Angels and demons: An obs headlight build

[Slowlaned]

Hi guys, This is my first thread ever on here so first I'd like to give you all a little bit of background on my truck. If you just want to skip straight to the headlight build, check out my next post in the thread I will be adding within the next day or so.

SHORT BUILD HISTORY:

Back in the spring of 2017 I bought this old girl, a bone stock '89 GMC Sierra. I picked it up from a coworker who's grandfather was the original buyer from the dealership in 1988.

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I was immediately interested in it because it was a short cab, short box, 2wd, and it was a manual tranny. It had 207k on the engine, and 90k on the rebuilt tranny. The only thing I would have changed and still may change is the gutless 4.3l engine.

When I first bought the truck I had major plans for it, and over the last year and a half I have transformed it into something that more closely resembles my vision. I did every bit of work on it entirely myself, with just a little help from an extra set of hands while putting in the lowering kit; a belltech 4/6 using a LCA, springs and flip kit.

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I am starting to regret not joining a group like this before I started the build, but my facebook page has done the job of keeping all the in-progress pictures throughout the build. I am debating going back and creating a build thread on the whole truck, while the details of what I've done are still fresh in my head. Maybe I will just wait to see how much interest anybody would have in it.. For now though, I've decided to go ahead and document my current project, creating a set of custom headlights and marker lights, which will go with the new grille I will be making for it next.

To give you a quick idea of the skill level of the project, I'll refer to the front bumper in the picture above. The bumper was made and designed 100% by myself out of fiberglass and steel. It took me a little over a month working on it over the weekends... Well, this current headlight project has been in the design phase for the better part of a month now and has easily been my most frustrating project yet. However, I am now finishing the design phase and am finally getting to the build phase, which is what you guys want to see.

the headlights im building are 100% custom, the only part I'll be using from the original lights is the bracket for mounting the old sealed beam lights. They will have bi-xenon projectors built into a completely new assembly fabricated by myself. so it's not just going to be a simple projector mounted in an aftermarket reflector bucket from e-bay. Every detail will take something from a current design or trend, but will be done in my own way. They will have halos, demon eyes, and lighted brows that will shape them into a more angular, aggressive shape that will ultimately tie into the new grille shell I'll be making. Anyway, enough of the details, check out the next post for the beginning of the build and plenty of pics!! Here's a little teaser of a brightness test i did, making sure they will be visible in the day.

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[Slowlaned]

I had a little time after work today and put some work in on the headlights. First things first, here's a list of materials that I had to buy, besides what I had laying around.

MATERIALS

1. (2) NILITE Bi-xenon HID projectors ($25, Walmart.com, they come with gatling shrouds)
2. (4) COLORMORPH Halos ($30/pair 100mm, theretrofitsource.com each ring comes with its own driver)
3. (2) "Dummy projectors" ($15, theretrofitsource.com)
4. (2) Gatling shrouds ($15, theretrofitsource.com)
5. (2) clear mini-blind wands ($5, home Depot)
6. (1) METALCAST red anodized spray paint ($10, autozone)

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I should say that the best deal I found was the colormorph halos from the retrofit source, at only $30/pair with drivers they were the cheapest halos ive found that are of such a high quality, and they shipped from east to west coast in only 3 days. I also had a few multi-color led strips that had their own color selectors, which is what I will use to control the color of the halos and demon eyes.

Now, onto todays progress..

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My truck is an '89, so I have the dual sealed beam headlights instead of the composite lights, which doesn't make things easy when it comes to encasing everything I wanted. I thought about buying a cheap set of clear composites online, but after seeing the size of them in person I decided to go my own route and make the assembly, which is what I did today.

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First, I cut out (4) 5x6.5" panels from a sheet of 1/8" pressboard i had. Then I used 4 pieces of 4" pvc pipe (the 100mm halos fit perfectly inside them) to make the main shape of the headlight "buckets". The technique was the same one you would use making fiberglass speaker boxes, set your mounting ring, stretch material over and around the base, then brush on fiberglass resin. This is how they came out after 2 coats of resin and a little sanding.

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I will be making one side first, then the other, so from this point on you will only see one set until the project is complete. This is just to speed up the documenting of the build, and also to save time if there is an oversight causing me to scrap the set. The Top set are sanded and have the holes cut out for the projectors and dummy projectors.

Next, I used more pressboard to make a simple enclosure, putting it all together with the buckets bolted to the original bracket so everything was sure to be in the right place.

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The plastic piece on the top set is off the grille, I cut out both sides to make room for my own enclosure, which is about 1/2" taller than the original plastic in the grille. At this point I covered the outside seams with a bit more material (an old shirt stretches great and is just fine for fiberglass that isn't structural) and brushed on a coat of resin, applying it fairly heavily on the inside of the assembly, as the pooling resin in the bottom of the corners eases the transitions very well.

That was all for today, Apparently I can only add 5 pictures per post, so when I make my next entry I will add the fiberglassed assembly first and pick up from there. I know it might look rough right now, but I can see it taking shape. Stay tuned!

 

[Slowlaned]

Today was a pretty productive day on the build, for only having a few hours after work. I was worried that the concept I had in my head wouldnt work too well, as far as fitment and brightness of the accents was concerned. Well today I am satisfied that it will all work very well together, and even better than I thought. The main reason I chose to go full custom with these lights was the aftermarket project bettrtor headlights for these trucks frankly just suck. They are 90% low-beam only, halogen projector lenses, which means that the bulb doesn't get much better, just better focused. The next option would be a retrofit, which I very nearly went with, if only the reflector headlight assemblies on these trucks had any real size to them. But what I wanted to stuff into them was just a little bit too much #*+%.. so the fabricating commenced!!!

First, the assembly from my last post all dry and ready for test fittings.

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I will show you guys what I used and how I fit everything together for the side of the light with dummy projectors, the ones that are just for lookin purty

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The pieces in the top pic are what I used and how much I had to cut off of the shroud and projector lenses to fit in the buckets I made up. The piece in the lower pic is a piece of a sink strainer basket That I cut down to 3/4" tall and attached the halo to. The new fiberglass buckets are only 1" tall on each level, so for the dummy side I went as thin as possible.

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You can't really see the piece of strainer basket in this picture but it is what the diffuser ring is sitting on. I made the rings from clear blind wands with grooves cut into the back, there are several youtube videos showing the technique. The only part I seem to be doing that I haven't seen any examples of is setting the halo back away from the ring, and shining them up through it. Every other video shows someone using only the halos on the top, or using the rings with only 2 leds lighting them sideways (are you kidding me!?) I didn't like the look of either technique. The "halo-only" way left you with a halo that was bright enough to see in the day but it wasn't a halo... Just a ring of individual lights. The "ring-way" could only be seen at dusk, so I combined them and used the ring idea as more of a window to diffuse the light from the halo. And the double enclosures around the lens and halo completely separates the halo colors from the demon eye colors.. AN END IS IN SIGHT.

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This picture believe it or not was taken in the same light all the others from this post were taken in, a fully lighted garage. This is a great way to show you all just how bright the whole thing actually is... Bright enough to make the rest of the picture look dark.

 

[Slowlaned]

I just received a message from a member asking about a few details that I forgot to mention or rather had not yet mentioned. His concerns were:

how am I going to be adjusting the projectors?

What am I going to do for front lenses?

What hid's am I going with?

Why use such cheap projectors and then go to the trouble of making full custom housings?

Will they be built (I assume he meant the mounting of the functional projectors) on the truck to make sure the cutoffs are lined up right?

I thought these were all very valid concerns and I should have addressed the complete build more in-depth before beginning with the thread. I understand that nobody wants to go to the trouble of reading an entire thread when there isn't even a clear plan laid out, you can't that time back, and I don't wanna take it from you lol so here is the response I gave him in nearly its entirety. Mostly Because I don't want to write it all out again lol


So when i first started the project I was just going to go with a quick retrofit into some ebay housings, and throw a higher end halogen bulb in the cheap-o projectors. Just to kinda get a feel for the whole projector thing, never used them before so I didn't want to sink too much money into it all. Then after looking through all the types of projectors and halo designs etc. I decided to put more time into it.

I've actually got a pair of morimoto minis in the mail right now from retrofit source. I went ahead and ordered their lower-middle end 35w hid kit that will plug right into the harnesses on the truck, with the (if I remember right) 4500k xenon bulbs, they were the middle road option between yellow and glacier white. can't remember exactly what model numbers everything was but will add to the thread when they arrive.

As for lenses, the finished edge of the grille is basically a straight line, with a little curve in it so I got a piece of 3/16 clear acrylic that will be cut to fit, heated and have about 1/2" bent over each side and sealed to the front edge of the housing, as well as screwed. The assembly I made is 1/2" taller & 3/4" wider than the openings on the grill, and 3/16" shallower so the sealed edge will be hidden behind the original plastic. You will only see a flat acrylic window behind the opening. Also going to cover the acrylic with some clear 3m vinyl that is used for the semi permanent clear bras on newer cars, maybe get some with a 95-80% light tint to it? I would hope that the acrylic holds up without melting or warping, I think it will be okay with a glass lens in front of the bulbs.

Adjustment will be done pretty much how you would guess, the functional projectors will only be test fitted until the project is all done with the exception of sealing front lenses. The way I made the buckets and mount the diffuser rings gives me a little wiggle room to aim them, should be more than enough to get the cutoffs almost perfect before drilling holes in the front edge of the reflectors and bolting the projectors into place on the original bracket. The final adjustment will be done by getting some longer bolts for the original 4-bolt mounting bracket and either cutting spacers for them or just adding a couple washers to whichever corners need them.

I hope that eases anyones concerns or satisfies their curiosity. I definitely want to thank the member that brought up the questions, because input from other truck guys is why I joined this page.

If anyone else has questions don't hesitate to drop me a message!!!

 

[Slowlaned]

Well this weekend was a total bust when it came to getting any free time to work on the headlights, which isn't a big deal right now because I received my new morimoto projectors and hid kit in the mail Saturday and when I opened the box i found I had made a major mistake.
First, let me just say in my defense that the diagrams labeling projector size on the retrofit source website are measured in metric lol, and the measurement I was looking at was actually the shroud mounting holes measurement, and not lens diameter...

So you can all probably guess what happened when I opened the box. yep, the projectors I thought were 2.5" dia. Were 3" diameter. Which doesn't sound like that much bigger of a lens, but you all know how much headlight room there is in an obs.. So that idea, along with my assemblies and all the planning I had to do, would be going out the window if I used the 3" projectors.

So I opted instead to send them back in exchange for a set of H1 acme supers. The kit was less than half the price of the morimoto H1 7.0's, and I was told by the people at retrofit source that the technology is an exact match to the morimoto 5.0's, which is still very high quality tech. Also, I mentioned the mistake I made while looking at the projector measurements, and the guy gave me an extended warranty on the entire acme kit free of charge.

The morimoto warranty is one year for the 7.0's and the acme supers warranty is originally 3 months. They extended the warranty out to 8 months, for any part and any reason, no questions asked!

Anyway I can't just keep posting just to see myself talk, so while I wait for the supers to arrive i will be using the next few days to fine-tune the look of my project. First idea was to use more of the leftover white strip lights to supplement the white color option on my halos, because I know that white usually doesn't perform the best with rgb halos, although I have to say that these particular ones are almost too bright, but6you never really know until its a sunny day at high noon, so I added a ring of those on the inside walls of the halo windows then did my best to cover as much as possible with reflective tape bought from o'rielys. Yeah, it looks ugly as hell but the reflective tape brought the brightnesd to another level entirely.

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Here they are with only the white strip, no inside wall or diffuser ring

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And below is the white strip on as well as the halos set on white, crazy bright with the reflective tape on both walls. Also has a diffuser ring on top if you can even tell lol

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Next I thought I would scrap the painted surface inside the assembly and cover it with carbon fiber sticker sheet, I thought it would take the finished product to the point of actually appearing commercially or maybe even professionally made..

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Here it's only half done, as it was Sunday night and I needed to get to sleep. I can definitely say that I like it though.

 

[Slowlaned]

I bet a lot of you thought I had scrapped this entire project, given it's been nearly a month since my last post. I haven't scrapped it, just haven't had any time to work on it. I picked up a pretty big side job and have been spending every moment doing that when I haven't been at my regular job, but I finally got some free time this weekend to go back and put in some work and, functionally, they are finished. I will still have to spend a bit of time fine-tuning the aim of the projectors, as well as the lighted brow I plan on adding to them. Also, keep in mind that these are being made specifically for the new grille that I am going to be building as soon as the lights get to a point I'm comfortable with.
So last post I was just beginning to cover them with fake carbon fiber, since then I have also slightly modified the shape of the assembly and added trim to the seams and center transition piece. I have also finished mounting all my lighting for the halos and demon eyes. So here's what it looked like before adding the dummy projector:

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As you can see, I added some faux Chrome trim to the seams and around the top of the openings for the halo rings, which makes the whole project look cleaner, I think. Almost professional?? Anyway this is what they look like at this point, with the dummy projector mounted and all the lights in them. The second shroud and also second demon eye will be put in at the same time the final assembly and aiming happens:

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Disregard the wires sticking out of the back, I Was using them for a light test. And here they are during that test:

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this was a picture taken in a fully lighted room, and heres one in the dark to show you just how bright the halos are:

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[BlastingBat998]

im not usually interested in lowered trucks, but you sir have done a mighty fine job, i saw your finished headlights in the random media section and i got to wondering where you got them, but after reading this i kinda want to build some my self, i have a few too many build ideas for my 98 K2500 454 vortec suburban, one of those ideas includes doing some thing similar to this. cool truck, keep up the fantastic work!