I completed the HID retro!

[V8HAHA]

Thanks Omega, that first link was super helpful!

 

[PaintMunky468]

I don't mean to sound retarted but what are HIDs?

 

[blackGSX2g]

I don't mean to sound retarted but what are HIDs?

High Intensity Discharge lighting. It's an arc instead of a powered filiment. It takes a big initial spark of energy to the the arc going, then it runs on alot less wattage than regular halogen. Its the same lighting system that stadiums and gyms use.

4100/4300k is the brightest color temp period...I've compared stock BMW ones to 8000k and there is a very noticeable difference.

 

[WombatTSi]

AUDI TT ECE projectors, 4200k D2S bulbs, hella slim ballats, hella ignitors. look very nice.

Rebased D2S bulbs (like catz and all the other "kits" are) just suck. why? because you just pop them into a Free form reflector housing (which should use D2R bulbs anyhow), not meant for HIDs, and you BLIND other drivers, I mean (no offense) but 9D2streetgsx has one of the absolute worst beam patterns Ive EVER seen, look how high up that goes! stuff like that is the reason they are illegal. compare the cut off of my projectors (un-aimed as of the time the pic was taken) to that of 9D2streetgsx's. mine won't blind onecomiong traffic.

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[V8HAHA]

Do you have more pictures wombat?

 

[9D2streetgsx]

AUDI TT ECE projectors, 4200k D2S bulbs, hella slim ballats, hella ignitors. look very nice.

Rebased D2S bulbs (like catz and all the other "kits" are) just suck. why? because you just pop them into a Free form reflector housing (which should use D2R bulbs anyhow), not meant for HIDs, and you BLIND other drivers, I mean (no offense) but 9D2streetgsx has one of the absolute worst beam patterns Ive EVER seen, look how high up that goes! stuff like that is the reason they are illegal. compare the cut off of my projectors (un-aimed as of the time the pic was taken) to that of 9D2streetgsx's. mine won't blind onecomiong traffic.

relax... i havnt put in my projector bulbs or even got around to adjusting the angle... it doesnt look like that in person and its not that bad.. trust me i made sure of it. its just the way my camera made it appear.. but these are not the permanent appearance...
i was testin out the bulbs to make sure they work. they will go back in once i am done restro fitting my projectors to aim the beams with less scatter... as for now my stock halogens are back in till the HID's are ready to go back in...

 

[Masakari]

wow, those hids hurt my eyes just lookign at them on the monitor! i would like to do something like this but it looks like it would be uber expensive...i will probably just stick with halogen h4? bulbs

 

[FutureGSXOwner]

Did you use 3-series projectors?

 

[rjdavis21]

idk just the projector with the regular style reflector for hi beam and the projector where the lo beam is.

 

[Iroc_g]

Can you post an itemized list of the stuff you got to complete the conversion and where you got it. I have started trying to round up parts, but i want to know what im getting into.

Your lights look awesome

 

[rjdavis21]

Sure can:

- BMW Hella Projectors(eBay or www.Hidtech.com $80-130)
- Hella Ballasts and Phillips Germany 4300K bulbs(eBay or www.Hidtech.com $270)
- 97-99 eclipse single projector style headlights(eBay $130)
- radio backstraps(metal bars) cut and bent to mount the projectors in the headlight
had to run power straight from the batter into a relay to charge the initial lighting of the ballasts because the factory wiring would not support it.

i sold my stock 97-99 headlights to cover some of the prices but ended up costing me around $300 to do this. but it was worth it. if you have any other questions let me know.

 

[DSMTurboEclipse]

Looks great! Good work

 

[DarkTalon2GNT]

would the same be possible with dual projectors? From what I've seen they're made a little different than the regular...

 

[Iroc_g]

Does anybody have any close up pics of 97-99 style headlights that have a hid projector conversion?

I am debating having this done to my stockl lights, or to buy new ones. I like the stock housings just fine, but i am curios to how it looks with the projector housing inside.

I have also been looking at hidtech's website. Is it worth it to just have them do the conversion, or is it easier than i think. I am worried about making it look good and not just slapped together.

 

[hystericfox]

this isnt my pic, i saved it from another thread because i wanted to do the projectors in my stock housings.

 

[rjdavis21]

wow very sweet looking...are those 2 projectors in stock housings?

 

[TSiAWD666]

Can you describe the lighting pattern? How's the cutoff? What about adjustment?

 

[Mr96GSX408]

Yes, rjdavis, please do describe the light output.

 

[rjdavis21]

the lighting pattern is just like it would be in a foactor HID lit car has the cut off line that gets higher on the right side. its super bright and at first i thought i had my brights on all the time. i have some adjustment still because i mounted them on the adjusting brackets that were already in there.

 

[Mr96GSX408]

the lighting pattern is just like it would be in a foactor HID lit car has the cut off line that gets higher on the right side. its super bright and at first i thought i had my brights on all the time. i have some adjustment still because i mounted them on the adjusting brackets that were already in there.

I'm more interested in how wide the beam outputs are. From the housing the you used, it looks like the light will be very bright but also narrow. Is the light output narrow at all, or does it spread out an even 15*-20* on each side of the car?

My concern arose when I saw this picture posted on the HID forum. Notice how the light beam is very narrow.

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Whereas this retro is very wide:

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[Livid]

Nice yellow ... but is urs just a kit car ??

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[telly699]

Nice yellow ... but is urs just a kit car ??

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I am assuming yours isnt!

 

[TargeT]

I'm more interested in how wide the beam outputs are. From the housing the you used, it looks like the light will be very bright but also narrow. Is the light output narrow at all, or does it spread out an even 15*-20* on each side of the car?

My concern arose when I saw this picture posted on the HID forum. Notice how the light beam is very narrow.

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Whereas this retro is very wide:

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I'm worried about this too, i think if you try and set the lense further out of the housing you'll get a wider spread on the lighting, but i'm not exactly sure.

I'd like to see more pictures hehe

 

[TrystanGST]

The spread has more to do with the quality of the projector, if you have good HID projectors and they are mounted properly (far enough forward), then you should have plenty of light.

 

[joe039]

Ok

Posting in here 'cause I dont wanna start a new thread since there's already so many on the subject, but here goes:

I wanna do the HID retrofit, but the amount of work that goes into it and the electrical stuff that goes with it really frightens me. Is there an easier way? or is the retrofit the only option? (for TRUE HID that is.)

thanks guys