This is a How-to page on my APC Projector Install.

First off, the APC Projectors are not just a bolt-on item. Some modification of the car and of the lights themselves must be made for them to even fit in the cavalier factory headlight openings. It seems that the projector lens itself is just too deep to fit into the area where the factory lights occupied.

If you look at the first image, you will see the OEM light on the right, the APC light in the middle, and the APC bracket on the left. Notice how far out the APC lens sticks out. That is the main problem.

In the next two images, if you look closely you will see where the APC lights were hitting the metal.

Therefore, I had to cut out some metal on both the driver's side and the passenger's side of the car. I just used my Dremel tool with the basic cut-off discs that come with it to do this. I went though about 20 discs I guess, but when I tried the heavy-duty ones, it just made it even tougher since they were thicker. The first two images show the notches I made on both sides of the car. The next three images are after I put on a layer of primer and then coated that with a layer of clear fingernail polish. I was just looking for something to cover the bare metal and help prevent rust.

Also, since the APC adjustment screws basically are worthless, I decided to swap out the brackets off of my OEM lights. This was a pretty simple process. On the APC lights, there are three phillips screws that need to be removed for this. On the OEM lights, there were three hex (1/2"?) screws to be removed. The holes where the screws are located, are circled in blue. Then there were some minor modifications to be made to get the OEM brackets on the APC lights. You can see in the second image that the OEM bracket rubs on the projector light housing slightly. On the APC bracket, this corner is already removed. The first image shows the OEM bracket (left) and the APC bracket (right) with the area in question circled in red. So as the third image shows, just cut a little out at a time until it clears completely. Next, since the OEM bracket doesn't have the notches that the APC bracket had, I had to modify the lights a bit more. You'll notice where the two screws hold the bracket onto the lights there are little fins that stick out. Well the OEM bracket has a fin that sticks down into that area and therefore it won't sit flat. So on the top post, I just cut a notch on the light itself, while on the lower post, I notched the OEM bracket itself. Unfortunately, the pictures of the other notch didn't quite come out so I couldn't post them.

Once all of that is completed, it's time to put it all back together. The passenger light went in without a problem. The driver's side. Well, that's still a work in progress. I'm going to have to do some more work on that one to get it to fit right. It seems to stick out too far and is binding up on something. From some other pictures I have seen from some other installs, I'm thinking I need to cut out some directly behind the light. I only cut out just above the light. Maybe that is the problem I have. That'll be for another weekend. Also, these pictures were all taken before I bothered to aim them. They aren't lined up quite as nice now that they are somewhat aimed.

I decided to just start taking pictures of my car since I spent the entire afternoon working on this. These were a pain in the rear to get aimed. They are no where close to what the factory lights were adjusted to. It took close to an hour with help from my step-dad to get these even close. I still think there is room for improvement on the aiming. I think I might still have them aimed just a hair high. My initial drive, the lights were up in the trees. After doing some quick adjustments and over-corrections, the brights were aimed right where the lows should be. Now, it's not too bad. No matter how hard we tried, the low beams cross paths. Once your out about 10 feet in front of the car, the beams cross. Oh well, that's life.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the factory lights before installing the APC ones. Without that to compare to, these pictures of the beam pattern really don't show much.