Keep it simple but effective, and no turn signal since we already have them.

 

I believe i have replied to all your PM's, thanks for the positive support. Mray, as per my email, i'm not looking to step on anyone's toes here, only posting due to the numerous requests from members who have seen them on corvette runs.

I'm chugging along with the manufacturer. They're designing according to my cad specs, but i'm not sure their bi-xenon will fit in the low beam's current spot due to the mount bracket and vertical adjustment lever. I had used a standard projector in the design, but for bi-xenon the size of the solenoids and electronics varies from projector to projector. If it touches, it'll have to be moved slightly towards the inside.

Two projector or Bi-xenon? If the latter, we need ideas for the high beam side! I'll keep you all informed of the progress, the ball's in their court now.

One more thing, i haven't been quoted a final price, but it's looking around $460-470 for complete plug n play - the headlights, bulbs, ballasts, and ignitors. They will mount just like our current headlights and the ballasts just need to be connected to the old 9006 plug. Hardest part will honestly be deciding where to mount the ballasts. Don't quote me on that, just thowing out a ballpark figure.

 

Importaint question for everyone! Do we want to keep the black shroud that goes around the headlight? I was originally planning on using the same headlight shape and using the black shroud again...but looking at those other headlights....

Its getting complicated, but it would be possible to install a light that fills in the whole pop up area, which uses the lines of the headlight as as a border instead of the black trim.

If you can, pop up your headlights and let me know what you think. Again, not sure if this can be done in a timely manner or not, so i'll guage interest and move accordingly. Keep in mind no one's really going to ever see these lights unless it's dark out, so how importaint is style?

 

WTF? Ball dropped? What ball? Mray has been straight up about what is going on with his possible products so I see no way how the ball was dropped. Second how the heck is asking a question about non pop ups going to "overwhelm" SFengineer? He is obviously an intelligent person who can handle thinking about more then one item at a time. Not to mention that alot of people have the C5R head lights it might be possible for him to offset the cost of pop up headlights by having something to better the C5R's. Ever heard of discount prices for buying in bulk?

SFengineer...excellent work so far. I am very interested in a set. The stock pop up stink and are ugly. If you can dump the shroud with something that looks better I say go for it.

 

 

Luke-

My pm didn't have anything to do with this project. As far as stepping on my toes...again..I have been through this already...I have learned not to rush a product to market. I understand everybody wants them but, liability, legalities and waiting for the best products I can get is the only way I will do it. I think this community should understand that.

 

Dayum, . I wasn't talking about MRAY at all. I meant that SFengineer picked up the ball from my original thread and had made quite a bit of progress already. Many responded they were interested. Then came a bunch of opinions about style, fixed, etc. If he can address everyone's issues, great. BUT if he gets overwhelmed then then none of us gets this upgrade.
My guess is that 90% of those interested will be happy with a nice HID unit that will bolt up to our original housings with minimal effort. Then, if possible, branch out to the other applications. Am I wrong here?

 

I know the shroud is used for aerodynamic purposes and to fill in the unsightly gap around the stock head lights but I would have to see what these would look like, without the shroud, to give you an honest opinion.

If it is possible to create a unit the exact same size as our stock head light assemblies and use the shroud so it will appear stock then I believe this will give the best results and have a cleaner appearance.

There is also the issue of clearance with using a larger head light assembly. Is there room for a larger head light assembly without further modification? Usually the best solution is to keep it as simple as possible Remember this should be a simple plug and play unit because not everyone out there has mechanical aptitude.

This is all speculation though since I have not seen the unit you described above that would fill up the entire area and not require a shroud.

 

Guys, nobody dropped / picked up the ball here. Mray is still making his set, and his delay has been caused by the manufacturer. As far as non pop-ups, perhaps in the future. Currently i'd just like to offer a quality HID option so we can see at night!

Back to the product, working with the legalities between bosch, hella, and valeo. All those names come with a additional price tag over generic, so i'm doing the best i can. If there's any preference as to which one you'd like, let me know. Bosch is the largest, but also the hardest to fit. If they don't cut us a deal, the projectors themselves are going to be $200+ and we start over. My minimum order has been raised to 5000 to compensate for the extra cost of true HID DOT testing. I'm confident these extra units can be moved due to the extra measures we're taking to make these headlights better. These units will be DOT approved for HIDs, not just halogen approved like most are!

Let me know if i'm going in the right direction. They're going to match the quality and output of a BMW 5 series, yet lets keep in mind the C6 projectors are not German ECE like we're trying for here. Also, C6 light output is rather low, running in the mid 1.5k lumen range, while the bulbs and projector i'm dealing with are the standard 2.3k. Let me know, I'm planning on using these lights myself.

 

I'm listening......

 

I just want to replace my stock lights by the time they roll back daylight savings time! Had my eyes checked yesterday for the first time in fifteen years. All was good but I was told "welcome to your 40's" and expect to get some glasses for nighttime driving. The optometrist was gorgeous so that seemed to help my attitude a little. The HID's can only help and might even save some small wildlife. I truly appreciate the efforts and will definitely commit to buying a set. I assume that the number needed of 2000 or 5000 sets can be divided by two?

 

Sounds great SFengineer,

I am willing to pay a little more for a high quality DOT approved HID setup. Sounds like you are going in the right direction.

From what I have heard, I believe that Bosch makes the best HID lights

 

I was about to say the same thing, but with out the gorgous eye doc!

 

LOL! Y'know I am still thinking about that appointment... thinking about going back and buying some more glasses

 

Count me in!

Please add me to your list of contacts! Thanks!

 

I would love to buy JUST the housings. I have HIDs in ecode H4 lenses right not and would like to re-use my hardware. As such I would need a housing and an H4 projector.

Please, please, please let me know the name of the manufacturer as I would love to be able to get my hands on one of these housings yesterday! I have no intent to sell a "kit" but I have been looking for a projector that will fit my car for almost 6 months.

Mray can kiss my a$$ -- no way I'm paying 1K+ for setup. My HIDs cost $200. Welcome to capitalism, the more competitors in the marketplace the better.



-N

 

Well, the manufacturer is Shiniest Industries, the only problem is they're not working with me for the brand name (ie Bosch) HID's unless the purchase is 5000 minimum, which takes the total investment to over 1 million. To do a standard projector the number is 2000, which is do-able, and i'm promised the cutoff will be no different from a bosch. They won't do individual molds, they say that's almost all the cost, not the production.

Let me know what you think guys, i was blind-sided with the cost and number necessary for brand names. Basic facts for those running the Ecodes - typical reflectors run at 27% efficiency, parabolic projectors at 52%, also, a projector will always have a better cutoff. Even without the brand names, bottom line is these will produce twice the lights of the Ecodes and a better cutoff. I can still offer the standard setup for sub 500, but once again, i can't do brand name.

 

The non-brand names will still be a vast improvement over what we currently have so on that regard I have no problem here.

Does it look at this time that the 'standard setup' will still be a bi-xenon projector? Or when the manufacturer says "standard projector" does that mean a seperate low/high beam setup still with the HID parts?

 

Luke -- this is why Mray (an others who develop custom one-off) products face a steep up front investment. It is also why most of these great ideas never make it to the consumer. Getting enough people to front the cash up front in order to fill the manufacturers requirements is next to impossible. The only way to do so is to get some real investors or vulture capital (aka venture capital) to front the cash up front. In which case you would be well advised to contact vendors and see if they would be interested in buying bulk units. In which case, essentially, what you'd become is an importer or a middleman. You would seel a kit which mnfr Y charges you 10 cents for 15 cents, making 5 cents per unit. The end result, is that your margins would be next tiny. Not to mention that your 10 cent kit will end up costing the end user a grand or so

There is, of course, another way: become a retroffiter. What you do is make custom setups per customer. So an individual would contact you and say "Luke I want an HID projector setup." You would then buy a housing from the mnfr and the associated parts per the customers order. Then you would fabricate it all together and ship it off to the customer. Nobody cares about DOT certs or any of that bs, they just want a plug-and-play setup. You know per Mray's pricing the delta for most here is 1-1,500K for a "kit." As such a turn key made to order setup for $800 that you hand build, would leave you with a nice profit, and others with a good product. You should research HID retrofiters on other car boards, but I can assure you it is a striving niche market. It is no different than a skilled artisan, and people are willing to pay the bucks for it.

So in sum, forget trying to get a kit made. Share the info, and get into the retrofit busines. Heck, I could be your first customer.

Like I said, I have looked at this problem from top to bottom for many months now, hit me up on AIM and we can go into further details.

-N

 

How did you get the buckets/housings? Is there a part # for said items?

-N