Rone811
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- Rone
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- Jul 2, 2017
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- 2021 Honda Civic Type R
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This Is A DIY For A Complete Projector Retrofit
I Used D2S 5.0 Universal Kit
Here Is A List Of Items:
-OEM (original equipment manufacture) Projector Headlights
-Morimoto D2S 5.0 Projectors (3-inch lens)
-D2S Universal 4.0 Brackets
-Morimoto Ballast
-Centric Rings (3 inch)
-Butyl Seal
-H11 Wire Harness
-High Beam Splitters 9005/9006
-9006 Extension Cord
-Amp to D2S Ballast Adapter
-Xbox 360 Power Supply
-Rocker Switch
-D2S Bulbs: I bought a few different ones:
-Osram CBB 7000k
-Morimoto XB35 4500k
-Phillips Xtreme Vision 2 4800K
Tools:
-Clamps About 12 to 15 Medium/Large
-Heat Gun
-Plastic Prying Tools
-Sharpie
-Electrical Tape
-Painters Blue Tape
-Duck Tape
-Cooking Thermometer
-Wire Loom
-Dremel (Polishing, Cutting, Drill Bits)
-#8 Washers 100 Count
-#8-32 Stop Nuts 100 Count
-Allen Hex Bolts Stainless Steel (Size 1 1/8) 8 Count
-Lots Of Zip Lock Baggies
-Compressed Air
-Wrench or Power Tools W/Sockets
-Needle Nose Pliers
-Screw Drivers
-Hex Tools
-9 Volt Battery
-Eye Protection
-Mask
-Gloves
Creating A Bench Test System:
I found an easy solution to put together a bench test on Facebook Headlight Junkies that works by using an Xbox 360 power supply.
Directions:
Go to GameStop, buy an Xbox 360 power supply for $5.99 cut off the end. The 4 Yellow wires are power and 4 Black wires are ground. Red and Blue is trigger. Connect it straight to 9006 extension cord** plug for testing. Install a rocker switch** on the red and blue wire for instant on/off. Bonus: Build an adapter with alligator clips for other 12-volt testing.
Best thing about this set up is that it’s enough power for any ballast (35 or 55 watt). It also resets a "fault" instantly which is much better than a computer power supply.
Build time is about an hour. Super easy to do.
This is how mine turned out:
Before:
After:
If You’re Painting:
-EasyOff (Chrome Remover)
-Rust-Oleum Flat Gray Primer
-Krylon Satin Black Paint
-3000 Sandpaper (Wet Sanding)
Headlight Preparation:
-Before you take apart anything grab 2 zip locks one for the right and one for the left.
-Remove the rubber seals both on high beam and low beam.
-Remove all the bulbs; low beam, high beam and turn signal.
-Remove 2 plastic vent covers there’s one on each side and they have a little bit of foam on the inside. (I used a flat head to gently remove them out)
-Remove 5 screws surrounding the headlights
Baking Headlights In A Box:
Here is a video on how to create a box for baking headlights. I did this in a garage in cold weather and it took a lot longer. I also taped up the edges of the box using duct tape. You may choose other methods to open your headlights for example your kitchen oven or a heat gun. I'll leave that up to you. I baked each light at 200 degrees for approximately 12 minutes.
I used heat gun on high for 5-7 minutes then turned it to low to maintain the heat:
Once you are maintaining the 200 degrees then you can start the clock for 12 minutes:
Taking Apart The Headlights:
Put these internals somewhere safe until you are ready to re-install them.
In red I marked the screws you'll remove and put them in a zip lock:
Unpin the DLR from the board and remove it along with the turn signal bowl:
Note:
Be mindful about laying your headlights lens face down on surfaces because they scratch easy.
Don’t touch the chrome with your fingers on areas you want to keep. Chrome wipes off easy. Especially if you put a fingerprint on it and you decide to try to wipe it off.
Removing The Projector Holder From The Headlight Unit:
What I did here was I went to the outside of the headlight behind the headlight unit
Using a power tool with a socket I unscrewed the adjusting bolt until the projector holder is facing upwards. You don’t have to take it out completely, this just makes taking the top 2 fasteners out a little bit easier.
At this point you can grab needle nose pliers and unpin the bottom fastener by squeezing the together in this picture the white tabs but in the oem the fastener is black
Next will be the upper fasteners, put a finger behind the projector holder and pull forwards as you use your needle nose pliers to squeeze the two popped areas:
Finding Your Reference Point:
After taking headlights apart I did an initial test to see where the original projector beam sits so that at the very end of this project the d2s will be aimed approximately in the same spot. I call this bench testing.
I found these videos useful on how to find my reference point.
Bench Testing:
At the edge of a table I laid down some painter’s tape. I clamped the whole projector holder to the table. I then aligned the high beam bowl to the edge of the table. I then marked around the projector or you can mask off the projector with tape. I did this so that every time I do a test I am aligned in the same spot. I did this for my right and left side. Turn on your power supply light and mask off the wall. I was about 5 feet away from the garage door when I did this. You can use any distance.
-In red I marked where you clamp the projector holder
-In blue the high beam bowl lining up with the edge of the table
-In green are the areas that i contoured with a sharpie or you can mask off with tape
You do this with the original projector and later with the new projector installed.
Making sure that the light cut off matches.
Removing Shroud:
Next is the taking the shroud out of the front lens to widen and paint. You'll notice that there are no screws and that is held in by some plastic posts. What I did here was take a heat gun and wave it 1 second on/off keep the heat moving as I looked to for the post to bubble up and then I gently lifted the shroud off. I did this 1 at a time until all 5 areas were removed.
Brackets:
I decided on using both the oem and the d2s brackets so that there is no question later about the integrity of strength. The oem bracket is thin and can bend the d2s bracket has a bit of flex. You can use either.
OEM Brackets:
Once you remove the oem projector and take it apart you’ll have your original bracket. This will be your guide to creating your perfect custom d2s bracket.
D2S 4.0 Brackets:
Using painters tape mask off the whole d2s square brackets.
Directions:
To contour what I did was have the oem bracket on the bottom, moved the d2s bracket over until the lower edges aligned just right then I laid tape on the front so that the oem bracket won’t move out of place. Lifted the brackets up and laid tape on the back where the metal lays against the d2s bracket. I marked the inside of the metal bracket with a sharpie and don’t forget to mark the bolt holes. I then flipped the d2s bracket and contoured around the metal bracket and marked my 3 holes on top and 2 on bottom as well.
Cutting The Brackets:
OEM Brackets:
This video will show you how to cut metal especially in tight corners.
To cut the oem brackets I used a Milwaukee compact cut off tool:
After cutting most of the metal I then followed by using the dremel to polish any metal shards. The reason you want to polish any shards is so that when your putting the bracket over the projector to test fit it you don’t easily scratch the projector.
D2S 4.0 Brackets:
Cutting this is easy! Using a dremel, cut around your marks. Once your all done you can polish it and round off edges. After brackets are done you can test fit it on the projector holder. I found that sometimes just rounding off a few edges makes it fit just right.
There are a few holes you’ll have to drill on both brackets
On the d2s custom bracket you will just be adding the top 3 holes and 2 lower holes
3rd hole is for the post and varies left and right of bracket.
On the oem bracket you’ll add the 4 holes for the allen screws.
In this picture you'll see I am trying to match all the holes with the d2s 4.0 bracket and that is overkill. I only use the red indicators.
Once I finished my brackets I then mounted using the washer method as seen below.
Washer Method:
+//The research I was doing required this method but current model D2S does not. So, you can skip this part.
The reason I am doing this is to raise the d2s projector back to where the oem light beam sits. This video goes into some detail.
I found this stuff at Ace Hardware:
I cut 4 washers so that they will fit properly at the bottom of the projector:
Here I used all 8 allen hex screws that measure 1 and 1/18 inches along with 40 washers and 8 locking screws. The bolts are going to be facing out wards. I used a hex key to hold bolts in a fixed position as I screwed in the bolts from the back.
Note:
You can tweak the rotation of the or leveling using the washer and bolt method a little bit by tightening the bolts if you need to. I didn’t have to do this.
Widening the projector holder:
You’ll want to do this after you’ve completed the d2s/oem brackets so that when you insert the d2s projector through you can make minor trimming if you need to. For a perfect fit, I found that using centric rings was the easiest way to figure how much to cut.
Centric Rings:
I put the centric ring on top of the oem projector just like the image below:
After you have the centric right on top of the projector you will then either use a sharpie or you can use a knife to scrape around the centric ring. Afterwards, you will remove the centric ring, remove the oem projector and start to trim away the new dimension. Try to round off as you go and use compressed air before checking if the new projector fits. This took me about 25 minutes to complete. Its messy so you can vacuum as you polish. Wear a mask, wear safety glasses because there’s a lot of dust and it get all over your clothes.
OEM Projector:
Before:
D2S Projector:
After:
Bench Testing D2S Projector:
Once you have mounted your projectors and everything fits you can now bench test to see where your reference is on the wall.
If you don't use the washer method expect your beam to be in the red zone:
Trimming The Shrouds:
Next you have both shrouds out we can mark shroud for cutting. The oem projector is a 2.5-inch diameter and were going to a 3 inch this is where the centric ring comes into play. All you need to do is to lay the centric ring in front of the shroud then tape it into place and begin to dremel high spots.
This is the pic of centric ring on top of shroud and the red marks need to be trimmed so they match the 3-inch ring.
Shroud Before:
Mount the centric ring on the front of the shroud:
Areas to cut out or trim away:
Shroud After:
Painting:
I decided that I was going to black out the shroud + high beam bowl
I used a product called EasyOff it is an oven cleaner and it works well at taking off chrome. You’ll want to spray this outside using a mask + glasses this stuff works in minutes. Cover the areas of chrome you want to remove leave the spray on for about 3-5 minutes then rinse it off the repeat.
I then primed and painted
Note:
If you get some small runs in the paint no worries just wet sand gently and add another coat of paint. To wet sand, I used 3000 grit and some water.
Re-Installing Shroud:
Next is to put the shroud back into the front lens, start again by trying to heat up the post by constantly moving the heat on and off about 1 second at a time until you see the post bubbles then you gently press down and this time I ended up pushing pin down a little so it holds in place.
Note:
Once you’re done putting back the shroud clear out the lens with some compressed air.
Pin the solenoid to the projector:
I recommend that you pin the solenoid after you have bench tested and your ready to put your headlight back together pre-heat. Make sure the pins inside the solenoid connectors are straight. The solenoid should fit to projector very solid if it comes off easy, you’ll want to really give it a tight squeeze. You don’t want to be having to reconnect this after you’ve put the headlights back together.
Testing the solenoid:
If everything lines up straight, you'll want to connect your solenoid adapter that is connected to the projector. To test that the solenoid works correctly it is recommended that you test it up to 40 times. You just take the 2 pins and place one on negative and positive of a 9V battery. It works by pulse which means you can place pin on either side of the 9V battery.
Here is a video on how to do it just in case:
Re-installing the projector holder back into the headlight unit:
You can replace the projector holder and line up the 2 upper fasteners making sure they both go in at the same time. Then you can attach the bottom fastener by slowly rotating the adjustment screw until it starts to thread the fastener. Next, you’ll replace the turn signal bowl and then the drl board goes on top. I then re-pinned the DLR making sure its secure. I replace the screws and added some left over washers. Lastly, I placed the butyl seal.
Note:
I drilled a small hole through the bottom of the headlight unit and ran both wires of the solenoid. I then added the wire loom and secured it with electrical tape and finally pinned the connector. I then used silicone to patch the small hole under the headlight.
After this point I am ready to re-seal my headlights:
After 30 minutes you can install headlights.
Projectors Results:
Before:
Updated 11/20/2020: Phillips XV2
After:
Updated 11/20/2020: Phillips XV2
Updated 11/20/2020: Phillips XV2
After H&R Lowering Springs Were Installed:
Special Thanks To @Seacow for encouraging me to do a diy write up on how to retrofit headlights.
Here is some photos of the retrofit on my 2021 Type R:
Type R requires LED to Halogen adapters so you have to really really want retrofitted headlights to go though all the trouble. In my opinion its 100% worth it!
Low beam:
Low Beam:
High Beam:
Low Beam:
High Beam:
I Used D2S 5.0 Universal Kit
Here Is A List Of Items:
-OEM (original equipment manufacture) Projector Headlights
-Morimoto D2S 5.0 Projectors (3-inch lens)
-D2S Universal 4.0 Brackets
-Morimoto Ballast
-Centric Rings (3 inch)
-Butyl Seal
-H11 Wire Harness
-High Beam Splitters 9005/9006
-9006 Extension Cord
-Amp to D2S Ballast Adapter
-Xbox 360 Power Supply
-Rocker Switch
-D2S Bulbs: I bought a few different ones:
-Osram CBB 7000k
-Morimoto XB35 4500k
-Phillips Xtreme Vision 2 4800K
Tools:
-Clamps About 12 to 15 Medium/Large
-Heat Gun
-Plastic Prying Tools
-Sharpie
-Electrical Tape
-Painters Blue Tape
-Duck Tape
-Cooking Thermometer
-Wire Loom
-Dremel (Polishing, Cutting, Drill Bits)
-#8 Washers 100 Count
-#8-32 Stop Nuts 100 Count
-Allen Hex Bolts Stainless Steel (Size 1 1/8) 8 Count
-Lots Of Zip Lock Baggies
-Compressed Air
-Wrench or Power Tools W/Sockets
-Needle Nose Pliers
-Screw Drivers
-Hex Tools
-9 Volt Battery
-Eye Protection
-Mask
-Gloves
Creating A Bench Test System:
I found an easy solution to put together a bench test on Facebook Headlight Junkies that works by using an Xbox 360 power supply.
Directions:
Go to GameStop, buy an Xbox 360 power supply for $5.99 cut off the end. The 4 Yellow wires are power and 4 Black wires are ground. Red and Blue is trigger. Connect it straight to 9006 extension cord** plug for testing. Install a rocker switch** on the red and blue wire for instant on/off. Bonus: Build an adapter with alligator clips for other 12-volt testing.
Best thing about this set up is that it’s enough power for any ballast (35 or 55 watt). It also resets a "fault" instantly which is much better than a computer power supply.
Build time is about an hour. Super easy to do.
This is how mine turned out:
Before:
After:
If You’re Painting:
-EasyOff (Chrome Remover)
-Rust-Oleum Flat Gray Primer
-Krylon Satin Black Paint
-3000 Sandpaper (Wet Sanding)
Headlight Preparation:
-Before you take apart anything grab 2 zip locks one for the right and one for the left.
-Remove the rubber seals both on high beam and low beam.
-Remove all the bulbs; low beam, high beam and turn signal.
-Remove 2 plastic vent covers there’s one on each side and they have a little bit of foam on the inside. (I used a flat head to gently remove them out)
-Remove 5 screws surrounding the headlights
Baking Headlights In A Box:
Here is a video on how to create a box for baking headlights. I did this in a garage in cold weather and it took a lot longer. I also taped up the edges of the box using duct tape. You may choose other methods to open your headlights for example your kitchen oven or a heat gun. I'll leave that up to you. I baked each light at 200 degrees for approximately 12 minutes.
I used heat gun on high for 5-7 minutes then turned it to low to maintain the heat:
Once you are maintaining the 200 degrees then you can start the clock for 12 minutes:
Taking Apart The Headlights:
Put these internals somewhere safe until you are ready to re-install them.
In red I marked the screws you'll remove and put them in a zip lock:
Unpin the DLR from the board and remove it along with the turn signal bowl:
Note:
Be mindful about laying your headlights lens face down on surfaces because they scratch easy.
Don’t touch the chrome with your fingers on areas you want to keep. Chrome wipes off easy. Especially if you put a fingerprint on it and you decide to try to wipe it off.
Removing The Projector Holder From The Headlight Unit:
What I did here was I went to the outside of the headlight behind the headlight unit
Using a power tool with a socket I unscrewed the adjusting bolt until the projector holder is facing upwards. You don’t have to take it out completely, this just makes taking the top 2 fasteners out a little bit easier.
At this point you can grab needle nose pliers and unpin the bottom fastener by squeezing the together in this picture the white tabs but in the oem the fastener is black
Next will be the upper fasteners, put a finger behind the projector holder and pull forwards as you use your needle nose pliers to squeeze the two popped areas:
Finding Your Reference Point:
After taking headlights apart I did an initial test to see where the original projector beam sits so that at the very end of this project the d2s will be aimed approximately in the same spot. I call this bench testing.
I found these videos useful on how to find my reference point.
Bench Testing:
At the edge of a table I laid down some painter’s tape. I clamped the whole projector holder to the table. I then aligned the high beam bowl to the edge of the table. I then marked around the projector or you can mask off the projector with tape. I did this so that every time I do a test I am aligned in the same spot. I did this for my right and left side. Turn on your power supply light and mask off the wall. I was about 5 feet away from the garage door when I did this. You can use any distance.
-In red I marked where you clamp the projector holder
-In blue the high beam bowl lining up with the edge of the table
-In green are the areas that i contoured with a sharpie or you can mask off with tape
You do this with the original projector and later with the new projector installed.
Making sure that the light cut off matches.
Removing Shroud:
Next is the taking the shroud out of the front lens to widen and paint. You'll notice that there are no screws and that is held in by some plastic posts. What I did here was take a heat gun and wave it 1 second on/off keep the heat moving as I looked to for the post to bubble up and then I gently lifted the shroud off. I did this 1 at a time until all 5 areas were removed.
Brackets:
I decided on using both the oem and the d2s brackets so that there is no question later about the integrity of strength. The oem bracket is thin and can bend the d2s bracket has a bit of flex. You can use either.
OEM Brackets:
Once you remove the oem projector and take it apart you’ll have your original bracket. This will be your guide to creating your perfect custom d2s bracket.
D2S 4.0 Brackets:
Using painters tape mask off the whole d2s square brackets.
Directions:
To contour what I did was have the oem bracket on the bottom, moved the d2s bracket over until the lower edges aligned just right then I laid tape on the front so that the oem bracket won’t move out of place. Lifted the brackets up and laid tape on the back where the metal lays against the d2s bracket. I marked the inside of the metal bracket with a sharpie and don’t forget to mark the bolt holes. I then flipped the d2s bracket and contoured around the metal bracket and marked my 3 holes on top and 2 on bottom as well.
Cutting The Brackets:
OEM Brackets:
This video will show you how to cut metal especially in tight corners.
To cut the oem brackets I used a Milwaukee compact cut off tool:
After cutting most of the metal I then followed by using the dremel to polish any metal shards. The reason you want to polish any shards is so that when your putting the bracket over the projector to test fit it you don’t easily scratch the projector.
D2S 4.0 Brackets:
Cutting this is easy! Using a dremel, cut around your marks. Once your all done you can polish it and round off edges. After brackets are done you can test fit it on the projector holder. I found that sometimes just rounding off a few edges makes it fit just right.
There are a few holes you’ll have to drill on both brackets
On the d2s custom bracket you will just be adding the top 3 holes and 2 lower holes
3rd hole is for the post and varies left and right of bracket.
On the oem bracket you’ll add the 4 holes for the allen screws.
In this picture you'll see I am trying to match all the holes with the d2s 4.0 bracket and that is overkill. I only use the red indicators.
Once I finished my brackets I then mounted using the washer method as seen below.
Washer Method:
+//The research I was doing required this method but current model D2S does not. So, you can skip this part.
The reason I am doing this is to raise the d2s projector back to where the oem light beam sits. This video goes into some detail.
I found this stuff at Ace Hardware:
I cut 4 washers so that they will fit properly at the bottom of the projector:
Here I used all 8 allen hex screws that measure 1 and 1/18 inches along with 40 washers and 8 locking screws. The bolts are going to be facing out wards. I used a hex key to hold bolts in a fixed position as I screwed in the bolts from the back.
Note:
You can tweak the rotation of the or leveling using the washer and bolt method a little bit by tightening the bolts if you need to. I didn’t have to do this.
Widening the projector holder:
You’ll want to do this after you’ve completed the d2s/oem brackets so that when you insert the d2s projector through you can make minor trimming if you need to. For a perfect fit, I found that using centric rings was the easiest way to figure how much to cut.
Centric Rings:
I put the centric ring on top of the oem projector just like the image below:
After you have the centric right on top of the projector you will then either use a sharpie or you can use a knife to scrape around the centric ring. Afterwards, you will remove the centric ring, remove the oem projector and start to trim away the new dimension. Try to round off as you go and use compressed air before checking if the new projector fits. This took me about 25 minutes to complete. Its messy so you can vacuum as you polish. Wear a mask, wear safety glasses because there’s a lot of dust and it get all over your clothes.
OEM Projector:
Before:
D2S Projector:
After:
Bench Testing D2S Projector:
Once you have mounted your projectors and everything fits you can now bench test to see where your reference is on the wall.
If you don't use the washer method expect your beam to be in the red zone:
Trimming The Shrouds:
Next you have both shrouds out we can mark shroud for cutting. The oem projector is a 2.5-inch diameter and were going to a 3 inch this is where the centric ring comes into play. All you need to do is to lay the centric ring in front of the shroud then tape it into place and begin to dremel high spots.
This is the pic of centric ring on top of shroud and the red marks need to be trimmed so they match the 3-inch ring.
Shroud Before:
Mount the centric ring on the front of the shroud:
Areas to cut out or trim away:
Shroud After:
Painting:
I decided that I was going to black out the shroud + high beam bowl
I used a product called EasyOff it is an oven cleaner and it works well at taking off chrome. You’ll want to spray this outside using a mask + glasses this stuff works in minutes. Cover the areas of chrome you want to remove leave the spray on for about 3-5 minutes then rinse it off the repeat.
I then primed and painted
Note:
If you get some small runs in the paint no worries just wet sand gently and add another coat of paint. To wet sand, I used 3000 grit and some water.
Re-Installing Shroud:
Next is to put the shroud back into the front lens, start again by trying to heat up the post by constantly moving the heat on and off about 1 second at a time until you see the post bubbles then you gently press down and this time I ended up pushing pin down a little so it holds in place.
Note:
Once you’re done putting back the shroud clear out the lens with some compressed air.
Pin the solenoid to the projector:
I recommend that you pin the solenoid after you have bench tested and your ready to put your headlight back together pre-heat. Make sure the pins inside the solenoid connectors are straight. The solenoid should fit to projector very solid if it comes off easy, you’ll want to really give it a tight squeeze. You don’t want to be having to reconnect this after you’ve put the headlights back together.
Testing the solenoid:
If everything lines up straight, you'll want to connect your solenoid adapter that is connected to the projector. To test that the solenoid works correctly it is recommended that you test it up to 40 times. You just take the 2 pins and place one on negative and positive of a 9V battery. It works by pulse which means you can place pin on either side of the 9V battery.
Here is a video on how to do it just in case:
Re-installing the projector holder back into the headlight unit:
You can replace the projector holder and line up the 2 upper fasteners making sure they both go in at the same time. Then you can attach the bottom fastener by slowly rotating the adjustment screw until it starts to thread the fastener. Next, you’ll replace the turn signal bowl and then the drl board goes on top. I then re-pinned the DLR making sure its secure. I replace the screws and added some left over washers. Lastly, I placed the butyl seal.
Note:
I drilled a small hole through the bottom of the headlight unit and ran both wires of the solenoid. I then added the wire loom and secured it with electrical tape and finally pinned the connector. I then used silicone to patch the small hole under the headlight.
After this point I am ready to re-seal my headlights:
After 30 minutes you can install headlights.
Projectors Results:
Before:
Updated 11/20/2020: Phillips XV2
After:
Updated 11/20/2020: Phillips XV2
Updated 11/20/2020: Phillips XV2
After H&R Lowering Springs Were Installed:
Special Thanks To @Seacow for encouraging me to do a diy write up on how to retrofit headlights.
Here is some photos of the retrofit on my 2021 Type R:
Type R requires LED to Halogen adapters so you have to really really want retrofitted headlights to go though all the trouble. In my opinion its 100% worth it!
Low beam:
High Beam:
Low Beam:
High Beam:
Last edited: