SSS Fiber Optic Quad Projector Retro
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From: huntington beach
SSS Fiber Optic Quad Projector Retro
Its been a long road w/ these lights as my time devoted to these has been so sparse over the last months, but their finally done. Long story short, when I received these lights back from a previous retrofit at the end of last year, they were a nightmare. I had them disassembled, EVo-Xr's installed, and I found a Mini-Cooper D2R projectors that are prob the smallest housings out there that was snugged in to the DRL housing. Then a simple set of LED's wired to the parking lights. When I recieved them back, the whole left side of the car shut down do to improper integration of the LED stips, the connecting hardware literally fell out of the vertical alignment socket causing the inner housing to flap around freely. When I finally got around to cracking them open it was not so good. Various non-matching hardware freely rolling around, over dremeled area's, improper fitment of the e46 shrouds causing light leaks into the front of the assembly, leftover connects and plugs loosely dangling on the inside.
Upon inspection, I made up my mind to redo everything from the ground up and do things a little different. Re-retrofiting the secondary mini cooper projectors,
re-trimming, and molding in the shrouds completely sealing the back from the front. Sanded and painted everything. I decided to ditch the LED strips but still wanted a circular matrix surrounding the lens. I realized the since inner temps of the projector reach up to 170 F,and LED's would eventually end up over heating and shorting over time... I ran a system of fiber optics leading into projector core into a custom "ironman shroud" I fabricated that was bolted behind the main lens. I then back-lit the outer channels of the assembly w/ a custom secondary optic core providing a un-interupted light pattern.
I ending up using all completely waterproof (submersible) heat sinked LED's for the main emission points for the fibers, ensuring all connections were
secure and fit well. I rewired the D2r projectors to illuminate w/ the oem fog light switch, since the addition of the Varis bumper deletes my old fogs, and a auxilliary LED to illuminate the mini-C projectors when the parking lights are on. The main catch for this setup was the additional hardware needed to properly space the inner housing from the back of the light. 15mm aluminum spacers, very difficult to find extended mitsu self- tapping screws, and finally all connections were properly heatshrinked and open cavitations were filled w/ silicone, to ensure a decent seal. Hi temp paint, and JB-weld are your friends. I was also able to utilize the oem adjustment points now for beam alignment and everything came out great.
Upon inspection, I made up my mind to redo everything from the ground up and do things a little different. Re-retrofiting the secondary mini cooper projectors,
re-trimming, and molding in the shrouds completely sealing the back from the front. Sanded and painted everything. I decided to ditch the LED strips but still wanted a circular matrix surrounding the lens. I realized the since inner temps of the projector reach up to 170 F,and LED's would eventually end up over heating and shorting over time... I ran a system of fiber optics leading into projector core into a custom "ironman shroud" I fabricated that was bolted behind the main lens. I then back-lit the outer channels of the assembly w/ a custom secondary optic core providing a un-interupted light pattern.
I ending up using all completely waterproof (submersible) heat sinked LED's for the main emission points for the fibers, ensuring all connections were
secure and fit well. I rewired the D2r projectors to illuminate w/ the oem fog light switch, since the addition of the Varis bumper deletes my old fogs, and a auxilliary LED to illuminate the mini-C projectors when the parking lights are on. The main catch for this setup was the additional hardware needed to properly space the inner housing from the back of the light. 15mm aluminum spacers, very difficult to find extended mitsu self- tapping screws, and finally all connections were properly heatshrinked and open cavitations were filled w/ silicone, to ensure a decent seal. Hi temp paint, and JB-weld are your friends. I was also able to utilize the oem adjustment points now for beam alignment and everything came out great.
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Its been a long road w/ these lights as my time devoted to these has been so sparse over the last months, but their finally done. Long story short, when I received these lights back from a previous retrofit at the end of last year, they were a nightmare. I had them disassembled, EVo-Xr's installed, and I found a Mini-Cooper D2R projectors that are prob the smallest housings out there that was snugged in to the DRL housing. Then a simple set of LED's wired to the parking lights. When I recieved them back, the whole left side of the car shut down do to improper integration of the LED stips, the connecting hardware literally fell out of the vertical alignment socket causing the inner housing to flap around freely. When I finally got around to cracking them open it was not so good. Various non-matching hardware freely rolling around, over dremeled area's, improper fitment of the e46 shrouds causing light leaks into the front of the assembly, leftover connects and plugs loosely dangling on the inside.
Upon inspection, I made up my mind to redo everything from the ground up and do things a little different. Re-retrofiting the secondary mini cooper projectors,
re-trimming, and molding in the shrouds completely sealing the back from the front. Sanded and painted everything. I decided to ditch the LED strips but still wanted a circular matrix surrounding the lens. I realized the since inner temps of the projector reach up to 170 F,and LED's would eventually end up over heating and shorting over time... I ran a system of fiber optics leading into projector core into a custom "ironman shroud" I fabricated that was bolted behind the main lens. I then back-lit the outer channels of the assembly w/ a custom secondary optic core providing a un-interupted light pattern.
I ending up using all completely waterproof (submersible) heat sinked LED's for the main emission points for the fibers, ensuring all connections were
secure and fit well. I rewired the D2r projectors to illuminate w/ the oem fog light switch, since the addition of the Varis bumper deletes my old fogs, and a auxilliary LED to illuminate the mini-C projectors when the parking lights are on. The main catch for this setup was the additional hardware needed to properly space the inner housing from the back of the light. 15mm aluminum spacers, very difficult to find extended mitsu self- tapping screws, and finally all connections were properly heatshrinked and open cavitations were filled w/ silicone, to ensure a decent seal. Hi temp paint, and JB-weld are your friends. I was also able to utilize the oem adjustment points now for beam alignment and everything came out great.
Upon inspection, I made up my mind to redo everything from the ground up and do things a little different. Re-retrofiting the secondary mini cooper projectors,
re-trimming, and molding in the shrouds completely sealing the back from the front. Sanded and painted everything. I decided to ditch the LED strips but still wanted a circular matrix surrounding the lens. I realized the since inner temps of the projector reach up to 170 F,and LED's would eventually end up over heating and shorting over time... I ran a system of fiber optics leading into projector core into a custom "ironman shroud" I fabricated that was bolted behind the main lens. I then back-lit the outer channels of the assembly w/ a custom secondary optic core providing a un-interupted light pattern.
I ending up using all completely waterproof (submersible) heat sinked LED's for the main emission points for the fibers, ensuring all connections were
secure and fit well. I rewired the D2r projectors to illuminate w/ the oem fog light switch, since the addition of the Varis bumper deletes my old fogs, and a auxilliary LED to illuminate the mini-C projectors when the parking lights are on. The main catch for this setup was the additional hardware needed to properly space the inner housing from the back of the light. 15mm aluminum spacers, very difficult to find extended mitsu self- tapping screws, and finally all connections were properly heatshrinked and open cavitations were filled w/ silicone, to ensure a decent seal. Hi temp paint, and JB-weld are your friends. I was also able to utilize the oem adjustment points now for beam alignment and everything came out great.
