Members projector retrofits

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
The plan is to put them in tomorrow and see what adjustments they need. Think I'll get up early and do that. Had to wash the truck this evening and didn't want to risk any unseen water dropping anywhere on them.
 
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Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,681
Tampa Bay Area, FL
Lol just when you thought you were ready for testing... The mod bug decides it wants a side dish to eat real quick.

Looks pretty good just like that actually. Hopefully the alignment will be good so you don't have to mess with them more.
 
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dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Lol just when you thought you were ready for testing... The mod bug decides it wants a side dish to eat real quick.

Looks pretty good just like that actually. Hopefully the alignment will be good so you don't have to mess with them more.

I'm really hoping the universe is that kind that all they will need is vertical adjustment which can be done with the headlight adjuster. Maybe Christmas comes early.
 
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Mar 30, 2016
1,465
KSA
Seeing all these posts, i just can't wait till I'm back home to work on my retrofit. Have been slowly getting all the parts ready this time and not just getting into the action without the right tools. My Dad got me a nice dremel tool as well as an electric screw driver (the more the merrier :2thumbsup:). Have also finally managed to pick up some fuse taps. It's going to be a loonngg wait till i can get back into it. :Banghead:

But when I'm done hopefully I'll have earned my place in the GMTNation Hall of Retrofitters :yes:
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
I'll attempt to do preliminary testing tonight. Going to pull off the headlights when I go home for lunch so that when I get home this evening it's just to put in the LEDs and check them.
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
....... initial testing went worse than I thought. X does not mark the spot. Seems the flat spot on the bottom of the high beam reflector does not sit level in the housing. This is what I was using to level the projectors for initial testing.IMG_20171221_180027.jpg IMG_20171221_180039.jpg IMG_20171221_180153.jpg
 

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,681
Tampa Bay Area, FL
Yeah, that sucks man. I got pretty lucky that the bottom of the TB reflector bowls are fairly close to level, so clamping them to a flat surface was pretty good for initial aiming.

Hopefully just a little reaming of your screw holes will give you enough wiggle room to even those out.
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
The Envoy retro is on hold for about a week or so. I need to find some patience to deal with it. In the mean time I'm doing a quick retro on the ATC from spare parts laying around. Morimoto MiniD2S 2.0 modded for more colorful cutoff, Ford Edge amber LED park light as active demon eye, shield painted red as passive demon eye, Osram 4300k D2S bulb, and eBay ballast with amp to D2S adapter. Will finish up tomorrow since I'm waiting on paint dry.IMG_20171221_063437.jpg IMG_20171225_161219.jpg IMG_20171225_174830.jpg
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Got it finished, but not without issues. Turns out the ATC does not put out enough amps to fire up the ballasts. So I had to modify an H7 bulb to fit, which caused some bowing in the cutoff and killed some color on the cutoff as well. Oh well for it's purpose it will do.
IMG_20171226_174445.jpg
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Fiiiiiiiinally found some patience and tested out the lights again. Passenger side was fine, but of course the driver side which is the side that got hit needed more. So I quickly modded that as I know if I left it like that it will be a while before I touch them again. Got the driver side modded up some more. Later today I will mod the shroud as it touches the headlight bezel. I think I'll still have yo notch the bezel. Or maybe I opted to just notch only thing bezel and leave the shroud as is if possible. I'm aiming to finish up this week...it's been tooooo long.
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Pretty much only the put back on the lens and wiring. I'm using the old lights for now. If I like them then I'll swap over the reflectorsIMG_20180123_071314.jpg to the new lights.
 
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dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Ok so what's left now is to refinish the lens. I'll call this v1.0 as there are still things I want to do, but need to make sure it will even be worth it. If all goes well v2.0 would be using the new housings, making a shroud extension out of the heat shields removed and getting rid of the play that exists in the valley and socket connecting points for the reflectors.
IMG_20180124_064610.jpgIMG_20180124_064702.jpg
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
There's good news and bad news. Good news is the lights are polished and installed. Bad news is they are too high and can't be adjusted any more down. My guess is since I'm only using two bolts per projector...upon tightening them it pulled the back down and thus the front went up. Couple that with maybe the bolts bring too long and eventually started to hit the housing in the back because there's enough room in the front between shroud and headlight lens. I'll have to take the them back down and fix. I'll leave them in until then and enjoy the look. Dont need to drive at night right now. And damn this switchbacks are DRL bright at day without the lens over the turn signals.IMG_20180125_075158.jpgIMG_20180125_075155.jpgIMG_20180125_063045.jpgIMG_20180125_071828.jpgIMG_20180125_071821.jpgIMG_20180125_071716.jpgIMG_20180125_071722.jpg
 

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xavierny25

Member
Mar 16, 2014
6,324
Staten Island, N.Y
There's good news and bad news. Good news is the lights are polished and installed. Bad news is they are too high and can't be adjusted any more down. My guess is since I'm only using two bolts per projector...upon tightening them it pulled the back down and thus the front went up. Couple that with maybe the bolts bring too long and eventually started to hit the housing in the back because there's enough room in the front between shroud and headlight lens. I'll have to take the them back down and fix. I'll leave them in until then and enjoy the look. Dont need to drive at night right now. And damn this switchbacks are DRL bright at day without the lens over the turn signals.View attachment 82988View attachment 82986View attachment 82978View attachment 82979View attachment 82980View attachment 82981View attachment 82982

You know I want a pic of them switch backs off a wall. Since you don't have lenses on them corners. Night pic of course.
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Ok sure I think I can do that later since I have to see how badly off the height is. I do think I'll have the same issue you mentioned as I could make out something reflecting off my water tank.
 
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xavierny25

Member
Mar 16, 2014
6,324
Staten Island, N.Y
Without the lens over the bulb u get some funky beams from the LEDs.
View attachment 82998

These bulbs are little much with out a cover over them. I can see why on coming traffic flash there lights at me. Lol. Because the reflection is vertical I don't think it's that bad but I'll eventually do something about it on my end.
 
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dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
These bulbs are little much with out a cover over them. I can see why on coming traffic flash there lights at me. Lol. Because the reflection is vertical I don't think it's that bad but I'll eventually do something about it on my end.
Yes I was looking at them from the front. They are so blinding! I love the look with the LED bulbs exposed but I will have to swap over clear lenses.
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Got the lights torn down back and found my problem. It was not the mounting bolts touching anything. When tightening the projector it pulled down the back of the projector this in turn pushing up the front. The lights did not have enough adjustment to compensate and the reflectors were touching the bezels.
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Got everything fixed and assembled back. Will install them back tomorrow. The projectors fit sooooooo much better now. I have already started planning my foglight retro using OEM GM sealed projector foglights like the Equinox and various models use.
 
Mar 30, 2016
1,465
KSA
Got everything fixed and assembled back. Will install them back tomorrow. The projectors fit sooooooo much better now. I have already started planning my foglight retro using OEM GM sealed projector foglights like the Equinox and various models use.

I am curious about Equinox projectors and how they would fit flush with your truck 🤔

EDIT : Never mind. Just remembered you have an envoy and not a TB :duh:.

I plan on doing my fogs as well. Should be an easy retrofit
 

07TrailyLS

Member
May 7, 2014
423
Toledo ohio
Hey guys. I’ve been rather bored recently and really want to get my hands on another set of trailblazer lights. So if anyone needs any sets retrofitted don’t be shy to ask. I’m not trying to sell my services. Some of these guys charge 800+ in labor. I just want to do it for fun basically. I’d only charge parts and 150 in labor. I can post more pics of the set I did last year. I just know there’s a lot of guys who want them done, and don’t have the know how. I would see if the guys at tbssowners want theirs done but there is 2 or 3 guys who do them religiously on that site. Just thought I’d ask.
 

07TrailyLS

Member
May 7, 2014
423
Toledo ohio
A69FC953-5DD9-4E12-ADC1-DAB96459E1EF.jpeg77D81B58-DA5D-4738-B77D-809722C01CBB.jpeg8D0CF353-B9EA-400A-B420-2BAA97EE1185.jpeg5085CB70-96F9-4BB7-920D-111D5B9B9369.jpegEF275A7A-ADCE-4A74-8CA7-F42406B04DF0.jpeg

The first picture is a before and after. I posted some of these before up the list. The last picture was taken this passed summer maybe late July ‘17. I can go out after work today and get some daytime shots after being in the truck for a year and a half. I used morimoto MD2s 4.0 projectors. Xb35 ballasts and 35 watt mori. Bulbs. I would like to do a set with demon eyes/ halos for someone just for a “look what I can do” book. I can assure everyone these lights are done much better than HALF of what I see “professional” installers do on facebooks headlight junkies page. I was even thinking about maybe doing a set for free just so everyone knows I’m not a “hack” and CAN do this. I’ve also been wanting to retro some 7.0s into fogs as well. If anyone would want that.
 
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dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
UPDATE... It's nice to have a focused uniformed beam instead of bright but scattered light of just PnP HID. By no means is it comparable to other good HID based projectors but I did some night time driving on the highway and with the foreground lighting of the foglights I was fine. Rotation of the driver side is slightly off and I think that's just due to the fact that the headlight sits a little different with the lens on as opposed to when I tested it without the lens and that's the side that got hit. I can fix that whenever I swap out lenses, but for now it doesn't really bother me because the cutoff is not razor sharp so it's not that noticeable.

Onto the next project... started on the fog lights. This is a Frankenstein build with TYC Impala projector foglights, Saturn Aura foglight brackets, and the Envoy foglight mount. I plan to use a projector shroud but haven't decided which one from my collection. The Aura uses the same fog as the Impala along with many other GM vehicles, but I learnt that they have different mounts depending on the vehicle, but same fog light itself. I ordered some stuff from Lightwerkz...5k H11 HID bulbs for the foglights and 5k 194 bulbs for headlight park lights to match the switchbacks.
IMG_20180204_171918.jpgIMG_20180204_171117.jpgIMG_20180204_171203.jpgIMG_20180204_171159.jpg
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
Ok so currently I'm running around with GM projector foglights and 5500k NHK HID. Three issues I'm having that I don't like. I am pleased with the output of the foglights as they put light where I need it, but also hate warm up time; especially when switching from high to low beam when they come back on. Yes I know I can wire it to stay on but I don't want it like that. Also, now I have a shaking due to there being so much weight Infront of the mounts and well no bumper bracing at the bottom. There was a little with the stock fogs but those are lighter and are set further back. Now I am in the process of remedying this with brackets. I have already made two and I need to make some side ones as my vehicle never had the ones that come from the bottom corner of the bumper cover. Next issue is I can't get a shroud setup that I like so right now it's shroudless and I hate the black look it has. Sooooooo...I've ordered chrome LED Jeep Wrangler fog lights. Honestly, I wanted an LED solution before I went with the GM one's, but I could not find one that didn't cost $100+. These ones will have a cutoff and not just a spot or flood beam and based on the videos and reviews I think they should work.
 
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