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Installed HID's today


Boostjunkie

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Finally got around to putting in my HID's today. I pieced together the parts, rather than buying a ready made kit. I used new Matsushita ballasts and igniters (OEM for a number of Japanese manufacturers), new Phillips D2S 5000K bulbs, and machined aluminum H7-D2S adapter rings. Got everything off Ebay and paid a total of $237. To me, better quality than most of the ready made kits out there, and much cheaper to boot.

 

Since the ballasts I used had remote ignitors and I wanted an OE level of fitment, I heated up my headlights and mounted the igniter inside the headlight housing.

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0952_IMG.jpg

 

It just wedged in, with absolutely no room to spare. Here are a couple more pics

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0953_IMG.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0954_IMG.jpg

 

While the zip ties to hold the igniter in place are a little ghetto, it was the only practical way to get it done. You can't see it really well in the pics, but I also made up a new grommet to replace the factory one. It is completely sealed just like the factory version, but now holds the wires coming from the ballast to the igniter. All connections were soldered and heatshrink wrapped. I don't have a pic of it, but the original cup to cover the back of the low beam housing fits right back on.

 

Since I was in there, I also cleared out my headlights. No pics of that, since you all know what that looks like.

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I mounted the ballast for the driver side on the underside of the headlight housing. Couple screws and some zip ties did the trick.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0955_IMG.jpg

 

Here is the driver's side headlight mounted in the car. Pic was shot from the ground up.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0959_IMG.jpg

 

I mounted the passenger side ballast to the frame of the car, directly below the headlight. Again a tight fit, but it's in there. Pics in from the underside.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0967_IMG.jpg

 

Another one of the passenger side, diagonally from the top.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0966_IMG.jpg

 

I had already installed relays powered directly off the battery to feed the ballasts, so all that is left is to show the fruits of my labor

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0956_IMG.jpg

 

No frontal shots, since I still need to get new side marker bulbs, so I left off the front bumper for now. I'll run to Pep Boys and get that taken care of before work tommorrow.

 

Overall, I'm happy. Big boost in light output, with a very white color. Looks like the OEM HID we should have gotten.

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Got the same ion yellow cutoff as I do.

 

Looking at the pics of your headlights open, it looks like the projectors are easily removed with some screws.. Wondering if it would be possible to drop some bmw/audi projectors in there for a true HID conversion. Hmmmm.. Thanks for the pics!

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Is that plug an actual D2S one? I though about getting a real ballast, but I didn't think that plug that's used in the US would fit under the cover.

 

It is a true D2S plug. It clears the cover with no problem.

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Took some exterior pics when I got home from work tonight. Got to say that while the OEM H7 setup was very nice for halogen, the HID blow it away. On one stretch of empty unlit road that was 6 lanes wide (3 each way) the whole road was clearly lit. The cut-off is nice and sharp too, so I don't think I'm blinding oncoming traffic. Anyways, on to the pics:

 

As a previous poster noted, there is a slight yellow ting on the cutoff line, even though the light is very white, with a tinge of blue/purple.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0970_IMG.jpg

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0971_IMG.jpg

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0972_IMG.jpg

 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/Pisadong/109-0974_IMG.jpg

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Yup, separate 20 amp fuses for each ballast. I had wired up the fuse holders and relays for some 80 watt Nokya blue halogen bulbs I was running before. You can run the ballasts directly off the factory headlight wiring, but since the startup amperage demands are very high, and I already had fuses and relays in place, I figured it would be safer to go that route.

 

I have also ordered amber LED 3157 turn signal bulbs and yellow H3 bulbs for the fog light to complete my lighting upgrades.

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They are in transit right now. Given that I'm not going with the super high wattage versions, I think I'll be safe with just plug and play on the stock harness.
Please, let us know.. I've been really wanting to get higher wattage fog bulbs, but I'm not really willing to trust someone that plugs them in and says "hey look, no smoke, must be working".. Gotta check after a week, 2 weeks, etc. Reflector seems to be metallic at least.
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Yup, separate 20 amp fuses for each ballast. I had wired up the fuse holders and relays for some 80 watt Nokya blue halogen bulbs I was running before. You can run the ballasts directly off the factory headlight wiring, but since the startup amperage demands are very high, and I already had fuses and relays in place, I figured it would be safer to go that route.

 

I have also ordered amber LED 3157 turn signal bulbs and yellow H3 bulbs for the fog light to complete my lighting upgrades.

 

i don't think you will like the amber led bulbs. prob wont light up the corner lense very well. anyways i take it the + leads fromt he oem headlamps trigger your relays? is is enough for the DRL to trip the relay? what is your ground for the ballasts and relays? the oem ground or to the chassis? defintely go with yellow h3 fogs. yellow + xenon = bad ass. cant wait for some pics. now if only another hella gen 3 ballast come in i can finally retro my leggy. i think the oem h7 projector should be fine but if not valeo bi-xenons are going in. also good call with the philips bulbs. if you want better performace go philips. if you want cooler look go osram (more purple)

MAYHEM

#122/22 STS NNJR SCCA

AUTOX4U.COM

 

XENON RETRO GUIDE

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i don't think you will like the amber led bulbs. prob wont light up the corner lense very well. anyways i take it the + leads fromt he oem headlamps trigger your relays? is is enough for the DRL to trip the relay? what is your ground for the ballasts and relays? the oem ground or to the chassis? defintely go with yellow h3 fogs. yellow + xenon = bad ass. cant wait for some pics. now if only another hella gen 3 ballast come in i can finally retro my leggy. i think the oem h7 projector should be fine but if not valeo bi-xenons are going in. also good call with the philips bulbs. if you want better performace go philips. if you want cooler look go osram (more purple)

 

The + lead from the OEM harness triggers the relays. I disabled my DRL's, but if you leave them connected, they will NOT trigger the relays. Before the HID install I was using a set of Nokya bulbs, and when I wired up the relays and turned the key to ACC, there was a bigtime ground loop hum, but no lights. Disabled the DRL, and I've had no issues since.

 

The relays and ballasts are grounded to the chassis. Actually, the driver's side ballast is grounded directly to the battery, and the passenger side is grounded to the chassis.

 

Regarding the 3157 LED's. I didn't just buy just any cheapo LED bulbs. Knowing that LED are very directional in their light output, it is obvious that most commonly available ones with only forward facing LED, would not light up the turn signal reflector very well. I chose these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33713&item=7972858816&rd=1 Which promise 360* of light and their configuration should deliver this.

 

Good luck with your HID install. I honestly am very happy with the OEM H7 projectors. I think the only advantage of Valeo D2S projectors would be a better looking cutoff line. My lights are insanely bright already, and I couldn't imagine them being much better in that respect.

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thanks for the info boost. i doubt i will bother changing projectors, but if i did i would go BI-XENON valeos. had bi-xenon retro on my acura. the speed at which you can drop the cut-off shield is insane! great for flashing people and the high beam function worked very well also.

 

i have never seen and led setup like that! thats crazy. i'll be looking foward to some pics!

MAYHEM

#122/22 STS NNJR SCCA

AUTOX4U.COM

 

XENON RETRO GUIDE

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