HID Retrofit How-To: (Mainly G2, but applicable to all).

[PedroDaGr8]

I posted this at another CR-V forum (I see a few people on here I know from various places HIDPlanet (Serj), the other CR-V forum, etc.).

Alright, I am going to explain how to PROPERLY install HIDs in your vehicle. This isn't using some cheapie garbage kit bulb to blind oncoming traffic. This is how to properly install an OEM projector into your headlight. The only thing I do not cover in this is wiring. It isn't hard either but I just have not gotten around to writing it up.

This is PICTURE filled, so it had to be broken down into sections due to the 5 pics per post limit. I hope my getting around that doesn't get me in trouble. If so mods I apologize, I just feel that this needs LOADS of pics to be clear about what is being done.

Alright here we go:

So many people treat retrofitting as if it is some impossible task. In reality, its not that difficult at all, once you know what you are doing. This IMHO is what I would call a 6-Pack and a weekend type of task, now some may drink more some less, some may take more time some less. Once you get good at it you can knock it out in an afternoon. Also, you don't have to be very mechanically inclined to accomplish this, I'm sure as hell not. You just have to be patient.

A few warnings:
I can't stress this enough. WINDEX REMOVES THE CHROME FROM THE REFLECTOR. When you are done your reflector will be SUPER dusty and you need to clean it up. A soft cloth and some water will work just fine. Under NO circumstances should you use glass cleaner (unless you plan on blacking out your headlights, then it doesn't really matter if the chrome is gone or not).
This process is REALLY dusty at points and the reflector plastic forms a VERY fine powder. So do it in an area where the mess will not be minded. I did all the messy stuff outside AND while the wife was gone so I had time to clean up before it bothered her.
Wear a dust mask. I didn't and should have. I felt like I had a chest cold for 3 days. Not good.
I am in no way responsible for any damage you may cause, tickets you may get, fires you may start, accidents other people may have when staring at your lights, etc.

Stuff used (besides the projectors, bulbs, ballasts, wiring harness, etc.):
Wire (12Ga-4 colors)
Male and female spade connectors for 10-12Ga (Waterproof/resistant type)
Four hex bit thumb screws (see images for exact type)
Dremel (Used it only on the last one, SOOOO much easier to use than a handsaw or hacksaw)
Ratchet and socket set (Since I am in the states, I had to use BOTH metric and ASE sets because my nuts, bolts and screws were ASE (1/4" etc.), while all of the stuff on the CR-V is metric).
Hex tip (for driving the screws).
8 sealing washers (metal on one side rubber on the other)
Assorted nuts
Apiece of threaded metal (long threaded piece that can be cut to length)
A tap set (I LOVE this thing, it is SOOOO damn useful).
A small carpenters square (the thing for finding right angles)
A cheapie caliper from harbor freight

First a schematic of the what we will be doing:

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Projector_Mount_Schematic.png
Yes this is done in Paint. Yeah I know other could do better but shoot me.

ALright now to the part you have all been waiting for:

Part 1 - The Prep

This section is all about removing the headlights, opening the headlights and extracting the reflector.


Step 1 - Removing the bumper

OK, first off. You obviously want to remove the bumper.

Foglight Instructions (http://www.hondasuv.com/pdf/crv/crv_02_foglight.pdf)

The foglight installation instructions (Steps 1-4) tell you EVERYTHING you need to know in order to remove the bumper. Careful with the clips, they are VERY fragile. For those who don't know how they work, pull up on the center pin, THEN pull the base out. The bolts are all 9mm I think (not 100% but I think so, if its not 9mm its 10mm).


Step 2 - Removing the headlight

The illustration below shows the location of all of the conncetors, bolts, screw and beam.
Disconnect the connectors (A) from the headlight
(B).
Remove the screw and mounting bolts, then
remove the corner upper beam (C) and headlight
assembly.
When you reinstall the headlights, reinstall in the reverse order of removal.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Headlight_Removal.png


Step 3 - Opening the headlight
This is pretty straight forward and actually quite easy. You are going to bake them to soften the rubber glue that seals the headlight. It is much easier than it sounds. If the headlight is too large to fit in the oven, supposedly a heatgun can be used. I have never tried a heatgun because the oven method works well, so I can't offer any advice on heatgun use.
Preheat the oven to 250-300oF (120-150oC for the metric world).
When it hits the desired temperature, insert the headlight in the oven.
When the door is closed TURN THE OVEN OFF. I repeat TURN THE OVEN OFF. DO NOT leave the oven on when the headlight is in there, this will RAPIDLY melt the plastic on the bottom. So unless you want to clean up molten plastic from the bottom of your oven AND have to get a new headlight. You know what you have to do (turn the oven off).
Leave it in there, with the oven off, for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven (warning it will be hot) and begin prying the front cover off.
If the cover is really hard to remove or only comes off part way repeat the above steps again until the cover comes off fully and easily.


Step 4 - Removing the reflector
Now that you have the headlight open, you need to remove the reflector (the silver thing). To do this, use a ratchet (though a drill with a 9mm socket attached to it works MUCH better) and completely UNSCREW both adjustment screws. If you are doing this by hand, it may take a while as these are VERY fine screws. Once the two screws have been removed, the reflector is just held in by a ball and socket. Rotate it around and pull out. It should pop right out of the socket and you are left with the reflector in one hand, the black plastic body of the headlight in the other.

WHOO HOO! If you weren't already drinking, now's time to grab a beer, bourbon and coke, whatever. You need to relax because the next part is the mounting.


Part 2 - The Fun

This is the part that everyone was waiting for. How to attach your projector to the reflector so that you can retain the use of your OEM adjustment nobs. Yep, you can move the whole system up/down, left/right AND you will also get a degree of rotational adjustment as well.


Step 1 - Creating the L-Brackets

The first thing we need to do are to create some L-Brackets. These will be used to mount our projector to the base of our reflector. As you can see in the schematic, they will not just sit on the base, they will in fact be attached to a bolt allowing us to adjust the up and down of each side independently. You will need to make 2 of these per projector. So for two projectors(one each side) make 4.

I used these as my starting material:
http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Shelving_L_Bracket.png

These are simple shelving L-Brackets. They are really cheap. Though they do require a bit of modification. The post on the left has to be removed. To remove it, I just hammered it on a vice until it became loose and then pulled it out.

At this point you may need to straighten the L-Bracket to a right angle (I know I did).

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Hole_Widening.png

Depending on the size of screw you will be using you may need to widen the hole (the hole that originally had the post).

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Screw_Fits_Loosely.png

You want the L-Bracket to swing freely around the screw and not bind at all.

Now it's time to break out the tap kit. Based on the thumb screws you are using, you will tap the smaller hole on the L-Bracket. Tapping means to thread the metal so you don't need a nut. I don't have any pictures of this you can see in the next picture the small hole has some threads in ithe

[PedroDaGr8]

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Tapped_Hole.png

OK, now that you have tapped the hole on your L-Bracket, your L-Brackets are done.

Step 2 - Preparing the projector and attaching the L-Brackets

OK, if your projector does not have any mounting holes, you will need to find a way to make a few. The TL and FX that I have used both had points that I could use (I know the FX-R has them as well), your projector may or may not. You need THREE mounting holes (two on the bottom left and right and one on the top (either left or right) for the pitch adjustment.

If your projector does not, drill some holes. For the bottom two make sure they are large enough that your selected screw (not the thumb screw but the larger one) can rotate freely. Similarly, if your projector DOES have holes, choose your screw size accordingly OR widen the holes. For the pitch adjustment hole, it makes more sense to have it threaded. I threaded my hole and it keeps me from having to use two nuts to hold the projector in place.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Threading_Pitch_Adjustment_Hole.png

To attach your L-Brackets, simply mount them as shown below with a nut on the other end.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/L_Brackets_Attached.png

I then cut the end off of the screw with the Dremel cutting wheel and JBWelded the nut into place.

Step 3 - Setting up your mounting posts

Now comes the time to start attaching stuff to the reflector. First though, we need to mark out where we are gonna drill. To do this, you need to know a few things.

The first and foremost:

The parallel lines on the bottom of your reflector are parallel to the bulb. This means it is important that you get your projector lined up along these lines. The first step is to use the bulb holder to mark the center line of your reflector. You can faintly see the line in the picture below. The next part is to draw or scratch a faint line at your mounting length that is perpendicular to these lines. You can faintly see the scratch in the image below. To determine the mounting length do it as far forward as you can before the projector bumps into the headlight lens (see below for details on how to check this).

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Parallel_Lines.png
Copyright JnC @ HIDPlanet

Note: I am using some images posted by JnC at HIDPlanet (with permission) because I didn't take pictures the first time when I was doing this.

Now take your projector and put it in the reflector with the L-Brackets roughly on that line and the center of the projector roughly on the center-line you drew before. Put the lens from the headlight up to the reflector bowl and check clearance. Sometimes with our headlights, if you don't mount the projector properly, the projector will hit the headlight lens and you have to redo it. Not fun.

Now that you have your two lines isolated, you need to measure the distance between the two mounting holes (a cheap caliper from harbor freight works wonders here). Once you have the measurement, divide it in half. Then on the perpendicular line, mark this distance from the center-line on each side of the center-line. Voila, these are where you will drill your holes for your mounting points. Your projector will be symmetrical in the headlight, will line up with the back hole and you will be able to put it all together with no worries.

Drill holes for your thumbscrews at each of those points. Attach one of the sealing washers to the thumbscrew with the rubber side up. Insert the screw+washer into the hole. On the otherside, add another sealing washer and a nut. Tighten down relatively tightly (but not so much you can't movee it with a drill and bit). At this point your setup should look roughly like the image below (though the location may vary slightly).

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Rotational_Adjustment_Posts.png

[PedroDaGr8]

In order to get these to fit properly, you may have to notch out some of the plastic, such as the part shown by the orange line, on the bottom, as shown below. So that both posts sit on a relatively similar flush surface and are more or less parallel to each other. Yeah I know it doesn't look like that above, it is just the macro focus causing a bit of a fish eye effect.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Modifying_For_A_Flat_Surface.png

This now shows the post sitting flush.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Sits_Flat.png

Whoo hoo our mount/rotational adjustment posts are now installed.


Step 4 - Mounting your projector and the pitch adjustment bolt
Before you do this though, you need to make your pitch adjustment bolt. I used threaded metal (like a bolt but around 3 feet long and threaded with no head. I cut off around a 5-6" piece and attached a lock nut to the end of it. I then screwed it into my threaded pitch adjustment hole as shown in the picture below. I screwed it in far enough it would not come into contact with the reflector when I mounted it.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Pitch_Adjustment_Bolt.png

It is now time to fit your projector on there for the first time. To do this, attach the hex bit to your drill and use it to screw the thumbscrews onto your L-Brakckets.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Projector_Mounted.png

Once you have both sides relatively secure and roughly where you want them to sit you will likely see your projector is striking the reflector in the back (don't be surprised that you can't get hte projector where you want before notching). Note where the reflector needs to be cut (draw on the reflector if you need to) and remove your projector. Using your dremel/saw/whatever cut out the parts of the reflector that were obstructing your projector.

Remount, test fit, cut again if need be.

Be careful that you don't cut off too much because you will need some space to attach the pitch adjustment bolt. Since it is attached, you can use that as a reference.

Once everythign has been cut and the projector reattached, carefully screw the pitch adjustment bolt back until it touches the reflector bowl. Keep unscrewing until the projector body is roughly perpendicular to the base of the reflector.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Positioning_Check.png

As you can see here, the bolt is touching the reflector. Mark this position. This is where your pitch adjustment bolt will feed through.

Once again, remove the projector. Drill a hole at the location you just marked. Make sure it is wide enough for the bolt to go through.

[PedroDaGr8]

Remove the pitch adjustment bolt from the projector and feed it through the hole. Loosely put a normal nut on the other side.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Pitch_Adjustment.png

Reattach your projector, screw the pitch adjustment screw into the projector. Tighten the nut up some until it holds in place against the side of the reflector. This isn't very intuitive but trust me it will work. Then tighten your pitch adjustment bolt until the projector sits perpendicular like before.

Now cutoff the front of the bolt to make it a decent length.

Congratulate yourself and go drink some more as you just finished mounting your first projector. It will likely not be 100% perfect with respect to allignment, not a big deal. It just needs to be in the ball park, we will tweak the rest later.


Step 5 - The Other Side

Now we need to do the other headlight. Most of the mounting will be a repeat from the above, so I will not post it. The only hard part is ideally your projectors should be in almost identical locations. So I will show you how to achieve that.

To do this, I just need one hole in the same location as on the other one. First I lined the reflectors up.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Comparing_Base_Points.png

Then I marked a straight line where the hole will fall.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Comparing_Base_Points2.png

From there, I measured the distance between the edge of the reflector and the hole, using my caliper. I then drilled it out just as before. As you can see below it is in roughly the same location.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Roughly_Same_Location.png

From there, I went to the chrome side of the reflector, scratched the perpendicular line, just as before and marked my other mounting spot. From here on out, the mounting method is the same as in the previous section.

Once you have everything where you want it in both projectors you can then attach the shrouds. This varies drastically so I will not go too much in depth on it other than to say, sometimes you will need both shroud and mirror acrylic backing. I couldn't find mirror acrylic in the stores here (all wanted to special order it in a 10 pack of 4x8 sheets for around $250, I said uhhh no thanks). Here's a picture though of the projector mounted in the reflector with the Ocular shroud on it.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/How_It_Will_Look_In_Reflector.png

I personally like it. The best thing is, with this mounting method, I can shake the reflector and NOTHING moves. It feels solid as a rock.

[PedroDaGr8]

Step 6 - Adjustment and finishing
Sorry I have no pictures of this part. I could have SWORN I took some but they are nowhere to be found.

Alright, now its time to put your reflectors BACK in your headlight housing. First though attach your ballast if you have a denso slim or other small ballast like that. (3-4 inches wide and around an inch high or so) These are often best placed UNDERNEATH the reflector bowl. I just let mine sit loose in there. The thing is though, you have to connect the ignitor to your projector before installing the projector. Once your ignitor is connected, reattach your reflectors to the headlight body. Make sure the wires are in good locations etc. Then, test fit your headlight lens to make sure it will fit on properly (hope it does). Then remove the lens and take the headlights out to your car. WIth the bumper still off and the lenses still removed. Find a nice flat area with a wallto adjust the rotational alignment of your beams. First, I get the beams on the same level and then adjust the rotational alignment. To adjust the rotation, you simply use your drill with the hex bit and screw one side of the projector up or down until the flat part of the beam is perfectly level. Then adjust your other beam so it matches up with the first one. Then check them again to make sure they are both level.

Drive back home and remove your headlights. Now it is time to clean them out. Using a soft cloth and water, get rid of ALL of the dirt, dust and debris in the reflectors, around the lenses, etc. Note: THe chrome part on the lens comes off with one screw at the bottom. Then reseal your headlights (reverse the opening procedure, but shorten the time to around 3-4 minutes or so and put the headlights together before putting them in the oven, take them out and clamp them together for an hour to make sure the seal holds tight). If you suspect you may have a leaky seal, simple silicone RTV sealant will work great for sealing them up more.


Your headlights should NOW look like this:

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/How_It_Will_Look1.png
http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/How_It_Will_Look2.png

Now mounted on the car:
http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Final.png
The "fogginess" is actually a reflection of the clouds in the sky.

[PedroDaGr8]

Step 7 - Aiming your wonderful new Retrofit

OK time for aiming. One thing to know, unlike halogen projectors, HID projectors have two separate cut-offs that do not merge together. To get started you need at least 25 feet of flat area with a wall. You will adjust the height and left to right angle using the stock adjusters.

Setup your vehicle as shown below:

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Aiming1.png

a is the distance from the ground to the middle of your projector (in inches).

Shine your light on the wall and check your cutoff and width. The height of the lower part of the cutoff (b should be 2 inches lower than a. This means roughly a 2 inch drop every 25 feet. Some people aim a bit higher than this but you never want to have b>=a, beacause that would mean NO drop or even worse point upwards.

http://www.strussdmd.com/HondaSUV/Aiming2.png

To check and make sure your projectors are aligned properly left to right, mark on the wall where the peak is on the cutoff. The distance c, distance from peak to peak should be equal to the distance between the center of your driver side and passenger side projectors. Now slowly move your car backwards. The peaks should not get farther apart from each other, nor should they move from the mark.

DONE!!!!!

OK, we are all done. I hope this comes of great use to you all. It took me a WHILE to write. If you see any corrections that need to be made, stuff that needs to be clarified, pictures you want to contribute to help clarify things et.c FEEL free to let me know either via PM or posting in here. Also, if you do a retrofit post it in here as well. Good luck and of course, if you have any questions, I will GLADLY answer them.

Future Plans:
Install Gen 2.5 Taillights so that I do an LED retrofit on the back using: square LED reflectors, Lumileds Superflux Red-Orange LEDs for the stop/marker lights, Lumileds Amber Superflux for the turns and some of those new white Nichia Superflux that output 20Lumen at 50mA.
Also will prolly go for the gen 2.5 headlights and bumper (put my retrofit in THOSE headlights keeping the halogen high beam as well)