# Bored at work = sealed beam retrofit project



## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

I'm a regular lurker but rarely post. This is one of the few projects I felt proud enough of to toss up for public consumption. I work at a machine shop and recently started designing a 7" round to house a 2.5" projector. After having some stuff water jetted, turning a few pieces, and finishing the visible parts with various scotchbrite pads, I'm ready to start putting them together.



































































































































































Just waiting for the second bit of epoxy to cure now so I can finish putting the lens on and start working out the backing and the wiring.


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

Just wrapped up the front end. Rather than use butyl glue and glass I wanted to try a replaceable acrylic lens and an o-ring to seal it up. Hopefully it works ok.











All buttoned up!


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## BiH (Nov 27, 2000)

that looks great, what car is it going on?


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

BiH said:


> that looks great, what car is it going on?


7" outers for my Mk2 GTI. Should have more pictures soon when I get the housing caps finished up. Trying to get these on the car by Christmas.


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## racerpoet (Apr 20, 2013)

gtiador said:


> 7" outers for my Mk2 GTI. Should have more pictures soon when I get the housing caps finished up. Trying to get these on the car by Christmas.


Do you do side work? lol  Looks good man! Wanna see it on the car when it's done. :thumbup:


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

racerpoet said:


> Do you do side work? lol  Looks good man! Wanna see it on the car when it's done. :thumbup:


I do! I use Solidworks, a 3D printer, and can occasionally get on a mill or lathe in my spare time at work to do this stuff. I'm beginning to do more of it and hope to start up a little side business in the future. I'm definitely open to doing little custom jobs though. Design and fabrication has kind of taken over in the hobby department.

Thanks for the good words :thumbup:


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## BiH (Nov 27, 2000)

I would be interested in something like this. can you make it so bolts are not visible? I was gonna try yo make something to fit truck lite led lights, they are 7" but no way to mount them on our cars.


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

BiH said:


> I would be interested in something like this. can you make it so bolts are not visible? I was gonna try yo make something to fit truck lite led lights, they are 7" but no way to mount them on our cars.


I can. I went with visible hardware on this project because it fits the theme (if you can call it that) of the rest of my car. That Truck Lite set is nice! They've got a couple spots on the back of the housing I would work with if possible. Otherwise, I'd do a mounting ring/flange with set screws to hold the housing in place and mount it to the factory location on our cars.

The only part you'd see from outside the car might be a slim bezel, but you could always paint or anodize it black to blend in a little better.


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## BiH (Nov 27, 2000)

I was gonnna try to work with some jeep bezel and light hardware as it fits them perfectly fine. I havent really looked much into it tho, but I did see a Ghia at local gtg with them on. I didnt get a chance to ask him about them. 

I really wanna work on lathe again, I did few times long time ago in high school but I dont even remember how to use it now.


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

I'm more comfortable on an old Bridgeport mill than I am on the lathes, but I do enjoy getting on a small ancient chucker we have for tooling and small jobs. It still holds pretty tight tolerances and is very forgiving and easy to use. The bigger lathe can definitely be a little overwhelming at times.

I got my spun rear caps back and they came out perfect! The guy even threw in the mandrel for free if I ever want to make more. I'm gonna go grab some more metal epoxy tomorrow morning and get back on the project. Then I have to decide whether or not I want to order some straight-tail D2S adapters or keep the 90 degree ones that came with the ballasts. The straight would make the housings cleaner, but would require more clearance in the engine bay, which is already at a premium. I'll snap a few pictures of the progress tomorrow.


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## Ajlal24 (Mar 7, 2007)

Any Installed Images?


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

Not just yet. Hopefully will have them on by the end of the month. Been busy playing catch up with some other stuff since coming off the holiday.


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

Finally got these on the car last week. Had a chance to dial in the leveling before it got completely dark. I fixed the broken links to some of the older pictures and added the new ones up top. I hope they still show up!


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## racerpoet (Apr 20, 2013)

That looks hot! Good work. :thumbup:


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## wankel7 (Nov 30, 2013)

Holy cow that is outstanding!

What projector is that?


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

Thanks! They're the FXR projectors from the retrofit source. If I make another set in the future, I plan on using the Mini D2S. Not quite as nice, but much friendlier to build around.


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## FastLapRSII (Jul 15, 2001)

Beautiful.


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## FastLapRSII (Jul 15, 2001)

Motorcycle guys would buy these all day.


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

FastLapRSII said:


> Motorcycle guys would buy these all day.


:thumbup: Thanks for the compliment. Really? I'm not familiar with motorcycle stuff beyond general knowledge at all. Would you be able to link me to something universal/modular I could replicate?


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## CRS Oakville (Mar 25, 2015)

Great work you did there! How much time you need for this?


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## gtiador (Sep 14, 2007)

This was all done in my spare time, but cumulative time was probably around 120-150 hours or so. If I did another set it would take significantly less time. Lots of drawing and fine tuning made it a long project. Now that I know how to go about it and what I'd do next time I could have it all done in a couple weeks if I really went for it.


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## CRS Oakville (Mar 25, 2015)

It's not easy project for sure. Now you have experience in this, every next project you will need less time.


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## FastLapRSII (Jul 15, 2001)

gtiador said:


> :thumbup: Thanks for the compliment. Really? I'm not familiar with motorcycle stuff beyond general knowledge at all. Would you be able to link me to something universal/modular I could replicate?


http://www.rolandsands.com/product/448/vintage-headlights/black-ops


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