Last year I took apart my headlights, cleaned the lenses and projector lenses, paint the inside black and bought new Osram Night Breaker bulbs. I was pleased with much better lights as a result.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered that one of the projector lenses had cracked!


Something that I never have seen before, and dont understand how it is possible. The lens are THICK and sit protected inside the headlight.
Never mind, something had to be done, and when I start to search for solutions I came across a thread here on the forum from "giandanielxk8" where he modified his headlight and had kind enough taken some pictures of the projectors etc.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...1/#post2322718

BIG mistake number one:
I assumed that all headlights for the XK8 and XKR was the same, mine has Halogen projectors and not Xenon, but it is just an another projector right? WRONG!
Mine looks like this:


As you can see this headlight do not have an stand alone projector that can be removed.
My first thought was that this will be a lot of work and that I have to dismantle everything inside the headlight and see how I can modify it to make place for a new projector.
But then I discovered:
BIG mistake number two:

As I said; my headlights are Halogen, that means H1 bulbs. And in Norway where I live it is forbidden to retrofit Xenon.
So it was, at the time, just logical to buy Morimoto mini H1 projectors, even though it is a bi-xenon projector, it is made for H1 bulbs right? WRONG AGAIN
The Osram H1 Night breaker bulb do not fit!
It is me that are stupid? I thought H1 xenon bulbs was made to fit in H1 (halogen) headlights?

So what to do? Anyone that can give me some bright ideas?

 

BTW:: Her is the cracked projector lens:

 

That is a very strange failure of the lens. The Morimoto H1 projector is made for H1 HID "xenon bulbs". That means that:

• The H1 halogen bulbs will not fit
• The connector coming out of the projector is meant to interface with the car's H1 wire loom, not the bulb itself.

Also, attempting to fit an HID in a halogen projector will have bad light output because the optics are not designed for the HID bulb.

I think your option here is to either try to source an OE projector, try to source a lens, or go the retrofit route. For the retrofit, you will need to purchase:

• A 35 or 55W ballast
• A relay harness that connects to the ballast and the bulbs. Conveniently they sell kits that includes ballast and harness, you just have to match the ballast and H1 connectors)
• H1 HID "xenon" bulbs
• A universal retroquick bracket that you can cut to size and drill in order to mount the HID projector to the headlight.

This last option will result in much improved light output for you. I had no idea the Halogen projectors and headlights were so different looking from the ones us Xenon folk have. Whichever route you choose, I wish you luck. If you choose the retrofit, since your car uses the halogen system, you're heading into uncharted waters for the X100. PM me or ask me here for more advise on how to proceed.

It should be possible for you to remove the entirety of the halogen projector. I am also surprised that the halogen headlight has an abundance of metal where the xenon headlight is almost entirely made of plastic.

 

See the white plastic square inserts on your headlights? There's one at the top. There should be one more deeper inside. Those are from the height and width adjustment. If you are able to pop those off, the entire assembly (high and low beam), should come off as a unit. I discovered that last time I modified my headlights to improve the aim. Just be careful because the plastic may be brittle and fragile.

 

Thank you for your reply.
I can not retrofit HID, because then the car will not be road legal in Norway and it will not pass the next MOT.
And the retrofit of the projector itself is much more difficult than I assumed. The length from the reflectors mounting surface to the lens is huge, so even if I cut away all the metal that holds the original lens, I can not mount the new projector where the old reflector is. It will sit back an inch or two into the headlight.
I do have a headlamp from an old Audi A3, also made by Valeo, and it looks like the lens will fit. But that is not a clear lens, and I have only one.

It looks to me that I just have one possible option and that is to get hold of a new lens.

 

Ahh, you have an MOT to deal with? That's so sad. Not a problem where I live. The government doesn't check anything other than emissions. You'd have to fit a stepper motor as well as ride height sensors and find a way to wire the sensor to the stepper motor to be able to have them be legal, but at that step, you might as well just swap in an entire HID xenon headlamp assembly and sensors from a car that did have xenon standard instead of doing a retrofit. That's not economical at all for the sake of making it legal for the MOT. The Valeo lens is 2 inch in diameter. If you could measure the depth and curvature and be able to determine it's magnification, you could possibly source a lens that could work for you. I know TRS sells clear lenses for the Morimoto projectors. I wonder if the measurements work out? Probably not.

Interesting that the halogen cars have clear lenses. The xenon cars got fresnel lenses instead.

 

I have just fitted HID H1 to my 97 XK8 without a problem and much-improved light output ( 55w ) I wonder what you painted black as this absorbs heat and heat is what has stressed and cracked the bullseye.
Also be aware from what I can see that the reflector and beam cut off shield are different in US and UK units so who knows what is fitted for Norway...I dont know there rules.
There are lots of projector lamps on ebay/ Amazon identical to the Minimoto for about $US 30 usually US spec LHD
Personally I would buy a pair of cheap Chinese units and take out the lens and fit it into your old unit.
My MOT man is relaxed about all things except rust and I will just change back to LED in the carpark if he is bothered. I am waiting for a pair of HB3 HID lamps for my main beam as the originals are pathetic.

 

Before fitting just any lens, certain things should be kept in mind. The Jag uses a 2 inch diameter lens. The depth, curvature, and magnification may also vary.

 

The lenses diameter is 2.5 inches (65 mm), and the depth is 3/4 inch (19 mm).
HID is NOT an option in any way.
The car was imported from California in 2020 so it is a US spec car.
With the Osram Night breaker bulbs I was quite pleased with the light output. The reflectors are in very good shape both for high and low beam.
Hopefully someone has a headlight with other issues who is willing to sell me the lens (or a complete headlight for a fair price)

 

The reflector produces a parallel beam going forwards so provided its in front it should be ok .

 

Seeking for parts at Ebay, I found a complete headlight "cheap" with the exact same problem!
Jaguar XK8 XKR headlight

 

Well if they want £150 quid for that just buy a pair for £25 and cannibalize the lens as we know they are 2.5 in