BMW Ellipsoid Euro Headlights

[Byron510]

It's easy to do HID. You just order the appropriate kit. All it does is add a ballast (plug and play). The kit will come with HID bulbs that have a base to match your application so they fit in the housing.

That being said. My BMW has the kit David first posted in this thread. The BMW Depo smilies. When I put those in with an HID upgrade kit, I was not happy with the results at all. Which is why I spent all the time doing the Acura TSX upgrade.

I think the only difference in choosing the BMW's over the H4's would be projector or non.

Is there a write up or photos for your TSX upgrade? What were the advantages over the projector => HID upgrade

[spoolinitup33]

Ok I've got another question, and it might be a stupid one. In all of the pictures I've seen of people putting the bmw headlights on their dimes, I've only seen them putting on the high beam projector lights. Do you usually swap in the low beams too? Oh and another thing for when I wire these things up. When you turn the high beams on, should the low beams stay on?

[qwik510]

Ok I've got another question, and it might be a stupid one. In all of the pictures I've seen of people putting the bmw headlights on their dimes, I've only seen them putting on the high beam projector lights. Do you usually swap in the low beams too? Oh and another thing for when I wire these things up. When you turn the high beams on, should the low beams stay on?

The projectors are the low beams. They mount towards the outsides of the car. The high beams are the smaller, inner mounted lights. When the high beams are on, all 4 will be lit.

[five&dime]

Byron,

The difference b/t the TSX conversion and the stock projectors are night and day I will have to do some web searching when I get home. I found a site for a guy who obviously has way too much time on his hands. He created retro-fit headlights using tons of projectors for his Honda CRX. He tried BMW M5, X5, Infiniti FX, Acura TSX, Honda S2000 etc. He has comparison photos for all in the same location with same brightness of bulb.

What his site shows is that the S2000 has THE best projectors of any car he tested. As far as widest spread and sharpest cut off like all while maintaining maximum lumens. The TSX was second and only a slightly narrower spread. Besides, the S2000 cutoff line curves down a little where as the TSX stays level all the wal left to right. And the TSX projectors could be found cheaper.

It's all about the projector housing shape (for width of spread) and the cut off (which is just a metal shield that sits in front of the bulb in reverse concave to the shape of the outer projector) This creates that sharp line where no light is above. Then the lens itself is important. There are clear ones, foggy ones and dimpled ones. Audi uses dimple I believe and Some BMW's are foggy. The Acura/Hondas are clear.

There was no write-up on doing the swap but I sort of created one on bimmerforums.com. I will have to find that when I get home as well as I am blocked from work on most sites. The TSX mounting tabs on the housing are wider than the BMW housing itself so I just cut sections out of mine so that the new one could drop in. I created metal L brackets with slotted holes so that I could have some adjustment of the mounting on the TSX tabs. Then I used some fasteners and mounted them in. After a test run to make sure everything was right, I used the plastic pieces I had cut out, trimmed them a bit and then plastic welded them back in place. So they are mostly sealed. Then I used the BMW screw on dust covers and cut the inner part out leaving only the screw on ring. I used thin metal and created a dust shield by cutting out the inner part so that it fits snug over the back of the TSX projector housing and screwed that dust cover ring in place which secured everything. Looks stock and no moisture or dust has gotten in there in over a year The BMW and TSX use the same size projector so it looks stock on the outside.

Long description without pictures I know..... I will try and remember to post that link when I get home for the guys comparison and my how to.

Brandon

[spoolinitup33]

Ok I've got another question, and it might be a stupid one. In all of the pictures I've seen of people putting the bmw headlights on their dimes, I've only seen them putting on the high beam projector lights. Do you usually swap in the low beams too? Oh and another thing for when I wire these things up. When you turn the high beams on, should the low beams stay on?

The projectors are the low beams. They mount towards the outsides of the car. The high beams are the smaller, inner mounted lights. When the high beams are on, all 4 will be lit.

What?! I was thinking that the projectors were high beams for some reason. Ok well that helps.

[Rheis]

Dangit, every time I try to take the chrome pieces and buckets off of my 510 headlights, there's one screw that is rusted and doesn't want to come out, and this has happened both times, I don't know how:



Can you weld on that crap with a mig welder? It's so thin though I don't know if I could without burning a hole through it.

This happens to me too. I probably have some decent light trim rings here. Next time you try to loosen those screws, try tightening them a little first to break them loose. If they don't loosen up, try using a set of vise grips on the thread side and loosen them that way. Also, hit the rusty screws with some penetrating oil first.



Those trim rings are stainless steel. I would think it could be welded or use a little JB weld.

this also happened to me and yes the ring is too thin to mig weld as I burnt a hole through it lol... I second the jb weld


I am thinking about the bmw projector mod too but it seems hard to find the euro units here and buying from uk ebay is very expensive with shipping etc.. not to mention we have to just cut them up anyways

can anyone tell me if the euro units are realy that much better?.. like a hundred dollars + better?

thanks

[five&dime]

Here is my thread on bf.c

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh ... p?t=920947

It started as a question and turned into me saying F it... What do I have to lose other than a set of lights

Here was my first attempt at creating custom cutoff shields in the stock BMW projectors with aftermarket HID civersion kit. I could have also done the cutoff shield mod to get an even sharper cutoff line with more blue in TSX projectors but I didn't want to mess with them anymore. I was happy

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh ... p?t=904345

The original site is no longer available

Forgot to mention the other difference with doing the TSX swap vs. just an HID upgrade. The TSX projector was designed for the D2S bulb which all high end cars use. So when you get a H4 HID conversion or whatever size bulb, you aren't getting a bulb designed for the housing. They just make a universal base mount. The problem with that is the brightest part of the bulb may not be the optimal place for max lumens. Even aftermarket D2S bulbs aren't exactly the same as a side by side Philips. So using a projector meant for the D2S bulb and using a factory spec Philips D2S is optimal. The factory Philips is 4200 Kelvin. And is much brighter than a 5000 or 6000 kelvin aftermarket bulbs. Just food for thought when considering a retrofit.

[spoolinitup33]

I put my headlights in today and I didn't have to move the inner fender metal at all. Did I do something wrong? I mean the backs of the ellipsoids touch the fender but they are in there.

[okayfine]

I put my headlights in today and I didn't have to move the inner fender metal at all. Did I do something wrong? I mean the backs of the ellipsoids touch the fender but they are in there.

The US ellipsoids don't require the clearancing than the fancier Euro smilies do. That said, you might run into issues when you align them. You're not going to want them being stressed (if slightly) since they're plastic and might crack over time.

[spoolinitup33]

I put my headlights in today and I didn't have to move the inner fender metal at all. Did I do something wrong? I mean the backs of the ellipsoids touch the fender but they are in there.

The US ellipsoids don't require the clearancing than the fancier Euro smilies do. That said, you might run into issues when you align them. You're not going to want them being stressed (if slightly) since they're plastic and might crack over time.

Oh ok. I noticed you probably wouldn't be able to adjust it much. I will probably end up smashing in the metal a little bit.

[cosmo1stgen]

To those that are breaking there headlight trim rings.

Ive been using the BMW E30 NON ellipsoid trim rings on mine. Its almost a bolt on just requires taping out the extra holes on the 510 head light bucket with a 4mm tap and installing longer screws. They bolt right on are 100 times thicker and stronger than the 510 ones and the chrome finish is much nicer. BTW I also have ellipsoids so yes they work with the ellipsoid conversion also.

[Pedro]

To those that are breaking there headlight trim rings.

Ive been using the BMW E30 NON ellipsoid trim rings on mine. Its almost a bolt on just requires taping out the extra holes on the 510 head light bucket with a 4mm tap and installing longer screws. They bolt right on are 100 times thicker and stronger than the 510 ones and the chrome finish is much nicer. BTW I also have ellipsoids so yes they work with the ellipsoid conversion also.

Any pics?

[cosmo1stgen]

Here are some pics. These are from the junk yard 1$ each. They were removed from an 87 BMW 325I. They are much thicker than the datsun ones and in my opinion much better looking. When installing them you clock the trim ring until all three holes line up. They will not line up with the original tapped holes but will line up with the the other unused tabs on the headlight bucket. The original thread size is 4mm. You can tap out the holes on the unused tabs to 4mm and install longer screws. That is pretty much it. If your really picky you can install collars or sleeves over the screw threads to take up the gap between the bucket and the trim ring but I think its unnecessary. You just tighten the screws until the headlight is tight in the bucket.

[James]

Thanks for that tip - looks great. They do look way more stout.