Retrofitted Mazda 2

[Suddueth13]

Well guys I finished the How To wirte up for retrofitting the Mazda 2. http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123810299-How-to-Retrofit-your-Mazda-2
As far as I know, I'm the first person to retrofit the 2 here in the United States. Now it's time to find some OE style fog lights and an OEM switch

 

[JM1Protege]

The retrofit looks great man! I like the fact that it looks like an OE mod.

 

[XCLR8TN]

Looks great!! Can't wait to tackle this myself, thanks for taking the time to do the writeup!

 

[Suddueth13]

Thanks guys. That's always what I try to accomplish with most of my mods. Make it look as OE as possible. I think these turned out great. Not as aggressive looking as the OEM Xenons but to me they look like they could pass as OEM.

 

[UnZipHer15]

awesome! thank you for the write up

 

[matrixxx]

great!

 

[Suddueth13]

Thanks for the comments guys!

 

[atekt]

Incredible. Great work!

 

[samsavell]

Out of curiousity, when you opened up the headlight, did you see a possibility of removing the amber reflector on the side and getting that cleared out look? lol

 

[Suddueth13]

You can definitely remove it. Although with it being the sidemarker housing and all it would probably look funny without it.

 

[shortfuse12]

do u have any night shots? how is it driving in the rain/snow?

 

[XCLR8TN]

Mucho thanks for the how-to!

 

[Chris_uk]

awwww i really wanna have this done now, just the cost, need to save some mulah up, reckon it will look damn good with the angry bumper

Chris

 

[XCLR8TN]

awwww i really wanna have this done now, just the cost, need to save some mulah up, reckon it will look damn good with the angry bumper

Chris

ship me an angry bumper I'll make you some retros hahaha ;P

 

[Suddueth13]

I demand more pictures! Did you black out the turn signal reflector?
Shortfuse, I don't have any night shots yet. Hopefully I will be able to get some shots tomorrow. Rain performance is pretty good as well as snow. Of course that too all depends on which bulbs you use as well

 

[Chris_uk]

ship me an angry bumper I'll make you some retros hahaha ;P

Hahahaha i'll see what i can do, worth it xD

Chris

 

[XCLR8TN]

I demand more pictures! Did you black out the turn signal reflector?
Shortfuse, I don't have any night shots yet. Hopefully I will be able to get some shots tomorrow. Rain performance is pretty good as well as snow. Of course that too all depends on which bulbs you use as well

For the turn sig reflector I hit it with some lens tint, same stuff I used on my side turns on the fenders and the reflectors in the rear bumper. I also used it on the Panamera shrouds in the headlights. I was trying to get a black chrome look but it's not 100%. Hard to get that translucent paint even so they are a little darker than I really wanted. 2 coats.

As for the parking light, I just took out the orange cover and was left with the silver piece and a white reflector near the corner of the light. I bought 2 short amber LED strips and mounted it BEHIND the white reflector so it diffused the light some. I haven't had a chance to hook those or the CCFL rings up yet so that's why I haven't taken many pics. I also put a 4 LED bulb in the parking light spot for now, but I plan to get a 360* LED bulb to put in there.

Agreed on bulbs, I had 8k in a previous car and they were HORRIBLE in snow. I ended up getting some super yellow fogs and mounting them just so I could see!!! I opted for 5k on the 2. Pretty bright white light and the cutoff is a nice purple/blue.

 

[Suddueth13]

I definitely would not recommend painting the turn signal reflector. Reduces visibility of the signal greatly. You might be able to see it okay at night but during the day in broad sunlight, it will be difficult to see. Weather has been crappy here so no output shots from me yet.

 

[MazdaTwo]

Hey, Suddueth and Jess, does the front bumper have to get dropped to get the headlight housings out?

 

[XCLR8TN]

No. You have to remove a screw on the inner fender well and a snap thing.. I don't know what they are called. They hold the fender liner up to the fender. The things with a phillips head in the middle that you unscrew and the middle pops out and releases whatever it is attaching. (I hate those things!) Then you can pull on the bumper outward right where it meets the fender, it just snaps into a plastic support behind it.

Behind bumper, going into the plastic support: 10mm bolt, I think it was the closest bolt to the fender well.

In engine bay:
10mm bolt, right next to 1 more large plastic phillips head thing, near the fender.
Another 10mm bolt (I think), and 2 other plastic push-pin things are much smaller and by the radiator. I think there may be another bigger plastic push-pin on each side of the hood release, too. I'm not 100% positive that these had to come out but I wanted to make sure I could pull forward on the bumper to get the headlight out. The headlights are HUGE.