Bi Xenon Projector Retrofit Write Up

[HowlFZ6]

Great suggestion and great writeup. I followed your descriptions and the instructions from the sportbikes.net link and finished this mod over the weekend. The light output is fantastic and makes driving at night much less nerve racking. Thank you very much!

 

[Boneman]

Great suggestion and great writeup. I followed your descriptions and the instructions from the sportbikes.net link and finished this mod over the weekend. The light output is fantastic and makes driving at night much less nerve racking. Thank you very much!

Got pics? Let's have a look!

 

[HowlFZ6]

I have a couple pictures from when I was putting it together, but nothing different from what's already been posted. I'll take some pics tonight and maybe a video. It is most impressive at night.

 

[HowlFZ6]

Here are 2 pics of my results from Makanouchi and Fizzer6's writeup.

I love the way the front of the bike looks when the mod is complete. It really transforms the look from Horny Dragonfly to Angry Hawk. That's a great side-effect when what I really wanted was functional light output.

You can see the shutter for the low-beam creates a well defined line across the garage. This is especially fun in the twisties - watching the horizon of light dive into the corner with you.

I made a video and may post it later. All I had was a GoPro Hero Wide. The audio is terrible.

Some comments:
This is not a plug and play mod. It's not like buying parts from JCWhitney and bolting them on. It takes some creativity. Designing and fitting the template for the aluminum plate takes time. The projectors I bought off ebay (claimed FX35) needed o be trimmed to fit the plate. Some parts will need to be modified and cannot be returned to OEM.

That said, it isn't especially difficult. I bought all the parts on ebay through Buy-It-Now for less than $400. I don't do this for a living. I am not a motorcycle or auto mechanic. There is plenty of information on the web (here, sportbikes.net, and HID planet). If anyone needs additional info, or gets stuck midway through, feel free to PM me.

Thanks again Makanouchi (and Fizzer6). Great write-up!

 

[mpa4712]

Did anyone happen to save their template that they traced onto the aluminum? If so, that would be great to reproduce for everyone. I would like to do this mod, and would pay a little money to have a template to trace onto my aluminum ready to go. It could be something as simple as reproducing the template onto a piece of computer paper or posterboard. Anyone happen to have saved theirs?

Mark

 

[makanouchi]

I still have my template, shoot me an email and I'll send you a scanned pdf.
[email protected]

 

[makanouchi]

Here's the template for download, it is a .tif file.
MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

 

[clunk]

Here's the template for download, it is a .tif file.
MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

Thanks for the template. Can you tell me what some of the relevant dimensions are so that I can make sure that it wasn't altered during printing (i.e. "shrink to fit"). I've found a 9"x5.5" piece of aluminum on eBay and was wondering if I could cut both sides out of that (looks like it'd be close).

Do you have any other suggestions for sources for the aluminum? My local Lowes only had 1/16" treadplate.

 

[Fred]

Clunk,

You have two choices. First, there's Westbrook Metals.
http://www.metals4u.com/

Then there's Metal Express.
http://www.metalexpress.net

Both of these companies have Dallas offices.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[specialk]

those lights look awesome..do you know how much more wattage (if any) they consume over stock? I run heated grips and a dual headlight mod and I think I am already exceeding what the bike's charging system is rated for. I am wondering if this mod would make it worse???

thanks for the great write-up in any case. nicely done.

 

[brad81987]

those lights look awesome..do you know how much more wattage (if any) they consume over stock? I run heated grips and a dual headlight mod and I think I am already exceeding what the bike's charging system is rated for. I am wondering if this mod would make it worse???

thanks for the great write-up in any case. nicely done.

They draw almost half the wattage as stock.

 

[makanouchi]

The scan is a 100%. I printed it and compared to the original template and they are exactly the same size.

Thanks for the template. Can you tell me what some of the relevant dimensions are so that I can make sure that it wasn't altered during printing (i.e. "shrink to fit"). I've found a 9"x5.5" piece of aluminum on eBay and was wondering if I could cut both sides out of that (looks like it'd be close).

Do you have any other suggestions for sources for the aluminum? My local Lowes only had 1/16" treadplate.

 

[clunk]

OK, I picked up a set of FX35 projectors ($103 shipped) and G35 ballasts/igniters/bulbs ($104 shipped) from eBay yesterday. I just need to get the aluminum plate and a couple of relays and I'll be good to go ...

 

[clunk]

I posted this over on SBN too, but I can use all the help I can get ...

Got the FX projectors and G35 ballasts/igniters/bulbs this weekend. I've powered everything up to verify functionality (don't look directly into the light!). Relays, sockets, and fuse holders are on their way from Parts Express, and I've got a line on some aluminum plate.

Now, a couple more questions have arisen.

1. My projectors have some extra bracket metal on either side of the rear piece. Did you just Dremel that off?

2. There's also a yellow wire coming off the back. Should that be connected to ground for any reason?

3. Can you just use a screwdriver to "pry" off the shrouds holding the lenses to the projector casing?

4. Did you somehow manage to spray paint the projectors with the high temp paint (and if so, how did you avoid any overspray to critical parts like the solenoid, shutter, and reflector?)?

5. Do you have any "rotational" adjustment freedom to adjust the projectors to ensure that the output is exactly horizontal once the aluminum is cut? It seems like the aluminum adapter sets the installation angle, no?


Thanks again for all of your help. It was really exciting to power up those lamps for the first time!

 

[makanouchi]

1. Yes, dremel
2. Didn't use the yellow wire
3. I didn't pull the shrouds, I taped the shrouds and lens together, but it looks like you can pry them off.
4. I disassembled the whole projector assembly before painting, solenoid, shutter, everything. take some pictures if you're not confident about re-assembly
5. No rotational adjustment.

 

[makanouchi]

Question from PM:

Question about the projector mod that you did-to get both lights to be on at the same time-did you have the dual headlight mod done already ? Or do you run the brights all the time ? Or do both lights come on all the time and brights are just that much brighter ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks-hope to do the same soon.

The dual headlight mod does not apply to the projectors. The way the wiring works, the left low beam headlight (+) goes to the (turn on) lead on the relays to turn on both projectors. The high beam (+) and (-) goes to the projector highbeam senolid to open the curtin for the high beam. Both headlights are on all the time and when you trigger the high beam, both lights have high beam.

 

[clunk]

Any hints on where you mounted your ballasts? I was planning on putting them in the lower part of the fairing, but there's not really enough room. Next choice is the sides of the fairing with some industrial strength mounting tape (or velcro?).

I also made the pod light LED mod and the high beam garage door opener part of this mod. It's easy to dril out the pod light sockets while the headlight is open, and I just wired the garage door opener into the high beam wiring harness when I was soldering that up.

One word of caution ... don't play around with the ballasts too much before installing. I was screwing around prior to installation (just wanted to light up the HIDs in their new housing) and ended up frying one of the ballasts (I think by cycling on/off too much/too quickly). Can't finish the mod'til the new one arrives ...

 

[alcalina]

Don't you have any problem because the blindness problem when you are doing a turn?

Because I think when you do a turn the farol make a angle like / instead -----

I´m worried in doing because this.

 

[makanouchi]

I mounted my ballast in the front fairing under the headlights. I drilled some small holes and used zip-ties. Thought about mounting them on the sides using tape but didn't want to risk them falling off over time.

Blindness?? Wouldn't the factory lights have the same problem as the projectors?

 

[clunk]

Ok, just about through. I aimed the lights last night and took a quick ride to enjoy the new brightness. I have one remaining problem though. As I was finishing the reinstallation of the fairing trim pieces, I had two screws left over! They are the same kind that attach the black plastic piece on either side of the instrument cluster and up by the mirrors. I've gone back and forth through the installation and can't figure out where they belong. Any ideas?