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VIDEO ADDED, SEE BOTTOM OF POST
I wrangled a good deal, so I decided to try out the Morimoto 2Stroke LED kit.
The Contenders
The PartsSquare 9006 (HB4) [reviewed here] was installed on 4/2016 and has been in place a year and a month (gosh it seems longer). Researching the Philips LUXEON-MZ LED package revealed that it was manufacturer rated for 900 Lumens per package and since there are two packages on a “bulb” you get;
Morimoto “2Stroke” installed 5/2017
According to Cree, the XHP50 LED package based on the Cree SC5 tech can be driven to 1,600 Lumens per package (some sources say 2,200 Lumens but I’m going with the numbers from Cree) and each Morimoto “bulb” has two packages installed for a total of;
The Morimoto kit (or should I say kits plural) surprised me when it arrived since they apparently operate in a modular fashion. Instead of everything in one box what you get are multiple packages containing….
![]()
Everything about the Morimoto kit says that they put some time and effort into the quality of the design and the grade of materials. The “Bulbs” are surprisingly heavy and solid and the wires and connectors are high grade.
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During the test-fit phase I discovered that the “O” rings on the 9012 adaptor collars were simply too fat to go into my headlight housings. Fortunately I happen to have an assortment of “O” rings and one set fit perfectly. I suspect the lights could have been mounted without the “O” ring but I didn’t want to risk vibration.
![]()
In spite of the somewhat large drivers, all of the 2Stroke components will fit inside the headlight housings of a Gen 1 Volt. An interesting note is that the LED emitters don’t sit at 9-and-3, more at 1-and-8 . and it would be nice if you could "dial them in", regardless of that position though, the Gen 1 projector housings this creates a “center biased” cone of light with a mostly decent pattern although there is a mild “black hole” at about 8 o’clock and 4 o’clock. This is not an actual problem though because you can’t even see those areas if you are sitting behind the wheel of the car.
You should also be aware that you will –not- be able to put the dust caps back on the headlight housings without modification. Once I was sure that I wanted to use the Morimoto lights I did some careful measurements to find the center of my dust caps and then carefully drilled with a 60mm hole saw in my drill press to make the required holes. The supplied dust caps then fit like a glove creating a very professional looking assembly. It was not a hard modification but does require a bit of patience and pre-planning. Fortunately I have 30 years of “fine scale modeling” skills to fall back on.
![]()
After drilling I still had to remove the ends of the tabs with an x-acto knife.
![]()
![]()
Installing the unit in the passenger side requires pulling the air-filter airbox. Fortunately this is simply a matter of unlatching the top and then pulling firmly up on the airbox until it pops loose. The tight fit does mean that the airbox “squishes” the rubber dust cap some when you re-install everything, however there is still plenty of clearance internally between the dust cap and the heatsink of the LED assembly.
![]()
The “MagLev” bearing fans make an audible whine, but once you put the dust caps on it is muffled to the point that the Volt’s own pumps and fans easily drown it out. I could not make out the fans when sitting inside the vehicle even with the hood open.
I let the car sit with the lights on for 30 minutes with the dust caps on, then pulled a dust cap and checked the temperatures which seemed to have stabilized at around 145 degrees (with a 68 degree ambient temperature). The interesting thing to note was that temperature was measured at the end of the heat sink whereas the base of the “bulb” was only 88 degrees, indicating that the heatsink/fan combo was doing a really good job of pulling heat away from the actual LED packages.
Testing and night drive
Right off the bat it was obvious that the Morimoto had a much tighter and well defined beam pattern. A “quick and dirty” measurement from equal distance gave me readings of 4800 lux with the old assembly vs 7100 lux with the Morimotos. Don’t read too much into those numbers, the point is simply that the new assembly is actually somewhere in the range of twice as bright. Standing outside the vehicle I was a bit concerned as to how tight the pattern was, it seemed a little too narrow side-to-side, however once I was behind the wheel it was pretty much just where it should be for driving.
Color was a very clean and bright white. This means a LOT of reflection from newer road signs if you are running “high beams” (aka the shutter is open) but not bad at all on “low beams” (aka shutter closed).
The view down the road was impressive. The PartsSquare 9006 were always decent but they always had a slightly odd pattern and felt sort of “hollow” in the middle of your field of view. The Morimoto give a very halogen-like spread with a center bias in the Gen 1 Volt projectors. Using reference points by the side of the road I measured/timed my field of view and was easily seeing things at 175+ yards ahead (which would translate to a 6-7 second reaction time for someone driving 60mph) I suspect on a straight, flat, highway you would be able to see even further, but I was on winding country roads and 150-200 yards is pretty much as far as you get to see in a straight line.
For whatever reasons, the “critters” were very active during my test drive and so I had an excellent, real-world, test of my ability to spot different animals near, approaching, or even crossing, the road while I drove. White ‘possum and deer were an easy spot, but even Raccoon and a dark grey cat were quickly spotted with plenty of time/distance to avoid any problems.
Pro:
Cons:
Summary:
The original PartsSquare LED install was a definite upgrade from the stock Halogen lights on the Generation 1 Volt. The Morimoto install is a definite upgrade from the PartsSquare kit.
Recommended:
Provisionally yes. I would like to get some more “time on the clock” with them and I would also like to do more temperature testing at higher ambient temperatures before giving a whole hearted recommendation.
EDIT: Video from last nights test drive.
I wrangled a good deal, so I decided to try out the Morimoto 2Stroke LED kit.
The Contenders
The PartsSquare 9006 (HB4) [reviewed here] was installed on 4/2016 and has been in place a year and a month (gosh it seems longer). Researching the Philips LUXEON-MZ LED package revealed that it was manufacturer rated for 900 Lumens per package and since there are two packages on a “bulb” you get;
- 1,800 Lumen per “bulb”
- 3,600 Lumen total for a pair (RAW output)
Morimoto “2Stroke” installed 5/2017
According to Cree, the XHP50 LED package based on the Cree SC5 tech can be driven to 1,600 Lumens per package (some sources say 2,200 Lumens but I’m going with the numbers from Cree) and each Morimoto “bulb” has two packages installed for a total of;
- 3,200 Lumens per “bulb”
- 6,400 Lumens total for a pair (RAW output)
The Morimoto kit (or should I say kits plural) surprised me when it arrived since they apparently operate in a modular fashion. Instead of everything in one box what you get are multiple packages containing….
2x “Bulbs”
2x Drivers
1x Install adaptor (the 9012 fit rings and the rubber dust caps)
2x Drivers
1x Install adaptor (the 9012 fit rings and the rubber dust caps)
Everything about the Morimoto kit says that they put some time and effort into the quality of the design and the grade of materials. The “Bulbs” are surprisingly heavy and solid and the wires and connectors are high grade.
During the test-fit phase I discovered that the “O” rings on the 9012 adaptor collars were simply too fat to go into my headlight housings. Fortunately I happen to have an assortment of “O” rings and one set fit perfectly. I suspect the lights could have been mounted without the “O” ring but I didn’t want to risk vibration.
In spite of the somewhat large drivers, all of the 2Stroke components will fit inside the headlight housings of a Gen 1 Volt. An interesting note is that the LED emitters don’t sit at 9-and-3, more at 1-and-8 . and it would be nice if you could "dial them in", regardless of that position though, the Gen 1 projector housings this creates a “center biased” cone of light with a mostly decent pattern although there is a mild “black hole” at about 8 o’clock and 4 o’clock. This is not an actual problem though because you can’t even see those areas if you are sitting behind the wheel of the car.
You should also be aware that you will –not- be able to put the dust caps back on the headlight housings without modification. Once I was sure that I wanted to use the Morimoto lights I did some careful measurements to find the center of my dust caps and then carefully drilled with a 60mm hole saw in my drill press to make the required holes. The supplied dust caps then fit like a glove creating a very professional looking assembly. It was not a hard modification but does require a bit of patience and pre-planning. Fortunately I have 30 years of “fine scale modeling” skills to fall back on.
After drilling I still had to remove the ends of the tabs with an x-acto knife.
Installing the unit in the passenger side requires pulling the air-filter airbox. Fortunately this is simply a matter of unlatching the top and then pulling firmly up on the airbox until it pops loose. The tight fit does mean that the airbox “squishes” the rubber dust cap some when you re-install everything, however there is still plenty of clearance internally between the dust cap and the heatsink of the LED assembly.
The “MagLev” bearing fans make an audible whine, but once you put the dust caps on it is muffled to the point that the Volt’s own pumps and fans easily drown it out. I could not make out the fans when sitting inside the vehicle even with the hood open.
I let the car sit with the lights on for 30 minutes with the dust caps on, then pulled a dust cap and checked the temperatures which seemed to have stabilized at around 145 degrees (with a 68 degree ambient temperature). The interesting thing to note was that temperature was measured at the end of the heat sink whereas the base of the “bulb” was only 88 degrees, indicating that the heatsink/fan combo was doing a really good job of pulling heat away from the actual LED packages.
Testing and night drive
Right off the bat it was obvious that the Morimoto had a much tighter and well defined beam pattern. A “quick and dirty” measurement from equal distance gave me readings of 4800 lux with the old assembly vs 7100 lux with the Morimotos. Don’t read too much into those numbers, the point is simply that the new assembly is actually somewhere in the range of twice as bright. Standing outside the vehicle I was a bit concerned as to how tight the pattern was, it seemed a little too narrow side-to-side, however once I was behind the wheel it was pretty much just where it should be for driving.
Color was a very clean and bright white. This means a LOT of reflection from newer road signs if you are running “high beams” (aka the shutter is open) but not bad at all on “low beams” (aka shutter closed).
The view down the road was impressive. The PartsSquare 9006 were always decent but they always had a slightly odd pattern and felt sort of “hollow” in the middle of your field of view. The Morimoto give a very halogen-like spread with a center bias in the Gen 1 Volt projectors. Using reference points by the side of the road I measured/timed my field of view and was easily seeing things at 175+ yards ahead (which would translate to a 6-7 second reaction time for someone driving 60mph) I suspect on a straight, flat, highway you would be able to see even further, but I was on winding country roads and 150-200 yards is pretty much as far as you get to see in a straight line.
For whatever reasons, the “critters” were very active during my test drive and so I had an excellent, real-world, test of my ability to spot different animals near, approaching, or even crossing, the road while I drove. White ‘possum and deer were an easy spot, but even Raccoon and a dark grey cat were quickly spotted with plenty of time/distance to avoid any problems.
Pro:
- Bright
- Very nice color rendition
- Good beam pattern (In the Generation 1 Volt projector housing)
- Components fit into the headlight assembly and are protected (Generation 1 Volt)
- Very high quality components
- Quiet fans
Cons:
- Requires modification of the Gen 1 Volt Dust Caps
- “O” ring needed substitution
- Has an active fan (lifespan probably no issue, but unknown at this time)
- Entire assembly is enclosed, possible heat buildup is unknown at this time and will be monitored.
- Difficult fit on the passenger side (Gen 1 Volt) requiring pulling the airbox to install
- Can create a lot of glare from road sign reflections
Summary:
The original PartsSquare LED install was a definite upgrade from the stock Halogen lights on the Generation 1 Volt. The Morimoto install is a definite upgrade from the PartsSquare kit.
Recommended:
Provisionally yes. I would like to get some more “time on the clock” with them and I would also like to do more temperature testing at higher ambient temperatures before giving a whole hearted recommendation.
EDIT: Video from last nights test drive.
