Headlight output mod w. pics & a few questions

[five&dime]

I have been working on my light assemblies to help increase output and creat sharper/wider cutoff lines.

I am using Prolumen 35W digital slim kit in 5000k

I started by fabricating a custom cutoff shield out of thin aluminum used for construction. It was in the building section at Lowe's and I got a 10 ft sheet for like $10. It is thin enough to work by hand and cut with scissors. The thinner metal also creates a sharper line. I tried using thicker b/c I was worried the thin metal would vibrate. Even with the super thin aluminum, they stay sharp even over bumps and when sitting at idle.

Here is what I bought



Here is what the factory assembly looked like.



I used a dremel and cut the old shield out and then drilled a hole in the base that was used to attach the old one.



Measure the old one from top to bottom. Account for the bend of the material too. It is important for the top of the shield to be in the middle of the bulb.

This is not my final cutoff shield. My battery was dead when I made that one, but this is close. Whatever shape you cut will show up on a wall. The narrow the distance b/t the high and low to plane, the sharper the diff will look from far away. (The step up you see in the final pic at the bottom of the post was too tall originally, so I trimmed the metal down. I am going to trim it further this weekend)



The final shield has more curve. Instead of flaring left to right. I will post more pix once trim the existing one. I also decided to cut an angled step for the final instead of the zig zag.

It looks more like this one as far as the shape goes. I now have a template that I made using techincal drawing tools. It is much nicer in the final. The slot is crucial for adjustability. Adjustability allows you to sharpen the cutoff line on walls from long distances. I reccomend testing from 60 ft or more.



Here is the OEM cutoff projection



And the new output after I added a curved custom cutoff shield



The strange part was the diff in color b/t the factory and the new with the same bulb. (note pic was taken with zig zag cutoff)



Here are a few more pix of the final output (until I tweak them this weekend)













I have a few questions though.....

The projector housing is made of 4 legs that are used to attach to the housing. I want to get a bit more light output. I was thinking of covering the negative space with more of this sheet aluminum. I worry about it getting too hot in the assembly. I was also curious about how I may be able to modify the chrome plastic housing to direct the light a little bit wider, but I have no idea how I could accomplish that.

Also..... On the back of the chrome housing that holds the bulb, it is reversible for LHD and RHD. For US LHD, the lower part of the housing as shown in this next pic has a drop down section that is textured.



The other side which is up on the US version, down on RHD is smooth. shown here.



Which would produce more broad and bright light when used with the shield? LHD or RHD? I cant make sense of which one would be brighter by capuring the light behind the shield. The shield stays on the bottom, b/c the light is flipped by the lens. I don't have to worry about blinding oncomers b/c the cutoff shield is what takes care of that.

I really want to broaden and brighten similar to others from this site.
This site is what I used to get all the ideas.

http://www.geocities.com/JVXdriver/beam_comparison.htm



Any ideas on these issues??????????


Thanks in advance

[epj3]

wow I must say, the cutoff is much more appropriate for hid's - though you will never make the light spread wider. that is determined from the reflector and lens design - not to mention focal length. The additional color may look pretty, but performance wise it is not optimal.

[five&dime]

The output was vastly imrpoved with this mod IMO. Now it is just maximizing the cutoff. It concentrated the light more. I may end up getting TSX or S2000 lens. My housing is pretty well suited for HID's.

[kpipalldaway2]

aim your right headlight up a tad

[five&dime]

I just tried to flip the chrome housing, and all it did was create a lines of spectrum. Directly reflecting that textured part.

I also tried to encase the housing with the 4 legs with aluminum and it didn't seem to make any difference. I did trim down the different layers on the shields again. My camera isn't here, so I can't show what they look like. I ended up trimming the difference b/t the two planes from 1/16 in to about 1/64. The step up is barely noticeable. It took forever to trim, file and sand until they were both the same.

They look great now!!!! The cutoff line is very nice even at 60+ ft

I am done with mine!!!! I do wish I had a new lens for the other side now. You can tell which lens is new when they shine on a white wall. The driver side is a hair sharper.

I am very pleased with the results. Looks great driving through trees and buildings with a nice cutoff. yellowish cutoff slight plasma blue. Its cool when you go over hills and bumps and watch the line of light move with the car.

[habbie]

Originally Posted by RVAE34

I just tried to flip the chrome housing, and all it did was create a lines of spectrum. Directly reflecting that textured part.

I also tried to encase the housing with the 4 legs with aluminum and it didn't seem to make any difference. I did trim down the different layers on the shields again. My camera isn't here, so I can't show what they look like. I ended up trimming the difference b/t the two planes from 1/16 in to about 1/64. The step up is barely noticeable. It took forever to trim, file and sand until they were both the same.

They look great now!!!! The cutoff line is very nice even at 60+ ft

I am done with mine!!!! I do wish I had a new lens for the other side now. You can tell which lens is new when they shine on a white wall. The driver side is a hair sharper.

I am very pleased with the results. Looks great driving through trees and buildings with a nice cutoff. yellowish cutoff slight plasma blue. Its cool when you go over hills and bumps and watch the line of light move with the car.

good job man, looks like you had fun and it looks real nice, if you are happy with the results its all that matters.

[Rakshas]

Thank you for reminding me how horrible my cutoff is. Must aim headlights!

[five&dime]

It was a lot of work, but well worth it after finishing it up tonight. I really would like to get a set of TSX or S2000 projector lens. I don't think I would want to retrofit the whole assembly. These look pretty close to my friends factory Audi A6's. Audi have a slightly narrower and more focused output than others.

It definately looks better than the stock cutoffs as far as color, output and sharpness. I would highly recommend this to anyone with DIY tendencies

It takes a lot of patience to get the shields positioned right. The further you are away from a white wall, the better to figure out the best position and sharpest line with correct color cutoff. You want yellow/orangish with a little purple from what I understand.

[kpipalldaway2]

you have alot of color on your cutt off but the cuttoff is not sharp at ALL. which will actually lessen your visibility.
it looks better then it did before but i think you are actually loosing output

[bew]

Originally Posted by kpipalldaway2

you have alot of color on your cutt off but the cuttoff is not sharp at ALL. which will actually lessen your visibility.
it looks better then it did before but i think you are actually loosing output

He makes a good point. If you think about light hitting a solid object from a distance, the sharper the light display is on that object, the better the output is once it reaches past said objects location. If your cutoff is really blur at 60ft, then you won't have much useable light after that point.

I read that guys website, and damn he has some time on his hands. Some of those cutoffs were simple incredible. They looked better than yours (or most of ours) do at 60ft, at 220ft. His site has definately convinced me to do a retrofit once I have time

[todor]

About the picture where you're getting different colors of light with the same bulbs: could it be that one of them is not warmed up yet? My HIDs are very purple when you turn them on, but become much whiter in a minute or two.

[five&dime]

As stated, I have re done the shield. creating less distance b/t the two planes. It is much sharper much further now. I just didnt take pix last nght. It was midnight when I finished and I didn't have my camera.

This IS a good mod. Regardless what anyone says. It just takes time and practice. It is all about proper adjustment and alignment of the shield. I got it damn near oerfect last night. It was super frigid, so I probably could even do better.

I am sure I will be taking them apart this weekend and going into the parking garage at work. It is nice and dark. And level. I want to set the shields while projectig the light 150 ft. or more.


I want to know how this guy that did that site had all that time as well. He must be in the industry or something

Cheers

Brandon

[zmmnm3]

Great information! Thanks.

[NONN37]

cool i made similar shields for my euro beam depos. although your step seems a little too high. my step is probably less than .025 of an inch. Ill try and post pics later. I did it to get my beam to go farther, without having to blind drivers on my right.

[five&dime]

For all the naysayers....

I took some pics tonight with the latest shields.

First off, here are new and FINAL shields I made this eve. These will be even sharper further. The ones now stay pretty sharp to 150 ft.

So here is the shape I cut out of aluminum.



Here is a close up of the step. This one is smaller than the one from the pics that follow, but only slightly. The real key is how carefully I cut these and that they are exact replicas of eachother.



And then some of the final shapes.







Here is what they look at from 150+ ft.

I was parked on a road which was at a higher level across the way. I zoomed in b/c there was an overhead light causing glare. Keep in mind it was pretty well lit out there even without the HID's.



And here are some road shots.











Here is a before and after the shield mod. 1st is before



After





Now here are some pics with just the lows, then the lows and fogs and then lows and highs. These really show the cutoff on the tree lines. Also shows that you can still see the cutoff even with the highs on

[NONN37]

wow .your second batch came out a lot nicer. great job!

you can still make your cutoff sharper, but thats up to you.
my cutoff is blurred as well, but with color. the blur helps illuminate things above the cutoff better. (imo better than the sharp ones that are really dark above)

[NONN37]

here are some quick pics i took in the driveway of my modded cutoffs:
E36 Depo with 6oooK

i made mine sorta like RVAE34. My dad is a machinist. So i made up some drawings and had him cut a couple of shields out of Aluminum for me. After some bending and fine adjusting.. heres my result

heres a pic up close to my garage door


heres about 25ft, istood in front of one of the beams so you can see them both better


the orange at the bottom is because i had my yellow fogs on.


my output on the ground about 10ft in front is about the same, but since i have my new cutoff i can aim my lights farther down the road; without worrying that im blinding others on my right.

[Righteous]

Wow, great pics of your zTail mod. I found that that geocities website is the most helpful thread I have ever read concerning retrofit selection. All questions I have ever had have been answered. That guy is a genius, he must be in the industry or something.

[epj3]

Wow they came out REALLY nice. I think this is a perfect alternative for those who don't want to go through the process of a retrofit.

It's still not as good as a proper HID projector though :-D

[Righteous]

Hey so did you modify a ZKW or DEPO projector? I wonder if there is a difference between the two?

[five&dime]

Mine are depos. To Nonn37.... The new cutoff shields you see in my last post are the new sharper ones which have yet to be installed. As stated in the thread, I am installing them tonight. They will be even sharper than the ones in my last post I made those since I didnt take pix of the ones in now before I installed them. I ended up making the ones last night flawless

Will post pix this eve after install

[five&dime]

So last night. I was in my work garage from 8-11:30. For some reason I went backwards for the first time in this process. I just couldn't get them right. It was so hard b/c when I got the left and right straight and then tried to go forward and back, I just couldn't keeo the two set right together. I got it to where I could drive home fine, but the light output was reduced dramitacally!! even with a decent line. The cutoff ended up being more yellowish/orangish. There was lil blue at all. And for some reason I thought the yellow/orange was better. Not at all with mine. The blue cutoff is much brighter.


I think the step was too small with the last ones. 1/16-1/32 seems ideal

I sat up last night thinking and come up with a solution. A two piece design which will allow me to set the differentr axis independently. This will also allow me to move everything without having to bend the shield once I get final shape.

I think these will solve all the problems. I also think from my experience so far that it is crucial to first set up and down, then left right, then front to back. Afterwards, up and down may need to be tweaked slightly, but at least the other positions will be locked. The base is shaped to block all light as well.

Here are the new two piece desigs. I am also going to Lowe's to pick up some slightly larger fasteners with wider washers as well.






And here are my tools I brought with me just in case. In addition I brought a lawn chair to sit in while adjusting. My back really hurt after the first time I did this. The only pain in the ass is having to keep starting the car. Otherwise the battery will die.

[Righteous]

After I do my suspension setup when it gets warmer, I plan to buy another set of DEPOs and then retrofit with TSX projectors with shield mod.

When are you going to retrofit some projectors to your lights?

[five&dime]

^I don't know. When I get the money in a few months perhaps. I may do S2000 though



Here are my final pix. These are pretty nice. Color and cutoff sharpness. You can tell I need a new left lens now that the right is new. Some of the intensity and the blue are lost to the far left. They were identical out of the car.

This was well worth all the time and effort IMO

[euro96]

wow looks good

now that you've spent all this time, you probably dont want to hear me ask, but is it possible to fit a tsx projector in there? cause a projector made for HID is always going to be better, but seriously, your lights look real good

a lot of people would be too scared to try this