HID Install

Joined
11 February 2000
Messages
7,113
Location
Half Moon Bay, CA, USA
The HID kit from Autolampsonline came today and the install went like clockwork. I have to thank Doc Hartung for all his effort in making this kit come to life for the NSX.
Doc, your instructions were great, and the kit is simple and clean.
I can highly recommend this kit to all!
 
So, other than the install process, how good is the quality of the HID and how long did the install take you? Can you provide more detail on the illumination, looks, etc?

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by johndoh (edited 28 July 2001).]
 
I just installed my set.

The HID is fantastic, very bright, nice blue tint. VERY nice.

The instructions really could use some more detail - the first side took forever because I was very careful. Second side went very quick. The only thing is I don't know what to do with the large relay. Nothing in the documentation shows where that should rest or attach to.

Also, I ended up losing a screw. Not a big deal since I'll just order one but still.. argh.

The kit is pretty nice. No need to modify the clip, all the connectors are included, instructions, etc.
 
This is an HID kit specifically designed for the NSX. The bulb retainer clip needs no modification. the bulbs fit into the original housings and the light beam stays the same, as the bulbs were developed for the NSX light lenses.
The lights seem very bright and make a big difference, really made me feel comfortable at speed on the twisties in the dark.
The ballasts rest directly behind the headlights and are secured by double-backed adhesive.
It's a VERY clean kit that has everything you need to do a professional installation.
 
Question: Why would the system not be approved by DOT, ANSI, or ECE and labeled "For Offroad Use Only".

Why would this system be any different in specifications to the Acura OEM HID systems?
 
Glad to hear it is working well! If you guys have any additional instructions, tips or photos that should be added to the DIY write-up, just e-mail them to me or post here and I'll get it updated. I have not had a chance to install mine and probably won't for another few weeks.
 
My passenger side light is noticeably dimmer than my driver side HID.

Overall, the lighting isn't very bright. I drove the NSX for the first time at night a few days ago and one side casts a nice blue white light and the other just seems to throw out a dim greenish color. I hope it's easy to resolve. I'm emailing Autolamp now.
 
Hello to all I am back! My PC was hit by the "Sircam Virus" and I lost touch with the forums as well as all my data. Oh well, the good news is it taught me not to depend on this little box of silicon to much, lol.

I am glad to hear all is going well with the HID kit. And to all that have thanked me for my work, your are very welcome. Lets not forget Autolamps for helping and Lud from Prime. Without them this would not be possible.

As far as the issues with the one side color being dim, this sounds like a headlamp misalignment problem. Any other recomendations for revising the install article let Lud and I know and we will be glad to consider it. Sorry for speaking for you Lud, lol. As always if anyone has questions you can email me personaly. I am always glads to help out.

[This message has been edited by dochartung (edited 21 August 2001).]
 
It is the Philips kit BUT it is designed to be installed in the NSX and requires no cutting, no special tools, etc. It's definitely a good buy. I had a chance to buy the generic kit for $420 through a friend and still passed on it to go with this kit and I'm sure glad I did. The extra $180 was definitely worth it and very reasonable considering that you don't have to pay tax and you don't pay for shipping.
 
How bright is this HID? All the HID kits I've seen so far for NSX is not as bright I like them to be. HID on S2000 seems to have a perfect brightness and tint to it.
 
I have had a lot of experience with hid lights. the phillips brand hid ballasts are cheap but the color they put out is ok. audis and bmws use a different brand, ill try to find out which brand it is, as ive known it before, and have some brochures.

JChoice... remember that the nsx lights are projector, so at different angles, you will get different intensity and color from your lights. you may want to try to adjust the height of your lights. i adjusted my lights before, and it is very simple. you may want to park in front of a wall to get an idea of how the light is coming out of the headlights.

by the way, these forums rock!

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1991 Berlina Black
all stock, needs parts!
 
Yea, Audi HID is very nice. I found A8 on a junkyard and the first thing that came to my mind was HID from it. I took out the HID system from Audi and I'm going to install in on my NSX it needs little fiting but it will work
smile.gif


Audi's Balasts are made by Hella
 
Winreboot i would NOT try and fit in the Audi HID system. Belive me you will never get it right and even if you do get close you will hack up your NSX. We are not searching for color here but better lighting and then some Metal halide color blue to boot. Trust me on this it is not worth all the trouble. The Autolamps kit is a steal at $600 dollars. I tried a first gen Hid kit and it really was not good and the beam pattern was so poor you could not even see in front of the car at night. Yea the color was great but who cares! You cannot get a standard HID bulb deep enough into the housing of the NSX headlamp to match the halogen light source. You would need a special lathe to decrease the OD to fit it in and then... Therefore even if you do get the thing to light it will not be beam pattern correct and then you will be a liability to other drivers on the road because you will probaly blind them and cause an accident. Enough said, jeeze i better stop now beacuse i can go on and on! LOL.
 
I think Doc is right on this. From the research I have done, most problems with HID retrofits seem to lie in the correct fitting of the bulb into the lamp socket. Some people have tried to bend or file the bulb retainer clip to accept a different bulb. Even using a PAPER CLIP when the OEM clip broke, only to find that the bulb was poorly positioned to work correctly.
This kit has a bulb lenght specifically designed for the NSX, not to mention the housing that fits directly into the lamp with NO ALTERATIONS.
I cannot speak to the color differences as I haven't had any two sets side by side to compare them. But I can say that my lights are noticeably brighter and that the kit is clean and tight.
All the club members I've shown have been very impressed.
 
I bought a generic Phillips/Hella setup (LVQ212, same as in the bmw 3 series and probably the audis too) w/ Phillips D2S bulbs and fit it to my NSX but it was A LOT of work. Had to cast a few parts out of resin (the 9006 adapters for the bulbs, and new rear covers for the lights) as well as making new clips to hold the bulbs in and cutting the bulb base down to size. I trimmed the base of the bulb so the gas pocket is at the same depth as the 9006 filament so the beam pattern is correct. I wouldn't recommend going this route unless you can get the bulbs and ballasts for dirt cheap.
 
I intend to purchase the Autolamp HID later this year. But not to brownose or anything with Lud (none of us would ever do that) but I won't get it until Lud installs his and give his response.

Blade
 
Just to add my input as I installed my Autolamps HID kit on my NSX this afternoon.

The install took about 2 1/2 hours. The first side took a really long time as I was being extra cautious. The second side only took about 30min. Everything was included in the kit and no parts had to be modified, including the clips to hold the bulbs in place. The only modifying needed was adding a splicer to one of the wires, but nothing too trivial. Also, the kit says to use a heat gun to seal the wires(seals included) which I highly recommend instead of using electrical tape. I went out and bought a heat gun for $25.

The quality of the HID is pretty good, but I'll know more tonight once I've had the chance to try out the HIDs at night. As for the color, mine seems to be a greenish tint(not blue) when warming up and then it takes on a yellowish-white light. Once it's fully warmed up, it's more of a white light rather than a blueish light.

One thing to note is that when I flash my highbeams, the low beams(HID) also flash as well. Not sure if this is by nature of the install, but it's pretty cool to have both low & high beams working when flashing. Anybody else experience the same?

My kit costed $600, but I did have to pay $25 for COD. Did anybody else have to pay as well? Overall, you can't beat the $650 for HIDs.

I took some pics of the lights w/ my digital camera this afternoon, but the pics do not do justice to the HIDs. It's difficult to take good pics as they come out too bright and you have to be right in front of the lights due to the nature of the projector lens or you can't see the light properly. I'll post some pics after I take some more pics at night. Hopefully, I can have some good pics for y'all very shortly.

If anybody else has any questions, please let me know.
 
I ordered the autolamps kit a few days ago. First mod for my new-to-me '94. I'll post an update as well after I do the install. BTW, I bought them after reading all the info on this site. NSX Prime is so killer.

I'm a new member to the forum. I put a couple huge posts on the HRE Question thread. Everyone here seems to be great and I really appreciate the welcome. Thanks.

Alan

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Alan Peltier
Operations Manager
HRE Performance Wheels
[email protected]

'94 black/black
No mods yet. HID on order. Needs wheels!
Performance upgrades coming as soon as I can scrape up the cash! Donations much appreciated!!

Check out our website at http://www.hrewheels.com

[This message has been edited by apeltier (edited 10 August 2001).]

[This message has been edited by apeltier (edited 10 August 2001).]
 
Followup: The HIDs are fantastic at night. The visibility especially up to 15-20' is awesome. Everything in the 15-20' range lights up like I'm driving with my High beams on. The illumination range is much wider than the standard bulbs so more of the road is "lighted up". So far, people have not flashed me for using HIDs(though it's only been 1 night)

Here are some pics I took this evening and hopefully this will be helpful for all. Again, it's difficult to get accurate representation of these HIDs using a digital camera. Depending on the angle you're looking at, the HIDs seem to cast either a yellowish(more to the side) or white light(straight ahead). None of these pics were taken with the flash.

This is right when the HID is turned on. The pic is showing a yellowish color, but it's actually a greenish color(not sure why it didn't show up on the camera).
View


Approximately 10sec later, still warming up.
View


Approx 20sec later, almost fully warmed up. Notice the color variation between the parking light.
View


In the dark, after test driving. Notice how bright the HIDs are. From this angle, it looks like both High & Low beams are on and it's casting a yellowish light(though it's a bit difficult to tell).
View


Front view. Notice the light is a very bright white from the frontal view.
View


Well, that's it. Hope this helps. If anybody else is interested in more pics, let me know.



[This message has been edited by johndoh (edited 10 August 2001).]
 
Hello all! johndoe your car looks GREAT, and I love that monte-carlo blue! I am very pleased that you like the kit. You know while we are on the subject of color. I was on the local 2 lane highway in my area the other night and had a chance to go side by side with a new Acura TL. I will tell you all the color on the road projected by both cars was identical to my eyes. Then the same night I just happened to get next to a Infinity Qx4 and the not to my surprise the color again was the same. Yes the color will vary at different angles from the front, but the one thing that is for sure, these lights are unmistakably HID, and that's awesome!!! I guess the only way to see what the car looks like from a distance is to let someone else drive it while I (we) are coming from the opposite direction. The only problem is no one else is qualified to drive my supercar/exotic, LOL. Geeze dilema after dilema...
 
Gary at NSX modified reinstalled the Automap kit for me. The install now is virtually UNDETECTABLE. No ballast just hanging around under the hood, no wires exposed, etc. Everything is hidden neatly underneath the headlamp cover and the wire is hidden.
 
This is a great idea! So what you are saying is he mounted the ballast under the headlamp cover, on the frame of the headlamp assembly. This is a great option choice for the installer and should be added to the install article. You have to get some pics into this post. I am sure you do not want to disturb your install but for the help of the cause I would and i am sure others would appreciate it.

I have to say this type of ballast mounting or location is obviously not necessary, but does add to the asthetics of the final install job. The only downfall I forsee is the posibility of damage to the ballast in a front end collision, oops, did I say that??? The current suggested mounting location would give a little more room to protect the ballast. But this would be up to the owner, and it is nice to have options. So send in those pics ASAP!
 
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