adventure headlight dual 4" HID light swap

[Narsisco Lopez]

Originally Posted by BaronVonDarrin

Do you need to fabricate any brackets or anything in order to do this modification? I am woefully unable, ill equipped, an inexperienced to be doing that...

Look closely at the video... the kit they're selling has a big mounting ring. Since I haven't pulled MY light assy. yet, I have no idea what's required on the Adventure. I'm still gonna try it... worse-case is I fuck up the US OEM and have to buy a Euro one to replace it

[slackmeyer]

Ok, I got the Morimoto H1 projectors this week. They look pretty solid, better than I expected actually. Now I'm not really worried that they will shake apart- I'm just afraid that the stock headlight reflector won't be up to holding the extra weight of the projector- we'll see.

Separating the headlight housing:

Cut away as much of the sealant as you can. Try as I might, I couldn't get the butyl sealant to soften in the oven.


The oven step is still useful- I cooked the headlight for about 10 minutes at 250. The sealant was still rubbery as ever, but the advantage is the housing plastic/acrylic is pliable enough that it's not quite as easy to break. It takes a lot of prying and working your way around the housing to pop the acrylic off. I didn't find any secrets. Before you do this, loosen the headlight adjuster at the bottom all the way. Once you pop off the lens, you'll slip a little white nut out of an adjuster bracket.



No need to take the reflector out of the housing. I'm planning on riding for a few days with the projector in there in a temporary fashion- if it works well, I'll spray paint the lower reflector section black, since it's not doing anything now.

Cutoff mask solenoid wires need to be fished through. Also: the black ring around the new light is a piece of PVC coupling that I cut, it stabilizes the projector when the light is tightened down in the reflector.




The adapter for the H4 headlight bulb doesn't really register anywhere in the stock headlight. In this picture, it's upside down, I fixed that later. Again, once I test this thing out, I'll use some sealant on the reflector side to make sure the light doesn't spin.


Where we are at this point:


I was thinking I had H1 HIDs in my fog lights, but they're actually H3s. So I need to order some new HID bulbs for this. For now, I put in a H1 halogen bulb, and rigged up some wires to adapt the bulb to the H4 socket. I'll give it a test run tonight or tomorrow night, I'll try to snap some pictures of the headlight beam.

[Narsisco Lopez]

Thinking about ordering up this kit (H4/Bi-Xenon) to retrofit my stock US headlight from The Retrofit Source ~ $150 for the kit doesn't seem too bad. Anyone have any experience with these guys or another Morimoto Mini source?

[mydlo]

Originally Posted by Narsisco Lopez

Thinking about ordering up this kit (H4/Bi-Xenon) to retrofit my stock US headlight from The Retrofit Source ~ $150 for the kit doesn't seem too bad. Anyone have any experience with these guys or another Morimoto Mini source?

I actually ordered the kit on Friday afternoon. I emailed some questions to TRS and they were very helpful and fast to respond. They were able to put together a Sportbike III Kit with the Morimoto 5Five 50W ballast and light for an extra $5! With the free shipping coupon I found, I ordered the whole kit for $155 shipped. Not bad.

[bomose]

There is a Touratech in the flea market for $275.http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=758899

[Narsisco Lopez]

Originally Posted by bomose

There is a Touratech in the flea market for $275.http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=758899

Yeah, I saw that one.... parts from a wrecked rally fairing. IMO, it's kind of a mess for $275.

[mydlo]

Originally Posted by mydlo

I actually ordered the kit on Friday afternoon. I emailed some questions to TRS and they were very helpful and fast to respond. They were able to put together a Sportbike III Kit with the Morimoto 5Five 50W ballast and light for an extra $5! With the free shipping coupon I found, I ordered the whole kit for $155 shipped. Not bad.

Just an update: I just got an email from TRS this morning recommending I get the Morimoto Mini H1 versus the D2S light because they feel the installation will go more smoothly without any need for cutting the housing. Something to consider if you're going to go this route.

[Narsisco Lopez]

Originally Posted by mydlo

Just an update: I just got an email from TRS this morning recommending I get the Morimoto Mini H1 versus the D2S light because they feel the installation will go more smoothly without any need for cutting the housing. Something to consider if you're going to go this route.

Curious... if you go H1 vs. H4, is there gonna be any extreme OEM harness mods?

[mydlo]

Originally Posted by Narsisco Lopez

Curious... if you go H1 vs. H4, is there gonna be any extreme OEM harness mods?

H4 is the halogen designation for the US Spec headlight (bulb type and base) and is the style the Morimoto projector housing uses so you don't have to modify the way it mounts. The H1 is the HID bulb type and projector assembly. The Sportbike Stage III Kit is on TRS website as a D2S bulb type and projector assembly. (You can't put a H1 bulb in a D2S housing much the same as you can't put a H7 bulb in a H4 housing.)

Regarding the wiring, the kit from TRS (as I understand it) will include a harness that will have all the appropriate connectors to just plug-and-play the kit with the OEM wiring - no splicing needed.

I got the shipping notification this afternoon so I'll know for sure when I get the kit later this week, but I'm hoping the only thing I have to do is take off the headlight, open it, remove the halogen bulb, insert the HID projector, re-seal the housing, pop in the bulb and plug all the connectors together and I'll have some sweet lighting! Time will tell whether I'm right or not...

Cliff Notes: (Sometimes I type too much...)
I ordered a H1 HID (projector, bulb and ballast) to fit a H4 halogen housing with a wiring harness.

[mydlo]

Originally Posted by slackmeyer

Ok, I got the Morimoto H1 projectors this week. They look pretty solid, better than I expected actually. Now I'm not really worried that they will shake apart- I'm just afraid that the stock headlight reflector won't be up to holding the extra weight of the projector- we'll see.

<<<>>>

I was thinking I had H1 HIDs in my fog lights, but they're actually H3s. So I need to order some new HID bulbs for this. For now, I put in a H1 halogen bulb, and rigged up some wires to adapt the bulb to the H4 socket. I'll give it a test run tonight or tomorrow night, I'll try to snap some pictures of the headlight beam.

Any updates on your progress? Did you get the kit or just order the projectors?

[slackmeyer]

Originally Posted by mydlo

Any updates on your progress? Did you get the kit or just order the projectors?

I just got the projectors. It's in there, and I've ridden a few hundred miles so far, but almost none in the dark.

Like I said, I thought I had the right HID bulb, but I didn't. So it just has a parts store halogen H1 in it for now. At the moment, the light pattern seems good (nice sharp cutoff, most of the light centered), but it wasn't putting out as much light as I hoped. I'll wait for the HID to make any judgement though.

I had to leave off the projector shroud- the headlight wouldn't quite adjust high enough before the shroud rubbed the acrylic headlight lens. Test this before you seal the headlight back up.

As far as wiring: it's pretty simple- the HID ballast gets power all the time. You can switch it if you want to be able to turn the light off for startup. The black wire from the solenoid is grounded, the red wire goes to the high beam position of your H4 female plug. Don't use the low beam part of the H4 plug for the HID ballast, because then your light will go out when you flip on the high beams. A relayed line from the battery to your HID ballast is ideal.

Why did TRS say that the D2S morimoto wouldn't fit as well as the H1? I went with the H1, but I'm just curious.

[mydlo]

Originally Posted by slackmeyer

I had to leave off the projector shroud- the headlight wouldn't quite adjust high enough before the shroud rubbed the acrylic headlight lens. Test this before you seal the headlight back up.

Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by slackmeyer

Why did TRS say that the D2S morimoto wouldn't fit as well as the H1? I went with the H1, but I'm just curious.

I guess the H1 projector is shorter than the D2S projector and they weren't sure if the D2S would completely fit without trimming the reflector.

[slackmeyer]

Originally Posted by mydlo

I guess the H1 projector is shorter than the D2S projector and they weren't sure if the D2S would completely fit without trimming the reflector.

Ok, if it's shorter, then the H1 is definitely the one to get. H1 seems to be at the limit to fit inside the housing. Once you start trimming the reflector, you've got a whole different project- you'd need to make your own system for mounting the light in the housing.

[LAYNFRM]

that looks like a pretty badass setup! i might have to look into getting one soon. i still might squeeze a LED light from my light sponsor above it though if i can, lol




i decided to wait to get started on cutting the factory housing up after y'all posted the TRS site, since i might go that route for main lighting. i DID however do this yesterday with one of my RIGID 6" LED bars i bought before i was ever sponsored. i went with the flood beam. if my second brake line ever comes in, i'll go ahead and actually run the high fender setup. here are some horribly crappy cellphone pics of both with and without though.

after cutting the grille






without high fender





with supermoto high fender

[alpo996]

Nice job there, LAYNFRM! That project is on my to do list. I had thought that the double-row lamp would be too thick to work with the high fender, but you got it in there. Please PM me with project pics if you have time.

Thanks,
Alpo