FDNena

iTrader: (2)

Ok so I have never messed with my lighting before this so bare with me on the learning curve....

Here is my progress for tonight. This is very good quality kit, and as for the kit itself it is really plug and play! After spending about 1/2hr comtemplating where to mount all of this stuff by boyfriend suggested I try to put the ballast under the turn lamp. (I still have a stock 93 front end not 99.) It fits just right under it.

I pulled my turn lamps out to do it. At first I thought I could get away without pulling the lens out but that is a no go and you will see why in my pics. The part you have to 'Play' with is the bulb housing. On the stock setup the wire harness cables come out of the back. On the Kaixen kit they come out of the bottom of the bulb housing. I, myself, don't like wires being bent or squeezed in on parts like this. It was bumping up against the fiberglass on the pop-up itself and therefore would not go in straight for me.



But no worries I took a dremel and cut out about a 1 inch square (that was generous enough to leave some play for the wires) and I was done!



The lens screwed right in and there was no pressure on the wires at all. Since I am placing my ballast under my turn lamps I pulled all of the wiring through the hole in the pop-up and will just zip tie it all up. To put the stock rubber back over the back of the bulb I just had to snip the rubber a bit and it slid right on.

I don't know who else from the group buy is using stock housings or if they ran into this problem but I felt more comfortable giving the wires some "breathing room."

Here is what the lights look like on. BTW - I have H4 hi/lo in 8500k (the blue goes great with my car and I cannot believe the improvement in the light output! It is amazing!




I am just planning on upgrading the stock lens to one like the WISE sport but I am going to be brave and try the ebay version.

I hope to finish installing both tomorrow night because if not my car probably won't leave my garage until next week since we are going to be getting about 6-12" of snow on Saturday.

autodoodad.com

looks GREAT Damari~

Great job on the install.
I think a lot of the members here will find this write up very helpful.

MakoRacing

iTrader: (12)

Nice job, but how bout you be the GB guinea pig and get some wise sports instead!

s0jan

Any updates?

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

this snow is going to suck. maybe it will miss us.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. yeah right. looks nice though.

FDNena

iTrader: (2)

Bring it on! I can't wait we are supposed to get over a foot. My daily driver is an'01 diesel Excursion with a nice v-mount plow on it right now!



I am going to try and answer all of the questions I have been asked or wished someone would have told me before I tried it one way and then had to do over.

I have to admit getting the lights hooked up took maybe 5 minutes ea. Now finding how and where I wanted to mount the ballast, controller and igniter is a totally different story. I guess it took me about 2 hours to figure out where to put it everything. Keep in mind I did not want anything at all to show I have HIDs except when they are on. So I wanted to keep everything out of my engine bay. That is just a personal choice.

I removed the turn lamp on the car also. It made it very easy to work on the zip ties and hook the connectors up this way since I have very small arms and hands. I would start by mounting the bulb in the lens and setting it aside for safe keeping until the end. I cut about a 1 inch square in the lens housing you will also see I pulled the stock harness back down into the housing compartment. What I did with the stock harness was stick it through the hole in the back where the opening to where the wheel well is.



The ballast is mounted on top of the bumper support and fits perfectly under the turn lamp. (The igniter is mounted with heavy duty velcro also to the bumper support but above the turn lamp.) To zip the wires all up I recommend getting mounting tabs for your zip ties and attaching them to the side walls. This way you ensure keeping them out of the way of the housing when it is moving up and down.




Then the HID controller I mounted to the inside of compartment on the side closest to the fender for each side.



My power line I ran across the front bumper under the channel and across to the driver side for the passenger wiring. This hides it completely and you don't need to zip tie anything.


I am going to leave it up to my boyfriend, (I don't play with the electrical on the car), on how he is going to wire the constant since I don't really want them on the battery but for now that is where they will go. I think he is going to just go right into the fuse box for it.

I don't pics of the lights head on yet since I haven't taken my car out of the garage but I will try to get some this week since I have to take it out to aim the lights correctly. I don't have enough room in the garage cause we have our other cars inside due to the weather.

Hope this is helpful. Feel free to post any questions here and I will try to help as best I can.

canadaisintexas

Just interested to see how and which fuse he wires it too. I've rigged mine up now just to test that they work and they do. I want to get them properly put in but i would rather not have to run the 50ft of wire i just went and bought in order to connect to the battery (mine is relocated to trunk)

dubulup

^canada


nice work...full shots of the car?

canadaisintexas

Used to live there. When i moved to Texas it was given to me as a nickname.

But anyway back on topic

dubulup

haha! I was referring to you calling her, a he...

FDNena

iTrader: (2)

No he got it right...my boyfriend is the one who will do the wiring that is why he said "he". I will mess with anything but fuel or electrical. (good looking out anyways!)

We just got a foot of snow today and underneath is ice so I hope to have the car outside by mid week to take pics.

Once my boyfriend figure is it out I will let you know. I think he is going use existing nuts at the top of the main wires that go right into the main fuse box on my car where the 120amp fuses are. I would hate to have my battery in the trunk and have to run all that wire.

I'm just looking for a nice clean install

BlueRex

You should go with the Wise Sports lenses, especially since there's a Group Buy going on right now. But if the ebay ones are just as good then more power to ya. Either way give us some pics of the the completed project when you get everything installed.

Anyone in the know want to comment on the cut-off/light pattern in the pics?

FDNena

iTrader: (2)

I am definately going to either do the WISE or the ebay ones. This complete set-up with the ebay lens will run me only about $500 with shipping. As for seeing the cut-off in person it is just as good as our neighbors BMW. I am hoping the new lens will clean up the light pattern a bit.

But I am curious as to what others with experience with HIDs have to say also.

Once I get it outside I hope it will be darker than it is in my garage cause my 300 gallon fish tank lights don't let it get dark enough and you can't see the light pattern clearly in the pics.

BlueRex

It's not too late to get in on the GB and save a few bucks on the Wise Sports lenses .

jpandes

I have HID's in both the stock pop-ups and an aftermarket set of driving lights.

The HID's in the stock pop-ups are the single beam version. So, I don't have hi-beams any more. The light pattern isn't clean like the BMW-type projector lens output. Mine also came with an anti-glare shield over the xenon capsul to minimize blinding on-coming traffic. A big plus in my opinion. That way I can aim the beam, straight out with out having to point them down to avoid blinding foloks. The light output is great!

I also added a spare set of HID's to some driving lights in the fog light position. And to tell you the truth, they don't add that much more value in terms of increased visibility. The HID's in the stock pop-ups put out so much light, that the driving lights don't contribute much. It could be that the reflectors are doing a poor job of focusing the light.

canadaisintexas

You seem like you got a good deal on that one. Fuel and electrical are never fun.

I tried running it in to the main fuse and it never worked. Im not sure why though. I think i had my + connection right but i could never figure out what to hook my - in to. I tried a bunch of different places but never got it right apparently.

Me too 50 ft of wire and 24ft of protective wire loom running under the car isnt exactly what i wanted.

Rob

FDNena

iTrader: (2)

Well we have had a delay on working on the fuse box connection cause one of our saltwater fish tanks crashed so we are trying to save our livestock. I hope to get to it this weekend.

I don't know if there are any other wiring guru's on the boards that could help on on advice on how to run it directly into the box....Anyone?

canadaisintexas

A lot of people are suggesting using "fuse taps" (radioshack) and powering the lights from the main fuse box. Its down by the drivers left foot in a real pain in the *** place.

jpandes

I've done this to9 run 12v current to my HID driving lights and other add-ons. I don't like it as a solution. It's get messy with 4-5 fuse taps and wires coming out of the sides of the fuse box. I posted another thread asking for ideas/help: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...26#post5312926

autodoodad.com

any pictures of the car with this installed?

tahmid

I have been running the same setup for over a year now. House88 HIDs Hi/Low 8000k. Wiring wasn't the issue, I put the ballast on the outside, which you can see in the picture. My igniter and controller in under the headlight housings. I also faced the problem of the bulb hitting the top of the housing, however I took the route of cutting a small plastic portion of the bulb instead of the lens housing. I think we did good in hiding almost everything, expect the ballast which i wanted to show off when anyone opened the engine bay

I can take pictures of where I installed my igniter and controller if you want.

Its a great improvement over the stocks.

canadaisintexas

Im going to go and give it another shot in half an hour. I am thinking of running the + to the main fuse and the - all the way back to the battery. Unless someone can describe or post up a picture of somewhere else i can wire the - too.

Thanks,

Rob

canadaisintexas

Okay i figured this out and got it working now i have to reinstall the housing in the mount (the thing that pops up and down).

I ran my +'s to the point where the battery + connects to the main fuse (underhood) +.

My - is connected to the ground point over by the ABS

I will take pictures once i have it all back together. Check back in an hour or so.

Rob

RX7 RAGE

iTrader: (22)

I'd like to see pictures.

canadaisintexas

Got one in, and working. I have a lot of pictures and will take more when it gets dark. Now that i have done that i have a new problem . My headlight cover dosent line up with my front bumper anymore. Any suggestions?