E30 Zone

Bearing in mind I'm a total liability with a spanner or screwdriver, I'm chuffed to bits with this



4300k HIDS! Notice that the kit fits Smiley and non-smiley lights, seeing as I have one of each hehehe...

I've got pics that I took during the installation so I'll pop them up shortly, the install to the lights went really well. Finding somewhere to secure the ballasts wasn't quite so tidy so I resorted to um, well, zipties! I'm pretty sure I could screw them down properly if I fitted under the front of the car but as you can see from the pic, I'm not trusting a jack or stands on that slope!

Sweet. How much and where from?

ebay, £88 delivered. Took 7 days for them to arrive from Hong Kong. Perfect customer service, he even sent me tracking links/numbers for the HK post office and Parcel Force UK.

First up, the kit I bought came direct from Hong Kong from ebay user "flea mark" The kits are made by These Guys. It was £88 delivered and arrived in 7 days (14 promised) perfectly wrapped and with all the customs forms complete. I really couldn't fault the guy for shipping it so fast and sending me all the information I needed.

Fitting is very simple. The kit only touches the existing wiring where you connect up the red/black terminals on the back of the HID bulb to the yellow/black wires inside the headlight.
First of all I used a Dremel to make a hole in the back of each headlight rear cover. The holes in the picture aren't finished. They ended up about the size of a 50p (and about as round!) so that the new bulb and wires could be threaded through.



To hook up the bulbs, first you thread the new bulb into the place where the old one was. It fits, but only just. You need to be careful to approach the headlight straight or you could damage your new bulb. I shifted the water bottles out of the way to get a bit more space on the right hand side, and moved the coolant hose/cables to get some space on the left side (which is even tighter because of the ABS pump).

Then you just use the red/black spade connectors in the picture below to connect to the brown/yellow ones in the existing wiring (you can see them in the picture above). Its obvious which goes where, due to the different sizes. I spent some time cleaning up the old connectors which were pretty filthy and corroded - probably the reason that the original headlights were so dim in the first place. The connector in the black wire fits inside the circular connector on the yellow wire which normally connects to the headlight reflector. It looks a bit dodgy but works fine. I taped up the the bare copper so that they won't short out inside the headlight and laid them round the inside of the rear cap so that they wouldn't get in the way of the new bulb.



After that you can just pop the grommet into place to make a seal. I'll probably put some silicon sealant on it to make it really waterproof but it looks OK as it is. Here's the right hand light fitted, easier than the left hand side to see whats going on...



Fitting the ballasts should be easy but it found it more tricky since I couldn't actually get under the car. In the end I just zip tied them in place for a temporary measure (which may well end up permanent depending on how well it works). Connecting the ballasts to the lights is simple. 3 connectors which can't go on the wrong way round - the kind of wiring I like

Here's where I put the left hand one. If anyone comes up with a better place - please tell me. I'm not really happy with it there.



The good news is that they work! Awesome light and no radio interference or noise that you can hear in the cabin. If you turn the lights on with the bonnet open you can hear a whine from the ballasts but it doesn't matter in use.

Frankly - for £88 - everyone should get them. Such a massive improvement. Lets see what the MOT man says in 10 months time. If he moans, its all totally reversible so I can pop the H1s in for a day or two.

Hi Well done with the write up and pics.I am a fan of HID's but will have to wait a while or she who must be obeyed will crack up

How do the bulbs fit in the headlight ?

Bulbs clip in the same as the normal H1's do

yep, they use the same wire clip thingy. My non-smiley seemed to accept the new bulb better than the smiley but that could be because it was a bit furry in there. Both fitted snug and securely though...

Pictures are missing or is that just, my computer?

Cheers
Toby

i'm guessing he has deleted the pictures from the server where they were stored i.e. imageshack!!

bit of a pain...

missing for me too

nah there on this server: http://www.lard.demon.co.uk - but its down, so i guess we'll have to wait

Morat,

I need piccies. My kit turned up today and I wanna get playing

Please

MOT fail if you dont have headlight washers.

its pretty easy to fit. the only issues i had was finding somewhere in my increasingly cramped engine bay for the ballast. the bulb bases are also thicker than the h1 base due to it being made of plastic.....makes it difficult to get the fixing spring in place. its also very cramped in the waterproof plastic cap with all the extra wiring.

as a side note i have noticed that sometimes the lights flicker very quickly. its like they have been switched off and on very quickly. its very rare....or at least its rare that i have noticed it.

its a massive improvement over the h1's though. very happy with mine.

munky30 wrote:MOT fail if you dont have headlight washers.

it would take all of 5 minutes to refit your normal h1's.

slightly longer on mine as my cruise control actuator is in the way so i need to remove the entire nearside light.

sorry folks, on the phone to demon now to sort this out.
Pics should be back today, if not I'll host them somewhere else.

Morat

got any pics of em on in the night?

Hmm, I don't - but I'll get some if you like. Trust me though - its an amazing difference. I've had these installed for over 2 months now and I've never been flashed by someone coming the other way. The light pattern is the same but far brighter. Driving at night has been transformed, the extra range and brightness makes the whole affair safer and less stressful. Looking much better is a nice side effect

I think the law is only that if the vehicle is suppiled with them from new it has to have wash and self leveling but as e30s never came with them as new it doesnt apply, however i may be wrong.

There was a very long and heated thread about the MOT status of HIDs and whether you need wash/wipe and self leveling lights. The upshot was that noone really knew for sure because there were rumours of the law being about to change. I say that it doesn't matter. You can put the original bulbs back in the time it takes to swap a normal set of halogens and be definitely legal. If you put purple lights in your car and get stopped by the 5-0 then, well thats up to you

Personally - I think they should be compulsory, they're that good.

nice...well done excellent mod...... cant wait to do mine

hi guys just done mine this week and they look wicked smoked my lights too and installed angel eyes and hids totall changed the car. will get photos up soon.

thanks for that guide mate

Here is a pic of my HID's I'm also looking for white LED's so that I don't have that yellowish colour round the angels

this is gonna be my next mod I think after my mot looks sweet

I used PIAA led sidelight bulbs to get around the yellow tint they gave:

http://www.piaa.co.uk/bulbs/bulbshow.asp?ID=led

About £22 per pair iirc!

d6dph wrote:I used PIAA led sidelight bulbs to get around the yellow tint they gave:

http://www.piaa.co.uk/bulbs/bulbshow.asp?ID=led

About £22 per pair iirc!

Cheers for that didn't realise they were that expensive as I need 16 LED's 4 in Each Angel eye ring

OUCH!

Have a look on Ebay mate, There are cheaper brands but they tend t have more of a blue tint.

I'm sure you can buy pure white LED's off ebay for less than that!

As you say, they'll be cheaper brands, but they are white, and now yellow, or blue...

i used to have a link a while back, but never got round to ordering them...

if i find the link i'll post it, if not, just do a search on ebay, and i'm sure you'll find some...

out of interest, what temperature rating are you HIDs?

I've got some 10,000K coming soon...are they going to be really blue

All of the cheaper "white" LED's I have seen have had a significant blue tint. The PIAA ones were the best that I had seen.

I'm sure the Ebay ones would be white enough for most people tbh. The cost didn't worry me.

My HID kit is Council spec 8000k, But I am looking into new bulbs in 4300k as they are quite blue at the moment.

theres a group buy on a local site for the HID conversion... £90

" kit includes: two XENON bulbs, two ballasts with all necessary wiring, cable ties, two ballast brackets, manual and waranty card "

is this a good price? what are they like compared to zenon installs?

Same thing mate.

£90 does seem very cheap, Do you know what make the kit is?



I have to say my supplier (Ultra) were on the ball when I rang them about a problem I thought I had with mine. Turned out to be a fuse which I hadn't checked

But they had the replacement bulb and ballast out same day. Very good service.

heya bud... heres a pic supplied on the ad...



is it definately something you would recommend?

also is it possible to buy hella smoked lamps new??? Ideally i would like a full hella smoked lense setup running HID's at the front!