Xoutpost.com - E83 X3 Custom Quad Projector Headlights Retrofit + Angel Eyes

Acquired a minty 2007 X3 a couple months ago, unfortunately it did not come with factory xenons :(. Using my wealth of retrofit experience, I chose to perform a quad projector retrofit on my car and install angel eyes to complete the "OEM" BMW look.

Parts Used:

New OEM BMW AL X3 headlights

OEM BMW D2S projector shrouds (x4)

06+ 350z 3" bixenon projectors (main)
STi-R clear lenses
High beams modified for more height
Squirrel finders deleted
Tuned for beautiful color flicker
Bulb spaced 1mm for more intensity

powered by Morimoto 5Five.SS D2S ballasts on Osram Xenarc 66240 bulbs @ 50w
Toyota Camry 2.5" H11 projectors (secondary)
TSX-R clear lenses
Squirrel finders deleted
Tuned for beautiful color flicker
Bulb spaced 1mm for more intensity

powered by Xentec Slim ballasts on Morimoto 3Five 6000K bulbs @ 35w

Morimoto H7 Canbus Relay harness

R-dash 7000K CCFL Angel Eye Kit for E83

CCFL Wiring Harness with Remote (Keyfob on/off)

I decided to buy brand new OEM AL lamps to perform the retrofit on so there was no down-time on my car, and who doesn't like brand new!? :)

http://i.imgur.com/O2BBml.jpg

Preliminary steps:

Before I began on the headlights, I spent many hours on preliminary steps tuning the projectors and tweaking for maximum intensity and color flicker.

The 350z projectors are very large and have metal brackets attached to the projector that need to be completely trimmed off (already trimmed in pics). Squirrel finders on the shield were cut off on the 350z projectors and sealed up on the Camry projectors.

Will be using modified 06+ 350z sloped curve bixenon projectors (heavily trimmed) with STi-R clear lenses for the low-beam spot. These projectors are nice and wide with a very uniform beam distribution, the curve slope cutoff is also very beautiful.

http://i.imgur.com/QwdXwl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RlfQtl.png

And a pair of modified Toyota Camry H11 projectors with TSX-R clear lenses in the high-beam spot. (Shadow is a couch)

http://i.imgur.com/aJrXy.jpg http://i.imgur.com/b6W5il.jpg

Opening the headlight:

Baked the headlights in the oven @ 250 F for 6 minutes, opened up like butter. Lenses were wrapped immediately (after cooling down) with plastic wrap to prevent any dust from getting inside.

http://i.imgur.com/rcEUEl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/YHnFvl.jpg

Marking the halogen cutoff:

Next step was to mark off the factory halogen alignment as closely as possible. Housing with reflector was clamped to a table and the cutoff was marked off. Halogen output = :thumbdown

http://i.imgur.com/kD7RHl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/OzFk0l.jpg

Removing the reflector:

Then, leaving the headlight clamped to the table, I removed the reflector to prepare for cutting :party0030: The reflector is secured to the housing via two mounting points and a ball joint on the bottom.
Removed the screws behind of the reflector (black: notice the two holes for your screwdriver) and on outer side (white), reflector eases right out.

http://i.imgur.com/rcEUEl.jpg

Cutting!

It's time for cutting :thumsup:
Started with a small hole and kept cutting until the projector fit snugly and could be mounted in the correct position.

http://i.imgur.com/az06Tl.jpg

Alignment and mounting:

Re-installed the reflector back into the clamped headlight. Slide the projector into place of the hole and aimed the projector to the traced halogen step as closely as possible.

Turns out to fit the 350z projectors, being so wide, I had to trim the plastic mounting brackets of the reflector a good bit. They were later reinforced with epoxy to strengthen the bracket.

http://i.imgur.com/z2H9Ql.jpg http://i.imgur.com/q4pTul.jpg

Now this is what we have.... one projector mounted on the driver side reflector.

http://i.imgur.com/o0roml.jpg http://i.imgur.com/d4UN5l.jpg

Repeated this process for Passenger side.

"Seeing" the difference:

Below is a comparison between factory halogen performance (passenger side) versus a properly modified and retrofitted HID projector.
At the time the pictures below were taken, only the driver side main projector (350z) was mounted. The passenger side headlight is still factory halogen.

http://i.imgur.com/Lqlk3l.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SPOxul.jpg

Below is a picture of the output of projectors on both sides (forgot to close the garage :o)

http://i.imgur.com/Ticuql.jpg

Lookin' good so far to me :cool:

From DUAL to QUAD:

The secondary projectors required less cutting to fit due to their smaller size, thanksfully.

Aimed the secondary projectors about 1 inch below the main projector cutoff @ 50ft. This was done because the main and secondary projectors have different style cutoff steps. If the beams cross over, it is not as "attractive" on the wall.
So this was done purely for aesthetic reasons, if the projectors had been a matching set of four, they would be aligned to overlap as closely as possible.

We now have both projectors mounted and aligned....

http://i.imgur.com/pSNPEl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/gOYF2l.jpg

Attaching shrouds:

I always (for my personal vehicles) go for the "clean"/OEM look, so I had to use BMW OEM shrouds for my X3.
There is also only about an inch of clearance from the front "lip" of the reflector bowls to the front bezel trim piece, so a very shallow shroud was the best option to use for these headlights.

These BMW shrouds were a perfect fit and look better than the OEM X3 shrouds IMO :happyanim:

http://i.imgur.com/MnC0vl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/65E3cl.jpg

HIDing those wires:

With a quad setup, you are utilizing 4 ballasts. There is a lot of extra components and wiring with a quad setup. Luckily, everything fit inside of the housings.

I made a custom H7->dual 9006 female adapter splitter harness to split the low-beam signal.
The Morimoto H7 Canbus relay harness was plugged into one side, and the outputs of the harness plugged into the ballast.
The Xentec slim ballast was hooked up on the other end of the splitter. Wired up for quad low-beams.

The bixenon wires from the main projector received male quick-disconnects and were plugged into the factory high beam H7 wiring harness.

Main ballast (white) was 3M auto foam taped to the bottom of the housing right below the main projector. Secondary thin ballasts (black) was mounted using the same method on the sidewall beside main ballast.

Perfect fit.

http://i.imgur.com/QLQX2l.jpg http://i.imgur.com/xZgfkl.jpg

Angel Eyes:

The R-dash AEs I would rate a 6/10 on brightness, they are CCFL so naturally I didn't expect them to blow me away with lumens and they were among the cheaper of the brands out there.
The fact is, the "bling" factor of these headlights are the projectors, not the AEs :D

I do like how they are a very neutral white color, it is advertised as 7000K but it looks more like 5000K~6000K to me.

They were mounted directly on the rounded chrome trim piece attached to the headlight bezel.

http://i.imgur.com/4lEXrl.jpg

Putting it all back together:

Baked the completed headlights again and sealed them up with extra butyl rubber, used clamps, vice, and heatgun to ensure a even tighter than OEM seal.

Waiting on the AE harness to arrive and that is all that's left before they go back on the car.

Stay tuned for output shots and pics on the car.

In the meantime, here is the finished product!

http://i.imgur.com/LwLdJl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/jEvHsl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/pEYaYl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/OMAKHl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/9fA3Ol.jpg http://i.imgur.com/5yGh6l.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2CCmwl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/YYYPSl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DZ73fl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SeAYrl.jpg