DIY: hid retrofit on a budget! (for halogen lights)

Links edited and use code TRSRCFS for free shipping (~Solidjake)


hello fanatics, this is my DIY on xenon/hid conversion if you have oem halogen lights and dont want to spend money on buying oem or depo brand headlights. personally i do not like the looks of the depo headlights as there is a day and night difference in the appearance of them. this is a diy on a budget...the total cost was less then buying a set of depos at the same time the performance and looks of the headlights is significantly improved.

the retrofit hid i used, the morimoto mini h1 bi-xenon projector. why did i choose this insteadd of the fx-r? well like i stated i am doing this on a budget, and its more easy to retrofit because you dont have to do any cutting or trimming, they fit right into the bulb hols in the halogen lights. also i did not want to do a d2s conversion which cost more money for the ballast and bulbs, i paired this up with a set of 6000k h1 bulb and ballast from ddm tunning and the results were amazing considering they use the same clear lense found in the fx-r or so theretrofit source says....

the parts you need...
*1 pair of morimoto mini h1 projector -
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...oducts_id=3181

*1 pair of e46 replica shrouds -
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...roducts_id=131 (i bought the budget ones for $15

*1 pair of whatever kelvin hid h1 lights/ballast, i bought mine from ddm-tunning.com

total amount for this whole diy should be roughly $200, less then depo reps!!!

*optional, flat black paint

tools you need
*philips screw driver
*flatheads screw driver
*small needle nose pliers

--do this at your own risk, i am not liable if things do not go accordingly or any damages that may occur to you or your headlights--


Here is a video by Solidjake as well




to start off, remove your headlights from the car...


then take your headlights apart following this thread.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...lace+headlight
you should have this by the time you are done.


*optional - you can knock out this h7 adapter if you so choose, the projector should twist right in even if you dont knock it out but i didnt know that until i already took it out so i just left it out.



heres the projector nice and pretty


the back of the projector, you are going to need to remove the backing, to do so just unscrew the 3 small philips screw drivers and everything should come apart. dont lose the screws though.


how is should look like with the backing off


heres the package of goodies that should come with the projectors


now take this white rubber piece, the package comes with 2 different size white rings but i chose to use the larger one so the projector will sit farther up in the housing.


put that rubber ring on the projector like so


now put the projector through the bulb opening in the housing and use this part and twist it on the back of the projector


it should look like this when its on, you will need a small needle nose plier to twist it on snuggly, after its in there nice and tight, put back the bulb holder with the 3 small screws.


heres how it looks like when its in there


make sure the part that says TOP is on the top!!


hehe my workspace...nice and clean


*optional - if you choose to paint your housing and shrouds like me then you need to remove the projector again, otherwise you may leave it in and skip these next couple of steps.

i decided to paint my housing and shrouds flat black, i just used regular krylon flat black paint found at any store ie walmart, home dept and such.


once the paint is dry, re-assemble the projector into the headlight.



on a side note, if you want to hook up the bi-xenon feature you will need to drill a small hole to run the wires through from the housing.

as far as mounting the shrouds, this setup will NOT have the auto leveling feature so what i did was use BLACK RTV silicon and apply a light amount onto the back of the shrouds and the edge of the projector, be very careful not to get it on the lense!


the rtv should dry in about an hour or so but i couldnt wait so i cheated and used a hair blower to speed up the process hehe...once its dry, its time to assemble the headlight together, assemble is the same as taking it apart just backwards...
while your at it, add some angel eyes or so to add to the already so sexy headlights.


once everything is assemble, it will look like this...(while your at it, clean up your lenses!!!!)


now mount them back on to your sexy e46 and install your hid lights, sorry i dont have any pictures but if you got a kit from ddm like me, the install should be straight forward without any wire splicing or cutting. only hard part is finding where to mount the ballast. i mounted mine behind the bumper support with a couple of zip ties. this is also a good time to wire up the bi-xenon feature also.


now comes the hard part, aligning the lights, follow the guide for hid alignment, sorry i lost the link i couldnt share =(

*now comes the hardest part, waiting till nightfall to test out your lights....and TADA!! this is what it should look like!!!


notice the beautiful blue cutoff!!! (this is with 6000k bulbs)

heres a shot with the angel eyes and the hid's on


heres some daytime shots of them on my car, they really do add some sexyness to the car!!! lol



thank you for looking at this DIY, this is my first diy so be nice with me hehe. like i said this diy is for us with halogen headlights that wants xenon hids without paying an arm and leg for. this is a simple little mod if your on a budget....somewhat ghetto, but hey it works hehe sorry i could not get anymore pictures, i sold the car a couple months ago =( and these were all the pics i can find on the memory card. any questions please feel free to ask

looks good, good job. i wish you didn't go with ddm bulbs though, the output from their bulbs are poor. but i guess it's better than nothing on a budget

thanks =D

Looks great. I was wondering if the Morimotos would fit in the OEM halogen headlights. My question has been answered.

Now we can refer the noobs to this thread if they ever ask "what's the best HID kit omglolhai!?"

Originally Posted by infinite012

Looks great. I was wondering if the Morimotos would fit in the OEM halogen headlights. My question has been answered.

Now we can refer the noobs to this thread if they ever ask "what's the best HID kit omglolhai!?"

haha yea the morimoto fits nice with the halogens without any modification to the housing at all. i was afraid they werent going to fit too but i figure oh well ill just do it lol...

Originally Posted by sillieidiot

looks good, good job. i wish you didn't go with ddm bulbs though, the output from their bulbs are poor. but i guess it's better than nothing on a budget

yea i know the bulb quality and output was not that good. i will find a better setup next time, but i dont have the car anymore but yep better then nothing

Great DIY I am going to be doing this soon.

Thanks for making this.

Great write up

a few questions, did you get the h7 adapter plate? (obv . my car takes h7 bulbs now but idk) and what kinda of wiring did you have to do if any?

would this be sufficient for the bulbs and ballasts? im a little confused on the options for the kit though? any help would be appreciated.
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Ap...Raptor-HID-Kit

Great DIY, I wonder if the same process can be used to add the projector to the high beam for us with OEM Xenons resulting in a cheap quad projector setup.

Originally Posted by honkifyoubonk

a few questions, did you get the h7 adapter plate? (obv . my car takes h7 bulbs now but idk) and what kinda of wiring did you have to do if any?

would this be sufficient for the bulbs and ballasts? im a little confused on the options for the kit though? any help would be appreciated.
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Ap...Raptor-HID-Kit

Everything you need is sold as a kit from www.theretrofitsource.com

Originally Posted by infinite012

Everything you need is sold as a kit from www.theretrofitsource.com

that is more expensive than buying everything in parts listed by the OP..

Good luck ordering and receiving your order from DDM. I hear their HID kits are stuck in the ocean or some such nonsense.

Will this throw an error?

Originally Posted by n3985

Great DIY, I wonder if the same process can be used to add the projector to the high beam for us with OEM Xenons resulting in a cheap quad projector setup.

I wonder the same thing...maybe someone can chime in on this

thissssss is awesome .. i have been waiting for this for a looong time.

i'm pretty sure it can, on the halogen bowls, but the highs and lows look exactly the same except the high beam bowl is pointed more upwards.

Originally Posted by honkifyoubonk

a few questions, did you get the h7 adapter plate? (obv . my car takes h7 bulbs now but idk) and what kinda of wiring did you have to do if any?

would this be sufficient for the bulbs and ballasts? im a little confused on the options for the kit though? any help would be appreciated.
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Ap...Raptor-HID-Kit

yea that would be the kit, and as far as the adapaters, the projector will come with it when you order the projectors off of theretrofitsource.com

Originally Posted by n3985

Great DIY, I wonder if the same process can be used to add the projector to the high beam for us with OEM Xenons resulting in a cheap quad projector setup.

you can use it in the highbeam bowls but like stated above, it wont benefit the highbeams much...you just have quad projectors but for light perfomances, its a bi-xenon, hook it up, get it flashed and just leave the highbeams for flash to pass lol

Originally Posted by psan03

Will this throw an error?

nope it wont

Extremely nice write up. I wish this was done sooner so I can show the lighting noobs what to do.

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Extremely nice write up. I wish this was done sooner so I can show the lighting noobs what to do.

lol its not too late yet, im sure there will be more new members on here with questions...just hope they search hehe