East Hampstead, NH USA
| Subject: Re: The "I can't believe Crovo did ANOTHER headlight thread" thread... Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:59 pm | |
| - Tomz9C1 wrote:
- OOPPS! What was I thinkin? Heres the link! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/new-1995-1996-CHEVY-IMPALA-9004-BI-XENON-HID-KIT-95-96_W0QQitemZ350237366918QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item518bc61a86&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245
Do these suck? Should I buy them? lol. Edit: I just saw the shipping, $29.95 for ground, a bit high isn't it? That's how some of those sellers make their money. ALWAYS check shipping before you bid! That said, yeah. I'd run those. I'd search and see what other 9004 high/low HID kits are available on the bay though. See what offers best price and warranty. I'd also go with a 4500K or 6000K color temp. | |
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