Finally got my projectors installed - now I need to aim them.

How does the leveling motor interact with the manual adjustment on the back? Does the range of motion on one overlap the other? Do I need to remove the leveling motor to do manual adjustment?

I'll answer the above post, now that I've taken apart the lights and understand how they work. This is specific to my Bosch projectors, but I suspect the ZKW may be similar.

The leveling motors need to be installed, as they form the lower pivot point for the entire reflector assembly - without the motor, the other two adjustments will not work properly. The ball on the end of the leveling motor actuator fits into a channel with a circular cross section near the bottom of the reflector assembly. The leveling motor needs to be fully extended, while the reflector assembly needs to be fully retracted to engage the ball in the channel. This will prove to be helpful if you remove your leveling motor. When installed in this fashion, nothing more need be done with the leveling motor - all adjustment takes place using the two adjusters on the case of the headlight assembly.

The adjuster closest to the center of the headlight is responsible for cutoff height, while the other adjuster is responsible for lateral movement. Turning the female hex (6mm) adjusters clockwise, either lowers the cutoff, or moves the beam laterally towards the center of the vehicle. Internally, the adjuster consists of a fine pitch metal screw threaded into plastic. Go too far CW, and you lose engagement - you may have to open up the case to reengage the screw and the plastic. Go too far CCW, and you run the risk of stripping the plastic threads - you'll feel it bottom out, don't force it past this point.

By the way, the adjusters where the headlights mount on the vehicle - those are not meant for beam adjustment; they're only responsible for cosmetics; that is, how the headlight sits with regard to the hood and nosepiece.

A few posts back, I asked about wiring harnesses. I did some research, and just wasn't hearing very good things regarding the quality of commonly available 9005/9006 pigtails. And at $3.99 for two pigtails (including shipping), I was a skeptic. So, I decided to make my own, using OEM (Aptiv - formerly Delphi Packard) parts, seals, terminals, and TPA (terminal position assurance - which keeps the terminals from backing out).

It was surprisingly difficult to track down part numbers and even identifying the connector family (Metri-pack 280) was a challenge, not having any experience with automotive connector systems. I found two sources - Ballenger Motorsports and Mouser. Ballenger's pricing is fairly high, but they do provide the option of doing the crimping for you, providing a completed pigtail. It appears they use OEM parts, as well. As an aside, what's typically referred to as a 9006 female connector is Aptiv PN 12059181, while the 9005 is Aptiv PN 12059183.

I chose to order from Mouser, and do my own crimping. I crimped directly to the round OEM connector that Kitty provided, adding wire only to provide a separate ground to each pigtail. For the ground, I soldered the three wires together and used an uninsulated crimp for insurance, finishing with a closed end heatshinkable cap. My preference would have been something like this: https://www.electriduct.com/HydraLin...onnectors.html but I couldn't find them locally, and I didn't want to incur any more shipping charges. The two additional wires can be 18 AWG.

Here's a parts list, from my Mouser.com invoice, cost was about $14 for the four pigtails, and about $5 economy shipping, crimpers were about $23:

12084166-B Male Connector, mates with 9006 female, qty 2
12084167-B Male Connector, mates with 9005 female, qty 2
12059185-B TPA, qty 4
12048159-L Male Terminals, qty 12 (min)
15324985 Cable Seals (purple), qty 8
ES-CAP-NO.2-B9-0-30MM Heat Shrinkable Cap, qty 2 (choose dia. according to your wiring method)

Crimpers: SG Toolaid 18910, cheapest price was ebay, through JB Tool Sales: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SG-Tool-Aid...72.m2749.l2649

I'll add this info, for completeness - in case you don't receive the round OEM connector with your headlights. This was posted by user "Bluptgm3" on bimmerforums.com, who attributes the source as www.topquark.net:

The plug to connect to the European headlights is the same as the plug for the MAF - BMW Part 61131392222 (you will need to order one for each headlight).
The plug doesn't come with pin contacts in it, so you will need to order those as well - they are BMW Part 61130007571 (you will need to order 8 - 4 for each plug).

(61130007571 is a standard 1.0x2.5mm pin contact (available alone as BMW Part 61130007450) with a grommet (available alone as BMW Part 61131382195) around it (picture - the top one is 61130007571, the bottom one is 61130007450) - to save some money, you could instead buy the 1.0x2.5mm pin contacts from an electronics shop, and buy only the grommets from BMW, or skip the grommets altogether)

The rubber cover ("Protection Cap") for the plug is BMW Part 12521713508 (you will need to order one for each headlight). This part doesn't appear anywhere on realoem.com (only a similar but much larger cover is listed - BMW Part 12521719733), but it is available from bmwautopartsdealer.com.
The (male) plugs to connect to the existing (female) plugs on the car's wiring harness are standard 9006 (low beam) and 9005 (high beam) connectors.

Through communication with AMP, I did find out that this connector is a special that they made for BMW - they are the sole source. The terminals are fairly expensive, but they do include the crimped wire and seal. AMP indicates that terminal 929975-1 is compatible with the round OEM connector - I haven't personally confirmed this, but it would probably lead to a cheaper source than BMW.

New sets of OEM Euro projector headlights available!
Each set is 260$ (shipped anywhere in the US and CAD!) and comes with a set of Bosch leveling motors and euro connector plugs.
Additional pics of each set are available!

set 1, Bosch: SOLD

set 2, Bosch: SOLD

set 3, ZKW: http://i.imgur.com/mwZu8HT.jpg

set 5, ZKW: SOLD

set 6, ZKW: http://i.imgur.com/5cC9wg9.jpg

Hi angelicmisskitty,

I am looking for real glass lenses to replace my plastic ones. Do you have access to just the lenses or do you only sell the complete units?

I live in Canada (we drive on the same side of the road as you) and my car is a 1993 BMW E36 320i Sedan (4 door).

I have the original plastic lensed headlights and would like to change the lenses to REAL GLASS.

You mention in your original posting that the reflector in your headlights was also glass, which probably means I am looking at an complete unit. I just need the front pair and not any rear light units.

In your experience, is it a good idea to buy just the glass lenses or is it best to replace the entire units? I would also want them to be a strsaight drop-in without any messing around with wiring harnesses.

Looking forward to your reply.

When you go to glass lens lights, you have to replace the entire assembly. Plastic ones are glued together and are not compatible with the glass lens units.

Thanks for responding J!m.

If the entire unit has to be changed why does http://realoem.com show the lens as a separate part number? That wouldn't be the case if they were glued would it?

It is separate on the glass ones; not separate for the plastic ones.

Thanks J!m. Yes, I just checked and they are sealed and they are different to what is shown on realoem (sealed/unsealed).

I will have to get new ones anyway as I just noticed that on both sides the adjusting mechanism (manual screw) is broken.

judgedredd, this doesn't exactly address your question, but I'd just add that the headlight assemblies from angelicmisskitty are very easy to install - at least the simple, non-projector ones were for me on my ti. You just remove the corner lights for access, then remove the old assemblies and install the new ones. I didn't even need to make any adjustments. The bulbs are available at AutoZone if yours go out.

Thanks for the info Mongwit. Much appreciated.

If the original headlights on your '93 320 are similar to the ones on my '96 ti, you'll be much happier with glass lens projectors. The wiring harnesses are not difficult to make (info above), and the difference is literally like night and day.

The German ti lights are drop in and use the same bulbs as the plastic lenses.

Projectors are nice, but I didn’t want to cut up my harness.

I also noticed the reflectors in the glass lens assemblies are larger than the ones in the plastic assembly. They look much better.

I swapped out the stock plastic lights for the glass projectors acquired from @angelicmisskitty. They take H1 bulbs and connecting them was straight-forward using the E36 US/Euro PnP connectors that I picked up from the Umnitza website. I'm very pleased with the result.

The final step is to adjust the aim of the light beam, which is clearly adjustable but am unsure where exactly they should be pointed.