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GL1800 HID projector retrofit

6162 Views 13 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  newday777
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Started out this morning to do this retrofit. An hour later I had the fairing off and the headlights disassembled. An hour later I had one projector installed into the left headlight. For those on the fence about this , installation is pretty straight forward and not that difficult.

I just did the low beam bi-xenon projectors with 55 watt HID's .


Parts from theretrofitsource.com

Bi-Xenon-Morimoto Mini 6.0 H1 projectors w/ mini Gatling gun shrouds
Highbeam splitters H7 / 9006 / H7
H4 connectors (to swap out the H7 connectors on the splitters)

parts from wholesalehids.com

H1 55 watt 6000K


I made a custom wire harness with a 30 amp relay , I used a klixon relay to trigger the main relay from the low beam wiring.
The klixon relay is a time delay of 20 to 30 seconds so the voltage is up to 14 volts before the HID's kick in .

here is my wiring diagram.




Wire harness



Klixon and 30 amp relay


stripped bike



And this is what happens when you put a higher wattage bulb in your headlights




I split the headlights and fired up the oven to 200° . place a piece of plywood in the oven with the rack set low enough to allow the headlight to be put in the oven with the lens up. make sure it doesn't touch any hot oven surfaces!




pull the headlight out of the oven after 8 minutes and pry it apart.



you'll need to grind out the hole where the H7 bulb locked into the headlight. the tabs need to be mostly removed to allow the nut to be tightened. As ReadyT suggested , wear latex gloves with handling the projector and shrouds. blow out the headlight assy with compressed air after sanding/grinding on the hole. remove the clip and parts for the H7 bulbs .



After mounting the shroud to the projector , install the projector per the instructions. tighten the nut just hand tight.







I modified a 1 1/16" socket to fit in the hole.



Tip, when mounting the projectors into the headlight assy. lay the styrofoam padding that the shrouds come wrapped in ,down and set the projector on it. this will keep from scratching and help hold the projector into the headlight while you fit with getting the nut started on the threads.


Projector in headlight before reinstalling lens.



After you get both projectors in the headlights ,bolt them back together before reinstalling lens' and adjust the level and alignment of the projectors and then tighten them down all the way.


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MAC, thank you for this write up and review!!

The GL1800 low beams flat out stink IMO. I bought an F6 two months ago and have been searching for an upgrade since day one. I ordered the Osram 65W bulbs, but you're the 3rd rider who advised against using them (thx for the burn damage pic above). Then I started looking into the LED bulbs, and frankly the results are ridiculous and will make you a road hazard.

About three days ago I was turned onto this Morimoto kit but I wasn't exactly sure which kit I should get and had no idea how it all went together. But now I know...


Interesting but I've never felt the lack of light on either 1800 I've had. I could have use better lighting on my 1500 but the 1800's OEM lights are the brightest I've ever seen for OEM lights on a motorcycle.
If you put Mac's bike next to yours for comparison, you will quickly realize how poor the OEM lighting is... or how good a true HID system is. HIDs literally put out twice as much light; 3000 lumens vs 1500 of the OEM halogens.
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