Carbon Fiber Dual Morimoto Mini H1 Retrofit

[InfiniteReality]

First thing I need to state that this idea may be a waste of money and time to get everything done like I want. I don't have expetactions of the carbon coming out perfect, but any defects in my workmanship will be hard to see being behind a lens. This ismy original retrofit.
https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/threads/morimoto-mini-d2s-retrofit-mini-how-to.189272/

Finally getting around to doing my 2nd Hayabusa retrofit, figured now's a good time so I can install it when I put my OEM fairings back on. This retrofit will have dual Morimoto Mini H1 Bi-Xenon projectors, Morimoto ballasts, Morimoto 5500K top bulb and Morimoto 3000K bottom bulb (to be different and I feel safer, lol). For added difficulty (and I love carbon) I'll be filling in the OEM shroud and skinning it in 2x2 twill carbon fiber.

I think with the information mabupa gave me, the lower projector may not be too hard to install and make my life easier thanks to his info. The top projector it's looking like I'll need to trim a space for the solenoid, hopefully that goes fairly easy. I have Iris and Occular shrouds for the top projector, since I'm filling in the area on the lower shroud, Iris may look the best. So my headlight isn't 100% carbon fiber, I'm thinking I'll paint the Iris shroud satin black or maybe the metallic charcoal I just sprayed my nitrous bottle. I have enough to skin it in carbon, but may be too much carbon (is that a thing? lol).

While apart I sprayed gloss black to the areas where the 194 running light bulbs go. I don't run them because they don't quite match my HID so I just leave the bulb in there but disconnected. Being black will allow it to blend in nicely especially due to the lens being diffused for them and I can leave bulbs out too.

So far I have the OEM shroud filled in, sanded and painted black (so it doesn't bleed through the fiber). Nice part about that is I can just build the Bondo up (did do in layers), I mainly just need a fairly smooth shape that's identical on both sides. I got my fiber ready and sprayed the OEM shroud with adhesive so I could get it to stick to it. After that a light coat, enough to wet the fiber, of 2 part epoxy. Used the heat gun to remove any pinhole air bubbles and gave that a couple hours to some what dry. Came back with a heavier coat, used heat gun and that's where it's at right now. Still looks rough, future pictures should look alot better.

Tonight I'll do alot of wet sanding to knock down the high spots and apply another coat of epoxy. I may repeat that step again tomorrow depending how it looks. This will be a work in progress and I'll update as I go through the steps, sort of hoping starting a thread will push me to get it done quicker without rushing. There's also some orange demon eyes that will be installed as well, possibly to use as a DRL. Definitely have some re-wiring to do on the bike to get stuff operating like I want.

 

[mabupa]

Wow! I think this is going to look super clean. I remember cutting a lot of sections, but don't remember cutting space for solenoid. Just in case, solenoids are supposed to be at the bottom when mounted. I made the mistake to put them on top because it looked like that was the why it was supposed to be when I moved the shutter by hand. Well, long story short, I had to put the light back in the oven and disassemble everything again to reverse them after I saw my cuttoff line upside down and found a video where the guy mentioning the upside down shutters(pretty weird how they work). One more thing, don't trust your vision and try to eyeball them and think they are both perfectly lined up. I did it that way and since the cutoff lines are on different spots when pointed to the garage door/wall, you can clearly tell that my top projector is a little "off" so both my cutoff lines are not perfectly parallel to each other. I suggest that you leave the locking nut on the back of the projectors lose and take your open headlight and mount it on the nose fairing and then mount it on the bike. Power them up, while on the rear stand, rotate your projectors until the cutoff lines are perfectly parallel to each other and the ground while pointed against a wall. You can then tighten the locking nuts on the back of the projectors to secure them in that position. This all sounds complicated but, you'll see what I mean once to start playing with them. I wish I would have made a little video or taken pictures of the process. Just shoot me a PM if you think I can be of any more help. I'll take a pic of my cutoff lines tonight so you can see what I'm referring to.

 

[mabupa]

Sun is still out, but you can see what I'm referring to on this picture. Notice how there is bigger gap between my 2 cutoff lines on the left end and they are trying to "come together" on the right end. That's what you are trying to avoid by doing the procedure I described above. It's not too bad and people don't even notice, but I know is like that and bothers me a little. I would love to try doing another headlight with bigger projectors. I've been working 7 days a week and haven't had the chance to locate another cheap headlight to try it.

 

[InfiniteReality]

Thanks for the picture and info, I see what you mean. I know exactly what you're talking about, when I was aligning the last retrofit, it was definitely time consuming to keep headlight open and put it on the bike to align. Then tighten nut, remove from bike, finish tightening it and then repeat it back on the bike to verify.

On the D2S I cut an opening where the solenoid and it appears I may have to do it to the MH1's as well. Not sure if it's really necessary, but it may allow the projector to lay flatter. Of course I was doing this with a cheap H1 projector to test fit. You can sort of tell what I'm talking about in the first picture. I considered doing the cutting before the carbon, but I know the carbon will add thickness to it so I'd still be cutting afterwards. I think I understand what you mean for the lower projector now that I have it open.....least I understand the concept for sure to mount the MH1 in the OEM "bowl". Just to ask, ever happen to find your pictures of your retrofit? I can't remember if you lost them or were deleted off phone.

Did first round of sanding last night to knock down and start to level out of the epoxy and added another coat. Looking like I'll need 3 coats total, unless stuff comes out even. Still unsure what kind of clearance issues I'll have, but I'll should be able to test fit everything tomorrow and then I'll start cutting. Once everything fits properly, I can do a final sand on the OEM shroud and clear. Also sand and paint the Iris shroud and "hopefully" saturday everything will be going back together. I want to ride so bad, but still not quite healed up enough from the spill. Hope I can maybe ride this time next week.

After sanding. I know it looks bad, but the low spots should start to fill in as I add more coats. I wish this epoxy was thicker though, it'd fill them in quicker.

 

[mabupa]

It Looks like i lost my retrofit pics when I swapped phones. I didn't really think about your carbon layer affecting clearance, but now that you mention it, I wonder how tight the new projector is going to fit behind the shroud once you put it in the bowl. Maybe you'll be ok. I remember once I fitted mine inside the bowl and put the OEM shroud on, I had a gap between the projector lense and shroud. I solved this by adding one of those black plastic rings that came with the kit and glued it in place and it worked great. I really like what you are doing here and can't wait to see how the finished product will look like. I wanted to paint my shroud black, but didn't think just black paint would look good.

 

[Ham]

Thanks for the picture and info, I see what you mean. I know exactly what you're talking about, when I was aligning the last retrofit, it was definitely time consuming to keep headlight open and put it on the bike to align. Then tighten nut, remove from bike, finish tightening it and then repeat it back on the bike to verify.

On the D2S I cut an opening where the solenoid and it appears I may have to do it to the MH1's as well. Not sure if it's really necessary, but it may allow the projector to lay flatter. Of course I was doing this with a cheap H1 projector to test fit. You can sort of tell what I'm talking about in the first picture. I considered doing the cutting before the carbon, but I know the carbon will add thickness to it so I'd still be cutting afterwards. I think I understand what you mean for the lower projector now that I have it open.....least I understand the concept for sure to mount the MH1 in the OEM "bowl". Just to ask, ever happen to find your pictures of your retrofit? I can't remember if you lost them or were deleted off phone.

Did first round of sanding last night to knock down and start to level out of the epoxy and added another coat. Looking like I'll need 3 coats total, unless stuff comes out even. Still unsure what kind of clearance issues I'll have, but I'll should be able to test fit everything tomorrow and then I'll start cutting. Once everything fits properly, I can do a final sand on the OEM shroud and clear. Also sand and paint the Iris shroud and "hopefully" saturday everything will be going back together. I want to ride so bad, but still not quite healed up enough from the spill. Hope I can maybe ride this time next week.

After sanding. I know it looks bad, but the low spots should start to fill in as I add more coats. I wish this epoxy was thicker though, it'd fill them in quicker.

i'm jealous

 

[InfiniteReality]

It Looks like i lost my retrofit pics when I swapped phones. I didn't really think about your carbon layer affecting clearance, but now that you mention it, I wonder how tight the new projector is going to fit behind the shroud once you put it in the bowl. Maybe you'll be ok. I remember once I fitted mine inside the bowl and put the OEM shroud on, I had a gap between the projector lense and shroud. I solved this by adding one of those black plastic rings that came with the kit and glued it in place and it worked great. I really like what you are doing here and can't wait to see how the finished product will look like. I wanted to paint my shroud black, but didn't think just black paint would look good.

Like you said, it looks like there's and will be a gap around the lower projector. I think I'll be fine, worse case I can use the Dremel and slowly take down enough to fit. Especially if it's on the backside it'll be easy. I'm a little concerned around the upper edges of where top projector will be, but may be okay. Worse case I'll have to get a new China light and just paint it. Figured having carbon was worth the gamble.

I agree,while you have a decent amount of black on your bike, there's very little on the front around the headlight. I think leaving it chrome was a good idea

i'm jealous

Ha, thanks. You may not be jealous with how much time is involved when everything is said and done. I'd guess I'd have ~8hrs or so into it once I get last coat of epoxy and before I start final sanding.

 

[mabupa]

To be honest, modifying the ocular shroud was the most unnerving part due to it being visible. I ordered both H1s with the same shroud so I could have a spare and I'm glad I did. The chrome coating is real thin and I ended up messing one up rubbing it so much. Also, once installed the shroud is super close to the headlight lense.

 

[InfiniteReality]

To be honest, modifying the ocular shroud was the most unnerving part due to it being visible. I ordered both H1s with the same shroud so I could have a spare and I'm glad I did. The chrome coating is real thin and I ended up messing one up rubbing it so much. Also, once installed the shroud is super close to the headlight lense.

I did the same thing, just ended up later ordering the iris shroud so I have 3 to mess up and 1 to keep, lol. I can imagine how difficult it'd been knowing you aren't going to paint it.

I looked closer at my projector with the carbon and a little notch will need to be cut to drop it down a hair. It's VERY close to being parallel with lower shroud, so I see why you didn't need to notch yours.

Last night I started to get excited and more confident about doing carbon, here's the results from round 3. As the sanding shows, round 2's epoxy filled in tons of the low spots and only left a few to go. I think after sanding round 3 tonight, I'll be setup to spray some clear on it after I get shroud cut down and everything fitted together properly. Still more sanding to go, but even more this time since I have to also go from 100 grit to 500 grit so I can have a nice smooth clear coat.

 

[mabupa]

I know if we were to price these headlight conversions based on the amount of hours it took us they would be probably over a thousand lol, but how much have you spent on materials like carbon sheet, epoxy, sand paper, etc?

 

[GNBRETT]

sweet

 

[InfiniteReality]

Typically that's exactly what people charge, even upwards of $2k! 09-12 F-150 is a good example, there's almost no modifying on them. Pull apart, paint whatever, no trimming on reflector or shroud, align projector and done. There's definitely money in doing retrofits, but stuff like the busa is a whole different animal. Time is your best friend for sure and make sure there's alot.

Just added stuff up:
$270 Morimoto Mini H1 Dual Motorcycle Kit
$30 Iris Shroud
$50 2x2 Twill Carbon Fiber W/ Epoxy
$120 China headlight
$40 Morimoto XSB Demon Eyes (Switchback)
$10 Sandpaper, Clear & Paint

$500ish total, now I wish I wouldn't have added it up, haha. Should be worth every penny in the end tho. I still have to figure out the wiring once I get the bike ready to be put back together, but that should be pretty easy

 

[InfiniteReality]

Quick preview for anyone interested

 

[InfiniteReality]

Holy crap, I forgot how big of a pain it is to trim shroud to fit. Granted when people say take your time I've taken that to extremes. 4hrs into it and still have yet to sand epoxy. It's close, now I can do epoxy and shroud final sanding and one last test fit with real Morimoto projector

 

[mabupa]

Holy crap, I forgot how big of a pain it is to trim shroud to fit. Granted when people say take your time I've taken that to extremes. 4hrs into it and still have yet to sand epoxy. It's close, now I can do epoxy and shroud final sanding and one last test fit with real Morimoto projector

Lol! I told you that the shroud was tricky. I Only trimmed the bottom of my ocular shroud so that it would slide over the projector and not hit the oem shroud. I left the top edge unti couched and was really close to the lense once I sealed the headlight. May want to triple measure to make sure the added thickness of the carbon and epoxy won't affect clearance up there.

 

[InfiniteReality]

Lol! I told you that the shroud was tricky. I Only trimmed the bottom of my ocular shroud so that it would slide over the projector and not hit the oem shroud. I left the top edge unti couched and was really close to the lense once I sealed the headlight. May want to triple measure to make sure the added thickness of the carbon and epoxy won't affect clearance up there.

I forgot how much trial and error it takes! I even had a spare shroud and still didn't take advantage of it. I did the shroud cutting before I started sanding. I know just a little will get knocked off from sanding epoxy so hoping it'll fit just a tad better. Luckily I got the shroud centering piece so it can make sure stuff is centered.

I have yet to mess with lower projector. As of now, it looks like it'll sit a little high in OEM shroud. I did trim the back side of it so the OEM shield is gone. That was more of a pain than I anticipated.

I hoped to have it cleared tonight but don't see it happening. Got another retrofit for a buddy going on as well. Worked out good I needed a break from the busa shroud, haha

 

[smokinthehippies]

Man that is gonna look tits

 

[InfiniteReality]

I'm doing alot more than triple checking, lol. With the iris shroud, it's like a big circle with a flat bottom unlike the oblonged occular. I think I ended up taking more off the top than bottom honestly.

Never got back to finish sanding last night, needed a break from it. I did start to pull the trashed fairings off and fix the headlight motor on the WS6.

Hope to work on it some tonight and get stuff painted and cleared. Won't have time to get everything done and bike back together this weekend, but should next weekend.

Morimoto XSB switchback demon eyes.

 

[InfiniteReality]

Few progress pictures. I haven't sanded the carbon down, sort of considering leaving it as is due to how well it looks. I got the iris shroud almost done, I either need to take a little more off it or the epoxy to have a little wiggle room. The bulk of the work is done at least. While I didn't take a picture, I did work on the metal bracket for the lower projector.... MAN, mabupa, you're not kidding with how much needs to be done to this piece to get a projector to fit. I got all the tabs on the inside removed, but still not quite there to get the projectors to fit. I got side tracked putting the bike back together. As much as I wanted to get headlight done before putting it back together, I wanted to ride it even more.

Now for the good stuff. I test fitted the carbon shroud and fits perfectly as it is. Of course, I also install the Morimoto XSB switchback demon eyes, they're a tight fit there. I may not be able to use them though, having those attaching bolts to the bowl gets in the way of using the OEM bowl to mount it in. I'll either have to remove for find an alternate way to mount the lower projector.

Iris shroud trimmed on the bottom. I've trimmed the top but didn't get a picture.

This is the metal piece where I had to get rid of all the "fingers" inside it.

 

[bigoltool]

Great job man. A labor of love for sure.