I originally purchased these headlights from a member on VWVortex and was beyond disappointed in the performance of both the low and high beams. I don't know if all the replicas perform similarly, but these were worse than stock by a fair margin. I do however like the look of these headlights better than any other available for the MKIV (and I'm going for the stock R32 look) so I decided to retrofit a true HID projector into them.
The intake restricted the depth that could be added to the headlights without further modification to the car so size (and cost) was a factor in my choice of selecting the Morimotos.
I ordered this kit from The Retrofit Source which consisted of:
Morimoto mini H1 v6.0 bi-xenon projectors
XB35 bulbs (crucial) @ 4300k
H7 wiring harness (although I ended up hard wiring the universal trigger harness that's also included)
Morimoto 3FIVE DSP ballasts
E46-R extended shrouds (didn't use)
OCI Butyl Rubber Glue
Then I commandeered the kitchen island, and fired up the oven.
Remove all bulbs prior to baking in the oven. Also remove the wiring if you choose (I did although not shown):
Find a couple of scrap strips of wood to set your headlights on and bake at 250 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the glue is soft enough to pry the lenses off without forcing them.
For anyone that has applied Lamin-X, I baked these with the Lamin-X applied and experienced no ill effects whatsoever. Just be careful to not damage the film when it's hot from the oven.
Here's the exploded view of the headlight once disassembled:
Yes I broke an adjuster socket. Some plastic epoxy fixed it right up.
Here are pics of the stock projector in place:
The projector is held in place by one screw at the top and two nuts on the bottom which I had already removed in the two preceding pictures.
Factory projector vs Morimoto mini H1:
You can see the projectors are very similar in overall size, however the bulb mount is not on the Morimoto in this picture and crucially, the front flange where the projector mounts against the housing is about 1/4 inch further back with the Morimoto. Were it not for that slight variance, this would have been the easiest swap in headlight history, but alas the fabrication of an adapter is necessary.
Somewhat difficult to pick out, but you can see the void needed to be filled here:
Some thought needs to be taken in selecting a material for the adapter, but it's not that difficult to make one. After copious scientific research on various materials temperature characteristics (and frantically searching my immediate vicinity for anything usable), I selected an old cutting board made from HDPE!
This thread was extremely helpful in determining bulb temperature. The XB35 bulbs (Philips in the aforementioned thread) burn cooler than others and thus the HDPE which is affected by heat only above 230 degrees should do the trick.
So make the template using the outline of the factory projector and cut oink, I mean out just enough for the lens on the Morimoto to slide through and you get this:
Test fit, mark and drill the holes for the threaded stems/rods/whathaveyou on the housing and:
You can see the marks to mount the Morimoto projector marked and waiting to be drilled out.
The intake restricted the depth that could be added to the headlights without further modification to the car so size (and cost) was a factor in my choice of selecting the Morimotos.
I ordered this kit from The Retrofit Source which consisted of:
Morimoto mini H1 v6.0 bi-xenon projectors
XB35 bulbs (crucial) @ 4300k
H7 wiring harness (although I ended up hard wiring the universal trigger harness that's also included)
Morimoto 3FIVE DSP ballasts
E46-R extended shrouds (didn't use)
OCI Butyl Rubber Glue
Then I commandeered the kitchen island, and fired up the oven.
Remove all bulbs prior to baking in the oven. Also remove the wiring if you choose (I did although not shown):
Find a couple of scrap strips of wood to set your headlights on and bake at 250 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the glue is soft enough to pry the lenses off without forcing them.
For anyone that has applied Lamin-X, I baked these with the Lamin-X applied and experienced no ill effects whatsoever. Just be careful to not damage the film when it's hot from the oven.
Here's the exploded view of the headlight once disassembled:
Yes I broke an adjuster socket. Some plastic epoxy fixed it right up.
Here are pics of the stock projector in place:
The projector is held in place by one screw at the top and two nuts on the bottom which I had already removed in the two preceding pictures.
Factory projector vs Morimoto mini H1:
You can see the projectors are very similar in overall size, however the bulb mount is not on the Morimoto in this picture and crucially, the front flange where the projector mounts against the housing is about 1/4 inch further back with the Morimoto. Were it not for that slight variance, this would have been the easiest swap in headlight history, but alas the fabrication of an adapter is necessary.
Somewhat difficult to pick out, but you can see the void needed to be filled here:
Some thought needs to be taken in selecting a material for the adapter, but it's not that difficult to make one. After copious scientific research on various materials temperature characteristics (and frantically searching my immediate vicinity for anything usable), I selected an old cutting board made from HDPE!
This thread was extremely helpful in determining bulb temperature. The XB35 bulbs (Philips in the aforementioned thread) burn cooler than others and thus the HDPE which is affected by heat only above 230 degrees should do the trick.
So make the template using the outline of the factory projector and cut oink, I mean out just enough for the lens on the Morimoto to slide through and you get this:
Test fit, mark and drill the holes for the threaded stems/rods/whathaveyou on the housing and:
You can see the marks to mount the Morimoto projector marked and waiting to be drilled out.
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