ZKW to AL Xenon Conversion question

[[USMC]Skywalker]

Good Evening guys,

I bought a 2005 ZHP sedan as a project car. It was well priced and I wanted to fix it up. The car has 95k miles and I noticed the ZKW is burnt out, common issue. Anyway since I dont have ZCW the AL is a direct fit with with the respective bracket. I was able to source both headlight housing and the brackets. When I was installing them I noticed that there is no marking or "guide" to place the brackets perfectly, so I did my best to get to align them. When mounting the headlight it was a pain to get them to properly fit. I was able to get them to fit eventually and got all the bolts, even the pain in the rear bolt closest to the grill. It looks perfect and works great.

SO my question is, am I missing something in getting the bracket to be placed correctly as I thought the headlights will slide in effortlessly and wouldn't need a lot of wiggling if you will. The only way I can see the mounting brackets to perfectly fit is remove the bumper, mount the headlight housing to the bracket first and then slid into the car and align the top two bolts.

PS I wills start a project thread soon. I already have done quite a bit of work and the car is coming along great!

[az3579]

As long as the bracket is the correct bracket and is installed properly on the headlight assembly, the light will go in easily. You may want to check how you're doing it if it's not going in easily; make sure you didn't install it incorrectly.

My trick for installing the headlight for easy bolt alignment is making sure the bottom part clears first (I kind of twist upward a little bit) as you insert into the space and then align the top tabs. It's hard to explain but easy to do.

[[USMC]Skywalker]

Thanks man, it is the right bracket, I ordered the AL bracket and it does have a minor difference on the ends compared to the ZKW ones that came with the car. What you said was what I ended up doing. I ended up sliding in an angle, aligning the bottom and light thread the bolts there and then aligned the top. This is how is looks after install3163131632

[az3579]

Looks perfect.
You should keep your ZKW projector lenses to swap over to the ALs if you want a nice sharper cutoff. Or, if you don't want to do the work, you can sell those lenses off to someone who want's them; it's a popular mod.

[Vas]

Sourced used headlights on ebay?

[[USMC]Skywalker]

Yup, there was an eBay seller who sold both the housings. It has a new set of cover as well. And without ZCW it’s a plug and play with the appropriate bracket.

I don’t see myself doing the mod with zkw lenses so may just sell it