Custom projector install in 97 Camaro! have a question....
 

I am currently in the works of making a custom headlight setup on my 97 Z28. As some of you know a couple guys have installed a set of hella 90mm projectors with excellent results. Well im going to do something similar except a little more complicated. I bought a pair of D2S HID projectors off a new Audi A3 e-code. Unlike some of the other guys I still want to keep the basic 4 rectangular sealed beam headlight shape. I will basically be doing the same type of thing that all high end car manufactures do by mounting the projector in a housing with the clear lens in front of it covering the unit. My question is, I am going to be cutting a 2" hole in the center of a stock H4351 sealed low beams to mount the projector lens flush in. Only thing im worried about is if it is possible to cut the glass on our sealed beams? I have many types of drill bits, and a dremel tool, but will this work? Another question, if I cant manage to cut a hole in the center of the glass sealed beam, does anyone make the H4351 sealed beam but with a plastic outer lens? This will obviously be much easier to work with. I have many pictures of the install so far of the projector unit and how I managed to seal the unit and modify the headlight housing area. Thanks for any help.
JT

My guess is to use a concrete cutting drill bit, as it is going to be the best thing IMHO. Might want to cover the lens with masking tape too, to kind of catch the granuals so you don't cut yourself.

Igive it a 10% sucess rate with Glass lenses.

FWIW, I *think* the AutoOptiks 9006/9005 lenses are plastic, but I could be wrong.

Yeah I was curious about the autooptiks as I thought they were plastic. Can anyone confirm this? I have heard nothing but bad things about autooptiks but thats ok because I wil be cutting it up and it will not be used for any sorta lighting just cosmetics:-)

Auto-optiks ones are glass.

Alright thanks for the help guys, looks like im going to be working with the glass here. Im thinking what I can do is atleast get a hole started with a smaller glass cutting or masonry bit. Then pick up a couple of the glass cutting dremel bits and work my way around until the hole is large enough to snuggly fit the projector lens in place. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know.
Thanks

That sounds like an ambitious project! I like the idea of keeping the stock appearance with rectangular headlights, but I am curious as to how you are going to make the whole thing weatherproof. The A3 units are most likely not weatherproof by themselves, right?

Sam

You are correct the A3 unit is nowwhere near weatherproof by itself. I had to custom make a shroud out of sheet metal and carefully silicone seal it all around making it air tight. Since I have the unit totally air tight now and painted, I fit them in the headlight area just to see how it would look. This is NOT the finished product. It actually looks sweet and now im thinking I might not even have to bother with cutting the stock sealed beams. I will put a few of the pics up on webshots please let me know what you guys think. Should I leave them sit in place how they are in the pics or should I still try to make a custom outter lens to keep the 2"x5" rectangular look? Im just waiting on my new HID kit with stock specs Philips D2s bulbs and Hella ballasts to arrive. Notice how small the Audi A3 projector lens is?
Let me know. Go to this link then go to Custom Audi A3 projector Install.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jts97z28

Thanks

Told you the round look grows on you! ;) It will grow on you even more if your get high beams that are round!

I don't know what you paid for these Audi projectors (most of them are actually Hella's), but you could have done this just as easily with the Hella 90mm units. The actual projector lens is only 45mm in diameter and they are relatively cheap.

Anyways, looks good man! I wouldn't bother cutting stock lights etc... you'll only be able to see that during the day when they are not on. At night, you can't see them anyways! Go for the round look! :D

Sam

Yeah your right that round look did grow on me. I know I could have used the Hella 90mm BUT the Audi A3 projector I have is specifically made for a D2S HID bulb NOT halogen. I know the light output of the Halogen H9 in the Hella 90mm is excellent but I had to have HID. I didnt feel like doing another retro HID in a housing it wasnt designed for thats why I went with this housing instead of the H9 Hella 90mm. This way I will have a full true HID system. BTW you are correct the Audi A3 projector unit is also Hella.