High Performance 996 Headlights: Build Log

Greetings, Headlight enthusiast here working on a set of 996T headlights and wanted to share the build to give an in-depth look at what is possible with the 996 headlights and what those improvements translate to in real world performance (you know the important stuff). A little about myself. I love to modify and improve things (Google "Evan's E61 to see my personal build). Aesthetics are important but not at the expense of function so striking the balance an maximizing both (ideally without compromise) is an art and a challenge which keeps me hungry for more. I come from the BMW world and find it frustrating that so many headlight "retrofitters" add paint + LEDs and call it a build. To each their own but that is completely missing the point of headlights since they are so important for driving performance and safety. A proper headlight setup will offer better visibility and less stress for the driver and consequently better safety. Safety for the driver, his/her occupants, and improved safety for others on the road as the light output will be controlled and not blinding oncoming traffic. It's a win-win-win, if you are able to make the headlights look "cool" that is just icing on the cake. So I was approached by a 996T owner about making some upgrades to his headlights, we have solidified the plan of attack and the build is in motion. The lights are the "litronic" which is Porsche's fancy way of saying HID or xenon so from the factory they have a bi-xenon projector up top, a halogen high beam assist just below, a turn signal below that, and towards the mid-line of the car a small halogen projector fog light. Using the GT3 RSR as inspiriation the goal is a race-inspired look and improved output, here is what is on tap: Bi-Xenon projector clear lens swap + tuning Old HID bulbs replaced with new Philips 85122WHV2 Stock 35w Hella ballasts are "boosted" to 46w Stock fog light is being replaced with Morimoto Matchbox HID projector + yellow 3,000k bulbs Full Satin Black Bezel + High Beam Assist Delete LED Turn signal upgrade Custom Headlight washer delete GT3 RSR racing spec headlight lenses Headlights how they arrived. As it turns out the passenger side headlight was in an accident and had a lot of internal damage so we sourced another used headlight off eBay. The lenses were chipped during shipping but no worries there as we have a set of brand new RSR lenses from Germany. Headlights were pried apart the the channels were thoroughly cleaned. Factory sealant was a one use "permaseal" that will be replaced with butyl which will offer a nice seal and is reusable if the headlights ever need to be opened again. The headlights were showing their age with some of the wiring being deteriorated, this will be replaced. The hole in the bezel for the now removed headlight washer, the external washer caps will be shaved and fabricated to plug the bezel. Stock halogen fog light on the left and the Morimoto Matchbox on the right, it is a TINY HID projector. First output pic if stock fog light, second is the Morimoto with a regular HID bulb, these will have yellow bulbs once complete. Since the owner rarely drives his 996 at night we decided against a full-on projector upgrade for the main Bi-Xenon unit but I did some research and test fitting and am happy to report that I can make the Lexus RX350 projectors fit in the 996 housing so I wanted to show what that upgrade would look like. The stock 996 projectors are "decent" all things considered but lack the WIDE beam pattern of the Lexus. Also the chrome bowls on the stock projectors are become compromised from years of use, notice the difference in texture Here is the stock projector with some old HID bulbs vs the Lexus with a fresh Philips 85122WHV2, notice the difference in on-center intensity as well as the width. The Lexus RX350 has these "streaks" or "wings" of intense light which spread outward and these are very useful in real world application. Here is a comparison showing the stock Tesla Model S HID projector (stock bulb and ballast too) vs a Lexus which I have tuned with a fresh HID bulb and 45w ballast, not exactly apples to apples but nonetheless shows the striking difference between the two and what the RX350 is capable of, also take note of those "streaks" and how they aid width illumination. Anyway, we decided to pass on the upgrade so now the focus is the stock projector and maximizing it's potential. I am doing this my installing a clear lens and tuning the focal depth which helps focus the light output and sharpens the cutoff. Up next is the HID ballasts. The stock Gen 3 Hella ballasts which came on the 996 may not look like much but are arguably the best ever made due to their strong output, very fast warm up time, and their excellent reliability. As a bonus they can be "boosted" by swapping MOSFETs to improve efficiency and adding resistors to increase the output. Think of this as turbo charging since both output and efficiency are increased, the ballasts are simply over driven so even in their uprated state the reliability is excellent. Truly phenomenal ballasts! I can boost these to 41.5, 43, 46, 59, or 55w. We decided to go right in the middle at 46w. I snapped some pics and brought out the lux meter to quantify the improvement in output with the new bulb and boosted ballast. More to come!! Evan

Very interesting. I'll be following this thread closely. Good luck!

Nice results. How do the fog lights look? The stock light are pretty much useless.

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There are output pics comparing stock fog to the Morimoto unit above. In terms of the actual retrofit it hasn't happened yet, this is a "live" build thread. Evan

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I look forward to seeing this move along!

This is a great project.

Increased output looks great! What will do about any increased heat inside the light housing and clear polycarbonate lens? How will you kept it from showing signs of overheating?

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HIDs don't really pose a thermal threat to the lenses. HID are pretty efficient at making light and run much cooler than halogens. The halogen 65w H11 bulb that resides directly under the projector lens creates more heat than the HID bulb, even with the boosted 46w ballast. I designed some 3D printed projector gimbals for the Tesla Model S HID lights and did collected a bunch of data taking various temprature readings around the bowl and mounting points of the projector with an infrared thermometer to confirm the material I was printing with wouldn't be compromised from the heat generated by a 50 ballast. I would run the headlight with the lens applied and take readings until there wasn't any significant change in temp. I am pretty confident there will be no thermal related issue on the 996 headlight, even if ballast output was greater to say 50w/55w. The first area of concern would be the chrome finish on the bowl as that takes the brunt of the energy from the HID bulb and oddly enough heat isn't the more dangerous variable for the projector bowl it is the UV light! Evan Here is the thermal data I recorded on the Tesla headlight with a 50w ballast, temps are F...

Thank you for the info on heat; that's good to know for my headlight-internal LED DRL project that's sitting in limbo while my real job takes over my life. 1) What all would be involved in getting the the RX350 projectors to fit? Just adapter plates, or dremel+fab work? 2) Would you mind sharing which clear lenses you're going with?

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No problem, appreciate your inquisition... 1) I just eyed it up and knew I could make it fit. Since we didn't move forward with the project what I can say about what I saw is the partition between projector mount an high beam assist need to be trimmed to allow the RX350 solenoid to sit lower and the complete projector to sit level. You would only need some hardware to mount to the oem projector to the oem mounting plate, and some retrofitting (problem solving skills of course. The goal is to get the RX350 lens to sit at the same mounting depth as the oem projector so that the it looks oem once installed. Walk softly and carry a big stick 2) ZKW-R Evan

Would love to see pics of the final assembled units with replacements installed. How did you get the headlight lens off without breaking it? Do you have to heat up the entire unit first or just carefully pry apart? I do a lot of night driving and this would be a truly awesome upgrade for me. What sort of $ is involved?

Wow. I love this thread. Just the kind of lighting build I look for. I have MK1 litronics and changed the bulbs to Osram Xenarc Nightbreaker unlimited HID bulbs. They made a significant difference. Curious why you don't use these bulbs since they won the HID bulb competition.

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I used some heat while removing the lens it helps to soften the permaseal a bit. Custom headlight builds can vary a lot depending on the components spec'd in the build, a "nice" basic build might be $1,000-$1,500 and a crazy high end on might aproach $3,000. For example you could get a DDM HID projector/bulb/ballast package for $80, or a Morimoto projector/HID package for $300, or a really high end oem projector, have it modded, get quality HID bulbs, and nice oem ballasts (modded) for nearly $900. This is for the components only, no labor for headlight opening/resealing, retrofitting, etc. If you start adding custom paint, custom LEDs, or even a quad projector retrofit (2 projectors per headlight) you can see how things add up quickly. Most people seem to spend $1,500-$2,000 on projects which offer upgraded performance and looks. There are some BMW headlight builders who charge $1,800 just to install fancy LED halos and add some paint without addressing light performance or output, people gobble it up, it's crazy. What HID bulb competition are you referring to? The Philips WHV2 offers a real nice balance in both total output and a whiter color. Knowing the ballasts would be "boosted" above 35w the added power makes the kelvin output of the bulb shift down the spectrum so the stock 5,500k-ish color @35w will be more like 4,500k @46w. So if you took a 4,200k bulb like the nightbreaker and boosted it the light would be very yellow and probably look like a halogen light. Evan

If I had the resources I would be manufacturing replacement lenses. If you can pop a lens off and replace I can see charging $500-$800

Thank you, Evan! Completely different note: are you aware of any decent LED high beam projectors? @dlbvanos: are you referring to the clear cover for the headlight assembly, or the lens that's part of the projector?

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Are you referring the the lenses for the headlight housings?

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Clear cover, as the cars age the lenses are crazing. $500.00 to replace the lenses vs $2000.00-$3500.00 to replace the whole litronic assemblies would be great.

I'm interested in finding a source for the exterior lens for the headlight and turnsignals. Mine are showing their age.

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I have been on the hunt for those a while now and in short: no. There are some small led pods like the like the Rigid Dually but they don't offer the intensity needed for proper high beam function, once you get to to a light which might offer the performance like the VisionX Light Cannon you are looking at LED lights which are in the 5"-8" dia range and $500-$1,000, neither of which would look particularly good in a headlight and neither are projectors which is what we are after. For actual LED projectors there are a couple bi-LED projectors which perform OK like the units found in the current Gen Prius and some low beam only projectors like the Nissan Murano, Infiniti QX50, etc. which could be mounted inverted to offer a high beam but the intensity is sub par. What I have found to be the best alternative is take a good ol' HID projector which offer a nice high beam pattern (I prefer the Morimoto D2S 4.0) and pair it with a ballast that offer a fast warm up speed. This is what I did on my personal vehicle, I took the D2S 4.0, removed the shield essentially making it a high beam only unit, and then boosted a gen 3 Hella ballast to 55w (same as the 996 has) and the results are as good as it gets, warm up is fast and light is intense. With the Hella ballasts "boosted" especially to 55w they become real power hungry and warm up gets even faster. At ignition they are instantly at about 70% intensity and get to 100% in ~3 seconds. Think of it as having an instant-on 35w ballast which swells to 55w shortly thereafter. Here are some pics of my personal setup... The RSR lenses we have for this build were sourced from FVD.net for a completely reasonable $150/ea but I think they are now discontinued. I poked around looking at some Porsche part catalogs but I didn't see the lenses listed with a part number, so not sure what the options are for tracking down new oem lenses. I come from the BMW world and although BMW doesn't sell lenses or internal headlight components individually, there is a seller from Prague on eBay who sells oem lenses, not sure how he got his hands on them but maybe went factory direct and worked out a deal? Btw some of those replacement BMW lenses I have purchased are made by Hella who also makes these 996 housings... My thoughts above...

twinturbowagon: Can you post some pictures of the "guts" of the leveling swivel assembly (that the projector and helper are mounted on). I have wanted to replace the E55 projector with a modern projector, and maybe the "helper" reflector with a LED array, but I can't figure out how in my mind without seeing how they are all mounted.

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The bracket and projector mounting points are pretty visible with the rear cover removed, you should have access to take some measurements if inclined. I will get some additional photos for you.

Check out this thread for more HID retrofit info http://986forum.com/forums/diy-proje...ng-finish.html

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Unfortunately that info pertains to the halogen lights and "strathconaman" is looking for info on the facelifted Litronic units. Furthermore I really respect the amount of effort Fred put into creating these PNP projectors + shrouds for the 996/986s, he came up with some creative solutions to make an upgrade which is relatively easy to install for the masses. However I have one of those on hand and I am using the shroud, the very lustful precisely CNC-machined shrouds which look incredible, on another Bi-LED 964 project I am working on and the projectors, bulbs, and ballasts used are well to be kind, they are not good. To his defense he was working with restricted space so component options were limited but and he has a lot of satisfied customers but there can be a significant difference between "retrofits" depending on component selection and execution. Here are some pics to show the difference between some easy/cheap/PNP HID solutions and a retrofit featuring high end components. The "GT Collection" clearly has a HID bulb which has been compromised, I received this kit brand new never installed so I can only assume the bulb is not supposed to be a red color. lol Also, notice that the intense light is in the middle of the beam pattern, it should be at the top near the cutoff, this misalignment is usually due to a low quality bulb with cheap optics. "Flat 6 Illumination" are complete housings for the 964 chassis and the company has been bought out by The Retrofit Source and now these headlights if bought through TRS come with the Morimoto H1 projectors which are a decent performer. These output pictures were of the original output Flat 6 Illumination offered. Evan GT Collection Flat 6 Illumination Lexus SC430 Lexus RX330

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Irksome, but good to know. I'd like to be able to flash an instant-on high beam for passing, etc., without risking rapid burnout, as well as having sufficient light for low beams, and this looked like it might fit the bill. If it's not up to par, it might be good as a "high beam assist" but for $460 there's got to be a better option. Are you going to be integrating the matchbox ballast into the housing, or adding a separate plug?

Hey twinturbowagon... any idea how to get this connector out? I'm trying to repair the destroyed wiring in my Cayenne headlights and can't get that last plug out to save my life. Attachment 1353360 Thanks. -Mag

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The ballast for the Matchbox fog projector will be externally mounted, no space to mount it inside and I only like to mount ballasts or drivers internally when they can be easily accessible in the off chance there is a failure and needs to be replaced. Most of those 10-pin connectors have small inward facing lips which can be released by creating space between the housing and the perimeter of the electrical connector, if viewed from the inside you can see the lips and the small retaining clips on the housing. It is easier to release them from the inside but you should be able to do so from the outside. Try using a small/thin spackling tool or a very thin butter knife and wedge it between the top of the connector and then again at the bottom, you will need to apply pressure inward while wedging to release it. If the headlight isn't opened then this may all be for not as once the connector is released it will be inside the headlight and only able to be removed if the headlight lens has been removed. Evan

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What's up with all the burnt/melted insulation on those wires?

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This is the reason why I'm fixing it all... apparently it's very common on 955 Cayennes... looks like 996's suffer from it a little also, but most people don't open up their headlights so they never actually see it. The insulation deteriorates and literally turns to dust... if you breathe on it, it falls off. Can you say fire hazard?

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That is just deterioration of the protective coatings, it happens on some headlights depending on the age, environment, and use of the headlight over time. I have noticed it more on Hella headlights than other brands.

Since one of the headlights was structurally compromised from a previous accident we decided to source a complete replacement headlight. After one failed eBay transaction where the headlight purchased ended up having a broken projector bracket (same issue as original headlight) we struck gold with another eBay light. By shuffling some search terms around I was able to find a nice complete headlight for $375 shipped. Not bad since most 996 headlights in decent condition go for $500-$800/ea. After it arrived I was able to see that it was in better condition than I expected, aside from a few small rock ships in the lens it could have almost passed for new, it was in truly exceptional condition. It must have come off a very low mileage car as the excellent condition continued continued inside the headlight with a projector bowl that offered a nice smooth mirror like finish. I took the opportunity to line up the 3 projectors which had varying levels of deterioration. How does this affect output? Here are output pics comparing the frosted bowl to the like-new one *Both projectors have clear lens installed* The frosted bowl smooths out the output but it diffuses/kills lots of intensity and also width. In the the last photo above you can see some small dips in the cutoff line on the wider parts of the beam pattern, that is caused by these little metal tabs which protrude above the shield. They were removed to keep the cutoff flat and uninterrupted. #DetailsMatter Viewing the bezel from the backside you can see the clear acrylic pieces are mounted with some melted studs. The acrylic inserts need to be (carefully) removed for paint and reinstalling them can be done a few ways, many people use a steel epoxy like JB Quick, although that works with a high success rate if applied correctly I still prefer something more secure and a REALLY small drill bit allows me to make some <1mm holes to run some thing steel wire. Holes were drilled prior to grinding out the studs to ensure proper oem fitment. Reflective bowls de-chromed Bezel sanded Bezel and bowl painted! Acrylic reattached Here is a before an after along with some "glamour" detail shots.

Loving it.

Probably the least enjoyable part of this whole project is "retrofitting" the external headlight washer into the interior bezel to plug the hole of the now deleted headlight washers. I need to test fit the mounting depth to make sure there will be no contact to the underside of the headlight lens, that would be no bueno. Here is the orientation of the oem projector fog light, as you can see space it TIGHT, only a few millimeters of clearance all around. The Morimoto "matchbox" HID projector will be replacing the stock halogen projector. Believe it or not the matchbox is actually a bi-xenon projector offering both a low and high beam but the high beam won't be necessary for this fog application so the shield and solenoid are removed, I will be building a custom shield out of aluminum flashing. Thankfully I was able to shoehorn the HID projector inside the oem fog light after some trimming, this is important as the manual height adjustment will be retained so the fogs can be dialed in as needed. #Function

Looking forward to seeing pics of the finished units installed in the car! Really nice work.

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Thank you.

Retrofitting these mini HID projectors has been the biggest hurdle of this project and one of the more challenging retrofits I have done due to the REALLY tight dimensions I am working with. With the bezel in place there is only 1-2mm of clearance between the projector lens and the shroud, on the other end the HID bulb protrudes rearward and actually sticks past the housing so the stock cap can't be used. This is all compounded with my goals to always make headlights function in an oem fashion and in this case that means retaining the manual vertical adjustment of the stock projector. I am happy to report I have had success but it took many hours of grinding, test fitting, measuring, readjusting, testing fitting, in repetitive cycles. I revised the mounting solution for the projector from fixed spacers to nuts and red lock tight which allows fine tuning of the projector adjustment. I noticed that with the fixed spacers, even though they were all exactly the same size the projector wasn't sitting flat. With these individual nuts I am able to flatten the vertical aim and also adjust the toe-in, think of it as an alignment on your car but for light output. Since the stock bi-xenon shields were removed I built some custom shields form aluminum flashing. Since the oem cap wouldn't fit I had to make a hybrid cap with what I had lying around, it turned out great. Mini victories like this are very satisfying with retrofitting #problemsolving You can see the bulb protruding from the housing The cap does a great job not only sealing the housing but also it allows enough clearance for FULL range of adjustment of the projector. Here you can see just how tight the clearance is between the bezel, tight but it fits! 3,000k HID bulb fired up Exposure dropped Here is an output pic of the stock fog projector with a "yellow" halogen bulb. The yellow doesn't really come through. Exposure was locked between this photo and the next. As you can see the 3,000k HID bulb is much brighter and also has a true yellow color. The bottom of the output is wavy due to the headlight trim, the halogen projector above was removed from the headlight and had nothing to potentially block the output. Almost there, next will be mounting the bezel plugs, then cleaning, resembling, and testing everything before sealing up the lights.

Very impressive!

Tiding up a few loose ends. The HID ballast for the fog light will be externally mounted so a 9006 pigtail was soldered to the factory halogen fog wiring and ran through a rubber grommet in the hole which previously housed the headlight washer. Crumbling wire casing and exposed wires are no bueno, factory wiring for Bi-Xenon Ballast input repaired. Since the turn signal bowl was blacked out a brighter LED bulb was installed. Sorry for the crooked pic. Butyl was used to reseal the lens. GT3 RSR Lenses are actually race spec and have holes and opening on the lens itself which means the headlights are not weather proof. #BecauseRaceCar Final "Glamour" shots before being shipped out.

Very nice! Pics installed on the car please if possible.

do you make or have Replacement Cover?

Install pics early next week.

I DEMAND A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE PRICE POINT TO RETROFIT HID PROJECTORS INTO MY EXISTING NON-LITRONIC MK2 HEADLIGHTS. I ALSO DEMAND A REASONABLE TURNAROUND PERIOD OF 1 WEEK PER PAIR. PLEASE CONTACT MY ASSISTANT WITH PARTICULARS. In all seriousness, I've read most of the thread and am curious if this will be available for regular joes like me. MK2 with a non-litronic set of lights looking to upgrade to litronic. My needs would focus mostly on the main projectors being updated to HID. Fog lights as well would be a nice to have. Any appetite there for a PM to discuss details? Very impressive work & thanks for sharing btw.

Tony, sure u can have it all. Just contact Evan Patak @ Vision Auto Labs. He will build u what ever u want. Good Luck

Thread needs a basic before/after comparison...

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Thanks, my DIY investigation hasn't turned up much so far.

https://www.facebook.com/VisionAutoLab/They have a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/VisionAutoLab/

You'll definitely need to make a set of MKI's. I have a set I can loan you for development.

Looks awesome! You may want to seal up those holes on the lenses though so as to keep dust/road debris from getting inside of those beautiful works of art! Maybe a little clear silicone grommet from Harbor freight or a small clear piece of lexan glued into place from the back side? I assume those holes are to be able to get a long screw driver into the housing to aim the original RSR lights.

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The lenses are getting Lamin-x 8 ml clear protection. So that will seal up the mounting screw hole. Thxs

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Do you have HID or Halogen?

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HID low beams, halogen high beam.

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When my schedule opens up I wouldn't mind investigating this, I did some preliminary research on the pre-faclifted lights for someone else and it looks like there are options but it necessitates more research and some headlights in possession. Let's stay in touch Evan

Sounds good! Just give me a heads up whenever you are ready!

Here they are- they work great after a minor tweek.

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When you say "don't work" do you mean they disrupt the flow of Qi, or they don't make light?

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RDS928S made the same posts on various sites so here is my response from another location explaining the situation... Rest assured I am working to get this resolved. Evan "I will offer some info for those interested as I am the one who built the lights. They were shipped and installed by another shop so I was unable to oversee the install and once I was informed of the issues by Rich, I contacted the shop to collect information so I could further diagnose the situation. The lights currently have 2 issues, one is the fog lights are non-responsive and two is the LED turn signal bulbs "hyper flash." The main Bi-Xenon projectors are fully functional. The turn signal bulbs I purchased are CANBUS specific are designed to eliminate the hyper flashing without any additional resistors, it is odd that they are not working as advertised and I will be bringing this up with the company and executing a return if they don't have another solution. Where the turn signals do hyperflash, they are legal and operational. As for the fog lights there is a chance the polarity is backwards so the tech who installed the lights (and currently has Rich's 996) will test this in the AM and report back. If it doesn't resolve the issue I will be express shipping some CANBUS specifc HID ballasts and a wiring harness/relay which should ultimately resolve the issue. I would have appreciated the opportunity to resolve this issue before having it shared in this manner on social media but at this point I am simply working with the installer/tech to remotely resolve this issue and make Rich's lights fully functional."

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Yah, you should of had a fair chance to resolve the issue before being bashed on the internet. Clearly you put a lot of hard work into this and it shows... Keep us posted.

To all: I was out of line yesterday & stressing big time over the project. I went off & it as wrong. My sincere apologies To Evan. He remedied the situation ASAP! Im thrilled with the headlight project. It came out perfect. His work is really great. I was the one who acted foolishly. Thanks again Evan

Glad y'all figured it out (both the technical and social media issues) before it spiraled out of control... I saw your 'NOT WORKING' post on at least three different forums or social media groups. Post a few high quality outdoor pictures showing the whole front end of the car with the lights installed and I can finally unsubscribe from this thread!

Just to conclude the issues + resolutions.... The fog light issue was polarity, this was resolved by simply swapping the wires. I have ordered with expedited shipping a LED-specific hazard relay (PN CF13GL-02) which will be an easy PNP solution to resolve the "hyperflashing" of the LED turn signal bulbs. Rich will have his headlights fully functional before his car show this weekend. Evan

Those look incredible. Beautiful work and craftsmanship.

Excellent!

They are really sweet looking in person. The satin black & crystal clear fluted lexan GT3 RSR lenses are a show stopper. Pics from today.

So how does one go about buying a set? I have always upgraded my lights in all my previous cars but the 996 has been a challenge.

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I will shoot you a message and see if I can be of assistance. Evan

They look awesome, very nice work!

What�s your plan for washing the car without introducing water into the headlights now?

Wow, that's an amazing update to the 996. Beautiful lights, beautiful car. I love it!

As a headlight mod guy myself, very nicely done. Personally, I have learned that these mods are for the most part a complete waste of money and time. The amount and effort you went through seems completely ridiculous to me only for a little more output which, as you know, could have been achieved without opening the headlights. I've learned that I'd rather have sealed, non-foggy headlights, versus 'cool' modified versions. But I also hate black painted headlights and working on the chrome internals without fingerprints/scratches is flat out impossible. I do love the Miromoto stuff though but I'm guessing you charged no less than $3000 for the headlights.....can't believe someone actually paid that. I've always wondered how clearcorners.net stayed in business...

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Not sure what the point of this post was since you commended me on my efforts, state that you are a "headlight mod guy" yourself, and then proceeded to bash everything that was done based off your personal assessment of the situation in which you make assumptions? I don't get it. Value is relative, so what you value may not directly translate to the view of others believe it or not. Foggy headlights can happen, it can happen to brand new oem headlights, it happens on a Koenigsegg. If modified headlights leak or not depends on the attention to detail and skills of the retrofitter and let me tell you, not all retrofitters are created equal. I helped a fellow forum member build these lights so the build was tailored around his requests and an upgraded fog projector with a yellow light output was what he wanted. Is it what I personally would have done? No, I would have put the resources into upgrading the projector to the Lexus RX350 Bi-Xenon. Morimoto is a dead average aftermarket lighting company, they are a huge global company which does an EXCELLENT job marketing (it worked on you) and designing "easy to retrofit" projectors for the masses who don't have the skills to execute a "proper" retrofit, their projector performance is usually sacrificed for keeping the footprint small and the projector easy to retrofit. The reliability of their HID components leave a lot to be desired, I prefer using oem components whenever possible.

These are really nice lights imo. The 996 is regarded as a great platform to mod, so tasteful work like this can incrementally add character to different builds. At some point in the next few years, I'm thinking of asking for a set. Thanks for sharing the photos & keep up the good work.

I'm just curious why you opted for the RSR lenses rather than the 996.2 Carrera non-washer option lenses? They look the same with the fluting and appear to only differ by not having the adjustment hole through the front of the lens. Were you unaware of these as an option? Ultimately, I wish there were a Turbo (non-fluted) without washer option. But I can't seem to find any. I keep looking at Euro and ROW Turbos hoping that maybe it was an option somewhere else. But I think I'm going to have to use the 996.2 Washer delete option to get the cleaner look. Also, here's the LED Parking lights that I am using. They look much better than the stock halogen parking lights. I thought you might like to use them in your lights as well. The color temp is nearly dead on with the Litronic low beams as opposed to the stock Halogens which are way off. They're also brighter than the Halogens. Amazon Amazon

Hi, this may be a bit off topic, but I'm very interested in this project and want to know the custom DRL available. I would like to add a DRL like below. Do you do this job? reference: https://store.ijdmtoy.com/products/r...ojector-35-091

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Hey Evan! Can you give a few details on what MOSFET(s) and Resistor you used/which MOSFETs were replaced? Would really like to mod my ballasts to get some additional performance out of my lights!

Do you or anyone else make upgraded lights for the 996.1 I’m interested in a set thanks Mike

Would love to see a set of early projectors with ambers

Pretty impressed with the clarity and crispness of the upgrade.

Amazing job!!! Congrats! Are you planning on making these ones (or similars, maybe without the clear of the RSR to avoid the holes) commercially available? Thanks!

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Can you tell me which clear lenses you used for the lens swap? Does the ZKW lens directly fit these projectors?