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Adventr 2009 Championship Build

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
Should I paint the shroud body color and then the factory headlight chrome black?

Or.... Paint the projector shroud black, and then the original headlight chrome body color?



Decisions decisions....
 

derian06

Red Rockett
Messages
1,866
Location
Madison, AL
I'll do a proper write up soon, but I think this is turning out pretty good.

I was able to bake the headlight for a 15min @ 225 and it came right apart. Definitely not permaseal on these. Soft and pliable sealer, reminds me of black rtv almost.


Still need to do some trimming so that the projector will recess far enough for the headlight lens to go back on. Then a bunch of paint and cleanup work... Lol












Thats crazy I went through an hour of in and out at 225* with no luck at all
 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
So much time involved in doing this swap.............. Still chugging away on it.

Gotta go out tonight and dial in the aim and rotation. Then JB weld the piss out of everything so that it doesn't move.
Still planning on painting those shrouds body color as well.











 

USMC_315

Well-Known Member
Messages
590
Location
Northern VA
great looking [STRIKE]rig[/STRIKE] rigs, excited to see what you'll be doin with it. I also just got myself an Alpha and am working on buildin him up right now
 

RamRod

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,914
Location
AB, Canada
Looks great!!! I want to do this so bad! Glad you had an easier time in the oven! Makes me feel more confident about trying it
 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
great looking [STRIKE]rig[/STRIKE] rigs, excited to see what you'll be doin with it. I also just got myself an Alpha and am working on buildin him up right now


Thanks bud. If you haven't purchased a tuner for your Alpha yet, try to find one used on CL in your area. Around here, chevy trucks are super popular (which use the same tuner), and I was able to snag one pretty cheap. Really made a nice difference in the way that this thing drives!



Looks great!!! I want to do this so bad! Glad you had an easier time in the oven! Makes me feel more confident about trying it


Thanks! Opening up the headlights was actually the easiest part of this build... It's all the little tedious fitting/trimming/testing that's taking me forever! If the H3 headlights were just a little bit deeper, it would have saved a ton of time. But these projectors are just long enough, that you have to remove a lot more material than you would think just to get the headlight lens to go back on.
It's definitely doable though, and from my test drive tonight, was well worth the hassle. If your H3 is your DD, I'd recommend buying some aftermarket headlights to work on.
 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
Went for a test drive tonight. Was surprised that my rotation was almost spot on! Only had to adjust headlight height slightly.

BIG difference over stock lighting.... Pretty happy with the setup.



Now I've got to pop the lenses back off, pull the shrouds, paint them up, and then permanently re-install everything. My plan is to just get that nut on the back of the projector as tight as I feel comfortable with, and then use a bunch of JB weld to make everything permanent.

Since my driveway has a bit of a side slope to it, it would be really tough to get the projectors in the exact spot as I had them on my test drive. So........... I parked at the end of the driveway, and pointed the h3 at a blank spot on my garage wall. Taped off the cutoff line for both projectors, which will give me a reference mark to use when I'm doing final assembly.

Hope to wrap all this up tomorrow afternoon/evening.









 

Chocflip201

In the Rocky Mountains
Messages
585
Location
Utah
Looking great! I hated that little notch in my cutoff line and so I hit it with a flap wheel to get rid of it. I understand its purpose but the OCD in me couldn't stand it.
 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
Ok, so it stopped raining this evening, and I was able to mount up the projector headlights and get them back into alignment.

Once that was done, I was able to permanently secure them into the headlight housings.

Here's how I did that:


1 complete package of JB weld (the regular kind)
Little bit of denatured alcohol to thin it

Mix it up in a little cup, and then use a syringe to inject it down around where the projector meets the headlight.
This stuff runs down into all the little nooks and crannies, and should make a nice secure mount after it cures.
I placed some tape on the back side of the headlight assembly where my highbeam solenoid wires run through.That allowed the JB weld to fill those holes as well.

I'll see how this looks tomorrow, and if I feel it's necessary, I'll buy another JB weld kit and add more.
However, I was able to tighten down the projector mounting nuts with some channel locks prior to final rotation adjustment, and it was quite difficult to rotate the projectors. So I think it will be ok.


Also painted the shrouds body color this evening!
Decided against adding clear coat after I got the primer and base coats done... I actually prefer the satin look for these lights.
Baked the shrouds for 60min @ 180 degrees to cure the paint.


All goes well, tomorrow evening I'll seal the lights up and reinstall....
























 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
Got everything put back together this evening, and was able to drive it around for about an hour after dark.

And to my amazement, nothing moved/rotated during my final assembly and JB weld session. LOL
Cutoffs were still aligned, and rotation was spot on.

Much better light output.....



















What it looks like above the cutoff line:








And what it looks like right along the cutoff line:






 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
Got the head for my quad band radio mounted up. Used a RAM mount, and attached it to the daystar dash organizer. Works really good for this, and doesn't require any drilling into my h3.
Nice and stable.













 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
Got the snorkel installed. Took a few hours, but I'm pretty meticulous on stuff like this.
Install went great, everything went together as planned.

I used plenty of silicone to seal up the intake addition, as well as where all the rivets were placed in the A pillar.
Also went ahead and upped the rivet size to 3/16. Had a bunch of them, and my rivet gun works well with that size.


Hardest part of the entire install, was putting the inner fender well back into place. Mine has the fender flare extensions, and the inner well fits between those and the actual fenders. Tight squeeze, with nothing to really pry against to help it out....


Didn't take a bunch of pics, but it's easy to do if you follow the instructions.





















 

adventr

Well-Known Member
Messages
500
Location
United States
I actually ordered some new foglights last week, because my lenses are a bit faded, and new replacements were pretty cheap. I plan to open those up and put some 4 or 6 LED cube lights in there. Probably use the amber lights as well.
 
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