2nd bugeye wrx retrofit. Goodbye oem look. Hello sheet metal & acrylic. (progress pics)

[satrya]

The procrastination list grows...

Let's see. Here's the list of topics to procrastinate so far:

1. Extra flowing metal shapes (post #36)
2. Cover / expose turn signal bulb from the side (post #52)
3. Color scheme of the shroud (post #55)
4. New: Frosted cover ahead of the LED diffuser (post #62)

Time to move to another area. One thing that seem to disrupt the overall silhouette of the headlight when lit in darkness is the reflection of the e55r's output on the bottom side of the shroud (circled red). This area creates a brighter glow compared to the stray light collector pieces (both the acrylic one in the turn signal area and the metal one on top of the e55r).


The easiest solution I can think of is to apply a flat black adhesive backed tape in that area. Here's one cut from a heat insulation tape. The orange color is the backing, before it is peeled to reveal the adhesive.




I need to test whether or not the silhouette is positively impacted by this. I didn't want to paint a flat black directly on the shroud because a lot of elements are already glued in, so masking them would be a challenge.

I'm also a bit aprehensive about using the heat insulation tape. I'm not sure if it can maintain its surface quality from the sunlight & HID exposure over time. I like the fact that it is thick and flexible, allowing a smooth transition into the steped area of the turn signal recess.

[serega12]

great looking set up. im getting more and more ideas from you guysl. like possibly moving the agressive eyelids inside the housing when i open them up for the retrofit...

[gold94corolla]

Why don't you simply paint that lower surface flat black?

[gold94corolla]

Do you mean you replaced each LED with individual LEDs of similar size, or with a cluster of LEDs that require a bit of material removal?

I replaced the entire thing with my own LEDs, so rather than having the standard superflux 194-type bulbs, I wired in some 5-chip superfluxes like this.



I then glued them to the outer reflector piece (you can see all the access hatches I cut out)



And then finally, I glued the covers back on. I plugged the holes with the original wire harness with the rubber fittings.

[satrya]

great looking set up. im getting more and more ideas from you guysl. like possibly moving the agressive eyelids inside the housing when i open them up for the retrofit...

Thanks. Yes, the flowing metal piece around the LEDs are where most Jun style eyelids sit on, outside the headlight. I tried something like this (instead of the bigger Jun style) before taking them out for this version 2 build:

[satrya]

Why don't you simply paint that lower surface flat black?

Because I already have various pieces glued onto the shroud, and masking them without affecting the painted areas seem risky at this point.

I replaced the entire thing with my own LEDs, so rather than having the standard superflux 194-type bulbs, I wired in some 5-chip superfluxes like this.

...

I then glued them to the outer reflector piece (you can see all the access hatches I cut out)

...

And then finally, I glued the covers back on. I plugged the holes with the original wire harness with the rubber fittings.

I see. Thanks for the perspective. Very useful.

So when one of the LEDs need replacement, you'd have to remove the reglued back housing, and glue it in again.

Isn't that risky? Granted, none of the LEDs I used for my wing riser aux. turn signal needed replacing after ~10 years, but still...

[gold94corolla]

Ah, see now those yellow eyelids on the outside of the head light is precisely what I was thinking you should build, but inside the head light! And, that's why I thought they should not light up... since eyelids don't light up right???

Because I already have various pieces glued onto the shroud, and masking them without affecting the painted areas seem risky at this point.

I agree, putting tape over freshly painted areas will take the paint off!! I only mentioned it because I thought the parts were still separable.

So when one of the LEDs need replacement, you'd have to remove the reglued back housing, and glue it in again.

Isn't that risky? Granted, none of the LEDs I used for my wing riser aux. turn signal needed replacing after ~10 years, but still...

Yes, that is the idea, if the LED burns out, I can easily remove the hot glue from the door and it comes off. You'll notice all of the internal areas (except for the CCFL halos) are accessible from the back, without needing to remove the lens! Granted, I didn't keep these head lights long enough to use the doors. But how is that risky? The idea was to reduce risk.

[satrya]

Ah, see now those yellow eyelids on the outside of the head light is precisely what I was thinking you should build, but inside the head light! And, that's why I thought they should not light up... since eyelids don't light up right???

Or do they?

Yes, that is the idea, if the LED burns out, I can easily remove the hot glue from the door and it comes off. You'll notice all of the internal areas (except for the CCFL halos) are accessible from the back, without needing to remove the lens! Granted, I didn't keep these head lights long enough to use the doors. But how is that risky? The idea was to reduce risk.

I guess removing the hot glue is a bit more involved than pulling the rubber grommet + LED out and replacing it with a new one to me. The location of these LEDs will be obstructed by portions of the front clip (of the chassis), so the headlight has to be removed, which means disconnecting lighting related connectors, ram air intake scoop, etc. I suppose risky isn't quite the right word; more like not-minimal-effort

[satrya]

More boring (but necessary) details

Setting aside the pile of procrastinate list for now, and time to take on boring but necessary details.

This time, the acrylic ring that won't be lit up, but merely inserted to fill the gap between the (enlarged) shroud opening and the Mini D2S. Recall that this opening used to be made for a ~2 1/4" halogen high beam reflector. More than 2.5" diameter had to be carved out to allow the Mini D2S to fit.

Because the depth clearance is tight, the Mini D2S had to jut out quite a bit. As a result, the acrylic ring interferes with the gap between the Mini D2S' lens frame and the shroud. Time for some trimming. Looks simple but is quite time consuming, especially since once material is removed, filling it back undetected is practically impossible. At least with my skill + tool set.



A split second loss of concentration in front of the drum sander gave this ring a frosty notch where it shouldn't be. See? Note to self: Need to be careful when working on the other headlight's ring. Or I can always add it to the procrastinate list.
Note: That blue hue on the smoked metal piece is from the blue sky, not a paint scheme for the headlight.

[gold94corolla]

I guess removing the hot glue is a bit more involved than pulling the rubber grommet + LED out and replacing it with a new one to me. The location of these LEDs will be obstructed by portions of the front clip (of the chassis), so the headlight has to be removed, which means disconnecting lighting related connectors, ram air intake scoop, etc. I suppose risky isn't quite the right word; more like not-minimal-effort

Oh, well of course I have to take off the head lights to do anything... I just meant without opening the head light. Since I used my own LEDs, I didn't go to the trouble of making them compatible with the rubber things. So, I suppose now you could replace the LEDs without removing the head lights at all?

[satrya]

Oh, well of course I have to take off the head lights to do anything... I just meant without opening the head light. Since I used my own LEDs, I didn't go to the trouble of making them compatible with the rubber things. So, I suppose now you could replace the LEDs without removing the head lights at all?

Sorry, I didn't phrase the connection between the two correctly.
What I wanted to say was I prefer the rubber grommet method as is, and that the additional hassle of having to remove the headlights due to the front clip obstruction makes me less open to entertaining additional steps like removing glue and gluing things back together.

[satrya]

Another diffuser experiment

Setting aside the tinting and trimming of the other acrylic ring for now...

Here's another small experiment. Since the LEDs (even with the circular diffusers) still cast bright spots on the frosted piece, I wanted to see what happens if portions of the frosted piece is blocked off with a reflective tape.

The idea is that the bright spots will hopefully disappear. In addition, the reflected light will bounce off the flowing metal piece under the LEDs, and then back through the frosted piece portions that are not taped off.

Bottom one shows the inner side, with the reflective tape applied on the upper portion. Top one shows the outer side, with the reflective backing on the other side making it look almost opaque white instead of metallic silver. A rough initial template sits underneath the 2 frosted pieces.

Now that truckstang67 mentioned (post#72), I keep seeing the Nike swish shape instead of just a random flowing shape.


How does it look on the headlight? It doesn't look that different. From certain angles, it gives the illusion that the flat frosted piece is actually a 3D shape, like a curved double edged blade.


From a higher elevation:

[satrya]

Maybe I should've made the reflective tape cover more areas, only letting a thin strip on the bottom of the frosted piece to pass light through. Oh well, here's the piece unchanged. Simulated night pictures.

Very long exposure (1600 ISO, 1/30 sec exposure on the left, 1/15 sec exposure on the right), varying elevation views:



Closeup, short exposure (200 ISO, 1/200sec exposure):


Baseline (i.e. no frosted piece), same camera settings:


Closest comparison with frosted piece, without reflective material, very different camera settings (320 ISO, 1/60sec exposure):



Slight side view (200 ISO, 1/200sec exposure):

[gold94corolla]

OK, now that is just weird and way overthinking things LOL!! The LEDs aren't evenly blocked (the bottom one is blocked more than the top), and it makes the uncovered area look even more "exposed" than if there was no cover. IMO.

[satrya]

OK, now that is just weird and way overthinking things LOL!! The LEDs aren't evenly blocked (the bottom one is blocked more than the top), and it makes the uncovered area look even more "exposed" than if there was no cover. IMO.

I think I'm ok with some of the LEDs being more obscured than others, it makes it more organic. One thing I didn't like with the angry birds eyebrow in version 1 was that the 3 LEDs line up perfectly and have identical light footprint. If they are progressively smaller, it would've looked nicer imho.

Better overthink now than miss an opportunity after sealing the headlights.

For some reason, I can't shake off the Nike swish notion that truckstang67 mentioned. The reflective tape was my attempt at trying to find a good reason to keep the frosted piece. I think they will not go into the headlights now.