I know that this has been covered in more than a few posts, but I wanted to gather all the info I could and put it in one place for others. I’ve done my share of mods in the past, and retrofitted my 6th gen with a set of Mini H1’s from TRS so I had a decent idea going into it of what was expected. One thing I did not deal with in the first retro was any sort of modding of the projector, and since it was generally expected that the 4th gen TL projector would need some help, I tried to take some pics of the process for others who would need it in the future. I was looking for a sharp cutoff and that’s what this is detailing. I didn’t care so much about color mods so I’m sorry if I don’t answer any questions you might have concerning that facet of projectors.
Tools needed:
Ratchet, extension and sockets
Phillips head screwdriver
Flathead screwdriver
Panel tool
#8 Washers
Box of blue gloves
Let’s start with a simple money shot of what I was working with. I bought the retro-quik kit but upgraded a few aspects, the lens and the ballast. In my last retrofit I used a Morimoto ballast without any issues but I generally keep cars many years (I still have the 6th gen mentioned above after 16 years of ownership!) so I chose to upgrade to the Mitsubishi OEM ballasts. There is a big debate on which ballast performs better, more reliable, faster starting, etc… but I like to do things once. I bought the roll of butyl but ended up not even needing it, and get grey if you choose to have some in case.
![]()
First thing you need to set up some sort of power supply to do your initial testing and setup. I have an 80 watt power supply that I used for my old Accord at car shows and had a pig tail to power up the ballast. I didn’t make any sort of projector mount since I would be handling it quite a bit. I first swapped to the TSX-R lenses. Simply pry back the housing and pop out the old lens and snap in the new one. The new lenses have notches that are not quite 180 degrees out, or if it even matters, but I made sure that they were the same for both projectors (sorry I didn’t take any pictures of them!).
Once you’ve got them in, now it’s time to start with the washers. The washer mod is more of an art form (as in there is no hard and fast answer as to what’s “right” or “wrong”) and in my case I ended up with two on one projector and five on the other. I used #8 washers since the posts on my projector were a little tight with #6 washers. You’ll also need some screws and nuts to keep things together during the experimentation phase since you can’t “snap” the projector back together. I used some 8-32 screws and nuts I had laying around. There are a few camps on how far out you need to be when it comes to setting up the cut off and I settled on 40’. Some people set them at 25’, others somewhere in between. I am lucky enough to have an unfinished basement with a 50’ span so I chose 40’.
Start by powering up the projector (once you’ve got it all wired up and the bulb inserted) and see what you’ve got to work with. Here is a pic of what I had to work with:
![]()
![]()
I started with two washers (on each lower pin, none on top) to get to this point, and was pretty happy. Now I fired up the second one to see how it looked. Here it is compared to the first one:
![]()
As you can see the upper line is much more blurry, and the image looks diffused. This is with both projectors in the same plane on the table, with one slightly above to show the two different cutoffs. Like I said earlier, just add a washer to each lower pin and fire it back up to see if there is any improvement. Lather, rinse, and repeat until you’re happy with what you end up with. There is no real right or wrong in this aspect, and like in my case, I had one that needed two washers, the other needed five. Once you are happy with the cutoff of both projectors, bolt them together with the screws and nuts until you are ready to install them.
![]()
![]()
Start by pulling the bumper off. There are two screws (one in each fender edge) and a bunch of pop pins. I don’t know if I had so many due to mine being a Hybrid or if they are all like that now but I probably had 20-25 pop pins to remove to get the bumper off. Once it’s out of the way, pull the headlights. There is a pop pin in the top near the fender, one bolt on top near the grill, and three in the plastic bracket supporting the headlight. Once you’ve got all of those loose, and the bulbs disconnected, the assembly will pull out once you flex the top and fender side mounts to release the molded in alignment pins. Once the entire assembly is out there is one last bolt from the bottom of the mounting bracket that needs to come off to get the honeycomb bracket separated from the actual headlight.
![]()
![]()
Now it’s time to have fun. There are a few opinions on how to bake the headlights, and I prefer the low temperature long duration option. I use 170 degrees and cook the lights for 20-25 minutes. This way they aren’t so hot when they come out of the oven and I don’t risk melting anything if it’s touching the inside of the oven.
New you’re almost ready to bake! Take all of the bulbs out, the sealing rings from around the two OEM bulbs, four Phillips screws, and since mine was an EX-L, I had to remove a cover and the plug leading to the LED DRL. Once you’ve got it empty put it in oven. I worked in tandem and kept working on the wiring while the first one was baking so mine might have been in there closer to 30 minutes before I got to a stopping point. I used blue gloves to keep the butyl off me but the lights weren’t hot enough to burn me, and a panel tool to help get the headlight halves apart. Basically I started by prying up the tabs and worked from the grill side of the headlight to outer side. I took my time and was able to get it into two pieces after 10-15 minutes of work.
![]()
![]()
![]()
Now that you’ve got the open headlight you can paint the shroud or add a halo or any other accent LED’s. Since my Accord is a Hybrid, the shroud is blue and the outer trim is already black so all I had to do was swap projectors and put it back together. The sedan has one headlight adjuster (the white T shaped thing on the bottom of the shroud) and there are two swivel pins (the black two eared dog bone shaped thing attached to the back of the shroud). The first swivel pin was unscrewed and the adjuster was backed all the way off to get the shroud to move to get the second swivel pin. The pic below is the back of the shroud and what the two swivel pins and the headlight adjuster look like.
![]()
Once you’ve got the shroud loose it’s a simple unbolt of the OEM halogen projector and bolt in the new TL projector. In my case I had one tab on each shroud that interfered with the cutoff shield of the TL projector (on the left side of the picture).
![]()
I used a set of tin snips but a Dremel or other rotary tool with a cutoff wheel could be used as well. I didn’t have to disassemble the projector to snip it off. Once it’s out of the way use the OEM screws from the halogen projector to screw down the TL projector. The OEM projectors in my car had a squirrel finder/foreground limiter (I’m making an assumption to its function here) that is held down by the top screw. I did not install it on the new projector (nor did I try to install it to see if it made a difference). The extra piece is the one in between the two projectors in the picture below:
![]()
At this point you’ll need to install the harness, relays and the ballast (and igniter if you used the XB ballasts). I tucked the relays and the ballast into the cavity behind the headlight near the battery and OEM fuse block on the driver’s side of the car. I used the OEM ground point on the front sheet metal near where the headlight mounts, and ran the passenger side wiring along the upper core support. I tucked the passenger side ballast in a cavity near the washer bottle and grounded the harness to a similar spot that I used on the driver’s side. I tried to mount the ballasts where water wouldn’t sit on the ballast, even though they probably won’t see much moisture as it is.
![]()
![]()
Here is a picture of the ground, it’s hard to see but if you look closely at the OEM ground point next to the D2S connector from the ballast, it’s just to the left of it:
![]()
At this point, it’s time to put them housing back in the oven to get the butyl to warm up and press them back together. I used some clamps to hold things together while they returned to room temperature.
![]()
Now that you’ve got your fancy new projectors installed, its time to put it all back together. Pretty simple reversal of what you did earlier. All in all it took me about 5 hours from start to finish, not counting the time to mess with the washers. Like I said earlier, I wasn’t interested in a custom shroud or anything like that so you’ll have to defer those questions to the guys over on HIDPlanet.com.
Now to the most important part, the aiming of your new projectors. I follow the guidelines found on HIDP that you measure how high you beam is just in front of the car and use that as your base number. Park the car 25’ from a block wall and adjust each side until you have the lower line 2” below the number you measured earlier. In my case the measurement of the headlight was 28”. The block wall I was aiming for a point at approximately 26”. I borrowed this image from a post over on HIDP.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/linuxglobal/aiming--sortaJPGSMALLrevised-2nd.jpg
You’ll probably need to do some fine tuning but you’ll be in the ball park. Here’s what I ended up with:
![]()
Overall I’m pleased with the service and products that TRS offers and recommend them to anyone looking to add HID’s to any vehicle. I know it’s a lot of money, but doing things right the first time will save money, time and headache in the long run. Thanks for taking the time to read this over and feel free to ask any questions or feedback on things that I need to clarify, etc… It’s 1:20 am so some of this may not make sense!
Tools needed:
Ratchet, extension and sockets
Phillips head screwdriver
Flathead screwdriver
Panel tool
#8 Washers
Box of blue gloves
Let’s start with a simple money shot of what I was working with. I bought the retro-quik kit but upgraded a few aspects, the lens and the ballast. In my last retrofit I used a Morimoto ballast without any issues but I generally keep cars many years (I still have the 6th gen mentioned above after 16 years of ownership!) so I chose to upgrade to the Mitsubishi OEM ballasts. There is a big debate on which ballast performs better, more reliable, faster starting, etc… but I like to do things once. I bought the roll of butyl but ended up not even needing it, and get grey if you choose to have some in case.
First thing you need to set up some sort of power supply to do your initial testing and setup. I have an 80 watt power supply that I used for my old Accord at car shows and had a pig tail to power up the ballast. I didn’t make any sort of projector mount since I would be handling it quite a bit. I first swapped to the TSX-R lenses. Simply pry back the housing and pop out the old lens and snap in the new one. The new lenses have notches that are not quite 180 degrees out, or if it even matters, but I made sure that they were the same for both projectors (sorry I didn’t take any pictures of them!).
Once you’ve got them in, now it’s time to start with the washers. The washer mod is more of an art form (as in there is no hard and fast answer as to what’s “right” or “wrong”) and in my case I ended up with two on one projector and five on the other. I used #8 washers since the posts on my projector were a little tight with #6 washers. You’ll also need some screws and nuts to keep things together during the experimentation phase since you can’t “snap” the projector back together. I used some 8-32 screws and nuts I had laying around. There are a few camps on how far out you need to be when it comes to setting up the cut off and I settled on 40’. Some people set them at 25’, others somewhere in between. I am lucky enough to have an unfinished basement with a 50’ span so I chose 40’.
Start by powering up the projector (once you’ve got it all wired up and the bulb inserted) and see what you’ve got to work with. Here is a pic of what I had to work with:
I started with two washers (on each lower pin, none on top) to get to this point, and was pretty happy. Now I fired up the second one to see how it looked. Here it is compared to the first one:
As you can see the upper line is much more blurry, and the image looks diffused. This is with both projectors in the same plane on the table, with one slightly above to show the two different cutoffs. Like I said earlier, just add a washer to each lower pin and fire it back up to see if there is any improvement. Lather, rinse, and repeat until you’re happy with what you end up with. There is no real right or wrong in this aspect, and like in my case, I had one that needed two washers, the other needed five. Once you are happy with the cutoff of both projectors, bolt them together with the screws and nuts until you are ready to install them.
Start by pulling the bumper off. There are two screws (one in each fender edge) and a bunch of pop pins. I don’t know if I had so many due to mine being a Hybrid or if they are all like that now but I probably had 20-25 pop pins to remove to get the bumper off. Once it’s out of the way, pull the headlights. There is a pop pin in the top near the fender, one bolt on top near the grill, and three in the plastic bracket supporting the headlight. Once you’ve got all of those loose, and the bulbs disconnected, the assembly will pull out once you flex the top and fender side mounts to release the molded in alignment pins. Once the entire assembly is out there is one last bolt from the bottom of the mounting bracket that needs to come off to get the honeycomb bracket separated from the actual headlight.
Now it’s time to have fun. There are a few opinions on how to bake the headlights, and I prefer the low temperature long duration option. I use 170 degrees and cook the lights for 20-25 minutes. This way they aren’t so hot when they come out of the oven and I don’t risk melting anything if it’s touching the inside of the oven.
New you’re almost ready to bake! Take all of the bulbs out, the sealing rings from around the two OEM bulbs, four Phillips screws, and since mine was an EX-L, I had to remove a cover and the plug leading to the LED DRL. Once you’ve got it empty put it in oven. I worked in tandem and kept working on the wiring while the first one was baking so mine might have been in there closer to 30 minutes before I got to a stopping point. I used blue gloves to keep the butyl off me but the lights weren’t hot enough to burn me, and a panel tool to help get the headlight halves apart. Basically I started by prying up the tabs and worked from the grill side of the headlight to outer side. I took my time and was able to get it into two pieces after 10-15 minutes of work.
Now that you’ve got the open headlight you can paint the shroud or add a halo or any other accent LED’s. Since my Accord is a Hybrid, the shroud is blue and the outer trim is already black so all I had to do was swap projectors and put it back together. The sedan has one headlight adjuster (the white T shaped thing on the bottom of the shroud) and there are two swivel pins (the black two eared dog bone shaped thing attached to the back of the shroud). The first swivel pin was unscrewed and the adjuster was backed all the way off to get the shroud to move to get the second swivel pin. The pic below is the back of the shroud and what the two swivel pins and the headlight adjuster look like.
Once you’ve got the shroud loose it’s a simple unbolt of the OEM halogen projector and bolt in the new TL projector. In my case I had one tab on each shroud that interfered with the cutoff shield of the TL projector (on the left side of the picture).
I used a set of tin snips but a Dremel or other rotary tool with a cutoff wheel could be used as well. I didn’t have to disassemble the projector to snip it off. Once it’s out of the way use the OEM screws from the halogen projector to screw down the TL projector. The OEM projectors in my car had a squirrel finder/foreground limiter (I’m making an assumption to its function here) that is held down by the top screw. I did not install it on the new projector (nor did I try to install it to see if it made a difference). The extra piece is the one in between the two projectors in the picture below:
At this point you’ll need to install the harness, relays and the ballast (and igniter if you used the XB ballasts). I tucked the relays and the ballast into the cavity behind the headlight near the battery and OEM fuse block on the driver’s side of the car. I used the OEM ground point on the front sheet metal near where the headlight mounts, and ran the passenger side wiring along the upper core support. I tucked the passenger side ballast in a cavity near the washer bottle and grounded the harness to a similar spot that I used on the driver’s side. I tried to mount the ballasts where water wouldn’t sit on the ballast, even though they probably won’t see much moisture as it is.
Here is a picture of the ground, it’s hard to see but if you look closely at the OEM ground point next to the D2S connector from the ballast, it’s just to the left of it:
At this point, it’s time to put them housing back in the oven to get the butyl to warm up and press them back together. I used some clamps to hold things together while they returned to room temperature.
Now that you’ve got your fancy new projectors installed, its time to put it all back together. Pretty simple reversal of what you did earlier. All in all it took me about 5 hours from start to finish, not counting the time to mess with the washers. Like I said earlier, I wasn’t interested in a custom shroud or anything like that so you’ll have to defer those questions to the guys over on HIDPlanet.com.
Now to the most important part, the aiming of your new projectors. I follow the guidelines found on HIDP that you measure how high you beam is just in front of the car and use that as your base number. Park the car 25’ from a block wall and adjust each side until you have the lower line 2” below the number you measured earlier. In my case the measurement of the headlight was 28”. The block wall I was aiming for a point at approximately 26”. I borrowed this image from a post over on HIDP.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/linuxglobal/aiming--sortaJPGSMALLrevised-2nd.jpg
You’ll probably need to do some fine tuning but you’ll be in the ball park. Here’s what I ended up with:
Overall I’m pleased with the service and products that TRS offers and recommend them to anyone looking to add HID’s to any vehicle. I know it’s a lot of money, but doing things right the first time will save money, time and headache in the long run. Thanks for taking the time to read this over and feel free to ask any questions or feedback on things that I need to clarify, etc… It’s 1:20 am so some of this may not make sense!
