Bi Xenon Retrofit on a pregen

[choneofakind]

Another tidbit for this thread:

I plan to make my accessory leads switched by modifying my fuse box like this. http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Making_...%27switched%27

That will let me run usb power to a GPS and not worry about it. It will also give me another option to power my halo.

[choneofakind]

@lolibater,

You thinking about doing this still? If so, do it bro! Chat with Jason and see if he has ideas on how to do it better. I'm sure he could make a better PVC mounting plate than me. In fact, if you two make a PVC mounting plate, I'll buy one from him.

[lolibater]

I would love to, but in all honesty it's one of those projects I know I would get frustrated with halfway through, and then wonder why I even started it.

I'd be willing to pay someone to do it, but would rather not deal with the headache. I hate electrical stuff lol.

[choneofakind]

Because I love posting hi/lo pictures to prove how awesome bixenon is, here's some more:





Still hate the fluted lens, still want to make a new mounting bracket, still want to make a foreground limiter, still haven't gotten the LED halo wired in. Basically, same old same old.

Side note: @Alex, why are my pictures so darn large when I upload them to the photo album?

[Alex]

I'm not sure - let me check into it. It might be broken privileges for MOTD winners. When I load the pic to the album, it is auto-resizing it correctly:

[Alex]

OK, that was the issue. Your pics should be re-sized correctly upon upload at this point.

[choneofakind]

Thanks Alex! I've noticed that for a while, just keep forgetting to ask you. I appreciate the fix.

[iplante]

That looks awesome, Chris. I may have to consider this mod eventually...

[scubaru]

I'm already pricing out my projector, HIDs, accessories and when I can do this. Wont be my first retrofit

Love the difference in high/low, compared to stock both are a HUGE improvement!

[choneofakind]

I moved our discussion to this thread so we stay on topic.

Originally Posted by scubaru

I'm already pricing out my projector, HIDs, accessories and when I can do this. Wont be my first retrofit

Love the difference in high/low, compared to stock both are a HUGE improvement!

Originally Posted by scubaru

how secure did the projector sit in the housing just from attaching to the socket in the back of the headlight?

The projector is a knock-off of a Morimoto Mini. There's a vinyl washer (gets squished up into inside of the OE reflector), an H4 shaped plate to center it in the H4 hole, a locking ring (secures the projector to the OE reflector) and then another small lock ring to hold the bulb. It works pretty well.

Check out the first post in this thread to see pictures of what I'm talking about with the washers and locking rings: http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/diy-h...gen-civic.html

Originally Posted by scubaru

Why did you use a hairdryer method? I baked my headlights in the oven at 200* for 10 minutes to soften the adhesive and pull it apart, I'm going to try it on the bikes since it was obviously safe on an all plastic headlight.

I didn't want to use an oven because I didn't have access to an oven in my dorm room. That's where I started this endevour. Since I was comfortable with the hairdryer/box method, that's what I've continued to use. It works.

Originally Posted by scubaru

Any reason you went with a D2S?

I'm not fond of the aftermarket HID bulbs. I like D2S because I know that's an OEM size for some cars that come with OE bixenon setups. Because of this, I know that I'll be able to purchase bulbs for the bike for the rest of it's life. I doubt it'll be an issue, but it makes me feel better.

Originally Posted by scubaru

I mean for being the foreground you'd need to probably do a larger section covered to help ease the light. Is it really that bad though?? Pics?

There's some pics above in post #44. Look how the light right in front of the bike washes out the camera. It kinda does that with my eyes also. When I turn the high beam on and want to see far, the lights all there, but the ground right in front of me is so bright that I have to strain a bit to see down the road. From your Subie pictures, I don't think your foreground is lit so brightly, so you might not have this issue.

[scubaru]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

I moved our discussion to this thread so we stay on topic.





The projector is a knock-off of a Morimoto Mini. There's a vinyl washer (gets squished up into inside of the OE reflector), an H4 shaped plate to center it in the H4 hole, a locking ring (secures the projector to the OE reflector) and then another small lock ring to hold the bulb. It works pretty well.

Check out the first post in this thread to see pictures of what I'm talking about with the washers and locking rings: http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/diy-h...gen-civic.html



I didn't want to use an oven because I didn't have access to an oven in my dorm room. That's where I started this endevour. Since I was comfortable with the hairdryer/box method, that's what I've continued to use. It works.



I'm not fond of the aftermarket HID bulbs. I like D2S because I know that's an OEM size for some cars that come with OE bixenon setups. Because of this, I know that I'll be able to purchase bulbs for the bike for the rest of it's life. I doubt it'll be an issue, but it makes me feel better.



There's some pics above in post #44. Look how the light right in front of the bike washes out the camera. It kinda does that with my eyes also. When I turn the high beam on and want to see far, the lights all there, but the ground right in front of me is so bright that I have to strain a bit to see down the road. From your Subie pictures, I don't think your foreground is lit so brightly, so you might not have this issue.

The only reason I haven't used D2S was my last retrofit was with the Morimoto Mini H1's and well..it takes and H1. I work at Advance Auto part time (70 hrs a week between two jobs...yay ) and a D2S bulb is around the $90 mark. Granted it is nice to know you can get one ASAP as opposed to waiting for one to be shipped in. I just order an extra bulb to have at home, but thats just me.

Yeah I saw in a few pictures, definitely a wash out effect, camera can't even pick up the ground there. This has me thinking what effect I could be dealing with for mine. The only thing I am working on right now is getting a single projector and a single HID unit in a timely manor. I can order through DDM tuning as I did with the bicycle, but that was 3 weeks or more to get here. The Retrofit Source is located in the states and therefore has a quick turn around, but a little higher price tag. The projector I'm at a tossup between the one you listed or going with an H1 Mini that I am familiar with however I only see sold as a set.

[choneofakind]

I think the H1 is also a little shorter, so it would require less depth. Something to consider.

[scubaru]

How long was your install?

I have done this before but I'm debating purchasing another headlight assembly to do this in while I can still ride the bike. But if the install is pretty straight forward (no dremel, grinding, etc) I think i'll just do it on my current housing in an afternoon.

[choneofakind]

Uhh, no dremeling or grinding that I remember off the top of my head. I just had to sand the one tooth on the adapter plate a little since the H4 slots on the OE headlight don't line up vertically with the lens.

I purchased a spare headlight. Took me a weekend with a little prep. most of that time was from waiting for paint to dry. Doing the wiring was very quick, you likely won't have any issues with it.

[corralhollowkid]

awesome mod! Thank you

I'll be on that soon for my 07...

[TigerWolf]

Originally Posted by cerberusrex25

If that were red, it would look like a Zaku's Mono eye, I dig it.

The simple fact that someone besides me was thinking the same thing makes this so much more awesome. now I have to do this to my 250 and paint it bright red with gold markings...

[Sirref]

this is pretty awesome, if I decide to make my track bike street legal again I'm definitely doing this.

[cerberusrex25]

Originally Posted by TigerWolf

The simple fact that someone besides me was thinking the same thing makes this so much more awesome. now I have to do this to my 250 and paint it bright red with gold markings...

AAAAAAAAW YEAH, Johnny Ridden custom FTW.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Another tidbit for this thread:

I plan to make my accessory leads switched by modifying my fuse box like this. http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Making_...%27switched%27

That will let me run usb power to a GPS and not worry about it. It will also give me another option to power my halo.

I know it doesn't have accessory wires, but I need a similar mod for the J-gen! Probably going to have to get a relay and just make something.

[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Another tidbit for this thread:

I plan to make my accessory leads switched by modifying my fuse box like this. http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Making_...%27switched%27

That will let me run usb power to a GPS and not worry about it. It will also give me another option to power my halo.

FYI, the EX500 uses the same junction box. Earlier models used a harness with the switched brown wire to power the Fan and Acc fuses. Later models instead use the always-hot white wire for input there. http://www.invisibill.net/ninja/wiri...correction.png is a pic of where I modified the old diagram to point out the change, and it includes a diagram of the j-box's internals. Instead of cutting/jumpering on the PCB, you could just change the input (upper left contact on the 8-pin connector) from always-hot to switched. The only functional change is that the fan is no longer able to run with the key off (which I'm not sure is a bad thing).



You may wish to use the original brown wire that feeds the j-box to trigger a relay, and then feed the relay's output into the j-box, to avoid losses through the ignition switch.

The unused upper right contact is also connected to the Headlight fuse, but bypasses the turn-on-delay relay. It essentially acts like a switched accessory lead, but keep in mind that it's tied to the headlight fuse. It could come in handy for HID or other lighting conversions, but you wouldn't want to hook up your espresso machine and have it take out your light...

[cuong-nutz]

Have you ever thought about sanding down the flutes? @choneofakind

[choneofakind]

Yepp. But it's glass. Know how big a of a PITA that would be? No thanks.

[alex.s]

glass flutes a pain in the ass?


"One time at band camp..."

[Singh2jz]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Because I love posting hi/lo pictures to prove how awesome bixenon is, here's some more:

Dude that looks awesome. Is that with the lens/cover on? Looks like you've got a fat a$$ flood light attached to the front. lol

[choneofakind]

Yepp, that's taken with the bike how it drives down the road. Lens and all.

[choneofakind]

update!

I'm making a male mold off of the inside of my headlight, using some casting/molding 2 part epoxy that 'doesn't require a release agent'. We'll see how well it turns out, hopefully it releases.

My inspiration here:
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/show...EX500-Retrofit

I plan to add some material to the front of the male in order to create more space for my projector. Bondo to get rid of the fluting, etc etc. Will update as I go.

[InvisiBill]

astrob0y is the reason I have a spare EX500 headlight housing sitting in my dining room (obviously the correct place to keep motorcycle parts). The way the 500 headlight mounts (not sure if the 250 is the same way) is kinda stupid, so I've been trying to figure out a way to improve that whole setup while I'm in there. If I can figure the rest out, it should make the lens part much easier to deal with.

I love his cutoff pics...





At first, it looks like the light's cutoff is the top of the fence, until you see the whole thing with the high beam on.

The Volt has very HID-like projectors with halogen (HIR) bulbs, so I'm considering a HID upgrade there too now.

[choneofakind]

If the volt has halogen bulbs, it has halogen projectors. You can try the hid bulbs, but it's likely the light pattern will be subpar to the pattern with halogen bulbs, even if the cutoff is still sharp.

And yes, I'm sick of my fuzzy cutoff. Once I get the lens made, I'll work on tuning my projector with washers to space the lens and sharpen the cutoff. If I can't get it right, I want to get the single morimoto mini d2s 3.0 projector setup from theretrofitsource because I've wanted it a while anyway.

[choneofakind]

Here's the mold so far. It came out well, but needs some bondo work to fill the flutes.

I'm debating whether I want to build up the front of the mold a bit to get the lens further from the projector; I'm also looking at doing the method that cthunder_blue used on his newgen and making a mounting plate out of ABS plastic sheet with my laser cutter. I may build the lens up regardless of how I mount the projector.

[choneofakind]

update again!! working on pregen bixenon 2.0.


I came across some scrap MDF to make the female side of my mold with a 1/8" buffer all around, allowing me to make a lens out of 1/8" plexiglass by sandwiching the plexi between a male and female mold without the need for vacuum. Debating selling a few once I have them made so stay tuned if you're interested.

I also finally purchased a new HID kit+projector from theretrofitsource.com. I got myself a Morimoto Mini D2S 3.0 projector with the square lens and the motorcycle stage I kit. I checked a giant output thread here: http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/show...r-Post-via-TRS
and the D2S 3.0 X lens is exactly what I want and will look awesome in my housing. Once I get it, I'll be cutting some ABS plastic sheet on my laser cutter to make a perfect mount for both the projector and the OEM adjustment screws from the spare junker newgen housing I have.

Stay tuned for a compairison of my off-brand morimoto knock-off and DDM tuning harness vs the legitimate morimoto version from TRS at some point. Progress will come slowly as I also have a million other things happening at work and on the motorcycle. Everything is taken apart and I have SO MUCH CLUTTER right now!

Anyone interested in purchasing a clear plexiglass lens once I get the molds figured out?

[CZroe]

Very interested!

[thejaredhuang]

Hey OP, how much room did you have between the projector lens and the glass lens on the original light? Mine is touching after its fully adjusted down. I'm probably going to have to trim my original reflector housing to get more room.

[choneofakind]

Very minimal space. Mine touched off slightly when adjusted too high.

Working on a mounting plate now with a new projector, also looking into the reflector trimming/epoxy method.

[Ghostt]

@InvisiBill the PreGen 250 headlight mounting is very similar to 1st Gen EX's

@choneofakind are you doing a vacuum form of the PreGen headlight in clear? If so put me on that waiting list for sure.

I have the DDM TUNING HID 55w/6k H4 Hi/Low kits in both the Ninjette and EX. While the fluted lens do take away from the true sharpness of a real projector set up, it makes no sense whatsoever to have a projector behind fluted lens.

So hurry up somebody and make some clear non-fluted lens already LOL

[choneofakind]

Yepp. I have a male mold of the inside of the lense made. Needs some bondo still. I have 1/8" Lexan stock. Just need to make my vacuum table setup. I'm working tomorrow on my mounting bracket. I cut the rough shape on the laser table, but don't have the fine detail done, so I need to spend some time with the dremel and the drill press. Been busy!

[Ghostt]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Yepp. I have a male mold of the inside of the lense made. Needs some bondo still. I have 1/8" Lexan stock. Just need to make my vacuum table setup. I'm working tomorrow on my mounting bracket. I cut the rough shape on the laser table, but don't have the fine detail done, so I need to spend some time with the dremel and the drill press. Been busy!

Well I'm in no hurry, I'll wait right here.


You have any links for the DIY vacuum table?

[choneofakind]

Nah, non off the top of my head. Just kinda going to wing it. It's not the table I'm concerned about, it's the vacuum pump that's difficult

[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

I'm also looking at doing the method that cthunder_blue used on his newgen and making a mounting plate out of ABS plastic sheet with my laser cutter.

https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64230 is that thread, for other curious people.


Got any tips for making the lens mold? Yours looks pretty much perfect, unlike a lot of the other pics I've seen.


According to the parts diagrams, your '99 250 uses the same junction box that was used for the entire run of the Gen2 500. FYI, there's a second output from the headlight fuse that bypasses the startup-delay relay. It should be the upper right pin in the 8-pin connector. It's still powered off the brown wire coming from the ignition switch (like all the switched-power accessories), so it's more prone to losses than a standard relay-to-battery setup. But it's another option for wiring in headlight upgrades.

My plan is to move the wire for the high-low switch to that output and use the original relay output to power the HID bulb so that both will be run through the headlight fuse. The switch (and therefore the high-beam shield) will be live anytime the key is turned on, but the bulb won't get power until the bike starts. I'm planning to add a relay between the harness and j-box to give me a two-fer of upgrading the supply for the brown wire and making my Accessory fuse switched like they used to be.

[Ghostt]

Originally Posted by InvisiBill

https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64230 is that thread, for other curious people.


Got any tips for making the lens mold? Yours looks pretty much perfect, unlike a lot of the other pics I've seen.


According to the parts diagrams, your '99 250 uses the same junction box that was used for the entire run of the Gen2 500. FYI, there's a second output from the headlight fuse that bypasses the startup-delay relay. It should be the upper right pin in the 8-pin connector. It's still powered off the brown wire coming from the ignition switch (like all the switched-power accessories), so it's more prone to losses than a standard relay-to-battery setup. But it's another option for wiring in headlight upgrades.

My plan is to move the wire for the high-low switch to that output and use the original relay output to power the HID bulb so that both will be run through the headlight fuse. The switch (and therefore the high-beam shield) will be live anytime the key is turned on, but the bulb won't get power until the bike starts. I'm planning to add a relay between the harness and j-box to give me a two-fer of upgrading the supply for the brown wire and making my Accessory fuse switched like they used to be.

This may or maybe off topic, but I found it very interesting, either way it made my future list.

http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring...3_circuit.html



DIY STYLE http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Elec__...seholders.html



HARDCORE DIY STYLE http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring...PC-8/pc-8.html

[choneofakind]

I used a two part casting/molding kit from the hobby store. it set up perfectly and released well. It still needs bondo to smooth, but I haven't gotten there. Bondo and I don't have a happy history.

I got some work done on the mounting plate today. Combo of planning/measuring and plain old fashioned drilling to make things work. I'm almost done with it. I'll update eventually with pictures. I have the projector mounted, I have the corner socket attached, and have my holes lined up for the newgen threaded adjusters I snagged from a crashed headlight off of ebay