• Welcome to the new B.I.R.D. Forum. Please be sure to read the "New Member / New Registered ? Please Read" thread in the Coffee Shop. This contains some important information. To become a full member ( £5.90 a year ) simply click on your user name near the top on the right I hope you enjoy the new site ................ Jaws ( John )

Project - Blackbird bixenon

madlandrover

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This could be useful for anyone else looking for a headlight upgrade beyond the capabilities of the existing reflector, even when coupled with a HID setup. The HID upgrades are the best that can be got out of the existing reflector and work well for 95% of the time, but start to find their limits on dark "interesting" roads. Use of a HID main beam as well as dipped is a big help, but still not perfect. Part of the problem is the relatively shallow but wide beam tipping when cornering, something that would be hard to correct.

One possible upgrade - I think - is to replace 1/both bulbs with a bixenon projector, allowing HID dipped and main beam from the same projector. The beam pattern tends to be rather more useful, with no time issues when switching from dipped to main. On a purely personal level I think a good bixenon setup is as good as any headlights can get for a home user, having fitted something similar to my car recently. Early measurements show that it's possible to replace both Bird bulbs with projectors with a bit of careful choice of projectors. There are a couple of decent writeups out there replacing just the main beam bulb with a projector, citing space issues with the dipped beam bulb. It is a tighter fit, but I can't yet see any good reason why a Morimoto Mini D2S projector wouldn't fit in there, worst case I might need to cut the reflector a little to recess the projector away from the front of the headlight.

The initial process is simple enough, although a bit more involved than fitting a plug & play HID kit - if you're in any doubt, then go for a plug & play HID kit, it's still a good upgrade!!

1) Remove upper fairing to give access to the headlight - not too hard, a load of hex bolts and a few plastic poppers, don't forget the ones above the front wheel!

2) Remove headlight. 4 10mm bolts, after disconnecting the headlights & sidelight.

3) The first scary bit, splitting the headlight. Remove headlight bulbs, plastic breather vents, sidelight bulb. Ideally use a hairdryer or hot air gun to gently heat the sealant between the headlight body and the lens, but if that's not possible then heating an oven to a low/middle temp and leaving the headlight near the front of the oven for a few minutes will soften it. Don't leave it too long, you risk melting the lens, also place the headlight with the lens closer to the oven door. Remove headlight - with gloves - and start to work around the sealant boundary loosening the 2 parts. No clips to be unscrewed, but a few plastic clips to be eased apart.

4) Keep the lens separate, it's not required for the next few bits. Unscrew the headlight adjusters and a bolt on the back left hand side of the headlight to remove the reflector.

Next bits to follow once the projectors have turned up - should be in Customs today from the US, so it'll be a week or so before the next part. Looks promising enough so far though :-0)
 

Tinytim

Registered User
I would fall at the first hurdle me!

Overcooked headlight fookin nailed on for me !

Great post though, but I'll stick to riding slower when the sun goes out ta. @tu*
 

silverfox.xx

quocunque jeceris stabit
Its bad enough splitting the tail light for LED XX conversion, let alone trying to split a £250 front headlight unit.

Having fitted HID's many years ago, and found them superb compared with the OE bulb system I don't feel the need for further alterations. But an interesting project non-the-less.

Also with HID's being so bright, daylight running is safer than what you're suggesting.
 

madlandrover

Registered Users
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Its bad enough splitting the tail light for LED XX conversion, let alone trying to split a ?250 front headlight unit.

The first few minutes were a little uncertain, but after that it was easy enough. A very simple setup once it's actually apart. Yes, HIDs in the original reflector are a big upgrade over the original halogen bulbs, I just wanted more :-0)

PS Lumpy, something similar will fit the E38 rather nicely, a worthwhile upgrade in my E39!
 

ramo

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
cost/performance

madland

whats the cost of the bixenon set up?

from your first post seems a lot of hassle for something that is marginally better(5% of the time), when the HID conversion is a quick, plug and play:dunno:
 
T

trippo00

Guest
madland

whats the cost of the bixenon set up?

from your first post seems a lot of hassle for something that is marginally better(5% of the time), when the HID conversion is a quick, plug and play:dunno:


Might only be 5% better steve but i bet you fit one if Madlandrover gets it work @tu*@tu*@tu*
 

ramo

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
trippo

whaaaaat ya mean?:neenaw:


john as you now, got HID in dipped light, good enough for me,

If I can't see with that I shouldn't be out@tu*@tu*
 

Wolfie

Is a lunp
Part of the problem is the relatively shallow but wide beam tipping when cornering, something that would be hard to correct.

and that is why the bird headlight is so shit.

tip into a left hander at night and the feckin road /bank and everything else has disappeared into darkness. or you have to go so feckin slow and only just lean the bike over so that you can see the road/bank.
 

madlandrover

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Spot on Wolfie. I don't know the exact cost yet - depends on HMRC charges - but it will be significantly more than a quick plug & play HID setup. It'll also be significantly better :-0) which for me is enough to justify it. I've got enough night riding planned that the extra light will be a real safety benefit, especially being able to aim it for maximum personal benefit without blinding oncoming traffic. Pics to follow when it's done of course...
 

robsbird

red ones are faster
Club Sponsor
a friend of mine did this to one of his bikes i think it was the bussa

but he got hold of an old Audi headlight as the donor and it worker well

some time ago there was a youtube clip put on here of a guy doing it to a goldwing


@tu*
 

madlandrover

Registered Users
Club Sponsor
The Goldwing conversion was a nice one, anything that gives bikes more stable & better lights has got to be a good thing. Having the headlight apart also gave me the room/leverage to remove the whole sidelight holder to put a nice big tower LED in there - too big to fit through the small hole in the holder, and mine was tight enough it couldn't be moved in situ. Having it apart means I can add yet more light...

The hardest bit about planning it has been keeping it within UK MoT regs - the concept may be a little dubious with construction & use regs, but experience shows it'll pass a MoT. The new & very similar setup on my old car passed with a generally strict garage this week, only comment from the tester was that the lights were spot on :-0). From the Bird point of view the tricky bit is wiring up main beam. Most cars with bixenon lights keep a halogen main beam for flash to pass, eg newer BMWs with bexenon lights use the xenon for main beam & the halogen bulbs only do flashes. That meant I couldn't just do my own easy relay loom using the main beam feed to trigger the projector's solenoid (a bixenon setup uses a solenoid controlled shutter to switch between dipped & main beam, keeping the bulb on throughout), as for MoT time the flasher switch wouldn't produce light independently of the main beam. I was tempted to keep a halogen main beam and just convert the dipped beam to a bixenon projector, but ultimately I would have been only doing half the job I wanted to do. I'm hoping that using a harness & relay designed for a H4 bulb conversion will do the trick, in terms of being able to power both bulbs from either high or low beam - should find out next week. It might just blow the relay of course c7u8.
 

madlandrover

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True - but for the same light output it'd cost even more. Besides, I know I haven't got the skill to fab up brackets properly, ie strong, coated, accurate, etc.
 

madlandrover

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Have a look for FX-R bixenon jobs - a bit trickier to fit to genuine headlights, mine were already a mix of genuine and cheap tat. They're pretty good now though ;-0))
 

madlandrover

Registered Users
Club Sponsor
The other way to keep the conversion legal and avoid problems with an independent main beam switch is of course to fit the right handlebar switch from a later/US Bird that keeps the headlights on all the time with the ignition. This wouldn't be a problem for everyday riding since I ride with lights on anyway, but having the HID ballasts triggered on & off during engine start will shorten their life. An interim solution if my planned harness doesn't work would be a later switch for MoT time :}. Hmmmmm.

Projectors/bulbs/harness entered Customs processing this morning, so with luck I should have the kit in place by the weekend :-0) along with some photos. The other bit of preplanning was to check that both existing bulb holders are in the same plane, to keep the beams aligned. Since I don't have a workbench etc the next best solution was a theodolite iPhone app, using the phone's built in accelerometers to see any differences in the bulb holders' alignment. So far it looks like they're identical, so there's hope!
 

madlandrover

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Bits all here, made a start on fitting last night - photos to follow. Suffice to say it's not as easy as I'd hoped, but fortunately the reflector plastic is reasonably easy to drill & file! Lower projector fitted easily enough with some tweaking, upper projector is tomorrow's project. In short, this isn't for the easily defeated but is doable, I'm no mechanic/technician/engineer!

Note how I had to cut slots in the reflector to allow the projector frame's corners to fit:
.
I also had to file out the bulb hole sufficient to fit a H4 bulb diameter - the existing bulb hole is actually easy enough to file out to the width of the collar, then a mm or so more.

You can see I then had to trim the bulb holder body down significantly to give enough length on the projector body to secure it:
.

The lower projector fitted easily with a set of slots cut:

and secured easily at the back:


The upper projector needed a bit more work/time cutting slots above and below the projector as seen on the first photo, but got in in the end:
 
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madlandrover

Registered Users
Club Sponsor
It's done. Projectors needed a bit of tweaking to align them once installed, but the light is great and even - like a set of really good car headlights, and the main beam is rather impressive :-0). Photos to follow tomorrow, depending on weather...

Wiring it up was fairly simple: I combined the main and dipped beam feeds into a single plug as the relay controller only feeds from one plug, so ended up with:


I also had to swap the main & dipped trigger wires and reverse a diode in the relay box sent with the projectors which wasn't tooo impressive - a nice bit of kit but not initially unsuitable for UK applications. The older relay box is less showy than later versions:


The relay connector now looks like this:


And:


While the diode on the circuit board has been reversed so viewed from end on now looks like:


It now works properly and does all the required functions!

Cost: The ballasts (with built in ignitors) were £25 each for D2S ballasts from HIDS Direct. Not necessarily great ballasts but I've had a year of smooth running from them so far in another application, and they're pretty cheap for D2S ballasts. Bulbs, projectors (Mini D2S), and the not quite correct but close relay harness were £158 ($236 inc shipping) from The Retrofit Source - v popular with HID retrofitters in the US, and do much better kit than anything I've seen in Europe. Other sources seem to concentrate on bling more than function, especially with the lens quality. Customs charges came to just over £20, with some helpful valuing on the package ;-0)). So a total of £235 or so for awesome lights. As planned, significantly more expensive than a couple of decent HID kits, eg the ones JAWS sells, and certainly not worth it for everyone.

Would I do it again? Yes. It's fixed one of the few areas on the Bird I really didn't like. I've got no plans to change bike for a good while to come, so might as well have it set up to suit me. 4.5 years after buying it I'm getting there!
 
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silverfox.xx

quocunque jeceris stabit
Are you able to adjust any difference in aim between dip and beam, and side aim to compensate any out of square fitting?

Did you use st/steel screws to hold it in the reflector, once installed can the mounting screws be tightened if necessary without a major strip down.

They do look nice. :bow:
 

madlandrover

Registered Users
Club Sponsor
The projectors are held in place by the barrel of the projector passing through where the bulb used to seat, hence having to enlarge the bulb hole. There's a soft silicon washer on the projector that sits against the original reflector surface, and a large nut on the other side of the reflector that tightens down on the barrel - these are the projectors I used, which will make it a bit clearer! They can be gently adjusted once in place to ensure the beams are parallel, after that I just used the standard headlight adjusters to set the beam, since they move the whole reflector. Photos lacking since I got home from work to find the bike covered in snow, afternoon in with the heating on I think :-0)
 

madlandrover

Registered Users
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One final change... With both projectors on for dipped beam, there's no point in the 9 LED sidelight bulb I'd fitted - if anything it's a potential MoT fail point with a strict tester because it sticks up in front of the lower projector. I suspect I'll remove it for a small single LED and just carry the bigger bulb on long trips just in case.
 
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