Morimoto Mini H1 HID projector in 2000+ Bonneville

[repinS]

First and foremost, unlike most cars, do NOT expect an easy and straightforward swap. The 2000+ Bonneville headlight is one of the few in which a quick swap won't be possible. The threaded mounting shaft on the rear of the projector is simply too short to poke all the way through the 9006 bulb hole - the projector body rubs up against the reflector bowl. This is the kit I bought: http://www.theretrofitsource.com/produc ... cts_id=227

It's taken 3.5 evenings after work to get to this point:


- Yes, I'm hacking up GXP headlights to do this. I'm not clearing my corners.
- Stock HIR high beams will be retained, and I'll be teaming them up with the bi-xenon functionality of the HID's. Can you say BRIGHT?
- Reflector bowl has been cut in half, removing low beam side entirely
- These are small projectors. As such, they have a hard time sitting in the hole to be mounted. Tabs out of a really stiff sheet metal were fashioned in order to mount to the headlight housing using self-tapping screws.
- Fast-acting epoxy putty is your best friend.
- Some black-painted sheetmetal will be used around the projector to cover up visible mounting hardware.

It is still a worthwhile swap, I went for a little drive with only one projector installed and it looks FANTASTIC. Just be prepared to do the same kind of work as any larger projector swap to get it to work on our cars. Will update progress as I go.

[tyler.avis]

man thats horrible news...i was really looking forward to just doing it without problems, not taking the hours to fabricate something to work.

just to clarify; you're using the H1 and not the D2S kit correct, because the H1 kit is apparently 1/2 and inch longer than the D2S, which i figured would be a problem behind the passenger side with the limited space located there.

Just another thought; I thought the reflector housing was to be removed anyway for this retrofit to be done, is it not possible to cut away what is not needed in whichever light you intend to retrofit?

edit: I've also seen on another forum where the metal shaft wasn't long enough, so the owner cut the back of the headlight housing instead of messing with anything on the front; just thinking about it would make it seem like it should work for the Bonneville instead of messing up the part of the housing that you actually see..

[01bonneSC]

I'm not clearing my corners.

Thank YOU!!!!!!!

[yourgrandma]

Im wrapping up a minih1 retro in an 02 gran prix and that too is a bit of a struggle. Nowhere near as big a pita as the bonneville headlights though. Mine are widdled down to almost nothing.

Hir+bixenon=glory. Just make sure the highs are aimed high enough reletive to the lows or youll blind yourself with foreground.

[repinS]

man thats horrible news...i was really looking forward to just doing it without problems, not taking the hours to fabricate something to work.

just to clarify; you're using the H1 and not the D2S kit correct, because the H1 kit is apparently 1/2 and inch longer than the D2S, which i figured would be a problem behind the passenger side with the limited space located there.

Just another thought; I thought the reflector housing was to be removed anyway for this retrofit to be done, is it not possible to cut away what is not needed in whichever light you intend to retrofit?

edit: I've also seen on another forum where the metal shaft wasn't long enough, so the owner cut the back of the headlight housing instead of messing with anything on the front; just thinking about it would make it seem like it should work for the Bonneville instead of messing up the part of the housing that you actually see..

If you remove the reflector, you won't have anything to mount to if you're going to use the threaded shaft. The bulb socket tube/hole is a part of the reflector assembly. Like swampthing's swap in this post, the entire low beam reflector bucket was cut off.

Final result:




I still need to sand down the lights to get them fully clear again. Also, the lights aren't that yellow - white balance can't be adjusted on my phone. That's also water on the outside, not the inside. Been rainy here lately.

It is an H1 kit, but honestly I don't think D2S or H1 would have mattered in this case.

[*B2*]

Looks good! What shroud are you using?

[repinS]

I'm using the Mini Graphite. They're translucent gray - I didn't bother to paint them, but they don't seem to have affected glare and are probably one of the more discrete shrouds you can install. They don't quite mount securely with a friction fit or with any clips, so I had to use some epoxy putty and a bit of black silicone.

The shrouds AND the reflector bowl are part of the issue why the Morimoto Mini (or any other larger projector) has a hard time fitting into the 2000+ headlight housing. Even after removing the low beam bowl entirely, the shrouds just fit in. I still had to trim them slightly to clear the mounting screws I used.

[swampthing]

Hey can you take some pics of how you cut them apart? Im having trouble with the edge of the high beam reflector being visible on the lowbeam side

[repinS]

I have some black-painted sheetmetal silliconed into place to shield off the visible high beam side

[swampthing]

very clever, have you done both sides? if not could you detail your process a little more?

[PRD2BDF]

I also thank you for not clearing your corners. I think they look hideous cleared.

Also, great job!

[swampthing]

I was trying to find those shrouds online, apparently they only fit morimotos for whatever reason

[tyler.avis]

If you remove the reflector, you won't have anything to mount to if you're going to use the threaded shaft. The bulb socket tube/hole is a part of the reflector assembly. Like swampthing's swap in this post, the entire low beam reflector bucket was cut off.

It must be too late for me because I'm not seeing how this works.

You still use the reflector, but you cut off the low beam reflector bucket, and then still use the bulb socket tube/hole for the threaded shaft?...Correct?

[repinS]

nope... Low beam reflector is gone completely. Self tapping screws were used (mount one screw... Align and test projector... Mount the remaining 3 screws) to mount to the headlight housing behind the reflector. Sounds ghetto but they're mounted *dang* solid.

[swampthing]

again great job on the install. on a side note, I found a set of the same shrouds for 15 shipped. I see no reason why I can't make them work with a little ingenuity on my part

[yourgrandma]

Nice sig pic, repin. haha! Becoming a popular shot these days.

Looks good, I'm glad to see more people doing hid the right way.

[repinS]

As soon as I set my sig pic to that I realized it was the same as yours

After a week, I'd like to report that these projectors are AWESOME I did have to disable my headlight feedback when using keyless entry to avoid the ballasts firing 3-4 times with the light flash, but that's no biggie to me. There's a little bit of dust and small debris in the driver's side light, hoping to maybe blow it out with compressed air sometime. Whorage is being edited now


edit: I cut my low-beam projector essentially identical to how swampthing did in this thread: viewtopic.php?p=249731#p249731
his images, not mine:

[tyler.avis]

Thanks for clarifying Repin. I guess the only other question I have deals with mounting the projector assembly to the housing; is there a specific location or measurement used to determine exactly where it gets mounted in the housing?

[wake]

nice choice in screwdrivers jerry..i have the exact same set!

[repinS]

wake: that's not my photo, it's swampthing's

Thanks for clarifying Repin. I guess the only other question I have deals with mounting the projector assembly to the housing; is there a specific location or measurement used to determine exactly where it gets mounted in the housing?

I'm not gonna lie, the placement got eyeballed. Once you cut the reflector bowl away you're left with a circular hole at the back of the housing. I made sure it was close enough to the centre, and then focused on the rotational alignment of the projector. Since the Morimotos are smaller projectors, I needed to make up tabs so that they could be mounted to the headlight housing. I used a small machine screw and lock nut to secure the tab to the projector, and as said earlier, self tapping screws to secure to the headlight housing. Since you will lose the aiming function if you cut the reflector away, you can shim the top or bottom of the projector mounting with washers. I found that I had to shim the bottom since the aim was too low. Please pardon my ghetto Microsoft Word drawing skills, the view in question is from the FRONT of the car looking AT the projector glass.:



You may also find that you have to trim 4 notches out of your shroud to accomodate for these tabs. Secure with epoxy putty or silicone.

There's another funky technique used to get the BACK of the housing sealed now that you're missing the back of your reflector bowl, I'll get a pic once it stops raining.