Here is a simple guide on how to retrofit projector lenses into your stock oem headlight housings.
I highly recommend buying a set of aftermarket headlights because the OEM housing is sealed with some type of superglue/epoxy and its REALLY REALLY hard to pry apart. I ended up breaking most of the back housing and melting bits here and there trying to do this.
Things you'll need and want:
1. Aftermarket OEM style headlights by Eagle Eye - $150 (find a d/c coupon and save $$$)
http://www.am-autoparts.com/2006/Hummer/H3/HeadLights/AM-14870348/349269.html
2. Ebay or Morimoto Mini H1 Projector lenses. - Ebay $65 or Morimoto $120
Ebay kit - http://www.ebay.com/itm/XENON-2-5-M...113205&_trksid=m185&item=290612345214&vxp=mtr (Submit your best offer!)
Morimotor Kit - http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?products_id=3181
3. Projector Shroud of your choice, I just used the one that came with my Ebay kit.
3a. HID kit of your choice, but you will need to request to have H1 Bulb with H13 Harness. The Bulb will plug into your HID ballast, the H13 will be from the ballast to your car's harness for a plug & play operation.
3b. If you want to retain the Hi/Lo beam feature, the H13 harness from the HID kit will have extra red/black wires. The projectors will also have extra red/back wires. Just wire them up directly and you will have Bixenon feature. (basically electric current flips the cut off plate inside the projectors giving you Hi beam pattern) - I chose to skip this.
4. Heat Gun - I purchased mine from harbor freight tools for $13.99
5. Your choice of prying tools (scapers, flat head screwdrivers, picks, and what not)
6. 3M Window Butyl Sealant. This is what other car manufactures use to seal their lights. Better than silicone, easy to work with and its resealable.
7. Clamps to hold the glass down in the end when you put everything back together.
8. Misc. stuff like gloves, paper towels, pliers, and etc.
9. Black spray paint if you want to paint your housing.
In order to remove the headlights, you need to first remove the grill held by 4 x 10mm bolts and 2 x 10mm nuts. Unplug the headlight bulb harness from the back and yank it off. Try to be gentle yet force full to pop them off the bracket.
You don't need to remove the brackets off the truck unless you need to replace your turn signals as well. Its actually easier to yank it off while its on the truck.
Its held by 3 self popping clips, this picture shows the bracket with the headlight removed, you can see the 3 prongs:
Here is the back of the headlight that shows the 3 self popping clips:
The tools you will need to separate the lens off the headlights are a thin scapper, small flat head screw driver, various prying tools of your choice and a heat gun.
Start by heating in between the lens and the back housing:
It doesn't matter where you really start. Be careful not to melt the plastic so keep your eye on it, also it get hot fast (my gun only had two settings, low/572F and Hi/1112F) You only need to spend about 2~3 min per side (4 sides since our headlight is a square) with the LOW setting, slowly pry it open. Hi Setting will most like start melting things first before you even have chance of prying it open :giggle:
If you pry to hard the plastic housing will break very easily. Its okay to crack and break a little, it wont do any harm in the end.
After you have removed the lens, you will want to clean off excess sealant on the housing, this will ensure a nice clean surface to put your new sealant for a nice tight seal. Don't get to OCD on cleaning it though:
You will also want to remove the reflector box, OEM is held by a torx 15 bolt, my aftermarket was just held by a screw, you can toss it in the garbage if you want.
I wanted mine to be blacked out so I taped up what I didn't want painted and used high temp black spray paint to paint the housing;
Now once the paint dries, insert the projectors into the housing. The projector kit will come with all the fittings and screws you need.
The way its held is basically you put the projector through the front, then is screwed on from the back to prevent it from coming out.
The projectors have a top and bottom and is clearly marked on it.
Make sure the top goes to the top and the top screw hole should line with the vertical lines of the back housing. You can actually peep in to see the cut off plate. Double check that plate is straight and parallel to the bottom of the headlight housing:
Tighten from the back using pliers, don't over tighten as you don't want to to break the housing.
Once done, start inserting the butyl in the grooves of the housing, try to get in one piece/roll to make nice and clean:
Then make sure your front lens is clean and free of finger prints or any smudges and put them back on. Now with your hands press on it hard till you get all the clips from the lens to clip back on.
You might not be able to clip all of them on, so use the heat gun again to warm up the butyl enough to get them soft and press again. Do this over and over till everything is uniformly sealed.
Then use clamps to hold them down till it cools:
And your done! Put them back on your truck and adjust the beam pattern (search on how to adjust your headlights, its the same procedure)
Here is how it looks once finished:
I highly recommend buying a set of aftermarket headlights because the OEM housing is sealed with some type of superglue/epoxy and its REALLY REALLY hard to pry apart. I ended up breaking most of the back housing and melting bits here and there trying to do this.
Things you'll need and want:
1. Aftermarket OEM style headlights by Eagle Eye - $150 (find a d/c coupon and save $$$)
http://www.am-autoparts.com/2006/Hummer/H3/HeadLights/AM-14870348/349269.html
2. Ebay or Morimoto Mini H1 Projector lenses. - Ebay $65 or Morimoto $120
Ebay kit - http://www.ebay.com/itm/XENON-2-5-M...113205&_trksid=m185&item=290612345214&vxp=mtr (Submit your best offer!)
Morimotor Kit - http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?products_id=3181
3. Projector Shroud of your choice, I just used the one that came with my Ebay kit.
3a. HID kit of your choice, but you will need to request to have H1 Bulb with H13 Harness. The Bulb will plug into your HID ballast, the H13 will be from the ballast to your car's harness for a plug & play operation.
3b. If you want to retain the Hi/Lo beam feature, the H13 harness from the HID kit will have extra red/black wires. The projectors will also have extra red/back wires. Just wire them up directly and you will have Bixenon feature. (basically electric current flips the cut off plate inside the projectors giving you Hi beam pattern) - I chose to skip this.
4. Heat Gun - I purchased mine from harbor freight tools for $13.99
5. Your choice of prying tools (scapers, flat head screwdrivers, picks, and what not)
6. 3M Window Butyl Sealant. This is what other car manufactures use to seal their lights. Better than silicone, easy to work with and its resealable.
7. Clamps to hold the glass down in the end when you put everything back together.
8. Misc. stuff like gloves, paper towels, pliers, and etc.
9. Black spray paint if you want to paint your housing.
In order to remove the headlights, you need to first remove the grill held by 4 x 10mm bolts and 2 x 10mm nuts. Unplug the headlight bulb harness from the back and yank it off. Try to be gentle yet force full to pop them off the bracket.
You don't need to remove the brackets off the truck unless you need to replace your turn signals as well. Its actually easier to yank it off while its on the truck.
Its held by 3 self popping clips, this picture shows the bracket with the headlight removed, you can see the 3 prongs:
Here is the back of the headlight that shows the 3 self popping clips:
The tools you will need to separate the lens off the headlights are a thin scapper, small flat head screw driver, various prying tools of your choice and a heat gun.
Start by heating in between the lens and the back housing:
It doesn't matter where you really start. Be careful not to melt the plastic so keep your eye on it, also it get hot fast (my gun only had two settings, low/572F and Hi/1112F) You only need to spend about 2~3 min per side (4 sides since our headlight is a square) with the LOW setting, slowly pry it open. Hi Setting will most like start melting things first before you even have chance of prying it open :giggle:
If you pry to hard the plastic housing will break very easily. Its okay to crack and break a little, it wont do any harm in the end.
After you have removed the lens, you will want to clean off excess sealant on the housing, this will ensure a nice clean surface to put your new sealant for a nice tight seal. Don't get to OCD on cleaning it though:
You will also want to remove the reflector box, OEM is held by a torx 15 bolt, my aftermarket was just held by a screw, you can toss it in the garbage if you want.
I wanted mine to be blacked out so I taped up what I didn't want painted and used high temp black spray paint to paint the housing;
Now once the paint dries, insert the projectors into the housing. The projector kit will come with all the fittings and screws you need.
The way its held is basically you put the projector through the front, then is screwed on from the back to prevent it from coming out.
The projectors have a top and bottom and is clearly marked on it.
Make sure the top goes to the top and the top screw hole should line with the vertical lines of the back housing. You can actually peep in to see the cut off plate. Double check that plate is straight and parallel to the bottom of the headlight housing:
Tighten from the back using pliers, don't over tighten as you don't want to to break the housing.
Once done, start inserting the butyl in the grooves of the housing, try to get in one piece/roll to make nice and clean:
Then make sure your front lens is clean and free of finger prints or any smudges and put them back on. Now with your hands press on it hard till you get all the clips from the lens to clip back on.
You might not be able to clip all of them on, so use the heat gun again to warm up the butyl enough to get them soft and press again. Do this over and over till everything is uniformly sealed.
Then use clamps to hold them down till it cools:
And your done! Put them back on your truck and adjust the beam pattern (search on how to adjust your headlights, its the same procedure)
Here is how it looks once finished:
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What could I do to get rid of the condensation? You think if I put a air pump inside the bulb hole it would let all of it out?
