Hanh - 832.428.2431 sales@3bspec.com

Plug-and-Play Projector Install - 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt
(A diagram is pictured at the bottom of this page)

You asked for it. Here it is. The third easiest method of installing projectors, into Cobalt headlights. If you can bake apart your headlights to paint the insides black, you can install a set of bi-xenon projectors.

Before we even start. Take your headlights off and see if they'll fit in your oven. If they don't. Find someone with an oven that you can use. If you can't find someone, explain to your wife that now would be a great time to buy a bigger oven.

For all you guys who wanted the ability to revert the headlights back to stock, tough noogies. If it was an H4 housing, this wouldn't be an issue. Not the case here. You will have to drill the reflector cap on a 9007 application.

Tools:
1) An oven that will fit your headlights. (You may laugh about this, but they almost didn't fit mine.)
2) A couple flat head screw drivers.
3) T15 torx screwdriver.
4) Big enough table to work on.
5) Catch can for the small screws.
6) Razor
7) Precision screwdriver set.
8) Drill.
9) 1/2-inch drill bit.
10) Tube of threadlocker
11) Tube of anti-seize (never-seize)

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 200-degrees F. (It's a big word and I don't have spell check.) Once it's dinged at 200-degrees, set the oven to BAKE. Gently toss the headlights into the oven, then set a timer for 15-18 minutes.

Step 2:
Remove the headlights from the oven and furiously attempt to remove the glue from the seams and pry the headlights open. I went with the idiot savant method of scraping the seams, and finding an edge to squeeze a flat head screwdriver into. Then worked my way around the edges using a razor to slice through the gunk as I separated the headlight lens from the backing.

My separation method looked like this about half way through.

(The big picture)

Step 3:
Ok, this leaves us with a table full of gunk, a lens, and the headlight itself. If you're feeling chippy, take off the outter shroud. There's three torx screws holding it in. (See picture) Unscrew and then pull apart. Now when I was doing this, the glue dried back up again.

(Another big picture)

These weren't virgin headlights, so there was some excess sealant around the edges, which is why the outter shroud stuck. I just tossed them back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Then I pulled the outter shroud apart. If you want to paint them, now is the time to do it.

You should have this hot mess when you're done.

(Deshrouded headlight)

Step 4:
As for the reflector cap, you've got two choices. Break the reflector cap or unscrew it. Breaking it is easier in my opinion. Simply bend it up and down till it pops. But if you absolutely want to unscrew it...

I basically jammed a screwdriver between this post (see picture), and applied pressure to pop the reflector cap up. I had to do the same thing on the other side. Technically there's three posts, but I felt it was unnecessary to go that far. You may feel otherwise. If you're feeling too much at this point, ease off the meds.

I started by jamming a screwdriver here, and popping the reflector cap up:

(Pivot number 1)

Then repeating the same, on the other side:

(Pivot number 2)

At this point, you can use the torx screw to unscrew the reflector cap:

(Another big picture)

Save the reflector cap in a jar.

(Another big picture)

Step 5:
You're going to need a hole in the reflector shield to run the high beam/angel eye wires. So grab one of the projectors. You'll need to remove the HID bulb out of it. The hold-down for the 9007 projector bulb is literally a small piece of metal and a tiny screw. Try not to lose either of them.

Picture of said screw and hold down clip:

(Another big picture)

Once you've taken the projector HID bulb out, unscrew the locking screw and remove the indexing ring and lock washer. You'll want to insert the projector into the housing at this point to see where you're going to have to drill through the headlight. Find a good spot, and punch a hole through. I used a 1/2-inch drill bit and then ovaled it out to fit the connector through.

Step 6:
At this point, you can drop the projectors into the housing. Insert the projectors through the front, slip the bi-xenon/angel eye connector through the new hole, drop the the bulb indexing ring, lock washer, and then locking ring on the back side of the projector.

DO NOT TIGHTEN THE LOCKING BOLT YET. I know, you're tempted to crank down on that little fella like you're last name is Gotti, but believe me. Hand tighten it first, but not all the way yet.

If you absolutely do not want this projector coming out, for the love of god, threadlocker.

When I was done, I had something like so:

(Front side of projector installed)

(Back side of projector installed. Minus the rubber sealing boot.)

Step 7:
Insert the projector HID bulb and screw it back in place.I'm really going to recommend never-seize or anti-seize on the screw. Call it a hunch, but it would be a massive pain if that nut decides to rust.

Step 8:
Wire up the relay harnesses onto the car. (See picture) Why you're doing this now, will be explained in the next step.

I know it's an H4/9003 harness. But the setup is almost identical to the 9007's. That and I already did the white out job on this one and it's labeled.

(Projector bi-xenon harness.)

Step 9:
Now we found this one out by a happy accident. Put the headlights on the car and get the lights aimed BEFORE you put the lens back onto the headlights. There's a little play in the rotation of the projectors, so you'll want to aim them vertically, then rotate them to get a level cut off line. Once you have them where you like them, crank down on that locking nut as hard as you can. Then verify that your hard work hasn't rotated again.

Just to warn ya, those little projectors get toasty.

Step 10:
That's it. Bring the headlights back in. Put the lenses back on and reseal them like there's no tomorrow.

The finished product looked a lot like this:

(Low Beams)

(High Beams)

(Had the flash on for this one.)

(Flash off for this one.)

(Head on shot)

Attempting to answer a few questions before they come up...

• The projectors have an opening behind the shroud, so that the housing backlights itself. So all the flash-off shots, were how they really came out in person.
• The HID bulbs used in this particular demo were 6000k's. They looked a crystal white to me in the housing and projector. Different camera settings kept changing the colors around.
• The projectors use a propriety bulb. Each version (H1, H7, H4/9003, 9004/9007, 9005/9006) use their own specific bulb. Due to the unique nature of the bulbs, I recommend spare bulbs in the event that anything ever happens.
• The projector HID bulbs use amp connectors, so if you have ballasts already, you can re-use them.
• The HID bulb stays lit when you hit the high beams. No stutter, no flicker.
• Each projector runs off it's own relay harness, so you will be running two of them.
• The single filament bulbs (H1, H7, 9006, 9005) projectors also have the bi-xenon shield that is fully functional. You have to run two separate wires to the high beams though to operate the shield.
  • This means if you get really creative and want to run a quad bi-xenon setup, you could do it with a lot of extra wiring and some creative thinking.
• Estimated time: About 1 hour per headlight for the projector install itself. That's 20 minutes for baking, 10-15 minutes for carefully prying the headlight lens off, and 10-15 minutes for bolting in the projector. Add time for the wiring harnesses and adjustments. If you can bribe a friend to run both wiring harnesses while you're baking the headlights, you can shave an hour off the install time.
• Compared to the last two projector retrofits I've done (2000 Navigator and a '93 SC400), this was a walk in the park. It's almost like screwing in a giant bolt. This leaves you some time to make a ridiculously cool shroud.