E30 Zone

How many people have upgraded to HID bulbs? are they worth while?

YES...don't think twice about it...a must for e30's IMO.

HID as in the whole package ballasts and wiring - YES just do it. Not even worth thinking about.

As for "Xenon" bulbs on their own. No thanks.

Any body know what the £50 to £80 kits on ebay are like?

George_Of_The_Jungle wrote:Any body know what the £50 to £80 kits on ebay are like?

They work!

Both of my sets were £60each delivered. They work faultlessly, and i've had them for a few months now!

2nd the above comments...Xenon bulbs are a no no, but proper HID kits are great.

Look in the styling/ice section, there's a sticky at the top from when I put my cheapo ebay set in. They're still working nicely.

George_Of_The_Jungle wrote:Any body know what the £50 to £80 kits on ebay are like?

I have one of the cheap ebay kits and they're alright

Significant improvement on the std setup

Forget about the Cheap bulbs and get the HID kit

Well worth the additional outlay

Where do you people put the ballasts?

Got the right hand one tied beside the lights and the left hand one tied to the wiring loom(only place i could find room for it)

Definately get some, normal E30 lighting is poor, I found out after I upgraded!

Can the plastic covers still be put behind the light units or is the bulb too long for them?

Mine needed some plastic removed to clear the wiring

datourer wrote:Can the plastic covers still be put behind the light units or is the bulb too long for them?

You won't have any problems with putting the cap of the lighting units back on if you make a hole big enough for the bulb to get through them, its self explanatory from there. My kit had a rubber plug which I pulled all the way up the wiring, this helps cover the hole which your bulb will go through.

S.K.

I don't mean the cap on the lights themselves, i mean the large plastic cover that shields both lights.

I have my ballast on the drivers side black plastic light cover, and on the passenger side it is between the header tank and the suspension turret as the ABS pump was in the way.

datourer wrote:I don't mean the cap on the lights themselves, i mean the large plastic cover that shields both lights.

They go on fine!

Hi Guys Sorry but i,m green to all this HID bulbs could some one point me in the right direction, I,ve never seen them or heard of them (bulbs,ballast,etc) thought I was in a garden centre (might be some thing to do with age, mine)

joeboy wrote:Hi Guys Sorry but i,m green to all this HID bulbs could some one point me in the right direction, I,ve never seen them or heard of them (bulbs,ballast,etc) thought I was in a garden centre (might be some thing to do with age, mine)

well nearly all modern cars have what they call zenon lights.
sure youve been annoyingly blinded by the white piercing headlamps of an audi tt on a country lane?????
the bulbs use a special gas and a much higher voltage than standard bulbs. to get this higher voltage they use a low wattage input sort of mini step up generator.
the kit were talking about is a universal do it yourself one available for different bulbs h1, h4, h7 etc etc.
i personally wont be fitting them to mine cus im sick of being blinded by them on other cars! 60 watts is the brightest bulb legally allowed as dipped beam. but because the ballast thing only uses around 35watts its legal, despite the new bulb producing 3 times more light than 60watt bulb!! personally i think the law should be changed to measure light output in old fashioned candle power!!

my 2p worth.

and before we start with the oh yeah, hes an idiot and doesnt know what hes talking about. im a mechanic and tester and ive fitted 3 of these kits on cars at work recently.

joeboy wrote:Hi Guys Sorry but i,m green to all this HID bulbs could some one point me in the right direction, I,ve never seen them or heard of them (bulbs,ballast,etc) thought I was in a garden centre (might be some thing to do with age, mine)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=016

This is the kit I've just ordered and a few others have also fitted these IIRC at £45 delivered I thought I'd give them a go. HID in the old 80's projector lamps aren't going to be as good as modern cars but will be an improvement. There was a zoner building much improved lamps using the projectors out of an X5 or Audi TT modified to fit inside the normal E30 unit.

I'll let you know how I get on with them when they arrive, should be middle of next week

Charlie

Hi Charlie Have recieved/fitted the new lights yet,are they ok. fitted/workimg ok,lets know, joeboy.

I received mine in the post this morning, fired them up on the bench and they're fookin bright alright

£42 from ebay inc 3 working day delivery from China.

I got mine here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERS ... dZViewItem

Cheers,

Iain T

joeboy wrote:Hi Charlie Have recieved/fitted the new lights yet,are they ok. fitted/workimg ok,lets know, joeboy.

Hi mate, yes they turned up on monday and there were no extra charges (customs/Parcel force) quite an easy fit although the two dimples on the bulbs don't match up with the two holes in the bulb holder. Wiring is straight forward and the light output is excellent (in comparison to the standard E30 light) I am getting a strobing effect when I have just the sidelights on which means when I put my lights on I just go straight to dipped beams. I have read that you can disconnect an inline resistor (on the E30 lighting loom) that I think controls the lights when you switch of the ignition with the lights on still, apparently this will stop the strobing (sidelights only on).

I'll give this a go at the weekend.... all in all I'm very impressed at the difference even with the above little niggles. My last set of normal H1 Osram bulbs were IIRC around £18 so for the money the HID is well worth it.

How have you got on with yours Iain T?

Charlie

Fitted mine this morning, had a couple of niggles but otherwise working brilliantly

The destructions said 'drill 21mm hole in cap', didn't have a 21mm so used a 22mm hole saw instead, problem was the multiplug for the ballast/igniter is 28mm wide .Had to cut off the crimps for the power cable and pull the cables out of the grommet then feed them back through the hole in the cap.

I'm undecided where to fit the ballasts, might use the supplied brackets and screw them to the back of the headlight rear covers.

I need to adjust the headlight alignment as well, didn't realise how law slung my aim was . I've got 2 super bright patches right in front of the car but about 20 feet ahead of me the beam is non-existant.

Excellent mod imo.

Cheers,

Iain T

Hi Guys And thanks for the up date on the lights,(guess I,ll add them to the chrissie list then) joeboy.

are the xenon bulbs no good on their own, the must be better than shitty standard ones?,

i know bugger all about them!, if they still have the 60 watts going into them on the standard bulb supply set up and are allegedly more efficient why arent they better?

I don't know exactly what the Xenon Bulbs are but they can't be the same as you get in full HID kits because they ignite without the big belt from the ballasts. Typically Xenon bulbs come with a claim of 50% improvement in lighting, HID kits claim 300%. On an E30, I think you need the 300%.

jibowski wrote:are the xenon bulbs no good on their own, the must be better than shitty standard ones?,

Standard H1 headlamp bulbs are tungsten halogen types.
The tungsten filament in a bulb can be run at a higher temperature if it's enclosed in a small container containing a halogen gas, as a 'halogen cycle' takes place.
Xenon is just one of the halogen gases that can be used.
The only thing these have in common with HIDs, is that they both contain xenon gas.

yo charlE30 whats the 335i all about...........? Never seen thats......sound interesting boss? !!

black_sport wrote:yo charlE30 whats the 335i all about...........? Never seen thats......sound interesting boss? !!

The 335 was a standard 325ise and I fitted a 3.5lt engine/gearbox out of an E34 5 series




This bonnet has now been changed..

Puts a smile on my face every time I drive it

Templ8e30 wrote:I need to adjust the headlight alignment as well, didn't realise how law slung my aim was . I've got 2 super bright patches right in front of the car but about 20 feet ahead of me the beam is non-existant.

Sounds like mine Iain, going to try and readjust them today. Did your bulbs have the two little locating dimples on the metal part? how did you find the fit?
Mine didn't line up at all so the bulb isn't sitting as far into the projector as it's meant to, I was thinking about getting the dremmel out and grinding them off so the bulb sits where it's should be.

Charlie

charlE30 wrote:

Templ8e30 wrote:I need to adjust the headlight alignment as well, didn't realise how law slung my aim was . I've got 2 super bright patches right in front of the car but about 20 feet ahead of me the beam is non-existant.

Sounds like mine Iain, going to try and readjust them today. Did your bulbs have the two little locating dimples on the metal part? how did you find the fit?
Mine didn't line up at all so the bulb isn't sitting as far into the projector as it's meant to, I was thinking about getting the dremmel out and grinding them off so the bulb sits where it's should be.

Charlie

Mine are actually encased in plastic, the dimples were a perfect fit in the holders.

I've fiddled with the adjusters and brought the beam up a bit, having driven the wife's car all weekend I reckon I can go up another turn on the adjusters. Much better lighting now, can actually see the road at night

Cheers,

Iain T

im hoping "mrs" santa will bring me one of these kits as i regularly come home from work in the dark (live in the countryside) and i can tell you the standard "candles" are virtually useless, even with the aim adjusted.. i,ve been in Baddaves touring, after he fitted the ebay kit and was very impressed with the improvement.. makes the full beam lamp look like a sidelight

i have had one of the ebay kits in every bmw i have owned and they are excellent value for money. i found the best place for the ballasts is to the back of the headlight unit itself that way the whole thing can be removed as one.

i only roughly fitted them in at the moment but plan on stripping the headlight down and smoking the insides adding ccfl angel eyes and possibly other projectors from a newer car (although the cut off seems fine anyway)

once i have done this i may do a few more units to sell depending on how well they work and how much i can make them for.

my current car has the smiley headlights but i want the non smiley projectors does anyone know what year these came on?

cheers barry

my 88 has them..but my car is post facelift with original factory preface high comp engine so dunno if that affects the lights