BMW Headlight Conversion *video added*

[bob vogel]

Originally Posted by wylde1

SO, I've made some progress and I thought I'd update this thread because I've had a few people message me for some advice on how I did this so it may come in handy for them.

Finally settled into the new house and lovin' the garage. Over the last couple of weekends I've had a couple hours to spare to work on my grille. First I took the billet grille and trimmed it to the size I needed. Then took a spare stock grille and cut out the middle, then grafted the two together. The top bar is screwed/bolted together, and the bottom bar is epoxied. I thought that was the best way to graft them together because it turned out very solid, and I'm still utilizing all the stock mounting points from the stock setup. (i.e. if I ever wanted to change back I could.) Here's what my hybrid grille system looks like.



Then the next step was to fit it on the car. This only took about a half hour because it's just like doing a stock replacement, no more modifications needed to the fascia. I'm getting rather quick at taking this front fascia off since I've done it about 50 times now haha. here's the new grille mounted on the car.



Now don't freak out (I know someone out there is) this still isn't done. haha but it looks pretty good so far I think.

This morning I had a chance to get to mocking up the piece I'm going to add to the fascia. I put the emblems in place, they're just sitting there for now with tape, but it looks like they're going to be very easy to mount. piece of aluminum across the back with a screw will do nicely to hold them in. The cowl is made from cardboard right now and is still rough. I had some black paint laying around so I painted it just so I could get a better idea of what I was working with. So here's what it will look like in the end. (just imagine the cardboard is shiny black fibreglass)





Next step is to turn that cardboard prototype into a fibreglass piece. Bondo and paint it and it's done!! Getting closer every day.
Thanks for all the comments and PM's with your support!

at first.... but wow i think i really like it. great job.

[wylde1]

Yeah in retrospect I should have maybe waited until I was finished to post anything on here. most of the negative comments I think stemmed from it not being done, and no one really having a vision of what I saw as the finished product. But I'm getting there, I'll make believers of you guys yet haha.

[Vgav1221]

great job, i just dont like how much the headlights stick out past the grille. IMHO make ur own grille

[wylde1]

isn't that..... what I'm doing?

[Vgav1221]

haha didnt read the thread all the way thru sorry

[Vgav1221]

i think it woulda looked really nice mesh, but continue the way u were doing it?

[scythezo6]

Oh wow! I saw this thread back when it first came out. The headlight housing is really cool. I really like how you made the grill come out forward more to compensate for the headlights forward set position. This is going to look real sick when its done! Keep us posted and good work!

[scythezo6]

Also maybe when your done done, you can compile all the photos/vids of the work into your 1st post. I think this will generate a lot of buzz when complete.

[wylde1]

Originally Posted by scythezo6

Also maybe when your done done, you can compile all the photos/vids of the work into your 1st post. I think this will generate a lot of buzz when complete.

Good plan. I'll do that for sure. I'm hoping I'm only a week or so from getting done. I'll be picking up some fibreglass this week and probably get crackin' on it friday.

but you know what they say about plans.... everyone's got one 'till they get hit.

[svtjackal]

Nice. I too was about to say something nasty but now with the work on the grill I am comming around, props for the creativity.

[The Dark Knight]

Looking good man! Keep it up! Totally original.

[H3LL1ON]

Originally Posted by TheCaptain

Very interesting! But imo your grill should come out the same distance in order to have a bit more of a "finished" look.

And yea, LED Halos are way way brighter then the BMW ones (providing you use enough). I did a CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent light) conversion on my old cobalt. I think i have pics of the difference if you want.

I would disagree with the part about LED halos being brighter than the BMW ones. I have seen a lady driving a beautiful black coupe, but I do not know the model but it's very new. The quad halos on that car blow any halo away I have ever seen. They are so intense and bright it looks amazing. I can see her coming a long way and I have passed her coming towards me 3x now. In full daylight I might add.

I'm going to nicely chase her next time to see what model it is tho cause I want those halos!

[Angelsilhouette]

Originally Posted by wylde1

Amazing... Simply amazing.

[wylde1]

Originally Posted by H3LL1ON

I would disagree with the part about LED halos being brighter than the BMW ones. I have seen a lady driving a beautiful black coupe, but I do not know the model but it's very new. The quad halos on that car blow any halo away I have ever seen. They are so intense and bright it looks amazing. I can see her coming a long way and I have passed her coming towards me 3x now. In full daylight I might add.

I'm going to nicely chase her next time to see what model it is tho cause I want those halos!

yes and no. The particular lights I've got are not actually OEM BMW lights. They're replacements made by Eagle Eyes, at a fraction of the cost of the OEMs. The halos on mine are actually just 4 small bulbs with a diffuser ring to spread the light around in the circle. Not very bright at all. OEM ones as far as I can tell are either CCFL or the newer ones are likely LEDs with diffusers to spread the light. They would be MUCH brighter than what I've got. I'm toying with the idea at the moment of retrofitting 4 bi-xenon projectors in the housiings, and putting in some dual color halos. I'd like to put in white/amber halos and use them as turn signals as well. I've noticed that people don't seem to see my front blinkers very well in the daytime, so I'll need something more pronounced eventually.