Project Update Black Betty is Done!
David, if that ride were any sweeter I'd get diabetes! Job well done man!!!
I was there the day you brought her home and I was buying my blue coupe from you. At the rate I'm going I should be done in another decade or so. But thanks for giving me a kick in the *** after seeing these pics!
I was there the day you brought her home and I was buying my blue coupe from you. At the rate I'm going I should be done in another decade or so. But thanks for giving me a kick in the *** after seeing these pics!
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 1
From: Southern California
David, if that ride were any sweeter I'd get diabetes! Job well done man!!!
I was there the day you brought her home and I was buying my blue coupe from you. At the rate I'm going I should be done in another decade or so. But thanks for giving me a kick in the *** after seeing these pics!
I was there the day you brought her home and I was buying my blue coupe from you. At the rate I'm going I should be done in another decade or so. But thanks for giving me a kick in the *** after seeing these pics!
For everyone else, thanks for all the kind words.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 1
From: Southern California
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 1
From: Southern California
I have received several PM's about the lights so I thought I would post it for anybody else who may be interested.
This retrofit is not that hard, but it does require a little bit of creativity to make it work. The projectors/lens are out of a mid 80's euro spec BMW E30 (Hella). These elipsoid headlights, as they are called, come stock with NON HID 9006 bulbs. You will need to either find 9006 HID's that work with DS2 Ballasts or do a little cutting to the hid bulb (what I did) to make the DS2 bulbs fit. They may even have adapters for a 9006 to DS2, but I am not sure.
The ballasts are Hella DS2's out of a late 2001+ BMW. It is important that you try to get the one piece hella ballasts because they are small and tuck perfectly into the inside fenderwell. There are bigger 2 piece ones. You can use them, but you may have to fit them in your engine bay.
The Hid Bulbs are 2001+ BMW 35W stock HID DS2 bulbs.
A couple of install notes from issues I had.
You will need to cut the plastic trim off of your hid bulb to get it in to the housing. Once they are cut they will not be secure, so you will need to find a way to secure them. Remember HID lights get HOT, glue will not work. I used thick wire, and wrapped it around the housing. This, so far, has worked perfectly. The lights are snug and do not bounce around at all.
Second: You do have to cut a 1inch by 2 inch sliver out of the inside light frame in the RX2 for the long HID lights to clear. It is not a big deal, but if you do not want to cut your baby forget this conversion.
One dum dum note.
The projectors reflect light upside down, so your light cutoffs should be on the bottom for the install. Do it the other way and you will blind everyone. Also, the only way to adjust light to shine at the proper height with this conversion is to cut down the metal cutoff by a little bit. They are just a tad low stock. I have not done this to mine yet, but plan to do so soon.
The actual mounting of the lights themselves is very easy and should be obvious once you have removed all the BMW bracket crap. In a nut shell you are going to screw one half of the HID light into the RX2 bucket, and the light part to the back, pretty basic.
One other note, you will definetly need to wire up a relay. 40 year old wiring harnesses and HID lights do not go well together. This is fairly simple, but I suck at wiring, so I had a friend on the forum help me (Thank Pandaz) here is quick link with a diagram
http://accessconnect.com/fog_driving_lights_wiring.htm
Okay so there it is. I am sorry I did not take picks during the install, but I am lazy, so sue me. If you decide to do it and need help just drop me a PM.
This retrofit is not that hard, but it does require a little bit of creativity to make it work. The projectors/lens are out of a mid 80's euro spec BMW E30 (Hella). These elipsoid headlights, as they are called, come stock with NON HID 9006 bulbs. You will need to either find 9006 HID's that work with DS2 Ballasts or do a little cutting to the hid bulb (what I did) to make the DS2 bulbs fit. They may even have adapters for a 9006 to DS2, but I am not sure.
The ballasts are Hella DS2's out of a late 2001+ BMW. It is important that you try to get the one piece hella ballasts because they are small and tuck perfectly into the inside fenderwell. There are bigger 2 piece ones. You can use them, but you may have to fit them in your engine bay.
The Hid Bulbs are 2001+ BMW 35W stock HID DS2 bulbs.
A couple of install notes from issues I had.
You will need to cut the plastic trim off of your hid bulb to get it in to the housing. Once they are cut they will not be secure, so you will need to find a way to secure them. Remember HID lights get HOT, glue will not work. I used thick wire, and wrapped it around the housing. This, so far, has worked perfectly. The lights are snug and do not bounce around at all.
Second: You do have to cut a 1inch by 2 inch sliver out of the inside light frame in the RX2 for the long HID lights to clear. It is not a big deal, but if you do not want to cut your baby forget this conversion.
One dum dum note.
The projectors reflect light upside down, so your light cutoffs should be on the bottom for the install. Do it the other way and you will blind everyone. Also, the only way to adjust light to shine at the proper height with this conversion is to cut down the metal cutoff by a little bit. They are just a tad low stock. I have not done this to mine yet, but plan to do so soon. The actual mounting of the lights themselves is very easy and should be obvious once you have removed all the BMW bracket crap. In a nut shell you are going to screw one half of the HID light into the RX2 bucket, and the light part to the back, pretty basic.
One other note, you will definetly need to wire up a relay. 40 year old wiring harnesses and HID lights do not go well together. This is fairly simple, but I suck at wiring, so I had a friend on the forum help me (Thank Pandaz)
here is quick link with a diagramhttp://accessconnect.com/fog_driving_lights_wiring.htm
Okay so there it is. I am sorry I did not take picks during the install, but I am lazy, so sue me. If you decide to do it and need help just drop me a PM.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 1
From: Southern California
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 1
From: Southern California
I took her out this weekend and I was grinning from ear to ear. I get lot's of wtf? stares from people who have no idea what it is.
I can't wait to get the final fine tune on it in January. Keeping my fingers crossed for 400+ to the rear wheels.
.
