Dissecting NB2 Headlights
 

Lately I've been a bit disappointed with my HID swap into NB2 lights. There's a bit of glare even though the cutoff is clean, and now my high beams just seem lacking compared to 55 Watts of HID powah. So, with a spare NB2 light ($20 with a broken tab), I decided to dig in, diagnose the situation, and see if it could be improved.

Attachment 230446

This is why broken tabs are almost a dealbreaker. Polypropylene (PP) is almost impossible to glue. You basically have to weld it for a reliable bond.

I got the headlights apart in the typical "How to paint your headlights" tutorial fashion. 10-15 minutes in the oven at 200-225*F. No big deal, but it still had me nervous. Aside from the broken tabs, this headlight lens is in way better shape than my original one.

Attachment 230447

The view inside. Note that the low beam projector housing is the entirety of that metal bracket you see, and also holds the high beam reflector. This makes replacing the low beam projector with a bixenon will be a pain. But it means that the high beam can be replaced with a bixenon and still be adjustable. Silver linings...

Attachment 230448

There are two mounts on the left side of the projector. The upper one (black square with screw sticking out) is the adjustment for the headlight cut off height. The lower one (crosshair looking thing) looks to be a pivot, and isn't accessible from the rear of the housing. There is an additional pivot, hidden behind the high beam reflector. I couldn't get a picture of it from the front because my phone is a potato.

Attachment 230449

That pivot does stick out the back of the housing, and appears to be held on by a standard screw, but it's covered by this grey... thing, pointed out by my screwdriver. I have no idea what it does. Is it a part of the mount to the bumper? Is it just an an anti-tampering device? I'd dig into my car to remove the headlight and find out, but it's under snow right now.

If it's not part of holding the headlight in place, I'll totally rip it off to dig deeper. It's clearly held on by clips, but I can't reach them to peel them back and remove it. Problem is, they're not clearly on the parts fiche. If I borked it up, I don't know if it could be replaced.

Attachment 230450

So, what could cause the glare? That gap around the cut off shield? I had to look at the stock bulb to get a better idea.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CSAJaL6nJOQ/maxresdefault.jpg

On the left is your standard 9006 headlight bulb, on the right a 9005. NB2s use a 9006 low beam, and a 9005 high beam bulb. The obvious difference being that the 9006 has a shield coating to prevent light from leaving the end of the bulb.

Attachment 230451

Above is what I bought to put HIDs in my stock projectors, a Morimoto 9006 HID kit. Notice the lack of a shield in front of the bulb? As far as I am concerned, that explains the glare. Anyone saying there isn't glare with an HID kit like this in a 9006 low beam is full of it. It's not awful, but it's definitely there.



So how can I fix my glare issues and possibly get a better high beam? I see a few options to move forward.

1. Retrofit high beam reflector with a Bixenon projector, use current HID kit in that, and return to a halogen bulb in the stock low beam. It would be easy, low cost, low risk, but makes the stock low beam basically dead weight.
2. Dig deeper, replace low beam with a Bixenon projector, use HID kit in that. It's higher risk, way more work, and will look far more OEM, a plus in my book.
3. Buy NB1 lights, retrofit them, and swap them on to my NB2. I can't find any info on this because unless you're retrofitting, it's a huge downgrade. And it doesn't look very good. Nb2 Bumper On Nb1 - Exterior - MX5Nutz Forum


Thoughts? Anyone know if that grey piece is a needed item?

Check out my current build thread in my sig. I just completed a retrofit in my NB1 lights if you want to see pics of that route..

If it were me I'd do option 2. Most work, but the best overall appearance at the end of the day. I think its completely feasible to be able to make a functional adapter bracket to mount a MiniD2S or MiniH1 projector to. I'd likely toss a dummy projector in the high beam reflector location to give the appearance of quads if it were me, but its really up to you.

You never want to go to the crappy nb1 lights.

The mechanical design of all of the 9006-style HID bulbs I've seen is such that the forward electrode holder effectively blocks the front of the lamp, much as the coating shown on the image of the 9006 halogen above.

That having been said, I'm in for pics after someone dips the front of an HID envelope into some kind of heat-resistant paint and then re-installs it into a stock NB2 low-bean housing.

Watch all the Lightwerkz tutorials on youtube, and do a retrofit yourself.

Bi-Xenon Morimoto Mini Stage III (D2S 4.0) - Universal Kits - Complete Retrofit Kits

use the 50w ballasts, and the 4500K bulbs for best output without expensive bulbs. Nightbreaker 4300K if you want the best, but the bulbs are 150/pair extra.

Or just deal with the glare, and use these clear lens for way higher output and clarity with your current hid setup. This obviously wouldn't change your high beam.
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bl...ies-47722.html i'm not 100% sure these are the exact lenses, so just check first.

Or, do as you said, by retrofitting the bi-xenon projector in the high beam location, and have quad projectors, but only one set would have the unshrouded high beam. Email Lightwerkz about your plans, they will make a harness for your needs.

That "grey thing" is in fact an anti-tamper of sorts. What it is covering is the horizontal adjuster for the light bracket. In other words, it moves the hot spot of your lights left and right. It is adjusted at the factory and then covered because you wouldn't [regularly] need to adjust this. It is great however if you have HID's retrofitted in your car as you can move your "steps" horizontally, as well as the cutoff vertically. I have a retrofitted NB1 and broke the grey thing off so I can have full adjustment of the projectors, it doesn't hurt anything, and would never need to be replaced.

As for your lighting situation, the NB2 projectors were designed for halogen lights, so they will scatter HID light, because there is (a) way more light in the projector and (b) the source of light in the projector is in a different position. It's not nearly as bad as PnP HID's in reflector housings, but not ideal as you've found out. If I were you, I would do some measuring and see if you can cut the original projector out and replace with the MD2S or MH1 projector, keeping the lens in the same position as stock. As stated above, this is the harder, but better way.

Subbed for HID glory, or a massive fire :winner:

Once retrofitted with projectors, they'd have better HID output than where I am now. It would just look shitty and lose the halogen high beam capability, but it's an easier option than retrofitting NB2 lights. Plus I could sell my NB2 lights for good money. This is a last resort, do not want.

Thumpetto, I'm currently running a 50W 4500K kit. It's still more blue than I'd like. I think The Retrofit Source sells 3800K bulbs for certain applications now. Hopefully I can snag some of those should a bulb change be necessary. I'll watch the tutorials for sure, but until I buy something from Lightwerks I don't think customer support will want to help me much. I'll probably fab up my own harness if at all possible, I did for my 100W E-codes.

My man! That's exactly what I needed to know. I probably will want to fiddle with the horizontal adjustment anyways, getting a wider beam spread is a big goal in this project. I should be able to get the projector out of the housing if both of those adjusters come loose. FX-R projectors would be incredible, but the space available may force a smaller projector on me.

I thought they had designed the HID bulb so the arc was in the same place as the Halogen filament. I know DOT requirements used to require a certain amount of light be allowed to escape upwards to illuminate signs, that could be part of this as well.

You should have no issue with them once you take the plastic cover off. I have the FX-R 3.0 in my retrofit, and to be honest the new MD2S 4 looks to be on par with them as far as I can tell. If I were to do my retro again now, I would go with the MD2S 4 myself. Also, any decent HID projector will be much wider, so there is no need to "toe out" the lights if you will.

As for the HID bulbs, there isn't really a point of light in the bulb like a halogen bulb with a filament. HID's are more like a florescent light, the vapor in the bulb emits the light.

I urge you to contact Lightwerkz, they will absolutely answer lots of questions before you buy a single thing. Even on their facebook page they are very quick to answer unique questions.

I ask A TON of questions to vendors, and only 949 racing and lightwerkz have been attentive in answering EVERY single one.

Also, I this might not be the case, but I thought of it, and I'll tell you anyways... The oem projector lens in your car was made with a purposely translucent texture, to help soften and spread the beam pattern from a halogen bulb. This might be contributing to your glare out of the beam pattern issue, so a clear lens would be helpful.

Pardon the threadjack, but this might give you some motivation to go for the full retrofit...


Miata | Lightwerkz Gallery

It is so comlicated.

Please, for the love of Cat, don't do it.