np.. keep me in mind and PM if you ever have any questions.. i did mine all last "winter" also.. its a good project to do when youre not rushed.. might as well demon eye it in case you ever do a parking lot show. its literally a 4 dollar mod lol. Ebay for a pack or 12v leds and youre almost done already

One thing I will tell you ahead of time about the gloss black is this... dont rattle can it..

the possibility for drips and an uneven finish it ultra high... and the problem w paint at ALL in these headlights is that if its not VERY high quality paint and sprayed very thin... ( or not heat resistant like car paint) you run the heavy risk of it bubbling up on the bottom eyelid.. the plastic that circles under the projector..

...thats why i only use semi gloss and give it a farther back spray for a light texturing.. and I use 500 degree paint.. in AZ summers where the inside of your car gets up to 160 degrees.... and w STIr lenses ( magnifying glass) and upgraded HID bulbs... still zero issues so far on any lights ive done.


Also the turn signal reflector bucket is a pain to paint.. thers alot of angles you have to reshoot.. take your time fer sure.

About your initial q tho... theres no refraction at all in that plastic lens covering the headlight.. you can literally hold digital calipers up to it and look down and get your measurement.. youll be more than close.
You can borrow some from a local OReillys... they have calipers at the fr counter.

 

Hey Bmcann,

Have you come across the idea of changing the four orange led's in the corner of the headlight to white ones?

I've seen it on a few videos and was curious about it.

I've found a thread talking about the bulb size but I can't find it anywhere.

 

There's another thread on here recently that has a web site that sells the circuit board leds in colors..
I don't wish to change mine tho. They match my bumper side markers which are used as turn signals.

 

^What site, i hate the amber

 

Think that circuit board idea is much better then the other options I've found which were to solder the led's.

Imo I think it give the headlight a cleaner look but I get what you mean.

I'd also like to know about that site

 

let me go find them. only downside is you still have to open the headlights

 

http://www.ledmarkers.com/0608350zhl.html

here you go.

 

wow, wish that was around when i did mine... tried for two days to retrofit my own, never came out right, so the ambers went it, much to my disliking...

also, completely agree on taking your time, and using high temp paint... the temp inside around that projector is killer. its a sweet mod, and completely changed the way my z looked. the dark housing against the carbon silver paint was

 

Damn that's friggin expensive....

 

hey thre folks.. news flash, thought id up[date and save yal some headache..

after all my toiling... they are indeed very bright.. in the dark lol.

in the daytime, they are more visible than they were, but still are NO COMPARISON for LED bulbs found on oem cars, period.

if you want to be seen in the day, you need a 75mm LED curcuitboard halo outside the nose,period.

 

I added some led's to mine and painted the cutoff red if anyones wants to check it out. My build thread

 

I did some measuring, and ordered the xbAled halos from theretrofitsource.com. 80mm, white. Should be here in the next few days. I'll post pics when i get them installed.

 

80 will fit outside the lens bmw style

But will.not fit inside for ironman
. Hope that's what u were shooting for
.

 

Ha not exactly. I was fitting it up to the lens, and was like FUHHH... but decided to give it a shot, and it looks pretty sweet all fired up. Ill keep em in there until they decide to quit working, then replace them. Im in the process of replacing my ball joints and LCA bushings, otherwise I'd have pics in here already. Headlights are on hold until the car can move again.

 

Been looking at the new Morimoto XBALED Angle Eye that Retrofitsource has.
Anyone used these for the iron man instead of the ccfl?
Are they bright enough?

I've purchased a set but I want to know whether I'll need another one to achieve the brightness I'm looking for.

thanks.

 

I'm pretty sure those only project forward. So they wouldn't light up the shroud.

 

Correct. I have them, and they do an amazing job projecting forward. ha VERY bright. I only had them powered with 9 volt battery, and they were blinding. 80mm fits nicely around the lens and is able to be seen through the shroud. BMW esque. I have one together, just need to clean up the lenses. The other has the CCFL inside and is going to be pulled apart and replaced with the xbAled halo. Wiring harness is enormous though...

 

Awww sh*t. Purchased them a LONG time ago and have been saving it for the install...

Any ideas on how to make it work?

I called Retrofitsource before purchasing to make sure it would work and he told me it would be a good idea.

 

I don't know the color temp but there might be some way to combine the ccfl and the xbled.

 

Depends on the size. I bought the 80mm ones, and they look like BMW angel eyes. Its a nice look. Just not the ironman. Im in the process of clearing up the lenses, once I do, ill post up some pics. I think if they will fit around the projector lens, instead of in front of it, the light should shine through the sanded areas on the shroud.