I've retrofitted headlights myself, and I've also hired Rich to do a couple of sets for me. In the end, it comes down to how much time & patience you have & if it's worth it to you to save a bit of money. Rich does amazing work, finishes the job in a prompt manner, and warranties his work for life if any problems arise.

I don't think you'll find a complete DIY thread specificially for 6th gen accords. You can piece together all of the information you need from various forums (HIDPlanet, High Intensity, etc.), but you'll still have to venture out on your own to complete some of the steps.

JNC's rotational method for mounting is one of the ways a retrofit should be done, with the other option as leaving the OEM adjustments in tact. Mounting the projectors to the back of the housing & praying that they're aligned the first time (since you would have to open the headlight back up to re-align them) is, in my opinion, a lazy person's method of retrofitting headlights.

Choosing a projector depends on your budget, and whether or not you want a xenon or bixenon setup. You seem pretty knowledgeable about the options, so you should be able to make a sound decision that suits your needs.

Color-mods are another personal preference, but I find them unnecessary since they usually decrease the output to sacrifice for the added color. The only projector that this seems to be worth the effort is with the TSXs.

I'd recommend blackhousing the low beam areas, since any light that might leak out from the projector/shroud area will reflect off of the OEM chrome and cause unwanted glare.

I don't recall any reference marks in the bowls of the OEM headlights, but the lenses do have the + mark and the inner reflector housings have a level. You can make your own reference marks though.

OEM lenses are thicker than aftermarket lenses, so I can see how they wouldn't be as ideal for a retrofit. You won't ever find the lenses for sale separately brand new, so keep your eyes open for eBay auctions selling headlights at decent prices or people on forums selling theirs.

OEM headlights have perfect fitment, where as aftermarket headlights are known to have problems. I'd recommend buying a set of aftermarket lenses off of eBay for around $80, baking both sets, sending Rich (unless you're doing them yourself) your OEM headlights with the aftermarket clear lenses, and keeping the aftermarket headlights with OEM lenses on your car while it's being made. Then you'd have great fitment along with perfect lenses.

Xenon vs. Bixenon is, again, a personal preference. I prefer s2000 projectors due to their unmatched intensity. I just bought a set of TL bixenon projectors with ZKW lenses (which should be comparable to the s2000), though, and if I'll be working on that retrofit for 6th gen accords (which I don't believe has been done). They might force me to love bixenon setups, but for now I can't complain about the s2000 projectors.

Hope that helps.

 

JNC's rotational method for mounting is one of the ways a retrofit should be done, with the other option as leaving the OEM adjustments in tact. Mounting the projectors to the back of the housing & praying that they're aligned the first time (since you would have to open the headlight back up to re-align them) is, in my opinion, a lazy person's method of retrofitting headlights.

I'd recommend blackhousing the low beam areas, since any light that might leak out from the projector/shroud area will reflect off of the OEM chrome and cause unwanted glare.

OEM headlights have perfect fitment, where as aftermarket headlights are known to have problems. I'd recommend buying a set of aftermarket lenses off of eBay for around $80, baking both sets, sending Rich (unless you're doing them yourself) your OEM headlights with the aftermarket clear lenses, and keeping the aftermarket headlights with OEM lenses on your car while it's being made. Then you'd have great fitment along with perfect lenses.

I noticed you said ONE of the ways a retrofit should be mounted. I'm assuming you have done a 6th gen retrofit before? If so could you enlighten me on the other proper ways of mounting them?

I'm leaning more towards blacking out all of the chrome in the low beam area, just worried as to how it'll look.

The only real concern I have regarding after market headlamps that was initially brought up to me by Rich is the quality of the adjustment screws. I have had after market Depo's before on this car and the fitment was fine, I never played with the adjustment screws that much though.

I fixed a couple of pictures in my guide here:
http://www.v6performance.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1540325#post1540325

Been out of retrofitting for a long time now, but if you can make JnC's rotational method work for you, by all means. I've seen in person the method work wonderfully for 7th gens

Appreciate you taking the time to update that thread a little bit. I'm sure it'll help a lot of people since DIY's, Tips & How-To's on retrofit are usually so scattered through-out many different threads. Nice to see a handful in one place.

 

I fixed a couple of pictures in my guide here:
http://www.v6performance.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1540325#post1540325

Been out of retrofitting for a long time now, but if you can make JnC's rotational method work for you, by all means. I've seen in person the method work wonderfully for 7th gens

 

Hmm I'm really digging the low beam being painted now.

I know this can be done, but I'll ask anyway. Is it possible to align and level the projectors perfectly WITHOUT them being on the car? I hear of people using bullseye levels and all this but I never see a picture or explanation of the method?

 

Hmm...that's almost a trick question. If the retrofit uses a rotational adjustability method, then yes it can be made without the car. For instance, Larry & Rich's retrofits are all made without cars...but since they're adjustable, the owners can just tweak them a bit once they're installed and they end up perfect. You still need a car to align them perfectly, but you don't need the car at all during the process of making the headlights.

The projector mounting in the reflector housing has to be correct to a certain degree before adjustments, since the adjustability is limited to a small amount. You can make sure it's correct by looking at the headlight lens bullseye mark, the angle of the previous bulbs (and your own custom marks), etc.

 

Yeah, you're welcome to ask those guys...but there's a reason they get paid to do their job. It's unlikely they're going to want to reveal too much useful information that could decrease their business opportunities.

Here are a few links to decipher:
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7246&highlight=
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19854&highlight=

 

Well I pretty much found out how Larry mounts all his. It's all custom machined one off parts which is out of the question for 90% of us who do retrofits lol.

 

Haha yeah, and most professional retrofitters will void their warranties if the headlights are opened up or tampered with...so that's where you have to put all of the information together on your own & come up with your best solution, or pay the piper to do their work for you.

 

lol I'd be willing to pay him just for custom made brackets, of course if he would...

 

If you have the time and patience, anyone can do a retrofit. I've been doing them for about 4 years now, and when I first started, there were no write-ups at all. Now, I've seen quite a few different DIY's, and more and more people are getting into the whole retrofit thing. Just know, once you have a retrofit done, there's no going back. It's like night and day the first time you turn your lights on.

 

Yeah I'm just debating on bi-xenon or not now...

 

I've had single xenons on my car for about 4 years now, and I finally decided to buy some FX's, so I'm finally going to see how well Bi-xenons are. I'm ready to blind some people who leave their brights on