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Headlight surgery

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Old 10-16-2011, 09:56 AM
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Headlight surgery

I was wondering if this would work looking for opinions or imput or anything.
I have factory hid's they are really foggy and the little clear marker lens is melted due to previous owner high wattage bulb. I have some standard pigtails for normal bulbs. Was wondering if I bought some aftermarket lights. And spliced into factory wiring if I could then plug in a standard hid kit with a normal bulb and have it all work. So basiclly going to delete factory hid housing and harness. Is this possible? And of course they would be for sale 100% working order bulbs and everything all included
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Old 10-16-2011, 10:05 AM
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For thread clarity which aftermarket lights? ebay (angel eyed types) or depo? If depo (oem-style aftermarket) then you shouldn't have to splice anything.
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Old 10-16-2011, 10:36 AM
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The short answer to your question is yes, it's possible and fairly easy. However, IMHO, you would be better off getting replacement housings to fit your existing wiring. You are not going to gain any advantage from aftermarket ballasts or bulbs. OEM bulbs are the the best you can get, and spending money to change bulbs & ballasts makes no sense at all. You can also attempt to restore you lenses. It's usually possible to bring them back to like-new condition. Check out this thread: http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...storation.html

The melted turn signal housing may have some creative solution. However, it you are resolved at changing housings, just know that in general, people try to go from other settings to the OEM HID housings.
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Old 10-16-2011, 10:42 AM
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need some clarification as to which aftermarket lights you will be using. If it is the Depo that you will be using(02-03 headlight replacement) then everything should be plug and play. If it is the projector lights you will be using, you will need to get an h3 kit, and the output sucks.
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Old 10-16-2011, 11:59 AM
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Yea I want some projectors or something like that but I do want some decent light output. Someone had a link to some bolt up headlights for ppl like me with factory hids but they were like 350$
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Old 10-16-2011, 02:51 PM
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I have passanger side Depo 02-03 lights for sale with no ballast. It's in good condition, no foggy lens, but mouting taps are broken. I posted the sale in the for sale thread if you are interested. I also have driver side headlights but it's already taken apart. The only thing that is mangled is the reflector, everything else is still in working order including the mint condition corner/turn light bezels. The driver side is OEM Koito (still got ballasts, bulbs, and moutning also). I'm torn between getting a new driver side reflector to continue the retro or just bail out completely, if the price is right, I'll bail out. PM me in you are interested.
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Old 10-16-2011, 05:01 PM
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Originally Posted by MSU2000
I have passanger side Depo 02-03 lights for sale with no ballast. It's in good condition, no foggy lens, but mouting taps are broken. I posted the sale in the for sale thread if you are interested. I also have driver side headlights but it's already taken apart. The only thing that is mangled is the reflector, everything else is still in working order including the mint condition corner/turn light bezels. The driver side is OEM Koito (still got ballasts, bulbs, and moutning also). I'm torn between getting a new driver side reflector to continue the retro or just bail out completely, if the price is right, I'll bail out. PM me in you are interested.
problem is I want the aftermarket look and I dont really want to tear apart my headlights unless some one has two new lens. I waa thinking bout buying the cheapest aftermarket I could get and just robbing the new lens off of it
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Old 10-17-2011, 10:14 AM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Blue Sky
... If it is the projector lights you will be using, you will need to get an h3 kit, and the output sucks.
Originally Posted by fishtale6spd
problem is I want the aftermarket look and I dont really want to tear apart my headlights unless some one has two new lens. I waa thinking bout buying the cheapest aftermarket I could get and just robbing the new lens off of it
I bought the projector lights you are considering. I ended up retrofiiting them with different projectors because as Mr. Blue Sky mentioned above, the light output is rather poor quality. You can take a look at my build thread here: http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...fit-build.html which is still a work in progress (G37's misaligned in the pics).

There, you can see some output pics of the ebay projectors vs. better quality projectors. Not the greatest pictures in the world, but you'll get the idea. If you get the ebay projectors and install them as-is, the light output is okay with HIDs, but I think you will end up downgrading your lighting quality. Retrofitting better projectors into them is a lot of work and expensive (I'm about $600 into the project), and you will end up having to open up the light housings and much more.

If you still want to do it, I have a pair of ballasts and H3 6000K HID bulbs for them. Let me know via pm if you are interested in them. Also, someone was selling some '00-'01 housings with MiniH1 projectors on them - if htat interests you, look around in the classifieds.

I doubt the lenses from the cheap projector lights will fit your OEM housings. Maybe (and that's a big maybe) the Depo ones will fit. I have no experiene with them so maybe someone else can chime in on this.
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Old 10-17-2011, 10:23 AM
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Yea I did some digging and found a really good restore kit that has clearcoat and uv protection so ill probably just do that and keep it stock but thanks everyone for all the info If I didnt.post this I would have downgraded my lights
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Old 10-17-2011, 10:55 AM
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Originally Posted by fishtale6spd
Yea I did some digging and found a really good restore kit that has clearcoat and uv protection so ill probably just do that and keep it stock but thanks everyone for all the info If I didnt.post this I would have downgraded my lights
That is the best way to go.
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Old 10-19-2011, 05:49 PM
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Well for anyone following this thread I did end up restoring my headlights. And they they turned out awesome, perfextly clear like new and im goimg.to use this stuff I found called literite. Comes in a aresol can and is a uv/clearcoat reastorer for newly restored headlights. All the reviews have.said its the best havemt done it yet but eill sunday needs like 4-6 hrs of dry time so will do sunday not sure how to upload pics into a thread but i can post a link for you ppl wanna see...
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Old 10-19-2011, 06:40 PM
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Originally Posted by fishtale6spd
Well for anyone following this thread I did end up restoring my headlights. And they they turned out awesome, perfextly clear like new and im goimg.to use this stuff I found called literite. Comes in a aresol can and is a uv/clearcoat reastorer for newly restored headlights. All the reviews have.said its the best havemt done it yet but eill sunday needs like 4-6 hrs of dry time so will do sunday not sure how to upload pics into a thread but i can post a link for you ppl wanna see...
Useable (car driveable) in 10 mins - product fully cured in 3-4 hours. See here: http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-...ions-Sheet.pdf

BTW, congrats on the restoration & glad it worked out for you!
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Old 10-20-2011, 08:49 AM
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Just ordered the kit myself. Ill try to post pics when I am finished
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Old 10-20-2011, 10:22 AM
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Originally Posted by REDL1NE
Just ordered the kit myself. Ill try to post pics when I am finished
Good luck remeber the better you sand at 2000 grit and buff the better they are
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Old 10-20-2011, 02:10 PM
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Originally Posted by fishtale6spd
Good luck remeber the better you sand at 2000 grit and buff the better they are
Thanks buddy!
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Old 10-21-2011, 01:06 PM
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Originally Posted by fishtale6spd
Well for anyone following this thread I did end up restoring my headlights. And they they turned out awesome, perfextly clear like new and im goimg.to use this stuff I found called literite. Comes in a aresol can and is a uv/clearcoat reastorer for newly restored headlights. All the reviews have.said its the best havemt done it yet but eill sunday needs like 4-6 hrs of dry time so will do sunday not sure how to upload pics into a thread but i can post a link for you ppl wanna see...
I used that stuff 6 months ago. My headlights still look great.
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