I'm debating replacing my 95-96 style headlights with either the 97+ style or maybe something along the lines of the following...





I have the 97+ styled talon and i love the bumper so if i go with the 97+ lights I'll have that slight gap which will probably be ok as I did it with my 95 eclipse and bumper and it looked good.

just trying to get some opinions...

Thanks.

If you go with the projector headlights, get an HID kit as well. The projector lights don't light up as well as the OEM reflector headlights. That, and the OEM headlight height adjustments are easier. I had the black versions of the the lights you pictured, and they were hardwired due to the lack of OEM plugs. I'd say polish up the OEM lights and get the protective film on them, maybe even get the smoked film.

Originally posted by electrohead
If you go with the projector headlights, get an HID kit as well. The projector lights don't light up as well as the OEM reflector headlights. That, and the OEM headlight height adjustments are easier. I had the black versions of the the lights you pictured, and they were hardwired due to the lack of OEM plugs. I'd say polish up the OEM lights and get the protective film on them, maybe even get the smoked film.

I was curious if any of these projector headlights were ever improved on since years ago and it seems they have not. I would like to later do HID as well.. would it be better to do the HID in projector style or the oem?

Also any comments on going 97+ style headlights with the 2gb talon front?

this is a picture of my 95 when I changed over to the 97 style with my 95 front bumper and I kind of liked it.

I`d keep the OEM lights and get an HID kit. But be sure cops around where you live don`t mess with aftermarket HID kits first. Reflector headlights don`t focus the beam like projector lights. Instead they scatter the light and may make it look like your running high beams, depending what kit you run. But it really depends on the cops. If they`re cool, they`ll leave you alone. But if they`re not, they`ll just try to bust you for anything.

Bake them and paint the housings black. Aftermarket projectors suck ass.

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
Bake them and paint the housings black. Aftermarket projectors suck ass.

That's the best and most direct way to say it. lol. :D

Go this route and you'll never have a problem with the cops.

Take your stockers

Bake them:


Source a pair of OEM HID projectors (Like tsx's)
Mount and install:


Bake them back together and mount on car:


Then you end up with a great headlight:




If you haven't picked up on what I'm suggesting, Retro the thing. Youll thank yourself.
And for more help hidplanet.com/forums

ok.. that is sweet!

I think I may have to go down that route..

This is definitely my next project for the winter!

Originally posted by alternativesurf
Go this route and you'll never have a problem with the cops. Take your stockers Bake them:
Source a pair of OEM HID projectors (Like tsx's) Mount and install: Bake them back together and mount on car:
Then you end up with a great headlight:
If you haven't picked up on what I'm suggesting, Retro the thing. Youll thank yourself. And for more help hidplanet.com/forums

Hey, did you happen to put a how to together on making those?

Based on your pictures of the 2gb headlights matched with the 2ga front, id say keep the headlights the bumper is designed for, that gap is too much for my liking.

Seeing as how this will be my first post as a member, I figured this would be the best place to start because my headlights were the first modification I did to my car. I would stick with something that fits perfectly with out a gap. My headlights don't have a gap but the person I bought the car from didn't take care of the car very well. So as I was removing my bumper, EVERY single bolt attaching it down was rusted to the point where I still have to drill out the old ones. (Except for the major 4 bolts holding the bumper to the body) When I put my front bumper back on it left a gap of about 6-8mm, (because all the bolts broke) and while most people won't it, I notice it and it bothers me everytime I see it. (I don't know how to upload images very well so hopefully this works)

This is what it looked like stock. Notice there is no gap between the bumper and body to the left of the rim.




After my headlight install this is what it looked like. You can see the gap difference in the same spot.




Yeah, it's not going to be THAT big of a deal, but it'll probably bother you deep down somewhat.

In other news, for my headlight install I went with Spec D Tuning with the Halo lights and a 6k HID kit. Best modification Ive done so far, my stock headlights were crap.

This is my lights stock.


New headlight


Halo light


All lights on except brights(I don't even need to use brights because it's so bright)


Done with install. You can still see the gap between the bumper and body.

Oh yea, look at all that glare...

Originally posted by alternativesurf

Oh yea, look at all that glare...

Which is why retro is the only way to go.

Good God the other drivers on the road must hate you with a passion.

Oh I know they hate me. I get alot of people who flash their brights at me to tell me to turn off my brights. I do enjoy flashing back at them showing that my brights aren't on though. I never realized how bright they really were till my friend was driving my car behind me. Even with the rearview mirror on the darker reflection it hurt my eyes.

Originally posted by crippledgimp
Oh I know they hate me. I get alot of people who flash their brights at me to tell me to turn off my brights. I do enjoy flashing back at them showing that my brights aren't on though. I never realized how bright they really were till my friend was driving my car behind me. Even with the rearview mirror on the darker reflection it hurt my eyes.

The problem isn't that theyre bright.
Its that theyre throwing that bright light in all the wrong directions.
All that light is useless in peoples eyes, you want to get as much of it on the road as possible...

I had to wait to post after looking at those headlights due to temp blindness lol. How hard is it to mount an actual HID projector headlight in our housing?? I really want to do this because I drive on the highway at night a lot and don't want to blind others, plus the cops in my town are ass's.

Depending on the setup you want, the difficult varies. If you do a quick retro using say the Morimoto minis, then its very easy. But if you get a projector that requires cutting your headlight housing and making custom mounts then it gets a littler harder.

Originally posted by crippledgimp
Oh I know they hate me. I get alot of people who flash their brights at me to tell me to turn off my brights. I do enjoy flashing back at them showing that my brights aren't on though. I never realized how bright they really were till my friend was driving my car behind me. Even with the rearview mirror on the darker reflection it hurt my eyes.

Why would you enjoy flashing them? They are flashing you to let you know that your blinding them. Your "cool" HID's are actually unsafe for other drivers and you need to either get it done the right way or get rid of them. Please do every other driver on the road a favor and return to stock.

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?27366-98-Eclipse-w-TSX

Actually, it's pretty easy even with projectors larger than the morimotos
We've got pretty nice housings

Originally posted by alternativesurf
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?27366-98-Eclipse-w-TSX Actually, it's pretty easy even with projectors larger than the morimotos We've got pretty nice housings

How long did it take you to do the retro? I love the look of it on your car. They came out really nice man. Congrats!

Thinking about doing it myself now.

Once I had all the parts I would need:
-projectors
-ballast
-bulbs
-shroud
-wiring harness

it took me less that 8 hours.
I know this because my car is my DD and I began Saturday after breakfast, and was able to go driving that night.
Ive been working on cars for years though, so it probably took me less time than it would someone absolutely new at this.
However I would say that a weekend would be the longest it would take. You would have to try and make it take longer than 2 days.

And of course, I take the headlights off monthly to play with them (not because there are problems, I just like to tinker)

What was the hardest part? everyone has told me actually leveling/focusing the projectors is the most difficult part. And how did you go about actually mounting the projector to the housing? just drill holes and screw? Let me know if i'm asking to many questions haha.

Originally posted by jdm1990
What was the hardest part? everyone has told me actually leveling/focusing the projectors is the most difficult part. And how did you go about actually mounting the projector to the housing? just drill holes and screw? Let me know if i'm asking to many questions haha.

Not asking too many

First off join HIDplanet.com
Ive got the same screenname on there. Tons of info, support, and I check that site way more often then anything else. And feel free to ask all the questions you want, thats what we're all here for right?

When I did mine I pretty much followed this to a t
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?20423-JnC-s-Mounting-Method-(with-Rotational-Adj-Capability)

its an acura, but applies 100% to dsm's

The hardest part was probably cutting a hole in the reflectors for the projector to fit through. I used a dremel with a carbide cutter (like this http://www.dremel.com/en-us/AttachmentsAndAccessories/Pages/AttachmentsDetail.aspx?pid=9901) attached. Had is spinning so fast that along with cutting, it also slightly melted through the material (helps when making odd angles)

Second hardest was getting the cutoff horizontally leveled, so that it was a perfectly flat line. But its actually pretty easy if you follow that link.

If you mount it the way he/I did then you retain all stock adjustment, so once the cutoff is level, youll never have to open up the housing again just to do simple left right/up down adjustments (many people are forced to because they lose the adjustment capability)

Originally posted by alternativesurf
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?27366-98-Eclipse-w-TSX Actually, it's pretty easy even with projectors larger than the morimotos We've got pretty nice housings

Damn, awesome pics, thanks for sharing. You should throw together a how to. So, on eBay, any TSX projector will do? I want to start getting stuff together, which ones do you recommend?

Originally posted by Red90Sev

Originally posted by alternativesurf http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?27366-98-Eclipse-w-TSX Actually, it's pretty easy even with projectors larger than the morimotos We've got pretty nice housings

Damn, awesome pics, thanks for sharing. You should throw together a how to. So, on eBay, any TSX projector will do? I want to start getting stuff together, which ones do you recommend?

Seriously, join that site.

Members have their own for sale section and you can typically get parts for much cheaper/better shape then dealing with ebay.

Also tons of threads on diff projectors and their output but heres one
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?27381-Projector-Comparison-TSX-S2K-SC430-RX330-LS430-TL-E55-FX-etc

At the time I chose TSX bc they were easy to mod, and generally cheap.
These days though Ive been thinking about tossing in some bixenon TL's (Though theyre huge and I wouldnt recommend trying to retro that large of a projector your first time.)
RetrofitSource now has some "replica" projectors that are of good quality. Has some morimoto mini projectors that have decent output as well, and can fit in most all housings (especially ours)


As for the how to; I didn't take enough pics the first time.
When I redo them with new projectors I will certainly make a writeup, but for now if you need/want I can type up a pretty good step by step and try and find relevant pics on the web to include.

Originally posted by alternativesurf

Originally posted by Red90Sev

Originally posted by alternativesurf http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?27366-98-Eclipse-w-TSX Actually, it's pretty easy even with projectors larger than the morimotos We've got pretty nice housings

Damn, awesome pics, thanks for sharing. You should throw together a how to. So, on eBay, any TSX projector will do? I want to start getting stuff together, which ones do you recommend?

Seriously, join that site. Members have their own for sale section and you can typically get parts for much cheaper/better shape then dealing with ebay. Also tons of threads on diff projectors and their output but heres one http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?27381-Projector-Comparison-TSX-S2K-SC430-RX330-LS430-TL-E55-FX-etc At the time I chose TSX bc they were easy to mod, and generally cheap. These days though Ive been thinking about tossing in some bixenon TL's (Though theyre huge and I wouldnt recommend trying to retro that large of a projector your first time.) RetrofitSource now has some "replica" projectors that are of good quality. Has some morimoto mini projectors that have decent output as well, and can fit in most all housings (especially ours) As for the how to; I didn't take enough pics the first time. When I redo them with new projectors I will certainly make a writeup, but for now if you need/want I can type up a pretty good step by step and try and find relevant pics on the web to include.

Man, that would be awesome if you could write a step by step. Also, I just signed up on hidplanet. Thanks a ton.

def not as bright, they look good, but again go with the hid's for the performance