hids dont fit with smileys?!?

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SickEddy
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:15 pm

i have just bought a 325i sport (will be adding it to the pics treads in a bit :D)to replace my 320i as the paintwork wasnt great and im lazy and it will take me ages to fix the clutch master cylinder which is leaking.
so i have been taking parts off of it to put onto the sport. tried to swap the HIDs over and the bulbs dont fit into the smileys on the sport. as far as i know all hid bulbs are the same size so dont want to waste money on more if im going to have to mod the light anyway. anybody else has this problem? they fit perfectly in the lights that were on the 320. thanks
aj_mckay
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:01 pm

HID H1 bulbs should fit fine into smiley projector headlights :?
nickso
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:36 pm

the only problem i had with fitting mine was the bulb base is plastic and about three times the thickness if the original metal h1 bulb. that made it difficult to get the retaining spring back on it.

ive had my HID's in smileys and non smileys.
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secondtimelucky
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:04 pm

Why not just swap the whole light assembly over????
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Rav335uk
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:26 pm

Ah good they do fit, as i bought some a few weeks back and haven't even got round to doing them :cool:
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d6dph
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:12 pm

Rav, Get it done man! Awesome upgrade.
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Rav335uk
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:17 pm

Will do Dave, but works picked up now, so that has to come first mate.
~Need to get in as much as I can as missus and kids are going to America and Canada for 4 weeks in the summer break!!
Costing me an arm and a leg :cry:
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StuBeeDoo
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:18 pm

I had a problem getting the HID burner into one of my lamps.
I just opened the hole slightly with my Dremmel. Could only have needed half a mm. :?
This is why I no longer drive an E30......

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BadDave
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:24 pm

StuBeeDoo wrote:I had a problem getting the HID burner into one of my lamps.
I just opened the hole slightly with my Dremmel. Could only have needed half a mm. :?
I had the same problem with one of my smiley's.

A little going over with a small file soon cured the problem
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Brianmoooore
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Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:21 am

I've come across this problem as well - occasionally a HID burner won't quite go through the hole in the back of an E30 headlamp.
I've tried the offending burner in other headlamps and it fits OK, and I've tried other burners in the offending headlamp, and they don't all fit, so the problem is with the headlamp unit.
A couple of strokes of a small file cures the problem.
SickEddy
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Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:52 am

cheers lads, thought i would have to file it but just wanted to see if anybody has found smaller bulbs about. not swapping the smileys...they make my car happy
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