Monday, January 21, 2008

HID Retrofit cutoff, low beam, high beam shots

Low beam - inside car
High beam - inside car
Low beams - outside the car

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Review: XPEL Yellow 30mil Protection Film for Honda Fit Fog Light

I purchased a 4"x8" sheet of XPEL yellow H9906-YLW headlight protection film. I believe the price was around $10 shipped. That is enough to cover the two fog light lenses. I removed the fog light, made a template pf the fog light lens (make sure you leave a little gap at the end of the lens on the fogs so the heat generated by the bulb can escape off the lens), cut the XPEL with the template, and then cleaned the fog light lenses with some alcohol and sticked the XPEL film on them. I left them alone for a night and then turned them on in the morning. Done!

They don't output as yellow as I would have wanted, but it looks nicer now when the fogs are not on and I know the fog light lenses are protected from rocks and other crap that might damage them.

Review: Skunk2 Short Shift Kit for Honda Fit

For less than $40, I bought this Skunk2 Short Shift kit on eBay. The Skunk2 Part# is 628-05-0200. It's a really simple kit. The kit is made up of, four longer bolts, 4 washers, 4 metal shifter bushings, 1 shifter extension and 3 little set screws. What it does it shortens the shifts by raising the actually shifter assembly up and making the shifter longer to compensate for raising the shifter assembly. Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of how it works and what it looks like.





Here's a picture of what it looks like once installed minus the bolts connecting the shifter assembly to the chassis. So you use your stock shifter and add that little extension piece to compensate for raising the shifter assembly up with the new metal bushings.





This Skunk2 Short Shift kit is worth the money. It makes the shifts more nice and crisp and its not very notchy like some short shifters that I have used before. It pretty much just makes your shifts noticeably shorter and makes them more solid. The installation is also pretty easy. I followed Skunk2's installation instructions and it took me about 30-40 minutes. Just makes ure you use some red loctite on those set screws so they dont come loose. I also recommend some white lithium type grease for the regreasing the little shifter extension to go back into the plastic holder on the shifter cable.


I may stick a DIY for this here. I have pictures that I took of the install, but I think once you get the Skunk2's installation instructions it was pretty self explanatory.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

DIY: Honda Fit HID Retrofit with FX35 Projectors

DIY: Disclaimer
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I'll just put up the parts that are needed since someone on Honda-Tech.com asked for them. I'll add the rest of the info with pictures later. Cheers!

HID Retrofit Parts List
  1. 1 x pair of Honda Fit headlights
    $360 brand new from Honda
  2. 1 x pair of FX35 projectors (preferably clear lens for a super sharp cutoff)
    $70 used from eBay (frosted)
  3. 2 x small Dog Bowls for the shrouds
    $10 brand new from Petsmart
  4. 6 x 2" screws that fits the FX35 projectors
    less than $10 for all brand new screws, washers, lock washers, and nuts
  5. 12 x flat washers
  6. 12 x lock washers
  7. 12 x nuts
  8. Duplicolor Semi-Gloss High Heat spray paint or whatever color you want the headlights painted
    $5 brand new from NAPA
  9. Duplicolor BondAid spray paint to help the paint stick
    $5 brand new from NAPA
  10. 1 x roll of sponge tape to fit the dog bowls on
    $5 brand new from NAPA
  11. 1 x butyl sealant to seal back the headlights properly
    $25 brand new from Nissan Dealer (you should be able to get this from any autoparts store for less called window sealant made out of butyl; I have not tried this so I can't guarantee that it is 100% the same)

I think those are all the parts you need to do the retrofit. For tools and such, you will need a screw driver, small wrench, dremel hardware, sand paper, painting space, and etc of course. I'll go into more details soon.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Pictures: FX35 Bi-Xenon HID Retrofit on Honda Fit

Front View.




HID's on with 5000K bulbs.




Close up of shroud and projector while on.




Close up of the semi-gloss black paint job.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Review: My FX35 Bi-Xenon HID Retroft for the Honda Fit

I had a lot of fun learning about retrofitting and making it happen. It took me a while to get all the parts and figure out how to paint and mount everything professionally, but it was worth it and my first retrofit came out pretty good. You also retain the factory headlight adjustment with this retrofit. You can see the retrofit as my title picture up top.

Here's a picture of the second retrofit I completed for a FitFreak member.



The retrofit takes me two days to complete.

The first day, I take the headlights apart so I can modify the reflector bowl to house the FX35 projectors and I prep the headlight housing and reflector bowl for painting. Once all the cutting and sanding is done, I paint everything with at least 5-6 thin layers of paint waiting 15 minutes between each coat. I've been using the Semi-Gloss High Heat Duplicolor spray paint, but I can use any color and even match the reflector bowl to the original headlight housing/car color. After everything is painted, I let it dry over night so that I know the paint will not chip or flake in the future.

The second day, I go ahead and mount the projector into the reflector bowl and get it ready for cutoff adjustment. I have to take off my Fit's front bumper, disconnect my headlights, remove the headlights, and then mount the new retrofit on the car for cutoff adjustment. I do the adjustment at about 20ft away from the wall to make sure it is as acurate as possible. Once I am satisified, I remove the headlights and put my car back together and put the dog bowl shrouds on the projectors. Once that is done, I start putting the headlights back together. Before I put them back in the oven to seal up, I put a strip of OEM butyl sealant along the the whole edge of the lens of the headlight so that there are no worries of them ever fogging up. I've had my retrofit since October and I have had no fogging or any issues with the headlights.

I matched the retrofit up with an OEM FX35 HID kit and 5000K bulbs and the roads are so much brighter now. Once you got HID retrofit, you will never go back!

More pics coming soon!

DIY: Install K&N Air Filter Replacement for Honda Fit

DIY: Disclaimer
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To install it check out these installation instructions from K&N.http://www.kandn.com/instructions/33-2359.pdf

It takes 5 minute tops and that's including opening the box the K&N filter comes in. :)

You should also be able to use these instructions to install a OEM replacement air filter.

Check out my review on this product in the following link.
Review: K&N Air Filter Replacement for Honda Fit