How to Retrofit an HID Projector
High intensity discharge, or HID, lights provide better illumination on the road than traditional headlines. Instead of using a series of mirrors to directionally reflect the light from the headlight bulb out of the headlight assembly, the projector disperses the light out of a circular dome and can also enable a cleaner light cut-off, so that other drivers aren't blinded by a highly-aimed headlight. If your car didn't come with HID projector headlights from the factory, you can retrofit projects into the headlight assembly by using some household tools. Exercise a little care and patience since you will be cutting up the factory headlight assemblies that your car is equipped with.
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Things You'll Need
- Headlight projects
- Dremel tool
- Epoxy
- HID headlight bulbs and ballasts wired into headlight assembly
- Socket wrench
- Socket set
Instructions
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1
Open the hood of your car and locate the mounting points where your headlights are attached to the interior of your car's hood. Loosen and remove the mounting bolts by using your socket wrench and a socket that snugly fits the nuts at the top of the bolts.
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2
Slide your headlight assemblies out of the car. They may stick a little bit due to the rubber insulation that surrounds the assembly to keep water from leaking into it. Apply firm pressure to push them out of place, and then disconnect the headlight bulbs from the headlight assemblies.
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3
Measure the width of the project headlight that you'll be retrofitting and use the Dremel tool to create a hole in the headlight assembly that fits the projector. It is better to create a hole that is slightly smaller, and which you can iteratively enlarge as needed, instead of making a hole that is too big to begin with.
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4
Retrofit the projector headlight into the opening created by your Dremel tool and use epoxy around the surrounding edges of the projector to secure it into the headlight assembly. Allow the epoxy to cure for the amount of time specified on the bottle before reinstalling the headlight and installing the HID bulb, which are different from factory headlight bulbs.
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