*MODIFICATION JOURNAL* I got my hands on the girlfriend's Prius ...here is what I did.

I will probably start a separate thread that goes into greater detail but here are some Prius headlights done MY way!

Evan

 

Yup, she is a winner! ...and currently a 1L law student so she has her hands full as well.

I was a little torn on what direction to visually take the headlights. One thing was certain: no reflectors and orange plastic; I CAN'T STAND THEM. I really liked the look of black housing trim and wanted to incorporate that look. I chose to use "mini graphite" shrouds which are smoked as opposed to completely solid... which isn't ideal since light can escape and cause distracting reflections in chrome bowels but I went with them for their look when lit up (the legs which separate the projector bowel from lens create a design through the shroud) and knowing I was doing doing away with the chrome.

I thought about doing the bowels black but them it would have been a completely blacked out housing which would probably wouldn't look that great and also lacks creativity. I am happy with the way the headlights turned out and if I was to do anything differently it would probably be painting the shrouds to fully block the light.

I entertained the idea of running some led strips but never went through with it.

At first I was apprehensive to paint over the chrome since the last thing I want to do it make the car less visible from a functional standpoint. Before the headlight mod I purposefully purchased LED signal bulbs which are A)bright and B)have a projector lens. Not only do the LEDs produce more light, their design does not rely on the reflective housing for performance.

Here are a couple additional pictures, I will get some beam shots soon. I plan to crack open the tail lights and paint them to match.
Evan

 

We will certainly find out my cars have been illegal in one way or another and have never been hassled, I doubt the Prius will get busted but we will see. My old M5 had Euro tail lights so there was no corner marker LED and my wagon is an LCI model which means there is no amber in the headlights (it was moved to the bumper) but when I did my front end conversion I purposefully bought a pre LCI bumper which has no reflector: nothing to paint and nothing to shave!

I like what you have done with your car, many of your mods were used as a reference.

Evan

 

I couldn't help myself; took the tail light out to inspect it and see if it was possible to open it easily. One thing lead to another and before you knew it I had a large flat-head screw driver and was prying the thing open. This proved to be a less than ideal method for opening the housing. The clear cover is very thin and brittle towards the edge, I broke many pieces off and created a few hairline cracks, the damage was so bad that I hoped on the internet to see what a replacement tail light costs!

I salvaged the driverside light but it was a pain and a lot of work, regardless if it suffers from moisture seeping in or not I will likely replace it and remodify it. I used butyl to seal the perimeter and ended up spraying Plasti Dip to act as a buffer between the paint and butyl... I almost bit off more than I could chew with this little project. I am finishing up the second light and will post some "final" pics later but in the meantime here are some pic of the project.

I hope this inspires someone,
Evan


Operation


Not your finest effort....


Painted and reassembled


mounted on car



view 2


Had to match the hadlights


Butyl on the perimeter

 

The car is put back together and I am happy to report no water leaks from or rear after a power wash/car wash. The cover of the driver side tail light is really butchered (can't believe it didn't leak) and I will likely buy a replacement light and remodify it, since the passenger side was my 2nd attempt it went a lot smoother.

After the wash I snapped a couple pics of the car in it's current state, I also snapped one on the drive to Tahoe.

Evan

 

Thanks for all the kind words. I am 100% one of those guys that gives his (or his GF's car) the "look back" after parking.... it brings me a large amount of satisfaction. What brings me more satisfaction is knowing what I do to my cars inspires people to get busy modifying their own!
Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Stock!


The beam pattern is a little off, I have not had a chance to play with the bulbs and the way they were seated yet, the misalignment could be the projector shield as well, I bought "b-stock" projectors and a misaligned shield is certainly a possibility (hopefully not as retuning the projector would mean reopening the headlights). I attached a photo below which better shows the misalignment and hotspots in the beam.

Being 6'8" the Prius is small for me, really small. ideally I should get some of the aftermarket seat tracks which allow a greater reward range (without compromising my GF's seating position of course) but they charge a pretty penny for them and as poorly as I fit into her car, their product is priced too high to justify the purchase. In the meantime I soucred some steel spacers and hardware from Orchard and painted it flat black to give the seat a greater reclined position, a mod I learned from this forum THANKS!

Lastly since we have a young Australian Shepard, some air fresheners were a welcomed addition, naturally white dots on the dash would be distracting so "MOD EVERYTHING!!!"

Lastly I picked some photos to show the latest Before and After comparison.

Evan




Projector hotspots and misalignment

Hardware Painted

Hardware Installed


It matters to me...

B&A Front

B&A Front

B&A Rear

B&A Rear