1.Purchase of Headlights
I bought a pair of Nissan G35 (FX35) bi xenon headlights. I wanted bi xenon projectors as these are fitted with a solenoid that lifts a cut off shield allowing a full beam when high beam is activated. These projectors effectively become a low beam and high beam headlight with 3 times the light output of a standard halogen headlight all in one. (Maybe 10 times brighter than a R33?)

Further research revealed you can buy a clear projector lens that increases the light output even more and produces a blue/purple haze across the cut off line. I had to have these lenses as well! I ended up purchasing Nissan G35 projects, HID ballasts, globes and the clear lens from James at the TOPCITY hid manufacturer. The service was great and the goods arrived from the US to Oz in under4 days.

Pictures of G35 Projector. The G35s appear to be similar to the FX35 but with different mounting

2.Cut off Shield to RHD
I have been working on this overall project for 6 months now and the lights are still not fitted into the car, but I have made good progress. The first MAJOR task was to convert the cut off shield from LHD as in the US to RHD as in Oz. This has been a major fiddly job with heaps of cutting and gluing things in place. The addition of the clear lens appears to change the focal length slightly and the cut off shield required a slight repositioning so as to achieve a sharp cut off.

The original LHD shield had a __/--- shape, where as the RHD conversion is now a ---\___ shape.

Picture of RHD converted cut off shield

4.Opening R33 Standard Headlight
I didn’t want to use my original GTR headlights for this project, as I would like to be able to return the car back to standard if required. I decided to watch eBay and sure enough a pair of R33 series 1 headlights came up. I purchased them and they arrived in good working order. Both headlights have the plastic headlight lens a paler shade of yellow which will have to be polished out at a later date.

There are quite a few articles on the WEB on how to open the headlight assemblies up. Basically you remove all the hardware from the headlight and stick the assembly into a preheated oven at 260F for about 7 minutes. Then using screw drivers, prise open the headlight assembly.
Opened Headlight Assembly

5.Mounting Bracket
The mounting bracket fits inside the headlight and replaces the low beam reflector assembly. This bracket allows mounting of the new G35 projector light. I bought a damaged second hand R33 headlight for testing. I cut various cardboard templates for testing and sizing etc, and finally transferred this template it to a 1.6mm aluminium plate. I used the plastic adjustments that came with the G35 projectors to allow headlight adjustment. Some articles on the HID forums cut holes in the original reflector and glue the new projector in place while other articles fit the new projector with a mounting bracket. I chose the mounting bracket method.

6.Mounting the New Projector

7.Projector Mounting Brackets
I cut most of the original mounting brackets off the G35 projector and glued some aluminium plate to the projector to facilitate mounting to the brackets.

8.Mounting Bracket in Headlight Assembly
This shows the mounting bracket attached to the headlight assembly along with adjustments. I painted the bracket matt black to hide it when assembled.

  9.Projector Mounted on Bracket
Projector finally mounted in headlight assembly.

10.Trial Fit of the E46 Bezel
Pair of E46 bezels were trimmed to fit around the projector to hide most of the construction work. Clearance will have to checked when the plastic headlight lens is refitted.

11.Rear View
This shows the rear view with high voltage ballast cable connected. I was particularly please to have the projector nicely centred in the original hole at just the right depth. I have been trialling a cover for this end of the projector and a spray can top looks to be promising.

Powered Up
This photo shows the projector powered up and operational on a bench at last! I roughly adjusted the projector for up/down and left/right to ensure it had sufficient travel. Note the sharp cut off and the blue haze above the cut off. The rear photo above was taken after the projector had been roughly aligned.

That’s about the end of part one.
A few things are left to do:
- I have to complete the same work for the left hand headlight; most of the fabrication work is done, just a bit of filing, gluing and assembly is still required.
- I am working on the wiring diagram and I think I have most of it nutted out now. Ideally, I will build a plug and play so the projector wiring loom will plug into the existing wiring loom (no cuts). This will allow the headlights to be returned back to original if required.
- Polish up the plastic headlight lenses.

Hope to have part 2 with results in about a month or so.