A couple of members expressed interest when I mentioned I'd be doing a HID retro fit. So I offered to post some pics, here they are... Here is the Hella ballast without it's mounting case Hella ballast with case and Philips bulb in packet Close up of Philips D2S HID bulb Bosch projector Custom brackets Projector with alignment assembly fitted to headlight Close up of new projector lens, notice the frosted finish in the center! Mounting of ballast
Pro job there Z-ster! and great shots off your handy work, well done. Just a couple off questions, why is the centre off the bosch projector frosted? and did you consider swapping the zed lens into the bosch housing? I'd imagine night driving is much more enjoyable now!
I really don't know the reason for the frosting There is another section on the bottom half of the lens (can't be seen because of the glare) that is also frosted. I may enquire about this on one of the HID forums. As for the swapping of the lens, Yes that was my original intention and something that I explored. However, it soon became apparent that the lenses where quite different in their curvature and therefore I would expect them to have differences with focal points. In the end I decided that I couldn't be bother experimenting by substituting the Bosch lens with the original Z lens and besides, the Bosch lens was made for the Bosch reflector so I stuck with it. Here is a pic of the lenses side by side. It's not the best pic but the difference should be noticeable when you look at them long enough.
I did hear the 300ZX lens is better, though would love to see some pics of the beam your getting. esp. cutoff at diff distances.
Keep in mind the car in this picture is not parked parallel to the curb, it's pointing in on an angle as I wanted to get the light to shine on the trees. You can also see the cut off on the sofa You can click on the pictures for a larger pics. Here is a closer pic on the garage door
Nice job there. Any chance of listing a costing breakdown? Also, where you have mounted the balast, would there be any chance of it getting really wet since it looks like a place water is meant to drain?
Total cost was around $580 Aus The ballasts being the most expensive component. At around $270 US. Prices can be obtaining from www.hidplanet.com I did consider purchasing an alternative ballast and saving a heap of money but decided to stick with the original brand. I think this would be a good idea if you?re on a tight budget and probably won?t affect the result in terms of light output and quality, but it might affect reliability. Good point about the location of the ballast, didn?t think of that. However I?m not overly concerned as the units are very tightly sealed.
That beam looks really nice. Was there any cutting/modding to get the Bosch units to fit? Or pretty much just into the adapter? And did the adapter come with the kit off hidplanet?
I think the cutoff would be even sharper if it was not for the frosted sections on the lens. Regardless, the cutoff is more than good enough as can be seen. There was a bit of work involved, those aluminium brackets you see are home made, there is also some grinding required since the Bosch reflectors are a little wider. In this picture you can see the how the excess for the one on the left has not been grinded off yet.
Thats looks fantastic John... Great work mate... it all paid off in the end there.. I know what one of my next mods are hahhahahahhaaah... What would you rate the difference at man? terry
Very nice John, I think I'll have a go later this year. I read somewhere that the Mazda 6 euro lens can be used aswell.
Nice work John Very impressive. Nice choice to stay with the Hella ballast and also with the Philips D2S. I noticed that you had to notch out a bit of the side section of the housing to get the mounting bracket to fit. I wasn't aware of that. Others that have successfully integrated the Bosch HID projector didn't require that or aditional mounting brackets, IIRC. Then again, you didn't mention which Bosch projector you used - the ECE E46 or the DOT E46? I thought that either one of those (not the BiXenon ones) were a direct fit. At least fom my research on HID Planet, that's what I've come to believe, although I could be wrong. The substitution of the Z's lense into the Bosch units I mentioned above are in about the top 5 (if not higher) I believe in all of the HID Planets recommendations and suggestions. It's right up there. The choice of the lense swap is a key factor and would be even a bigger factor if other projector manufacturers had made their units with the same size diameter lense as the Z's. There's only a few HID projectors out there that use the same size diameter and the Z's lense being one of the very very few lenses that is clear (not opague) makes it a very sought after item. Apparently, unless you've already read the thread, integrating the Z lense into the Bosch Projector is actually quite easy, at least into the E46 Bosch Projector. Supposedly easier that the work involved that you did to incorporate the projector itself. Are the AU Spec Z's using the same headlights as the J-Spec ones when it comes to the adjusters. IE, the J-Spec have separate adjusters for the low and for the high beams whereas, the USDM ones only have one set of adjusters that controls both the high and low beam at the same time (which is not a good thing). Did you do anything to patch up the area cut away for the mounting bracket? If not, have you had any fogging or moistuure issues? I must say, it's impressive work. You mus be quite happy with your handywork. Proof is in the beam pattern which looks just super with the slightest touch of blue at the top of the cut-off. I imagine your using a 4200K D2S? Anyways, nice work!! Need more beam pics and down the road and alongside a wall or 2. Kuddos!! John
I believe I read somewhere that aus spec only have the one set of adjustments, same as the US spec, though I could be wrong.
How do they rate ? The obvious difference is the brighteness A few things that that may not be so obvious... If you look at some of the pics in my first post you will notice the Bosch parabolic reflector is not round. It?s much wider (horizontally) than it is high (vertically). I guess this is because there is such an abundance of light being produced that it?s pointless pointing it all down the centre where there is already more than enough light. The reflectors are designed to distribute the excess light more evenly by directing more of it to the sides. The new Bosch projectors direct enough light to the sides to illuminate approximately 1.5 lanes on either side plus the lane you?re driving in. That is a coverage of about 4 lanes. You can really notice this in poorly lit streets. Also, at night I can now offer a free 28 point Pedders inspection of any 4x4 stopped in front of me from the comfort of my drivers seat
well done John looks like a tops job. Can't wait to see them on the flesh. It seems pics never quite do justice to lights. cya soon cheers Geoff
That could make a big difference If this is true, it would be best for those who may consider doing this HID projector retro-fit, to source some J-Spec lights. I believe I've already posted before on the merits of utilizing the J-Spec units because of their individual beam adjusters for those doing the rebased globe HID type conversions as well. I'm not 100% but it appears that John used J-Spec units for his retro-fit.
Interesting Do you know the exact model of the projector? After looking at the first side-by-side pic of the 2, it does appear that the Bosch lense is slightly smaller. But it's hard to tell. What's your nic on HID Planet? More HID conversion stuff; http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=257463&highlight=HID
Yes, I believe you could get away with fitting the Bosch projectors without having to grind, or cut away, part of the projector. But I noticed it will reduce your adjustment range. I wasn't sure whether this would be a problem until I put it all together and fitted it back to the car. So I just decided to sand it using a sanding wheel which is attached to the bench grinder. It didn't take long to get rid of the excess. Yes this is true regarding the lens from the Z projectors, and it's a well know fact. However, in my opinion there are too many people (HID fanatics if you like) who are on a obsession fed crusade to obtain the most slender razor sharp cutoff available. This is my opinion should not be the objective of installing HID lights. The purpose of the lights is to light up as much of the road without introducing glare to on coming traffic. Once the cutoff is defined to the point where it eliminate glare to oncoming traffic, which I think mine has done, then I'm happy. Don't get me wrong though I too would like to have a super sharp cutoff but not at the expense of altering the way light is distributed. As I've pointed out in a previous post, I examined the original 300zx lens and noticed the focal point is different to the Bosch lens. Therefore it's probably fair to assume this will alter the distribution of light. I don't know the answer to this one, perhaps someone with a AU spec might be able to answer. I haven't had and fogging or moisture issues but it's early days yet. The new lights have been fitted now for about 3 weeks. The seal is not perfect but it should be good enough, if not it can be easily fixed. We'll wait and see. I'm not sure of the bulbs colour rating but it's standard, somewhere between 4100k and 4300k. Thanks for the complements guys
