Retrofitting DEPO R20 replicas with FX-R projectors

Goal: modify eBay r20 headlights with good quality projectors and paint the chrome black.

Well, I've been meaning to do this since I first got these replicas.

I don't like the look of retrofitting halogen lights, but obviously don't want to shell out 1200 bucks for osrams or a complete OEM setup. So what's a guy to do??

Got the depo r20 headlights - which aren't BAD, but the projector quality... Kinda sucks. Crappy cutoff, light sneaks out above the cutoff, the overall output is just blotchy and bad.

The bulbs don't fit without good modifications. The list goes on.

This is with an h7 hid kit. Also, before.

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Steps so far:

Uninstall lights, remove bulbs and any wiring you can.

Remove in my case 4 or 5 nails holding the lenses to the housing

Heat oven to 235 and back the light for two ten minute durations with a 5 minute break.

After that put on some gloves and peel the lenses off the housing carefully. Use a plastic pry tool as needed.

Put housing back in oven for a few more minutes then scrape out all of the good sealant with a flathead screwdriver.

Remove inner trim from plastic lense via 4 screws

You will be left with the projector in the housing which needs a few screws removed and some work to get it out

Mind the blue wired in the last pic as you need to swap these igniter wires with the new projector.

When you pull the lense off of the headlight, the inner 'housing' comes with it. 3 or 4 philips screws to remove to gain access to this if you desire to paint it


The 'R20' led strip is a series of single LEDs screwed on from behind. simple to remove or replace if you wanted to try something different.







How the depo projector sits in there currently on its own black plastic braket.


Old, craptastic depo projector


Blue pigtail from old projector that must be swapped onto the new projector.


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Unfortunately as you will see the fxr projector and original depo projector are very similar in dimensions and the fxr would seemingly bolt right in but the fxr is girthy, so I am going to have to do some dremelling and trimming to the projector bracket. Might even need to scrap and make a whole new bracket altogether... Bummer.

Pics: old installed projector next to new
Old proctor properly mounted

Side by side of the new projector in hand to the old projector still installed


Detail of how the current projector sits in its bracket


Note the shitty screw posts that are supposed to hold who knows what kind of bulb. That's half the issue with these projectors - even with adapters the H7 and other bulbs just don't sit right in them so the output is compromised, allowing things like light leakage above the cutoff line among an uneven output overall.


Starting to mock up


Yeah the new projectos are much girthier so some trimming will be required for sure, not the end of the world.


Atleast the new projectors have proper bulb clips for the bulbs designed to be used with them. From previous experience the output of these are great.

Nice work, I’ve thought about retrofitting headlights to make something custom and cool but didn’t want to shell out the money for a screw up. Doesn’t seem crazy difficult.


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Yeah, unless other projectors actually just bolt right in i will have to fabricate quite a bit to make these FX-R's work which is a bummer. Might have to, now that i have dimensions, see if theretrofitsource offers any other projectors that match better.

Okay think I found a way to mount these.

Trimmed quite a bit of excess off the original mounts. Lost a bit of structural rigidity in the process. I will need to trim just a hair off the actual projector housing (not structural material) to get the top right corner as seen in the pics below to fit onto the mount and still retain the top two screw posts.

Then I will add some sort of plastic or metal block underneath to regain two bottom screw posts and keep the projector from bouncing. Then it should fit nicely with no Ill effect.

More to come, going to paint the chrome on the housing today I think!



You'll see in these pics how the screw post just isn't quite lining up to the projector, so i actually dremelled off as much material as i could from the bracket without compromising the structural rigidity as i could, and also shaved about 1/8" into the projector casing to gain clearance.



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Closing in on these!

Still need to develop some sort of block or braket to secure the bottom of the projectors but otherwise, they fit as of now.

Painted the housings finally and am super stoked. Just need to decide if and where to add some red highlights...

FTR I just did a very light sanding with like 2000 grit on the smooth chrome parts, washed thoroughly with dish soap and a detailing brush, dried with a lint free towel and a heat gun, and got to spraying.

Primed


Painted with two coats of gloss black


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:thumbup:

indeed!

I started putting them back together yesterday. Kind of a pain to get the screws back into the projector bracket because they are all crammed inside the headlight - i.e., much easier to take them out than work them back in. I need magnetic screwdrivers lol.

My plan is to test them and check for aiming before actually putting the lenses back on. Possibility of that happening tonight, so stay tuned for those who are interested!

Always nice when things work first try! And for me that's a damn rare thing!

Few shots of the lights still open so I could make easier adjustments if needed (or if shit just was NOT going to work lol). Luckily didn't take much to aim these up

Can't tell you how tempted I was to go for a drive with no light lenses and bumper looking like an apocalypse survivor haha


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All done and installed! So far working with no issues!

I did squeeze half of a pool float under the projector bracket just to minimize any potential bouncing.. you never know haha.

Love the output and so far no bouncing or adjustments appear to be needed. For anyone interested I will try and post my order details tomorrow


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Some morning shots

Yes, I've noticed one of my r20 LED strips appears to not be working... It was not working before so I thought rewiring it would fix but apparently not. Guess I'll just unplug the other because I like the look more without it anyway.


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:w00t::clap:

Awesome!!!
so... question, did your car come with halogen lights or the HID projectors?
I have a golf R and very am familiar with retrofitting but not on this car. The golf R has the AFS headlights i'm a bit nervous to take them apart so i haven't touched them. But with better projectors you don't need the AFS. Did you have to do any coding? why didn't you go with the D2s 5.0?

Mine came with halogens, and I've had light out erros since I went hid in the first place. Haven't tried/done any coding; have all other LEDs and stuff anyway so the light errors are just inevitable lol