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Old 02-28-2013, 10:37 PM   #1
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How to: s14 kouki hid projector retrofit

There have been a handful of these how to's in the past but it never hurts to have another. Like others the following is a step by step that is meant to guide those who have never done an hid projector retrofit through the process, which you will see is rather simple.

The parts used, which I will explain in more detail later:

1 pair usdm kouki s14 headlights
1 pair rx330 D2s hid projectors (modded with clear projector lenses)
1 pair aftermarket 4300k "D2h" style bulbs from theretrofitsource
1 pair aftermarket 35w ballasts from theretrofitsource
1 h1 based relay harness from theretrofitsource
misc. hardware



With the headlights removed from your car, preheat your oven to 250* with the oven rack on one of the lower slots. While the oven is preheating, use a flat head screwdriver to gently pry off the lens clips on each headlight (there should be 6-8 on each). You should also unscrew the rear housing caps and remove the low and high beam bulbs.



Place one light in the oven, setting the timer for about 5 minutes.



feel the lens next to the back housing to ensure the light is heating evenly and rotate it as necessary heating for several more minutes until hot to the touch.



Remove the light with some pot holders and sit down on the floor with it. With a flat head screwdriver or panel tool at the corner of the lens carefully and slowly work the tool into the channel and start to pry the lens off of the housing.



At this point you can grab the lens and pull it off by hand. Push the excess glue back into the channel in the housing.



Lens removed, repeat for the other side.



Using a small screwdriver unscrew the 5 screws that hold on the chrome bezels.






now flip the housing back around and loosen the 3 8mm threaded rods that hold the aluminum bracket into the housing



Looking at the back of the projector bracket you may want to make some marks from the center of the projector for alignment purposes in the next few steps. This is not totally necessary but will be an easy way to get the new hid projector fully centered on the bracket.



marks made based on the casting lines of the projector bowl...



Unscrew the projector and high beam reflector from the aluminum bracket.



Offer the new hid projector up to the back of the bracket to get an idea of what trimming will have to be done. Make some horizontal reference lines on the edges of the new hid projector if there is a way to do this. You may separate the HID projector into it's two halves and use the edges of the cutoff shield to make these lines on the outside of the projector body.



Set the hid projector bowl on the back of the bracket aligning it with the marks you made earlier, and get it close to parallel to the bottom flat surface of the bracket as you can. Trace around the edge of the projector bowl. This will be for trimming purposes only, not rotational alignment.



Take a look at the other side to get an idea of what you need to trim.



sketch out the area you will need to trim to accomodate the width of the projector bowl.





With a cut off disk remove the material you marked.





Ensure the projector bowl can fit into the area you cut, remembering to allow for a little extra room so it can be rotated until the bowl can be 100% level with the top and bottom of the bracket.



With your marker mark the two opposing mount points on each end on the headlight bracket.



Now drill out the two small holes you just marked on the diagonal with a 1/4" bit





Set the front half of the projector onto the rear projector bowl



Flip it over and screw it into place on your bracket loosely.



This step is very very important. carfeully rotate the entire projector assembly on the bracket until the top and bottom of the projector are 100% level. This will be your rotational aim and you can not adjust it later so you want it to be correct! Screw the projector tightly onto the bracket using some loctite if you like.



Both projectors mounted. Insert the bulbs into the back of the projectors and clip them in.



Using a car battery or 12v power supply fire up the bulb inside the projector.



re-attach the high beam reflector and insert the 9006 bulb back in, fire it up as well. You want to ensure that the high beam is just above center, and just to the inside of the lower step of the cutoff for each respective headlight. It looks weird now but the high beam will spread out with the lens back on due to the fluting in the lens. If it's a bit off, using washers space the high beam reflector off of the bracket until the alignment is as shown above.





Remove the bulbs. Screw the bracket back into each headlight



You now need to modify the rear cap to feed the bulb wires and gromet through. I opted to use aftermarket style "D2h" bulbs for this retrofit so the rear housing would not have to be modified. You certainly could use oem phillips or osram D2s bulbs and oem ballasts but this is just a little easier and cleaner of an install obviously.



screw the chrome bezels back into the housing.







Set the lenses back on the housing pressing gently. With the oven pre-heated to 250* again, set the lights back in the oven for several minutes until the glue once again becomes soft. Remove the headlight and press the lens fully into the housing and attach the lens clips back on. Install the low and high beam bulbs along with the modified rear low beam caps.



Mount the ballasts on the bottoms of the housings. This is a good spot that will not interfere with mounting back on the car.

*I do not have a good picture for the following, sorry, but it's really straight forward*

With one oem low beam plug you removed from your headlight caps solder it onto the leads of the aftermarket harness where it would attach to an h1 bulb. Attach the harness to your car using some ties and a bolt and nut for the relay, and make connections as necessary. You will need to ground it to the chassis, connect the power lead to your battery, and then plug the oem plug you attached earlier to the harness directly to the body harness. Re-install the headlights and connect the ballast wires to the inputs on the harness and the high beam bulbs to the body harness.



After dark take it out for a little drive and aim your headlights using the 8mm studs on the back against a flat light colored wall. You want the horizontal aim such that each cutoff step is directly infront of each headlamp at all distances. The upper portion of the beam should drop approx. 1-2" at a 25ft distance and the driver's side beam will overlap the passenger's. You will notice the output above is nice but there is some glare. This can be fixed by installing clear aftermarket lenses from the vertex style headlights onto the oem housings. Your down the road light intensity and cutoff sharpness and color will be greatly improved also.

Other projectors that can be used that I recommend: sc430, s2000, tsx, rx8, e46 single xenon, FX-replica bixenon (from The Retrofit Source online: headlight upgrades for all applications)

Any questions feel free to ask. I've done at least a dozen retrofits for kouki s14 and many for s14 zenki as well.
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Old 03-02-2013, 01:22 AM   #2
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Nice write-up!

Do you have any idea if the LS430 projector can fit into a JDM Kouki housing?

I want to retrofit that projector because of the wide spread projection they have. Unless that wide output is because of the reflective housing behind the projector... which I am assuming must be removed to fit?
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Old 03-02-2013, 10:58 AM   #3
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There's absolutely no way an ls430 will fit. The wide beam is a characteristic of the rx330 projectors though too, just not as wide as ls430. If you fully mod rx's with a custom curved shield you get some crazy width and intensity along the sides. The projectors in the lights above only have a clear lens mod not the shield mod. Go over to hidplanet if you want to learn more on the shield mods. You can even make the rx's bixenon... How To: Make your RX330 Non AFS "Bixenon"
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Old 10-27-2013, 08:32 PM   #4
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Did those grommets come with that HID kit?
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Old 04-17-2016, 03:24 PM   #5
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Sorry for bumping old thread

But is their anywhere to buy these already done

Email me pms dont work

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Old 02-07-2023, 05:03 PM   #6
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just giving this a fat bump. rest in peace hid planet. Thanks for posting this tutorial here, I'm currently giving it a college try on my headlights, will eventually post all the work and videos on my blog.

















I got these super clear lenses on the right to replace the oem lenses for the hid's.





use your imagination, I did some cutting at this point, realized I had the projectors on the wrong sides, moved them around.





totally biffed making these holes, typical me. I let that step drill bit go two notches too far, not once but twice.





painted the outer shielding (separated the projector shield, and then placed it back on after they dried)





just a quick mock up with the oem glass, I have aftermarket headlights I need to take apart to get the plastic covers off of them.





All in all I don't think this was too expensive of a project. Minus the tools I ended up buying (needed)

HID Bulb D2H 4300K Pair Diode Dynamics was $65.65 on ebay
35W / 55W DC Digital Slim HID Replacement Ballast Conversion Kit Universal $15.76
2x OEM 04-09 Lexus RX 330 / 350 Xenon Headlight HID D2S Lightbulb Projector Set 87.59
S14 Jdm Black Crystal Headlights 97-98 214.61
9005 9006 H1/H7/H11 Relay Wiring Harness HID Headlight DRL Conversion Adapter 13.13
LS20 Lense : Black Series from the retrofit source 65.93 shipped

grand total of 462 dollars and 2 cents... honestly the clear headlight lenses are what cost the most out of all the things I bought and I am not 100 percent sure the lenses I bought were necessary, just recommended.
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Old 02-07-2023, 08:54 PM   #7
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Now that is one hell of a bump. Post the cutoff pic
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Old 02-08-2023, 09:34 AM   #8
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nice job man! The clear lenses are a big plus for performance. I know you've already mounted the projectors in there but a quick mod you can do is enlarge the mounting holes on the cutoff shields (very carefully) then install the projector shields back into the projectors about .5mm lower than they originally were. This will give a substantial increase in light intensity and width. modded rx330 in my old tundra for reference.

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Old 02-08-2023, 12:17 PM   #9
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nice job man! The clear lenses are a big plus for performance. I know you've already mounted the projectors in there but a quick mod you can do is enlarge the mounting holes on the cutoff shields (very carefully) then install the projector shields back into the projectors about .5mm lower than they originally were. This will give a substantial increase in light intensity and width. modded rx330 in my old tundra for reference.
Doesn't sound too hard, I haven't re-assembled them yet so I can pop them back out and make that mod, I noticed the new clear lenses aren't as snug with the lense covers so I was thinking about cutting up some cereal box material just to wedge them in place. Don't know if them jiggling or rotating could lead to breakage.

I should have some cutoff pics eventually, cars been on jackstands for months.
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Old 02-09-2023, 06:00 PM   #10
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Yep cereal box spacers or large diameter o rings will work a charm ��
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Old 02-22-2023, 06:36 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Om1kron View Post
just giving this a fat bump. rest in peace hid planet. Thanks for posting this tutorial here, I'm currently giving it a college try on my headlights, will eventually post all the work and videos on my blog.

















I got these super clear lenses on the right to replace the oem lenses for the hid's.





use your imagination, I did some cutting at this point, realized I had the projectors on the wrong sides, moved them around.





totally biffed making these holes, typical me. I let that step drill bit go two notches too far, not once but twice.





painted the outer shielding (separated the projector shield, and then placed it back on after they dried)





just a quick mock up with the oem glass, I have aftermarket headlights I need to take apart to get the plastic covers off of them.





All in all I don't think this was too expensive of a project. Minus the tools I ended up buying (needed)

HID Bulb D2H 4300K Pair Diode Dynamics was $65.65 on ebay
35W / 55W DC Digital Slim HID Replacement Ballast Conversion Kit Universal $15.76
2x OEM 04-09 Lexus RX 330 / 350 Xenon Headlight HID D2S Lightbulb Projector Set 87.59
S14 Jdm Black Crystal Headlights 97-98 214.61
9005 9006 H1/H7/H11 Relay Wiring Harness HID Headlight DRL Conversion Adapter 13.13
LS20 Lense : Black Series from the retrofit source 65.93 shipped

grand total of 462 dollars and 2 cents... honestly the clear headlight lenses are what cost the most out of all the things I bought and I am not 100 percent sure the lenses I bought were necessary, just recommended.
bump them ballast get a quality one.
Also would have used a OEM d2s with a D2 to amp adapter
Have you considered doing a custom shield
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Old 02-28-2023, 12:21 PM   #12
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bump them ballast get a quality one.
Also would have used a OEM d2s with a D2 to amp adapter
Have you considered doing a custom shield
I'm guessing you meant dump them ballast and get a quality one? Suggested nothing as if I'm an hid conversion expert.

And that's cool regarding what you would've done. All I did was follow a write up of a reputable diy'er for my setup. If my light output is better than OEM, I can't complain at all.

And as far as doing a custom shield? No, it took me about 10 years to consider ripping my perfectly fine working headlights apart to see better if I want to keep driving this thing at night.

Also.




I'm running tint over the lights anyway so I'm not too concerned of the final products looks.
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Old 03-01-2023, 05:19 PM   #13
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Those ballast are very cheap and crappy. They will shutter when on and output is low compared to a decent ac ballast.
If you hold the ballast up its like paper weight

I specialize in Hid and been in the game for 15+Years
I can set you up with a pair of ballast if you want just pm me.
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Old 03-07-2023, 11:15 AM   #14
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I specialize in Hid and been in the game for 15+Years
I can set you up with a pair of ballast if you want just pm me.

Sent you a pm. Not looking for handouts, but like I said if you have a suggestion I'm open. Otherwise I just got what made sense.
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Old 03-13-2023, 11:31 AM   #15
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Just a small update, need to get the car on the ground to aim them. The ballasts I have seem to be fine, no humming, car starts and stops without flickering or any other issues that I can see so far.

Just need to loom and put all the wiring away.
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