+1 I want to do this as well.

 

Found this on ebay... maybe its all we need ?

 

I think this does not include the HID bulbs and xenon ballasts that we need. These are just for the OEM projector lenses, and if I understand you correctly, you already have projector lenses as I do.

 

No, I currently have the non-xenon projector, I want to install the OEM xenon projector with the xenon "eye". The xenon itself, bulbs and ballasts I already have them via an aftermarket kit.

 

me too

 

Ebay is your best bet.

 

Okay, and is the part we need the one I posted from ebay ? can you tell if its very hard to change ?

Thank you !

 

Ok, I stand corrected. Even though all the projectors are similar in terms of the "architecture" that goes into them, the materials that they are made of do differ between the OEM and the aftermarket projectors. Sometimes the latter are called "halogen" projectors. The cutoff is also better designed in the OEM xenon projectors.

 

BTW, I found a ton on info on this on e36 world. The correct terminology to look for is the "OEM xenon retrofit". Apparently e46 people are in general happy with their halogen projectors + hid kits, hence there is very little info on this OEM retrofit thing for e46s.

 

are you kidding? there's tons of threads on OEM xenon retrofits. just search that word and you'll see a bunch of threads on it. i'm sure i've answered it a bunch of times.

 

You can swap out just the projector since you said you already have the non-xenon projector (right)?

My car came with projectors, but they were halogen projectors (not to be confused with xenon projectors whether it's bixenon or not)

I am running an aftermarket HID kit in the projector right now, but I am swapping them out w/ bixenon oem ones because I want the xenon high beam also.

You'll need those projectors you posted as well as a wiring harness to enable the solenoid to open up your high beam.

 

cngzsn, I´m sorry, reflectors may be the right word for it... I want the projector (eye) like plantinum52 has on his facelift. Facelift models came all with projectors but pre-facelift didn´t, I want that eye so that I don´t have such an ugly light dispersion from the halogen reflectors.

 

Ok, then you really need to go with an "OEM Xenon retrofit" route. I have projectors in my car, but they are not true "xenon projectors", so they won't give you the OEM quality and look and light output.

And, even with the facelifts, Xenon was a $700 option.

 

there are 2 diff kind of projectors (eyes) xenon and halogen. The projectors on p46 are made for halogen bulbs, as well as most of the projectors that you see in lower end cars (kia hyundai etc). Even my moms 06 gx470 has halogen projectors with halogen bulbs bc she didnt opt for xenons, however, had she gone with the xenons, its not a matter of simple "pop" in a xeonon ballast and bulb into her current halogen set up and it's a go. Well, it would serve its function however the cut off and light displacement would suffer greatly. Xenons need a different projector all together.

This is why yall have seen that OEM xenon is better than p46 xenon bc well, p46s werent made for xenon bulbs, they were made for halogen bulbs, hence why they are so much cheaper.

The facelift coupes all came with projectors however if you didnt have xenon, the halogen projector itself is different than the xenon projector. So to answer yalls questions, NO, projectors are different.

And for the op... you have halogen bowl reflectors. To put in those xenon projectors off of ebay is going to require you to cut off the halogen reflector, fabricate a way to mount that projector securely, and then fit a shroud around that projector lens. This is really really involved, and would take lots of patience and money bc you are more than likely to break something lol.

Your best bet is to buy p46s, or a complete set of used xenons. The latter of the 2 being my recommendation because that way all you have to do is bolt out and bolt in your new set of xenons

I hope this helps... I researched this EXTENSIVELY and Silleidiot has been my mentor:craig:

 

wait you guys have oem...halogen projector lenses.. and you want to swap to xenon? is there anyway i could possibly buy your old halogen projectors if you do this?!

 

i'm pretty sure e46's never came with halogen projectors. all this mixing up of reflectors and projectors is driving me insane!

headlights with a reflector bowl (i.e what the op has in his sig) are called reflector headlights.
the light from the bulbs is shone into the the reflector bowl which directs the light forward. there is no "projector" lense mmmkay

as opposed to swapping the innards of your headlights, it looks like its possible as my old AL halogen headlights had mounting points for the ballast and the reflector bowls mounting points are the same as those on a projector setup. Just don't try swap between ZKW and AL, it wont fit!

 

Only the facelift coupes came with halogen projectors from the factory. The rest of the E46 lineup came with reflectors for the halogen option.

 

exactly, just save yourself the headache and buy the whole setup then sell your halogens for ~$100 on ebay (yea they will sell on ebay for that much lol) and then the difference is negligible, especially bc you dont have to worry about opening your headlights and possibly breaking something or things not fitting

 

Uhh, I wouldn't call it "tons." I found a couple of threads that probably were nice DIYs complete with pics, but the pics were missing from both.

The rest 123 threads were just discussions/questions. Why don't you link a nice one if you know where to look?

 

are you looking for the full headlight? if so that's easy. no DIY threads are needed for that. swap the whole units, then get a reflash.

if you need to do the retrofit involving swapping the innards, then use the DIY to take apart headlights in my sig, then you just need to figure out a way to attach the ignitor and ballast. with a xenon headlight housing, all the screws and spot are there. on a halogen, they are not. then get a reflash.

 

I was talking about getting the xenon projectors from a car that came with those from the factory and finding a way to put those in their headlights. Not a simple task really. And the projectors don't have to be an e46, people have retrofitted TSX, FX35, etc. projectors into their reflectors and DEPO headlights on their e36s.

And even after this is achieved, then there are problems with OBC throwing out codes, etc. But that's another thread in itself.

 

so you're talking more about "projector retrofits" rather than "OEM xenon retrofits?" those two terms are completely different. yea there's no DIY on it. why? because it's a "retrofit" you're supposed to figure out a way to make it work. sure you can provide a general guideline, but it's not going to help really. You'll run into different problems every time. and the thread will be huge if you want to cover all of that.

plus, it's like a trade secret. e46 is still a prime market for retrofitters. no retrofitter is going to risk losing money by revealing his secrets.

anyhow, you can use the DIYs from e36 world as a general guide (if they have one). all headlights are the essentially the same, just looks different.

 

Well, I think the term "OEM xenon retrofit" well includes the "projector retrofit" in it, since that's simply a part of the former. So I am not necessarily talking about "projector retrofits." The term is correctly tossed as "OEM Xenon retrofit" in the e36 world, and everybody knows what you're talking about when you mention it. I don't know why those sound completely two different things to you. You're certainly going to need to work with the ballasts, levelers, capsules (incorrectly termed as xenon-bulbs), in addition to projectors along the way while doing an OEM xenon retrofit. You can't leave out the projectors in such a job, can you?

In fact, the term "projector retrofit" is too restrictive in itself. The question that pops is, which projectors? There are many in the market, e.g. Umnitza's p46, Bosch, old Hellas, etc. But most are not true "xenon projectors", and come with cheap plastic internals unlike the OEM xenon projectors which are made up of metal internals to say the least. Not to mention the cutoff of a true xenon projector is quite different as well.

 

yea, well you're moving between forums. that is what they are here and that's what it is over there. that's like like people in the UK say side lights, and we call city lights. just a different name for the same thing. that's what we have here.

but if you want to be more technical, it is correctly called an "OEM xenon projector retrofit" because i can do the OEM xenon retrofit without the projector as such with cars with reflector HID applications (older lexus/acura's/merc's).

and the kind of projector depends on what you want/need. there is no limitation on what you can put in there. you can make anything fit if you want to/have money hence the term "retrofit." the fake xenon projectors are just halogen projectors. and those are rather useful as well if you know how to use it (like for turn signals, or halogen high beam applications).

the difference in cutoff is negligible. i can make my own cutoff and make it act like an OEM xenon projector with a halogen projector. it's the way the projector reflects the light and the lens that is important.

 

Hi, what about thishttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/E46-BMW-Bi-xenon-Projector-Angel-Eye-Light-Conversion_W0QQitemZ260394826711QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item260394826711&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A3|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50? Has any one done it?

 

^ don't do it. they aren't even xenon projectors.

 

:werd: ugh, I don't understand Europeans sometimes. They sure have different tastes when mod'ing a car :loco: