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HID install is not a cakewalk

Joined
8 May 2007
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1,324
Location
your mom's house
I've read plenty of threads and finally got around to installing HID's. Four hours later I can finally see the bright road in front of me. The product was an ebay special Xentec. I'm convinced that all these kits (Main components) are made by one company either clients have reference designs or just a logo sticker and car harnesses. Anyways I had to make two holes in the dust cap. First hole was for a grommet and the two HID bulb wires. The Kit has a factory headlight connector (goes to the stock connector) but the connector hooked into the stock harness is too big to fit under the dust cap so I needed to make a slit in the side of the cap to get those wires through. Finally the moment of truth comes and goes with just a click. There wasn't any light! The kit was beat as everything was prepackaged except for a NSX light connector that I could tell (although professional) it was made to order. The terminals were marked backwards, out comes the soldering Iron. After my nose cleared up from the toxic lead I was delighted to see the light working and all that was left was to secure them in. Wow that took as long as the install as I wanted everything packed under the light covers and not visible outside. Anyways Just to let future buyers know, save half a day to get this done. Oh and the beautiful sight will make your parking lights look like garbage.

quack quack
 
I agree fully.
Especially if you do it for the first time it will take a while.
Just so happens that I did mine about two weeks ago. I am happy with the results and in all it took me about three hours tops, all work included.

One of the things I did was remove the dust caps first and made the holes in them in the house and not near the car. I have one of those HID-kits that need just one large hole, so I made it in the back of the dust caps. But I only needed ONE hole in each dust cap.
I also partially removed the whole headlight assembly to have more space to work with.
Hardest part for me with the NSX has always been getting the bulb inside the housing without touching anything. And yes, next was getting all those cable inside the dust caps.

One thing I also did was NOT fitting the grommet in the dust cap before getting the bulb inside the lamp housing. Tried that first, but there was simply not enough room for my fingers to work with. So I took out the grommet from the dust cap again, put in the bulb first, then put the dust cap on half-way, and then pried the grommet back in place.

BTW, I put my ballast under the rear frame of the headlight assembly and used a tierap to fix it there. It's invisible with the cover in place.

Perhaps I should have taken pictures (I normally do), but in this case I thought there were already enough HID-install stories on Prime.
 
Further proof that you get what you pay for. You should've bought one of whiteNSX's kits that already get around all your problems. No cutting, drilling, etc. & the caps are modified to fit all the crap inside.
 
Yep, that hardest part is getting those stupid dust caps back on with the giant connectors underneath.

So it is possible to get them back on with the connectors! I gave up and when with the slit and put the connector on the outside as I figured if i did squish it in then It would be touching the heatsink.

One thing I also did was NOT fitting the grommet in the dust cap before getting the bulb inside the lamp housing. Tried that first, but there was simply not enough room for my fingers to work with. So I took out the grommet from the dust cap again, put in the bulb first, then put the dust cap on half-way, and then pried the grommet back in place.

BTW, I put my ballast under the rear frame of the headlight assembly and used a tierap to fix it there. It's invisible with the cover in place.

Yep I did the same technique down to the ballast tied with tie wraps. Pretty much everything under there has no extra room to work or any give. Those factory robots have tiny hands I guess. I didn't any install pics either but do have the final outcome. Nice!

Further proof that you get what you pay for. You should've bought one of whiteNSX's kits that already get around all your problems. No cutting, drilling, etc. & the caps are modified to fit all the crap inside.
That would have cut the time in half I bet and saved my dremel bit!


IMG_2634.jpg
 
Further proof that you get what you pay for. You should've bought one of whiteNSX's kits that already get around all your problems. No cutting, drilling, etc. & the caps are modified to fit all the crap inside.


Well, I thought of buying a HID-kit through someone here on Prime. But I found out that the bulbs and/or ballasts between manufacturers are NOT always the same and did not want to run the risk of having to go back to the US for a part.
So, that's why I bought one of the kits from a supplier overhere. And I already had a set of extra dust caps anyway, so I did not have to use the caps that were on my car.

... and the beautiful sight will make your parking lights look like garbage.

Well, actually, I had updated the parking bulbs a long time ago, so, acutally, my headlights now have the same blue/white color as the parking lights. Only difference was that the parking bulbs were only like 7 Euro's or something like that.
 
I guess you didn't red my post about this install. All you had to do was remove the headlights from the car and it would have taken you all of 30 minutes to do both. I struggled for two hours trying to do the first one with the bulbs in the carriage, but after many curse words and thrown tools I just removed the lamps as directed in the instructions.
 
Yeah it's possible to get everything back on.

The slit idea was something someone used that I found to be rather appealing instead of smashing everything together inside the dust cap. The old style connectors in the HID used to be simple bladed connectors that were very puny in size, instead of these full size plug and play connectors. I believe most everyone was using that bladed connector style a couple years back.

Removing the head light and cover would make things alot easier to work on instead of having to contort your hand and wrist. I removed the headlight before and it was a pain in the ass for me to get the screws to line up again on reinstall so I avoided it this time around.

Further proof that you get what you pay for. You should've bought one of whiteNSX's kits that already get around all your problems. No cutting, drilling, etc. & the caps are modified to fit all the crap inside.

As for modifying the caps to fit everything..... how do you modify a hard plastic cap to fit more? other to leave open holes for things to stick out of..... I can see there be only two options to fit it all easily, cutting a slit to let the connectors sit outside the dust cap, or using a smaller connector/bladed connectors so that the connectors would take up less space inside.
 
I don't want to give away Steve's method, but there is a simple & elegant solution to the cap. That would be up to him. He includes the modified caps in his kit. This way you save your old stuff if you ever want to go back to stock or just have all original parts on hand.

Yeah it's possible to get everything back on.

The slit idea was something someone used that I found to be rather appealing instead of smashing everything together inside the dust cap. The old style connectors in the HID used to be simple bladed connectors that were very puny in size, instead of these full size plug and play connectors. I believe most everyone was using that bladed connector style a couple years back.

Removing the head light and cover would make things alot easier to work on instead of having to contort your hand and wrist. I removed the headlight before and it was a pain in the ass for me to get the screws to line up again on reinstall so I avoided it this time around.



As for modifying the caps to fit everything..... how do you modify a hard plastic cap to fit more? other to leave open holes for things to stick out of..... I can see there be only two options to fit it all easily, cutting a slit to let the connectors sit outside the dust cap, or using a smaller connector/bladed connectors so that the connectors would take up less space inside.
 
yeah, I'm not too worried. Steve is a good guy. He actually did post it up a couple years back. I'm just happy I got all that stuff to fit back underneath the cap.
 
I guess you didn't red my post about this install. All you had to do was remove the headlights from the car and it would have taken you all of 30 minutes to do both. I struggled for two hours trying to do the first one with the bulbs in the carriage, but after many curse words and thrown tools I just removed the lamps as directed in the instructions.
Haha did you really throw your tools? I went through a prime search and removed the lights rightaway. Took 5 mins to remove.
 
I don't know, I watch Erick install HID for his customers and he gets it done in matter of minutes. No joke.
 
These are supposed to be 6K. hmmn after they heat up/breakin maybe they will be less blue. They do look 8k in the photo :(

As long as the reflected light is white it should be all good. I've driven cars where the light reflected off the road was a bluish tint. Now that sucks.
 
Wiring is simply too much work for me.

I like the comfort of paying Best Buy to install it for the following reasons:

1. Not going outta business
2. pretty cheap
3. Lifetime warranty on the install at any location (great if u happen to move)
4. Frees up my time to quarrel online
 
Just wanted to add another vote for whiteNSXs kits. Except for being too stubborn to take off the housings the way you're supposed to, I found it a breeze.

By the way, I don't know if he or others typically offers them, but you really want bulbs with a lower temperature if you want better visibility. Sure, people like the 6000's for the blue look, but many many studies by Japanese and European auto makers have determined that the best visibility is down at 4200 or 4300, which is what I run, and they're awesome. Human eyes are the least sensitive to blue light, so 6000+ is not ideal. 4300's also don't attract the police's attention, since they match oem HIDs from BMW and Acura and such.
 
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Hi,
After reading all of these posts, I'm convinced that Steve's kit is the way to go. I had SOS's HID kit on my previous NSX several years ago, and I'm looking forward to giving this one a try. Probably be purchasing the 6000K kit within the next few months.
As a side note, I read in Brian Long's "Acura NSX: Honda's Supercar" book, that in 2000-2001, the Japanese domestic market had HID's in their popup headlights. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks in advance for any info. -Tom
 
Hi,
After reading all of these posts, I'm convinced that Steve's kit is the way to go. I had SOS's HID kit on my previous NSX several years ago, and I'm looking forward to giving this one a try. Probably be purchasing the 6000K kit within the next few months.
As a side note, I read in Brian Long's "Acura NSX: Honda's Supercar" book, that in 2000-2001, the Japanese domestic market had HID's in their popup headlights. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks in advance for any info. -Tom

Thanks for the kind words, gang!
Having been toying with the HID things since 2003, there are a few points that potential buyers should watch out for.
I always tell people that one does not need to buy from me since they can find good kits out there on the Internet. But I do advise people that whatever they buy, the kits need to be high quality. One can buy from a $50 kit on eBay all the way to the $900 genuine Japanese kits. I really don't recommend buying the $50 kit or pay $150 for the same kit. One needs to read labels very carefully. There is a 35w kit sold on Prime that draws 15 amperes at start up. This rating is clearly printed on the ballasts. The stock NSX wiring use a 20A fuse that handles BOTH the low and high beams. So I would think 10A maximum current would be resonable for just the low beam.

There are obstacles to overcome while installing the HID in an NSX. Before I started my HID hobbies, I also bought generic HID kits to install in my 2 NSXs. They were both white, hence my handle, whiteNSXs. I was quite frustrated with the problems that I encountered such as the dust cap, the exposed HID/OEM plugs, the location of the ballast, and many little things.

There are a few requirements that I want to satisfy. The peak current at start up has to be below 10A. After testing a few kits, the Mcculloch's 8A peak fit the bill nicely. Mind you that it was 2003, when HID was still at its infancy. Second, I need something that has small ballasts. At that time, the Mcculloch was the smallast. Third, I wanted to add as little weight onto the headlights as possible by trying to mount the ballast somewhere else. There were several kits that had long wires/separate ignitors and Mcculloch was among them. Fourth, the OEM/HID plugs need to be protected by the dust cap as what OEM set up meant to. The then only NSX specific kit was sold by SOS. That was a very nice kit but the plugs were exposed outside the dust caps. I needed to figure out a way to house all the wiring and plugs. With a few trips to the hardware stores, craft stores, and after a few knuckle breaking experiments, I was able to come up with a workable dust cap.
I stopped using the Mcculloch for more than a year now due to the fact that I found a nice kit that is quite high quality but is half the size of the Mcculloch. I still think the Mcculloch have better construction and components than the current Digital kits that I use but the smaller kits can achieve stealther installation. The peak current draw is however 9 amperes.
I just sold my last Digital kit. I just found out the newest batch of digital ballasts have even lower peak current at 6 amperes. But I might not be selling them since there might not be any demand for them. I will ask the list before I order a batch.
Thanks for all the supports for my hobby all these years.
Steve
 
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