• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

How To retrofit HID projectors in your cladded Avalanche

mrobers

Full Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
255
Location
Netherlands
Somehow most USA cars seem to lack good lightoutput from the headlights, especially compared to most of the cars over here in Europe. And then there is the (lack of) cutoff. Horrible  >:D

When I first bought my '02, I immediately replaced the normal bulbs for a Xenon aftermarket set which made a difference between night and day. Litteraly. I drove like this for almost three years now, but never liked the cutoff. Gladly enough I didn't blind upcoming traffic, but I did light the entire neighbourhood including the trees  :E:

After reading several posts about retrofitting projector lights and the fact there are no aftermarket headlights for our
cladded Avy's, one of my friends bought a G5 HID BiXenon Headlight Projector kit with angel eyes from ebay :

http://r.ebay.com/bKSsx1

What a difference! The result was noticably more light-output and a razorsharp cutoff. I couldn't resist and also bought the same set and a week later, my headlamps were in the oven  (y) Underneath I will try to write a 'How To' for alle steps involved, together with some pictures.

257opig.jpg

In this picture you see my original headlights with the Xenon-aftermarket kit. Don't mind the roadsalt; it's cold over here and they keep salting our roads.

vq4jt2.jpg

Open up the hood, remove (or put aside) the turnsignal-housings. Remove your headlights and take them inside. Here you can see my slimline Xenon-ballasts.

2ue1dsj.jpg

The G5 HID BiXenon package includes everything you need; the projectors (shown here), H1 Xenon-bulbs, wiring-harness with relays, convertor-plates for H4, 9005, 9007 etc. etc.

34t8hmu.jpg

We used a heated air oven set at 110 degrees Celsius and placed the headlamp inside (one at a time) for about 10 minutes. Remove the headlight (HOT!) and carefully begin to pry the clear plastic lens off using a flat screwdriver and a butterknife. It takes some strenght and when you think it is too hard, put it in the oven again for a few minutes. The temperature softens the seal so the lens can be removed.

m7qcdd.jpg

When the lens is removed, you can remove the headlight-adjuster on the back of the housing by turning it 90 degrees
counterclockwise and pull it out. It takes some strenght because it connects to a balljoint inside the housing to hold the reflector.

145xt3.jpg

Once the adjuster is removed, you can pry out the black reflector-housing and after that, pull out the reflector itself. The reflector is held by two balljoints on the bottom.

1gqfxs.jpg

Next, you have to remove the antiglare bucket to make room for the projector itself. Carefully pull it out and get rid of it (unless you are are planning on restoring the headlight in a later stage.

qqeb12.jpg

Here you can see where the antiglare cup was mounted (upper side of the reflector)

8x98g1.jpg

Just slide the projector-units throught the bulb-hole while making sure the 'up' text is pointed upwards and tighten the
retaining-screw which holds the projector in place.

2wnpqf6.jpg

Here you can see how it eventually looks inside the reflector-housing. Looks factory huh?

2hrljq8.jpg

Place the reflector back in the housing and click it firmly on the lower balljoints. Put the adjuster back in and also push
it firmly back into the balljoint on the reflector. Turn the adjuster upwards as seen in the picture on the backside of the
housing. Replace the black reflector housing.

n68041.jpg

Once everything is put back together, push the plastic lens back onto the housing and place it in the oven (lens facing
upwards) for another 10 minutes. The original sealant will soften. When you remove the headlamp from the oven, keep the lens pushed firmly against the housing. I used duct-tape to keep it in place while it cools down. After it is cooled, you can put some extra sealant around the edges for some extra protection and to keep moisture out.

30ct6v4.jpg

Put the H1 Xenon bulbs in the projector from the backside and fasten with the supplied small screw. Put the rubber boot tightly against the housing and you are ready to put everything back on the Avy! Here you can see both headlights mounted back on my truck. I re-used my existing ballasts but the kit comes with ballasts and also a wiring-harness you can use for cabling directly on the battery. The harness also provides hi-beam (they are BIxenon) and the angel eyes. I didn't use the harness but might do it in a later stage.

4vr8xx.jpg

Well, it doesn't look aftermarket, does it? Looks like factory to me!

244w77q.jpg

On top you can see the lightoutput before. Remember I already had Xenon (6000K) in it. You can clearly see the 'blobs' of light and there is virtually no cutoff. The picture below shows after I retrofitted the projectors. You can see the
lightoutput appears to be brighter and there is a razorsharp cutoff. In this picture I still had to adjust the headlights to
the correct height but it shows the difference. It might be necessary to loosen the retaining nut of the projectors and turn them a bit to get the cutoff nicely horizontal.

2vjvpcm.jpg

Here you can see the halo (angel eyes). Looks nice, but could look a bit tacky on our Avy's. Maybe I'll connect them at a later stage :)

I hope this gives you a good impression of how to retrofit projector lenses in your cladded Avalanche! With many thanks to Michaelmiata89 for helping me. If you have any questions; please let me know!
 
Great writeup! And, based on the writeup, it appears the swap was pretty easy to complete.


I didn't realize the projector housing would screw into place in the OEM housing so easily. I figured you had to butcher the housing to try to get the projector housing to fit properly. The one thing you left out that people will probably be asking for is how much do the projector housings cost?
 
MyBigToy said:
Great writeup! And, based on the writeup, it appears the swap was pretty easy to complete.

I didn't realize the projector housing would screw into place in the OEM housing so easily. I figured you had to butcher the housing to try to get the projector housing to fit properly. The one thing you left out that people will probably be asking for is how much do the projector housings cost?

Thanks. Could become a sticky? :)

There are several types of projectorlenses on the market, i.e. G1, G3, G5, G8, MiniH1 and they all have different specifications. Michael found that the G5 was just a drop-in in our housings so eventually the only 'difficult' thing to do is to open up the housings in the oven. No other modifications necessary so this could be a mod-for-everyone.

I posted the link to the ebay-seller so there you can see the costs :) But to help you guys: after some offers to the seller on ebay, we got our sets for $150 and free shipping to the Netherlands. Remember that this kit includes everything you need; most other kits lack the ballasts or bulbs.
 
Nice write up mrobers, I still have to try mine again. I think the halo may be better off tied to the exterior lighting circuit with the puddle lights.
 
very nice write up.   I attempt this on my 08 'hoe.   I was unsuccessful in separating the lens.   I am attempting later this week on an aftermarket set.
 
mrobers said:
I posted the link to the ebay-seller so there you can see the costs :) But to help you guys: after some offers to the seller on ebay, we got our sets for $150 and free shipping to the Netherlands. Remember that this kit includes everything you need; most other kits lack the ballasts or bulbs.

Sorry, I totally missed the link this morning!
 
this is a great write up and looks fairly easy to accomplish. I may have to do this myself now, I love the halo looks, but all aftermarket lights for pretty much every car I seen look distracting, and plus there is nothing for my 03 cladded. But this looks great and factory, great job. This really needs to be a sticky.
 
Hello mrobers,

I'm curious, would a G5 projector lens also fit in the high beam socket? This is mostly for the aesthetics. I just like the look of 2 angel eyes.

Also for anyone who has ordered these, I already have ballasts/HIDs, if I order a different size bulb with the projector to use in another area of the truck, does the G5 projector change at all where it wouldn't work with my 9006 lows.

 
ok, so the OP doesn't have anything in the hi-beam area? Or he has a high beam and they are functional only through HID kit.  Or, lol
can you get a signal and not the bi-xenon kit and still have functioning hi-beams?  just want to make sure before I pull yet another trigger.  And what HID style would fit in the fogs?  I'm sorry, its an old post, and I have a bunch of questions.
 
In this case I didn't wire up the highbeam solenoid in the projectors because I wanted the original highbeams to come on for signaling / flashing. If you were to use the projector and disabled the original highbeam, and you want to flash someone, it is not so effective. Xenon takes some time to reach its operating temperature and brightness so flashing isn't good for the components. But it is very simply possible.
 
So even though you got the bi-Xenon kit, you didn't need the high beam, so it wasn't hooked up.  So in essence, I don't need to buy the bi-Xenon kit, just the a regular Xenon kit?  Am i correct in saying that?  It should still work/function the same as stock.  Now, when you do flash the highs, do you have a module that keeps the lows from going off.  I'm new to this.  Sorry for all the questions.  I just don't want to be going down the road flash the high beams and then have a delay before the lows come back on. complete darkness, scary.  If you know what I mean.
 
Absolutely. If you decide not to use the high beam on your projectors you can simply just buy the non bi-xenon versions. Although I don't think they will be much cheaper.

When you just flash the high beams - i.e. not pull the lever through the click - the low beams remain on. When you completely enable the high beams, the low beams (your projectors) will turn off. There are some instructions out there on how to prevent this but I like this myself.
 
mrobers said:
Absolutely. If you decide not to use the high beam on your projectors you can simply just buy the non bi-xenon versions. Although I don't think they will be much cheaper.

When you just flash the high beams - i.e. not pull the lever through the click - the low beams remain on. When you completely enable the high beams, the low beams (your projectors) will turn off. There are some instructions out there on how to prevent this but I like this myself.

Mrob,
  I love the write up.  I've been looking for halos and projectors for my '06 Avy.  I've seen a few complete sets online for sale, like these http://www.amazon.com/Spyder-Auto-Silverado-Projector-Headlight/dp/B004W4OG0U/ref=pd_sim_sbs_auto_1 Of the sites that are selling them, they state that they are not for cladded Avs.  I have a cladded Av, but not having an uncladded Av to compare it to, I can't really see why they wouldn't work.  The cladding doesn't touch the lens surface at the bottom (there is just smooth metal extending about an inch below) and the cladding doesn't touch the sides of the headlights either.  Any thoughts?

Cheers!
Scott
 
Okay guys so right now I have a customer over in florida that got in touch with me and wants me to build him a set of custom headlights for his 2005 avalanche. heres my plan.
Bake the headlights
take them apart
somehow mask off the headlight buckets
paint rest of the housing flat black
remove the masking
make custom CCFL halo rings with a wireless switch to go between white and red on the led that lights up the rings
heat them back up slighty
squeeze them back together
seal them with window weld
put in HID bulbs.
reinstall all headlight parts
ship them to him
 
read some more into it. was told that the more and the better quality the prep work, the better off it will be.
So when I do in fact take them apart I will mask off the buckets, clean the housing with denatured alcohol, wet sand with 1000 grit sandpaper, blow out all the dust, clean again with denatured alcohol, spray adhesion promoter, spray high heat primer, spray high heat black, spray high heat clear, let dry for 24 hours, then continue with the rest of the install
 
First off, thanks for the great step by step instructions.  Questions:
1.  The headlight housings you have on this Avy don't look like the OEM ones--were they replaced?
2.  I looked at eBay and they have these bi-xenon lights--what is the bulb size you used?
3.  How long did this conversion take?
4.  What bulbs are you using in your front marker lights-LEDs?
5.  Do the new low-beam bi-xenon lights stay lit when you go to highbeam too?
6.  What brand of xenons did you use in your high beams?
7.  Did you also convert your fog lights?

As you can tell, I want to upgrade my 02 as well.  Only mods done so far are the DVD player and the night-vision back up camera.  Thanks!
 
Sorry for the late response; I did see your post on the forum and I will answer your questions there also. I've been very busy with preparing our Rally Grand Cherokee which we will be using for the Libya Rally 2014 in a few weeks (www.facebook.com/chaosboyz4x4rally).


1. As far as I know I still have the original housings. At least I didn't change them since I bought my Avy 4 years ago and when I last time compared them to the housings of other Avalanches in our country, they do look exactly the same. We also did the retrofit in another '02 of a close friend of mine.

2. I initially chose the G5 HID projectors mainly because of the attractive pricing. And I do have to admit; they work perfectly and give a fantastic output including sharp cutoff. However, when I would ever do it again, I would think about chosing the more expensive H1 Mini retrofit projectors (currently version 6 I believe). They look very much the same but use common H1 bulbs. The G5 however uses less common bulbs like these (quickly found and they can be found cheaper) :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/55W-4300K-HID-Replacement-Bulb-for-G1-G3-G5-G8-HID-Bi-xenon-Projector-Lens-Light-/251312353209

3. The conversion took about 2-4 hours for both headlights. After they were put together (use butyl tape, not silicone-based kit!) whe let them dry out for a night and them put the lights back on the car.

4. I think you mean the running lights/turn signals above the headlamps? I use switchback type 2 LED's from V-LEDS.com. The bulbs in the daytime running lamps (next to the foglights) are - I believe - 8 watt LED bulbs (don't have a picture of them)

5. I only connected the lowbeam side of the projectors; I think my friend also connected the high beam side but I'm not sure. I use the original highbeam reflectors for high beam. When you flash the highs, the lows (projector) stays on. When you complete turn highs on, the lows turn off.

6. I did not use Xenon in the highbeam just because Xenon takes some time to warm up and therefore isn't really suited for flashing your high beams on the road. Here in the Netherlands we seldomly use high beams but we do use the flashing. I put some highpower blueish bulbs in the highbeams.

7. Not yet; I am planning on replacing the fog housings and when I complete that, I will put Xenons in them just because of the extra light on the road when I'm driving on isolated roads. But the need isn't that high because the projectors produce insanly amounts of usable light without blinding anyone. Currently I also have LED's in my foglights.

When I remember I will create a new video of the lighting on my Avy. The last one isn't as great as in real life (mainly it looks like very blue lights while they are 6000K and very white, not blue), but it gives an impression :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss_gd_vfUWg&feature=share&list=PLbtJ8l63tEmNffvuW8FCd6Ax8mEuOG-32&index=3

If you have any other questions; no problem!
 
Think I may try the H1 projectors you suggest.  They are about $120 more though, so that may have to wait a bit.  With summer coming, it's light until after 10pm, and sunrise is around 4:30am, so I may wait until fall so I can save my pennies!  You've been a HUGE help though!
 
OK, ordered my G5 lights today from eBay.  Got the same kit you did, but the price is now $155 with free shipping.  Will let you know how it goes!  Excited to finally get some serious lighting on the road, and feeling good that I won't be blinding on-coming traffic by just slapping in blue-colored bulbs like the kids do!  Any suggestions for finding a high beam bulb that is close to the 6000k of the bi-xenons?  Could I use the high beams AND the high beam function of the bi-xenons?  Otherwise I'll do like you did and just use the low-beam setting for the xenons.

One more question--when you click over to high-beams and then back to low, do the bi-xenons come back on at full light or do they have to warm up again?

Thanks Mike for all your assistance.  Give yourself a raise out of petty cash....
 
im tempted to do this to my truck but since my headlights housing are origional will the standard ebay 85 headlight housings be ok to heat up and take apart.  im just concerned that they have their lense cemented in vs the standard adhesive.

If i did do this upgrade, whaich projector housing would be the better bet, the mini h1 6.0 round projector or the new mini d2s 3.0 square projector.  if i go with the bi xenon set up would it be feasible to run both the hid on high as well as my regular high beams?  If i can run it this way then i might do the bi xenon hids and install v-leds new 2000lumen led headlight bulbs for the high beams.

morimoto_mini_d2s_3.0_stage_iii-5749.jpg
 
Mrobers--did you ever get your other video up?  I am about to attempt this mod.  Also just got my LED lights for the DRLs and the Fog Lights, so I'm hoping I'll have plenty of light.

I just re-read your original post and you didn't use the ballasts supplied with the G5s.  Darn, I was hoping to cheat off your notes on those too.  The instruction page is, well not well-written and hard to understand in parts. 

Lastly, what sealant did you use on the headlights after you were done?  Butyl?  Silicone?  I'll assume you did that "post baking" the lights.  I am so ready for some serious wattage on the road!  Thanks again.
 
Back
Top