Great job......
Probably there were times when you questioned your sanity !!!

All worth it in the end if you are satisfied with the results !!!!

 

Thanks.
Not only did I question my sanity but it had marital consequences ("when are going to be done making all that noise (lens grinding). I'm sick of this project and I'm not even doing it!!"
I was one determined individual and would not stop/quit until done.

 

- how much distance is there between headlight lens and projector lens?

- do you have beam spread photo showing depth and horizontal spread?

tnx - great job!

 

- how much distance is there between headlight lens and projector lens?

- do you have beam spread photo showing depth and horizontal spread?
Not yet.


tnx - great job!

About an inch on the left and about 2 inches on the right (right one was done better)
No more pictures yet.

Sergio

 

The joys of being a car fanatic with strong DIY tendencies !!!!

Fortunately when I was married my wife's passion for cars was almost as strong as mine !!!
During that time in my life I was a "committed" Anglophile with numerous Jag MK II sedans strewn in my drive and an occasional Aston DB sitting on jackstands behind the garage !!!

Actually the insanity kept me sane.
Got away from cars for many years, jumped back in a few years ago and my latest way to get poor quickly is my current twin turbo install on my C124 M103-12V !!!

What Philadelphia suburb do you live in?
I was in Bryn Mawr for over twenty five years, until I moved to the beach in 2003.

Ed A.

 

Live in Flourtown, PA (near Chestnut Hill). Bryn Mawr is an awesome area.

 

wow...awesome job sergio.

 

"Fortunately when I was married my wife's passion for cars was almost as strong as mine !!! "

Assuming you mean your passions are taking different turns, be aware that this extends well beyond just cars.

 

Sergio, could you explain the technique you used for grinding down the lenses? I've always wondered how to do that.

 

Sergio, could you explain the technique you used for grinding down the lenses? I've always wondered how to do that.

ditto, looks good! im still going to experiment with aftermakrt headlights though.

 

Sergio, could you explain the technique you used for grinding down the lenses? I've always wondered how to do that.

Trade secret....
You need:
1)a drill press
2)patience
3)special glass sanding sandpaper of various grits
4)more patience
5)special polishing powder that I was able to obtain from work but can't find
any info on-line
6)patient wife/signifficant other
7)water
8)beer or stronger alcoholic beverage to ease the pain

I first experimented using an older W124 (pre '94-'95) lens. Due to it's much smaller size, it is much easier to do than the one piece '94-'95 lenses.

Sergio

 

Trade secret....
You need:

5)special polishing powder that I was able to obtain from work but can't find
any info on-line

Sergio

Sergio

Did you use cerium oxide which typically is used to polish glass?
If that's what you used, it is available on line.
Can be found in small amounts in windshield repair kits.

Link to a lapidary polishing site, the 90% optical is all you need for glass.

Polishes Cerium Oxide Aluminum Oxide Alumina Tin Oxide Diamond Powder Crystalite Diamond Spray Italdo Diamond Spray Crystalite Diamond Compound Diamond Slurry Crystalube Raytech Extender Fluid

Ed A.

 

I used a product called C-Rite 415. It's a powder that looks like cocoa (Nesquick) and you mix it with water. I have no idea if it's cerium oxide but it may be....

Sergio

 

Congrats and good job!

 

Wonderful job. No pain no gain!!

 

Congrats and good job!

Thanks. You the man Rik. Without your work and the link you provided I would have never thought of this.
Next is the LED tail lights. I'll be bugging you again (LOL).

Sergio

 

I used a product called C-Rite 415. It's a powder that looks like cocoa (Nesquick) and you mix it with water. I have no idea if it's cerium oxide but it may be....

Sergio

Sounds like it, a tan powder, mix with water to a loose paste....

 

Fascinating. My inquisitive mind has more questions:

What kind of drill bit did you use?

How low high did you go with your grits, and how did you attach it to the bits? Can you detect a circular scratch pattern in the glass, or did you use a fine enough grit to make it appear smooth?

It sounds like you probably had to make a special jig to get it to lay flat on the drill press table (and to make sure every session of polishing was dead-center where you needed it).

I think this is the best-looking W124 HID/xenon conversion I've ever seen. It isn't a far departure from the original look, but it is very functional. How difficult was the wiring?

 

LED's are simple, shouldn't take more than a hour, just need to swap out the drivers rear tail light plug to a 6 pin (like on the passenger side). Picked up mine from Ebay, very happy with them.

I like your HID beam pattern, better than mine!

 

Sergio well done.

How long do you think it would take to to sandblast the whole headlight?

 

Fascinating. My inquisitive mind has more questions:

What kind of drill bit did you use?

How low high did you go with your grits, and how did you attach it to the bits? Can you detect a circular scratch pattern in the glass, or did you use a fine enough grit to make it appear smooth?

It sounds like you probably had to make a special jig to get it to lay flat on the drill press table (and to make sure every session of polishing was dead-center where you needed it).

I think this is the best-looking W124 HID/xenon conversion I've ever seen. It isn't a far departure from the original look, but it is very functional. How difficult was the wiring?

I did not use a drill bit. I used a 4 inch circular disc that moves about it's shaft (it has play). Then I used double sided tape and attached a 4" piece of sandpaper, using the tape, to the disc. The disc's shaft is a screw which went into the drill press. I placed the glass on clay, to dampen any force and avoid cracking and then, using the drill press at it's lowest possible speed setting I began grinding the glass. At first, I was afraid excessive heat would damage the glass so I continuously used water to keep the glass cool but it took for ever to grind the darn thing. The last piece I did, I did almost entirely dry being careful not to overeat the glass (it's pretty amazing how much heat this thing can take). As the pattern began to disappear, I would switch to finer and finer grit paper. I ended up with 600 grit at which point the glass looked frosted. Then, polishing took place. I also moved the glass around by hand (holding it) and making contact against the sand paper/disc this way you can remove the pattern where it needs to be removed without causing excessive wear to other parts of the glass.
When I have time, I will put a document, with pictures, together that shows the entire process. I learned a lot as I went along and the third piece of glass took about 5 times less to do than the first. You will notice that the left headlight (second glass I did) is not perfectly round like the right headlight lens (last piece). If I had to do it again, it would look much better but now I'm mentally exhausted and don't feel like doing the project again. As I said in my post, my main goal was good light output not looks.
Glad you guys like it.
Retrofitting the f'n E46 projectors in there was much more difficult than doing the glass work.
The wiring is easy (I'm an electrical engineer). I had only one Hella Gen 4 ballast so I had to use an older Gen 3 ballast for the right side. I'm waiting to get another Gen 4 and then re-do the right side, which shouldn't take long this way both headlights will be completely enclosed like Rik Johnson's retrofit.

Sergio

 

I did not use a drill bit. I used a 4 inch circular disc that moves about it's shaft (it has play). Then I used double sided tape and attached a 4" piece of sandpaper, using the tape, to the disc. The disc's shaft is a screw which went into the drill press. I placed the glass on clay, to dampen any force and avoid cracking and then, using the drill press at it's lowest possible speed setting I began grinding the glass. At first, I was afraid excessive heat would damage the glass so I continuously used water to keep the glass cool but it took for ever to grind the darn thing. The last piece I did, I did almost entirely dry being careful not to overeat the glass (it's pretty amazing how much heat this thing can take). As the pattern began to disappear, I would switch to finer and finer grit paper. I ended up with 600 grit at which point the glass looked frosted. Then, polishing took place. I also moved the glass around by hand (holding it) and making contact against the sand paper/disc this way you can remove the pattern where it needs to be removed without causing excessive wear to other parts of the glass.

I have friends who grind telescope mirrors. they would probably suggest doing this by using a brass cylinder/disc the right diameter, and carborundum grinding powders, starting at 60 grit for the rough grind, and water. as soon as the grinding stops feeling gritty, stop, rinse it out, dump in another half teaspoon of grinding powder, a splash more water, reapply pressure and turn it at a few RPM. periodically make sure the brass disk is still flat, if its not, flatten it with a file or whatever.

once the surface is smooth, clean up everything, then use successively finder grinding powders, 120, 200, 300, 400, 600, 800, then cerium oxide polishing powder. very important to remove all traces of the previous grit when switching to a new one.

 

Sergio well done.

How long do you think it would take to to sandblast the whole headlight?

No idea. I did not sandblasted it.

Sergio

 

THIS LOOKS GREAT! AWESOME and inspiring!

I plan to do something very similar this summer to my w123! (If I drive the w203 with bi-xenon on Monday and then the w123 on Tuesday – I can help but want xenon on the w123!)

I plan to pull a female vacuum form of the lens (a new lens all clear) in Poly Carbonate - and clear coat them. Then CNC a new housing unit to hold my w211 HID projectors and redesign the light housing...I want to install new inner Hella beams and move the turn signal to above the main beam (More modern) and turn my clear “turn signal” into white light cornering lamp…

Look for it late this summer in the w123 forum!
I love this stuff!
Jake

 

ha - well of course the wiring was easy for you!! But for guys like me, anything electrical-related freaks me out. lol

Sounds like a very interesting process. You have also successfully discouraged me from doing the same thing. Don't worry, I am very realistic about projects like this... I too have gotten into projects that were extremely time-consuming (my stereo system) and regretted the amount of time I spent by the end of it. But oftentimes, that is the commitment you need to get fantastic results like this. Well done!

 

ha - well of course the wiring was easy for you!! But for guys like me, anything electrical-related freaks me out. lol

Sounds like a very interesting process. You have also successfully discouraged me from doing the same thing. Don't worry, I am very realistic about projects like this... I too have gotten into projects that were extremely time-consuming (my stereo system) and regretted the amount of time I spent by the end of it. But oftentimes, that is the commitment you need to get fantastic results like this. Well done!

I've been obsessed with lighting for about 20 years. If I had my way I would add HID projectors where the fog lights are but I didn't have enough room. I still have 4 HID light sources and 2 Halogen (built in foglights). I figure with 6 light sources I should be able to see pretty darn well when called upon to do so. I also like the fact that I can use the halogen foglights to turn ON for 30 seconds when unlocking my car via the remote so I can see better when walking to my vehicle at night. I have a switch to disable this feature so in the summer months, when there's sunlight present during most of the time I drive, I don't have the halogen lights turn on.


Sergio