2000 ls430 hid retro!!!

[Another_person]

Kinda a repost of my other thread, but I'm finally done!!. The pre 06/07 to 06/07 conversion kit was ok, but it wasn't as perfect as I would have hoped. It was pretty close and everything still turned out great. There was a lot of trimming involved and so parts that were not included in the "bolt-on" kit, but it came out great. I obviously going with ls430's. I've opted to do a tsx clear lense swap. I'm using one spacer, which gives the cutoff a little more blue/purple, and makes it extremely noticably sharper.
For the led's I'm using 52 amber superflux leds at about 60mA's for marker/turns. I'm going to drive the led's using an opti-drive pwm. Led boards are covered with aluminum tape, which was a HUGE pain to cut out the led locations. They'll be potted before I put them in the headlight. There are 20 led's in 2 colums pointing forward, and 32 pointing outward.

I do have future plans to retro the fog lights with either tsx projectors or es300 yellow projectors, but that is for later on.

CUT OFF PICS!!!

 

[Another_person]

This picture is with the led's at full brightness, so parking lights would be dimmer, but you get the idea...

DONE!!!

 

[2000UZJ]

Looks great!looks like a huge improvement how much was the whole project? If you don't Mind.

 

[Another_person]

Looks great!looks like a huge improvement how much was the whole project? If you don't Mind.

the 07 conversion kit was $1000 and I was suppose to get 200 back when I shipped the old parts back, but I think I can sell them myself for more...the ls430's were $350, bulbs and ballast were like 200 I think. The harness and other smaller parts were about $50

 

[1loudLX]

very clean workmanship, looks OEM. Great job.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

very nice results , pro like , i wish it came like that from the factory.....how do you adjust the projectors sideways and in elevation?
did you do the rear LED lights conversion?

Erick.

 

[campoj2]

Sweet and well beyond my skill level!

 

[Another_person]

the 06/07 headlights have horizontal and vertical adjustments, so that made it easy to aim. I just had to make sure everything was level.

The rear leds will probably be in a few months or so. I'm still not sure if I want to build my own tail lights or use the 06/07 led tail lights. Mostlikely I will try and make my own if I can find a cheap spare set to work on.

I'm happy with the way everything looks so far, I just wish the bumper sat a little higher...Theres a slightly uneven gap under the valence panels, but that might be my fault because I might of missaligned the rivets.

 

[mlchang]

Great work. Cutoff looks good. How far from the garage door were you when you aimed the lights?

I love LS projectors because they always have such a wide spread.

The LED work looks awesome.

 

[hks3sgte]

Incredible! I don't think I have the skill for a retrofit, but I really would LOVE this mod.

 

[ginericLC]

HMMMM! wonder if my VW lights would work? I have HIDs in it. I could just put some cheap lights in it as I'm going to trade it off anyway.

You did a very nice job. I'm impressed. It reminded me of my days working in the car stereo shop. Time and patience and real craftsmanship to make a unique and quality product.

 

[jhrrld]

A_P:

I'm going to be doing this mod to my 06 in the very near future, just waiting on potting my ballasts basically. I was planning on retrofitting these into my existing headlights but I'm concerned that I might not be giving myself enough time to do it right IF I go that way... Do you think it would be better to buy some replacement light housings and then sell off the stock ones once I'm done?

Awesome job by the way

 

[Another_person]

Great work. Cutoff looks good. How far from the garage door were you when you aimed the lights?

I love LS projectors because they always have such a wide spread.

The LED work looks awesome.

The door is about a camry's length away...so about 16 feet or so? Its raining around here to day so I probably can't get any outdoor pics tonight

A_P:

I'm going to be doing this mod to my 06 in the very near future, just waiting on potting my ballasts basically. I was planning on retrofitting these into my existing headlights but I'm concerned that I might not be giving myself enough time to do it right IF I go that way... Do you think it would be better to buy some replacement light housings and then sell off the stock ones once I'm done?

Awesome job by the way

I think it just depends on how long you can go without driving your cruiser. Realistly, you could finish it in a day especially if its just putting in the projector. Pulling the headlights apart ~45minutes, about two hours to mount/aim the projectors, another hour or 2 to trim the shroud, and ~45 minutes to reseal the headlights. What really gets you is the dry time put the cap on in the back. in your case, I think you can just reuse the rubber seal and that should be good. So all in all, you "could" finish this in about 7 hours, but you should plan for 14 to be on the safe side. I think it took me about 15 hours, but that was with the front end modding and doesn't include dry time.

 

[Another_person]

some output shots. I still need to find a larger darker area to get everything, but so far...wow. Its actually kinda scary to see that much light right next to you. As I drive down the road, its almost like theres this flashlight that is pointed directly sideways. And its not a low light either, Its as high as the projector, so the light is at about 3ft high straight across.

 

[jhrrld]

AWESOME!

How did you seal up the back of the headlight housing?

 

[Another_person]

AWESOME!

How did you seal up the back of the headlight housing?

I just used a pvc cap. I put some jb weld on a few spots and then a bead of rtv all the way around.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

Another _person , could you please check (provided that you still have it) that the old grill fits in between the new lights perfectly...
that would mean that it is interchangeable i can then order a 2007 grille for my 05.
thanks ...
Erick.

 

[Another_person]

Another _person , could you please check (provided that you still have it) that the old grill fits in between the new lights perfectly...
that would mean that it is interchangeable i can then order a 2007 grille for my 05.
thanks ...
Erick.

the 98-02 grills are different from the 03-05 though...The filler pannel on the 98-02 goes all the way across the bottom where the 03+ only has the filler valence panels under the headlights. The top of the grill fits in between the headlights for sure, but I can't confirm that the bottom lines up.

 

[Naples Cruiser]

i see what you mean i thought you had a 03+ .....the grill is different on yours not as high as mine , judging by your pics and comparing to mine the 07 and 05 are similar in size , i just want to be sure as i am ordering the grille on monday ..
can you confirm though that the 07 grille has 3 screws on top and rest on 2 small plastic adapters that fit on the bottom of the headlights ....thats all i need to know and i do thank you for your time..
Erick.

 

[Another_person]

i see what you mean i thought you had a 03+ .....the grill is different on yours not as high as mine , judging by your pics and comparing to mine the 07 and 05 are similar in size , i just want to be sure as i am ordering the grille on monday ..
can you confirm though that the 07 grille has 3 screws on top and rest on 2 small plastic adapters that fit on the bottom of the headlights ....thats all i need to know and i do thank you for your time..
Erick.

Yes, mounting wise, that is the same. I just double checked the parts number on the valence panels under the headlights, and they are the same from 03-07, so that should mean that the grill is the same size between 03-07. This means the 07 grill should be a dirrect swap. I also checked some of the other components between the 03 and 07 years, and it looks like everything but the headlights and the grille are the same. This means that if anyone wanted to switch to the newer style, it would just be a new pair of headlights and the grille; unlike the pre 03's that need a new sub-assembly like mine.