davidmech21

Unfortunately, I don't have any pics yet. I started the conversion on Monday afternoon, but I'm still not finished. I began work on the driver's side headlamp. It was a pain getting the lense off, but it did finally come off. Several things I've learned, no one really knows how hot to make the oven, or how long to leave the headlamp inside baking. I read at least 5 different temperatures and 5 different times on various forums. Ultimately, I've come to the conclusion that the oven needs to be setting on 270 degrees F and the headlamp assembly needs to be left in for 7 minutes at full temp. Removal of the lense from the driver's side headlamp resulted in the chipping off of portions of the outter rim of the housing. But, the damage was not so severe that it couldn't still be used. The passenger's side headlamp was a different story though. I couldn't get the lense off before I completely shattered the housing. The damage was irreprable, so I've been forced into ordering a replacement headlamp. It will be here tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have this finished by the weekend. A couple of pieces of advice that I was given after the fact that I feel need to be shared: buy some aftermarket headlamps that are made out of hard plastic or aluminum housings. The OEM headlamps are made from a very brittle composite. It's very prone to cracking. Additionally, most of the aftermarket headlamps don't use the same silicon glue that the OEM headlamps use. This should make removal of the lense much easier. Next, cut away the center of the headlamp before attempting to remove the lense. The hole in the housing only needs to be large enough to give you access to the inside of the fixture. The hole for the projector will be much larger than the hole I'm talking about cutting initially. Cutting this hole will allow you additional leverage when trying to remove the lense from the body. This is what I plan to do with the replacement headlamp. I completely finished the retrofit on the driver's side, and everything is looking good so far. Using the FX-R, it did require cutting of the light bucket to make the headlamp fit in the cavity properly. I used a reciprocating saw for this. It was actually the easiest part of the whole retrofit thus far. One other word of warning, if you buy the gatling gun shrouds, they are too tall to fit into the headlamp with the lense on, so they will require some modification to make them fit. I will give more details and pics once the install is complete. Life is an adventure!!!

beamme84

Very nice. Nice to see another FX-R jeep.

davidmech21

First, I want to thank Beamme84. Without your courage to try this and your guidance along the way, I probably wouldn't have got through this. I really appreciate it.

Now let me apologize, cause I know these pics are long over-due. I finished my install last Sunday, and I aimed the lights on Tuesday, so with this post I guess I'm finally finished with this mess.

Before I say anything else, if you're considering doing this, 270 degrees F at 7 minutes is exaclty right for getting the lenses off. Within 15 seconds of removing the new headlamp from my oven, the lense was off and laying on the counter. I did this by myself with a single flat head screw driver. The headlamp I broke, I spent 45 minutes prying on the lense before cracking the housing. Now, on to the pics...

Here is the headlamp I broke:



I was just about ready to give up at this point.

Here is the driver's side head lamp (post assembly):









A word of precaution, before you re-seal the lense be sure to install the headlamp and turn it on. You are going to need to adjust the rotation of the projector to ensure the light pattern is on the horizontal. This is very important when you have both projectors installed to allow for correct aiming.

When I was ready to permanently install the shroud over the projector, I used epoxy putty to hold it in place. When it's mixed, it turns white so it isn't very noticeable in the housing reflections. And it has a five minute working time, so it gives you just enough time to get things right without having to wait hours for it to set.



Also, with the FX-R projectors, it's going to be necessary to cut the light buckets to allow enough room for the projectors to be installed.

Passenger side:



And as Beamme84 said, the tape around the wiring needs to be trimmed back so that the wiring can be moved slightly up or down.

Driver side:



I showed the passenger side light bucket first because it's the tighest fit. I didn't have much trouble with the driver's side at all. On the passenger's side, it's imperative that you remove the air box. I tried to do this without removing it, and that was a big mistake. To remove the air box, open the lid and remove the filter. There is a hose out the backside that pulls straight out, and then the box pulls straight up for removal. There aren't any bolts that need to be removed in order to do this. Just pull it straight up.

Air box location:



Finally, I finished the assembly of both headlamps (which turned out to be the easy part). I installed the headlamps just to see how things were going to look.



Here are some pics after I got everything put back together:







A couple of things worth mentioning again. I used the gatling gun shrouds. They were too tall, requiring me to cut off about half an inch from the bottom of each shroud to fit them inside the headlamp assembly. If you have a bull guard on the front of your Jeep, it will impede the light throw ever so slightly, but not enough to worry about. And, if you have the headlight guards, they have no impact on the light throw at all.

Here are the pics of my light patterns:







In conclusion, I wanted to let everyone know I used to own a 2004 Acura TL. That was the first year they used the now hugely popular "TL projector". Having owned a TL, I can say without question that the color pattern and color flicker on the FX-R far exceeds that of the 04 TL I drove. I'm very pleased with the light; I'm very pleased with the color; and I would highly recommend this retrofit to anyone thinking of doing it...

This is HID at its best!

mramos

is that plug and play ? and what kinda lights are u running

C2U5H

Did you read the thread, my friend? All the information is there ... but to summarize: no. It's the exact opposite of plug and play—it's completely custom. Go to retrofitsource.com and research. davidmech21 used the FX-R projectors and retrofitted them into the stock JK headlamp assemblies (I think) by throwing them into an oven to melt the adhesive keeping the lens on, separating the lens and housing, cutting a hole in the back of the housing to fit the projector, and sealing it all back up.

davidmech21

You are exactly right - completely custom. I will be re-doing this project again soon. My Sahara burned to the ground 2 weeks ago, taking these lights with it. I am buying a Rubicon on Wednesday, and I already have all of the necessary components sitting here waiting to be installed... Pictures to follow soon.

C2U5H

Sorry to hear about the Sahara man! Glad you're alright. Have a blast with the Rubi—I'd definitely appreciate a little pictorial write up of how you did things! Always cool to see how others go about the same problem/upgrade a different way.