Morimoto 2Stroke LED headlight kit - the future of LEDs

[OffTheWall503]

Finally finished up. Here we go!

So with the Fiesta halogen reflector, it is slightly off-set from the opening where you change the bulb. Due to the thickness of the top of the bulb with the heatsink, this causes issues. After trying my best attempt to make it work with the headlights out of the car, the bulb just wouldn't set in straight because the "piston" portion of the bulb was getting in the way. I devised a plan. Originally feeling defeated, I had just finished installing my new FMIC and was feeling adventurous. This may be too much for some to take on, but I enjoyed the challenge.

The bottom corner where the piston would touch needs to be modified. I used a dremel tool to remove excess plastic, mostly just the inner portion of the opening, as well as slightly outward but not changing the original opening at all. Be sure to use shop towels to cover the inside of the opening as much as possible to prevent plastic debris from getting inside the headlight. I was able to get 99% of the left over debris out with compressed air.

The side of the piston that will be touching that area will also need to be filed down. I held the bulb in a vice to secure it while I shaved down one side of the LED bulb "piston." And yes, this most likely voids the warranty but I was too determined to go back. Plus, these bulbs should last a very long time. Thinking about it now, I should've just made the entire shaved side flat. Oh well.

Unmodified vs modified bulb

Bulb installed, notice how it's aligned correctly and is dead straight. This is what you want when you're modifying it and not sure if you've done it correctly. If the bulb is crooked in anyway, you may have a difficult time installing it and even worse, the output will be diminished because the bulb isn't pointing straight

View from an angle of the bulb in place

"Ballast" wired up

Everything tucks away nicely in the housing

Now the boot solution. The stock one won't work. I removed the inner portion of the stock boot, and used my 90mm "retrofit" boots I ordered off ebay.

Put the hollowed out factory boot on first. You may need to trim an inner portion of the boot where the bulb touches, if you can't get the boot slid on to the groove on the headlight housing.

And the retrofit boot fit over the top of the factory boot.

Close-up view of the bulb inside the reflector

Headlight installed and test fire

View of the bulb boot, just fits.

Both lights back in and shining bright!

For what it's worth, this was the best I could get of some output shots inside a workshop

Whether or not the work was worth it? We will see when I can drive it at night. For now I'm pleased with my work and crossing my fingers that the output at night is halfway decent. As far as the color of the light, I'd say it's close to 5500k.

If anyone has any questions let me know!

 

[KKaWing]

Did you hand file or shave the bulb with the Dremel? Which attachment (Dremel noob)? Will it fit after taking some metal off without touching the headlights?

 

[OffTheWall503]

I actually used a cutting wheel on an air tool, so Dremel was the wrong word I guess. Either way same result.

On the first light I modified both the housing and the bulb, fit perfectly. On the second I tried to modify only the bulb and it still wouldn't fit. But maybe more needed to be shaved from the bulb, who knows.

 

[KKaWing]

I actually used a cutting wheel on an air tool, so Dremel was the wrong word I guess. Either way same result.

On the first light I modified both the housing and the bulb, fit perfectly. On the second I tried to modify only the bulb and it still wouldn't fit. But maybe more needed to be shaved from the bulb, who knows.

Thanks

Edit: Maybe I'll stuff this into the fogs ._. got too excited .

 

[OffTheWall503]

There would actually be plenty of room in the fog area. That's not a bad idea.

 

[OffTheWall503]

So I did some night driving and I'm pretty impressed with them! The bulbs are so bright that you can barely tell if the brights are applied. The output pattern seems pretty well dispursed, cutoff is actually pretty good. Seems way more controlled than HIDs thrown in reflectors.

The lights may be too high at their factory settings, however. I may need to point them down a little bit but I was never flashed at any point. Does anyone have a guide for adjusting the level?

 

[KKaWing]

This is gonna sound a little stupid but I can't ever find 25-35 ft of flat road / driveway / parking area and a wall to aim the headlights. What I do is drive around at night and look at the actual beam pattern on cars around the same height. I usually aim for the tail lights, but also take a look at their wing mirrors. As long as the beam pattern stays away from the wing mirror and not shoot above the trunk lid / brake lights (assuming they're in a normal place not on the pillars or smth) / into the cabin in similar height cars, then should be all good.

 

[OffTheWall503]

I know how to do the process but I need to know where the adjusters are on these lights.

 

[KKaWing]

Ohhh uhh there's a plastic hex bolt somewhere. Barely visible on this photo that I took ages ago on the top right.

 

[parapraxis24]

Ohhh uhh there's a plastic hex bolt somewhere. Barely visible on this photo that I took ages ago on the top right.

That is a picture if an upside down headlight, FYI. It's a phillips head screwdriver, and it would be below the low beam opening towards the outside edge of the car.

 

[OffTheWall503]

Is that for vertical or horizonal adjustment?

 

[parapraxis24]

Is that for vertical or horizonal adjustment?

Vertical. There is no horizontal adjustment on the FiST.

 

[OffTheWall503]

I imagine tightening raises and loosening lowers. I'll give this a shot this evening.

 

[pleaseyesplease]

Nice work 503 - That's no small feat! The output looks very promising. But damn, that is a total deal breaker for me, I'll have to return mine. I'm not cutting my headlights or hefty aluminum like that on the bulb cooler barrel. The 2stroke not even fitting the bulb port is a huge f'in bummer for me, and even saying that is a big understatement. Kind of a mystery to me how that happened when TRS Andrew even had a FiST! Anyway, it seems that the ideal LED bulb style in terms of broad fitments would be the TRS bulb head and shaft body, but with the aluminum cooling ribbons from xenon depot's LED. Damn, what a huge disappointment. 503, I look forward to more feedback/ photos of your nighttime output!

 

[stormcrow]

Finally finished up. Here we go!

So with the Fiesta halogen reflector, it is slightly off-set from the opening where you change the bulb. Due to the thickness of the top of the bulb with the heatsink, this causes issues. After trying my best attempt to make it work with the headlights out of the car, the bulb just wouldn't set in straight because the "piston" portion of the bulb was getting in the way. I devised a plan. Originally feeling defeated, I had just finished installing my new FMIC and was feeling adventurous. This may be too much for some to take on, but I enjoyed the challenge.

The bottom corner where the piston would touch needs to be modified. I used a dremel tool to remove excess plastic, mostly just the inner portion of the opening, as well as slightly outward but not changing the original opening at all. Be sure to use shop towels to cover the inside of the opening as much as possible to prevent plastic debris from getting inside the headlight. I was able to get 99% of the left over debris out with compressed air.

The side of the piston that will be touching that area will also need to be filed down. I held the bulb in a vice to secure it while I shaved down one side of the LED bulb "piston." And yes, this most likely voids the warranty but I was too determined to go back. Plus, these bulbs should last a very long time. Thinking about it now, I should've just made the entire shaved side flat. Oh well.


Unmodified vs modified bulb

Bulb installed, notice how it's aligned correctly and is dead straight. This is what you want when you're modifying it and not sure if you've done it correctly. If the bulb is crooked in anyway, you may have a difficult time installing it and even worse, the output will be diminished because the bulb isn't pointing straight

View from an angle of the bulb in place

Whether or not the work was worth it? We will see when I can drive it at night. For now I'm pleased with my work and crossing my fingers that the output at night is halfway decent. As far as the color of the light, I'd say it's close to 5500k.

If anyone has any questions let me know!

Wow. Way to take one for the team and sort a way for anyone wanting these bulbs to install them. Props to you! Though, they look like they scatter just as much as the Xenon Depot LEDs. They even have the exact same "cut-off" line and pattern. ("cut-off" in quotes because as with my Xenon Depot bulbs, there is no real cut-off) So, for ease of installation and keeping stock parts from being modified, the Xenon Depot bulbs are the way to go?

 

[pleaseyesplease]

Crow, how long have you been using your Xenon Depot LEDs? I have a set I bought from them a few months ago, but had not installed yet, then I saw that TRS was making the 2stroke so I waited for those. Now that I'm returning my 2strokes, I'll end up installing the Xenon Depots in the near future. Are you still happy with yours? No problems?

503, any other impressions on the 2strokes?

Wow. Way to take one for the team and sort a way for anyone wanting these bulbs to install them. Props to you! Though, they look like they scatter just as much as the Xenon Depot LEDs. They even have the exact same "cut-off" line and pattern. ("cut-off" in quotes because as with my Xenon Depot bulbs, there is no real cut-off) So, for ease of installation and keeping stock parts from being modified, the Xenon Depot bulbs are the way to go?

 

[stormcrow]

Crow, how long have you been using your Xenon Depot LEDs? I have a set I bought from them a few months ago, but had not installed yet, then I saw that TRS was making the 2stroke so I waited for those. Now that I'm returning my 2strokes, I'll end up installing the Xenon Depots in the near future. Are you still happy with yours? No problems?

503, any other impressions on the 2strokes?

I've been running them for about two months now. No issues at all. The light pattern looks identical to OffTheWall503's pictures above. Obviously it's worse than OEM, but much brighter, which was key for me. I've yet to have anyone flash me and I live in a metro area where anyone with brights on gets flashed immediately. So, no complaints. Obviously HIDs with projectors would be much nicer.

 

[OffTheWall503]

I like them. Played with adjustments of the reflector a little bit and aimed them downward. Output isn't evenly spreadout as you may have imagined, but there seems to be good output in the center of the beams and then it evenly thins out at the edges.

I haven't been able to drive in very dark areas yet to speak of performance but I can safely say that driving it around town it's already a lot better than the halogen bulb output.

Lets face it, these headlights suck. Reflectors give poor output so if anything, these LEDs give more usable light, even if the output isn't consistent across the whole beam.

So if you want these without the modifications the XenonDepot maybe the way to go. I will try to get some pictures across a flat wall at night some time soon to show output from 20 feet away or more to give some ideas. If you don't want to modify though, go for the Xenon Depot bulbs.

 

[Wesdawg]

Sub'd as well. Looking forward to see how these turn out. I have the Xenondepot LED's, but I returned to stock halogen as I wasn't all that happy with the beam pattern and all the scatter.

-Matt

Matt, I'm looking at ordering these... Are the ones you returned the latest design? Black (Phillips) Led?

 

[StayPuft]

Here are the Xenon Depot led headlights

Here they are with stock fogs + yellow laminex.

They do have some light leaking out the corners of the housing that could be obnoxious to cars you pass

Overall happy with them and they install in 5 mins like any other headlight.