twinturbowagon

Greetings,

Headlight enthusiast here working on a set of 996T headlights and wanted to share the build to give an in-depth look at what is possible with the 996 headlights and what those improvements translate to in real world performance (you know the important stuff).

A little about myself. I love to modify and improve things (Google "Evan's E61 to see my personal build). Aesthetics are important but not at the expense of function so striking the balance an maximizing both (ideally without compromise) is an art and a challenge which keeps me hungry for more.

I come from the BMW world and find it frustrating that so many headlight "retrofitters" add paint + LEDs and call it a build. To each their own but that is completely missing the point of headlights since they are so important for driving performance and safety. A proper headlight setup will offer better visibility and less stress for the driver and consequently better safety. Safety for the driver, his/her occupants, and improved safety for others on the road as the light output will be controlled and not blinding oncoming traffic. It's a win-win-win, if you are able to make the headlights look "cool" that is just icing on the cake.

So I was approached by a 996T owner about making some upgrades to his headlights, we have solidified the plan of attack and the build is in motion. The lights are the "litronic" which is Porsche's fancy way of saying HID or xenon so from the factory they have a bi-xenon projector up top, a halogen high beam assist just below, a turn signal below that, and towards the mid-line of the car a small halogen projector fog light.

Using the GT3 RSR as inspiriation the goal is a race-inspired look and improved output, here is what is on tap:

Bi-Xenon projector clear lens swap + tuning
Old HID bulbs replaced with new Philips 85122WHV2
Stock 35w Hella ballasts are "boosted" to 46w
Stock fog light is being replaced with Morimoto Matchbox HID projector + yellow 3,000k bulbs
Full Satin Black Bezel + High Beam Assist Delete
LED Turn signal upgrade
Custom Headlight washer delete
GT3 RSR racing spec headlight lenses


Headlights how they arrived. As it turns out the passenger side headlight was in an accident and had a lot of internal damage so we sourced another used headlight off eBay. The lenses were chipped during shipping but no worries there as we have a set of brand new RSR lenses from Germany.






Headlights were pried apart the the channels were thoroughly cleaned. Factory sealant was a one use "permaseal" that will be replaced with butyl which will offer a nice seal and is reusable if the headlights ever need to be opened again.





The headlights were showing their age with some of the wiring being deteriorated, this will be replaced.





The hole in the bezel for the now removed headlight washer, the external washer caps will be shaved and fabricated to plug the bezel.






Stock halogen fog light on the left and the Morimoto Matchbox on the right, it is a TINY HID projector. First output pic if stock fog light, second is the Morimoto with a regular HID bulb, these will have yellow bulbs once complete.










Since the owner rarely drives his 996 at night we decided against a full-on projector upgrade for the main Bi-Xenon unit but I did some research and test fitting and am happy to report that I can make the Lexus RX350 projectors fit in the 996 housing so I wanted to show what that upgrade would look like. The stock 996 projectors are "decent" all things considered but lack the WIDE beam pattern of the Lexus. Also the chrome bowls on the stock projectors are become compromised from years of use, notice the difference in texture








Here is the stock projector with some old HID bulbs vs the Lexus with a fresh Philips 85122WHV2, notice the difference in on-center intensity as well as the width.






The Lexus RX350 has these "streaks" or "wings" of intense light which spread outward and these are very useful in real world application. Here is a comparison showing the stock Tesla Model S HID projector (stock bulb and ballast too) vs a Lexus which I have tuned with a fresh HID bulb and 45w ballast, not exactly apples to apples but nonetheless shows the striking difference between the two and what the RX350 is capable of, also take note of those "streaks" and how they aid width illumination.



Anyway, we decided to pass on the upgrade so now the focus is the stock projector and maximizing it's potential. I am doing this my installing a clear lens and tuning the focal depth which helps focus the light output and sharpens the cutoff.











Up next is the HID ballasts. The stock Gen 3 Hella ballasts which came on the 996 may not look like much but are arguably the best ever made due to their strong output, very fast warm up time, and their excellent reliability. As a bonus they can be "boosted" by swapping MOSFETs to improve efficiency and adding resistors to increase the output. Think of this as turbo charging since both output and efficiency are increased, the ballasts are simply over driven so even in their uprated state the reliability is excellent. Truly phenomenal ballasts! I can boost these to 41.5, 43, 46, 59, or 55w. We decided to go right in the middle at 46w.



I snapped some pics and brought out the lux meter to quantify the improvement in output with the new bulb and boosted ballast.










More to come!!
Evan

TulaneAg

Very interesting. I'll be following this thread closely. Good luck!

jandackson

Nice results. How do the fog lights look? The stock light are pretty
much useless.

twinturbowagon

There are output pics comparing stock fog to the Morimoto unit above. In terms of the actual retrofit it hasn't happened yet, this is a "live" build thread.

Evan

808Bill

gnochi

I look forward to seeing this move along!

strathconaman

This is a great project.

jeffc911

Increased output looks great!
What will do about any increased heat inside the light housing and clear polycarbonate lens?
How will you kept it from showing signs of overheating?

twinturbowagon

HIDs don't really pose a thermal threat to the lenses. HID are pretty efficient at making light and run much cooler than halogens. The halogen 65w H11 bulb that resides directly under the projector lens creates more heat than the HID bulb, even with the boosted 46w ballast.

I designed some 3D printed projector gimbals for the Tesla Model S HID lights and did collected a bunch of data taking various temprature readings around the bowl and mounting points of the projector with an infrared thermometer to confirm the material I was printing with wouldn't be compromised from the heat generated by a 50 ballast. I would run the headlight with the lens applied and take readings until there wasn't any significant change in temp.

I am pretty confident there will be no thermal related issue on the 996 headlight, even if ballast output was greater to say 50w/55w. The first area of concern would be the chrome finish on the bowl as that takes the brunt of the energy from the HID bulb and oddly enough heat isn't the more dangerous variable for the projector bowl it is the UV light!

Evan

Here is the thermal data I recorded on the Tesla headlight with a 50w ballast, temps are F...

gnochi

Thank you for the info on heat; that's good to know for my headlight-internal LED DRL project that's sitting in limbo while my real job takes over my life.

1) What all would be involved in getting the the RX350 projectors to fit? Just adapter plates, or dremel+fab work?
2) Would you mind sharing which clear lenses you're going with?

twinturbowagon

No problem, appreciate your inquisition...

1) I just eyed it up and knew I could make it fit. Since we didn't move forward with the project what I can say about what I saw is the partition between projector mount an high beam assist need to be trimmed to allow the RX350 solenoid to sit lower and the complete projector to sit level. You would only need some hardware to mount to the oem projector to the oem mounting plate, and some retrofitting (problem solving skills of course.
The goal is to get the RX350 lens to sit at the same mounting depth as the oem projector so that the it looks oem once installed. Walk softly and carry a big stick

2) ZKW-R

Evan

Water Hound

Would love to see pics of the final assembled units with replacements installed.

How did you get the headlight lens off without breaking it? Do you have to heat up the entire unit first or just carefully pry apart?

I do a lot of night driving and this would be a truly awesome upgrade for me. What sort of $ is involved?

MoeMonney

Wow. I love this thread. Just the kind of lighting build I look for. I have MK1 litronics and changed the bulbs to Osram Xenarc Nightbreaker unlimited HID bulbs. They made a significant difference.
Curious why you don't use these bulbs since they won the HID bulb competition.

twinturbowagon

I used some heat while removing the lens it helps to soften the permaseal a bit. Custom headlight builds can vary a lot depending on the components spec'd in the build, a "nice" basic build might be $1,000-$1,500 and a crazy high end on might aproach $3,000. For example you could get a DDM HID projector/bulb/ballast package for $80, or a Morimoto projector/HID package for $300, or a really high end oem projector, have it modded, get quality HID bulbs, and nice oem ballasts (modded) for nearly $900. This is for the components only, no labor for headlight opening/resealing, retrofitting, etc.

If you start adding custom paint, custom LEDs, or even a quad projector retrofit (2 projectors per headlight) you can see how things add up quickly. Most people seem to spend $1,500-$2,000 on projects which offer upgraded performance and looks.
There are some BMW headlight builders who charge $1,800 just to install fancy LED halos and add some paint without addressing light performance or output, people gobble it up, it's crazy.


What HID bulb competition are you referring to?
The Philips WHV2 offers a real nice balance in both total output and a whiter color. Knowing the ballasts would be "boosted" above 35w the added power makes the kelvin output of the bulb shift down the spectrum so the stock 5,500k-ish color @35w will be more like 4,500k @46w. So if you took a 4,200k bulb like the nightbreaker and boosted it the light would be very yellow and probably look like a halogen light.

Evan

dblvanos

If I had the resources I would be manufacturing replacement lenses. If you can pop a lens off and replace I can see charging $500-$800