Dale, yours should be arriving today I'll PM you the tracking number.

 

Any additional installation instructions/pictures coming?. . .I bet most folks are going to intall this weekend!
It's snowing in Atlanta and some fool is out playing with his headlights. . .oh, that's me

 

Any vibration between the outer lens and the projector lens will cause scratches to form over time in that spot.

 

You should have... they are all in the mail. I believe there were one or two people that I didnt have emails for who may not have received a tracking number. Either way unless your package has been held up by the east coast snow storm it should be there soon.

Dan has pics which he should be adding to the google doc (right dan ?) hopefully before this weekend? I did the initial writeup but any additional pics or edits to... dans the man with a plan.

 

AWWWWWWWWWWWW SNAP! On the truck for delivery TODAY! Can't WAIT!

Also have another part showing up on the same truck (JDM AST coolant neck ). It's gonna be a fine weekend!

Thanks guys!

Dale

 

There should not be any vibration as the projectors are bolted AND epoxied (most installers just glue them in with silicone), and the lens is installed with glue that is only flexible at very high temperatures. There is also nothing to abraid the two surfaces as both are smooth without any abraidable material between the two surfaces. Lastly, there is no other solution, they MUST touch. There is literally NO room for clearance between the housing and the lens because of the depth of the headlight housing (and these are the most compact bi-xenon projectors out there). A quarter to half MM fitment variances can create a fitment issue with these lights. Space is at a premium, and to get them to even fit at all takes a ton of work.

 

OK, spent the afternoon putting these suckers in. My back is KILLIN' me!

I have a few install pointers for the rest of you guys -

- When cutting the headlight buckets to clear the new connector, wear latex/nitrile gloves. It's fiberglass reinforced plastic, and without gloves you'll get pretty itchy. Of course, make sure to wear eye protection when cutting with the Dremel!

- The metal tab on the bottom of the headlight housings that the spring hooks on to is pretty wonky on the new housings. Not Scrub's fault, it's just the aftermarket housings. My tab wanted to bend back pretty good with the spring tension. Easy fix - just swap the tab over from your stock housings. Use the screw from the NEW housings, it's shorter than the stock screw, and the stock screw will slightly intrude into the housing if you do use it. Yep, I found that one out the hard way . Not a major problem, not worried about it.

- Use the manual headlight raise/lower **** to test the headlight's range of motion when putting everything together. I had a NUMBER of interference problems I had to work out, ended up pulling the headlights in and out probably 4 times. I wasn't happy with putting the HID ballast in the headlight bucket itself, they're both mounted on the fender liner, works quite well.

- The connector for the HID bulb can be plugged in any one of 4 orientations. IMHO, best way is with the wire pointing downwards. If it's to the side, the movement of the headlight can wiggle the connector loose over time. If you do this, you'll need to carefully cut and measure for the connector, this method does require more material to come out, not substantially so. Also, it's a good idea to cut the hole so you can unplug the connector without having to remove the whole headlight.

- New GM weatherpak connectors are grumpy when you try to plug them in together the first time. Specifically the wires with the green surround going to the hi/lo shutter motor. I'd get it plugged in and unplug it once or twice on the bench, much easier than trying to do it while it's on the car.

- Trick for aligning the headlight covers: Get a paint can opening tool. Put the headlight cover on all the way down with the screws backed out half a turn or so. Close the headlights and the hood. Using the can opening tool, you can hook the cover and gently nudge it up to where it should be. Once it's good, pop the hood, tighten the back screws, pop the headlights up, tighten the front screws, and check your work. Sometimes you still might need to do a few iterations to get them lined up - don't half *** it, an FD looks terrible with the headlight covers all out of whack.

Fixin' to go find somewhere to align the headlights. First drive around the block, they're lookin' GOOD! They're actually aimed down too much right now, which is good. Can't wait to see the effect when they're set up right!

Dale

 

OK, just got done adjusting the headlights.

First off, it's much easier than it seems. I measured from the ground to the headlight center line in the garage, since it's flat and well-lit, and also did the headlight to centerline measurement. My height measurement was 25" and centerline was 23.5".

Next, drove around looking for a suitable spot . The general aviation aircraft hangars by our airport are empty at night, steel buildings you can drive right up to, not super brightly lit, and nice flat parking lot. Pulled up a few feet from the wall to make my centerline and headlight center marks.

Backed it up 25' - actually not hard to do, most measuring tapes are 25', just pulled it out to the end by the car, dropped the e-brake, and eased the car back until the nose of the car was aligned with the tape measure. The aim was WAY off, had to move it quite a bit. There's a LOT of adjustment room in there, too.

The passenger side headlight didn't want to go up high enough using the top adjustment screw, but the bottom one also did up/down adjustments, got me where it should be. I'll have to check the shop manual and see what it says about the adjustment screws.

After adjusting, I drove around for a while. First off, the lighting is GREAT. You can really see the road now! Reflectors and signs really pop with the light too. Drove around in two-way traffic, didn't get anyone flashing their lights at me, so that's a good sign.

Hardest part of aligning the headlights was finding a good location to do the job. Guys, you REALLY need to adjust them after installing, makes a world of difference in the light quality and also in the safety of other drivers. You won't get 100% of the effect of the lights without properly adjusting them!

And, big kudos to Dan, the workmanship is top-notch. This is definitely a quality product, and I'm SO glad I waited and got a good, quality HID kit instead of a bobo Ebay bulb!

Two thumbs up!

Dale

 

Nice Dale! Now you know how I feel!

 

Dale, Thanks a bunch for the install tips. I am still finalizing the install instructions, sorry for the delay everyone. It's great to see some FD owners with proper lighting. Personally it gave me a lot more confidence driving at night time after installing the projectors. It's really hard to capture in pictures just how well the road is lit using our lights.

As much as I'd like to take credit for all the handy work, I have to give almost all the credit to Heath (RotorMotor) and Mariah (GirlUnderground)! Without them none of this would have happened, they really did the bulk of the work..... For Valentines day they have a romantic headlight building relationship exercise planned. THAT'S DEDICATION!

 

How are the kits for the rest of us coming along?

 

Dale or Scub. . .it may become obvious when installing, but some pics of the before and after cutting areas would be nice. Thanks for all the tips!

 

This will be in our instructions (Which are nearly done!) but here is how we had to modify Goodfellas headlight bucket.

 

teaser shot cuz my back is fucken killin me...those projectors look sexy

 

Lookin' GOOD! Yeah, that install is major rough on your lower back! I even used a little stool for some of the work, but most of it was me bending my tall self over (I'm 6'6", BTW!)

Wish I would have taken pictures of the install, I was too in the zone at the time!

Dale

 

The housings just came into the US so I'm estimating that we are about a month out (I think this is a pretty realistic estimate based on the last group of lights).

Dale you are 6'6"? First of all you probably need to bend in half to even work on the car... and secondly how do you fit inside? (I'm guessing bend into thirds? ) I fit like a glove, but I'm really short

 

I have to say the instructions are majorly lacking in the cable routing dept. It's taking forever since I just have to try everything until I get it and there's no extra cabling length.

Another question - why didn't you adapt directly from the h4 connectors if these things draw less power? The relay current will probably cancel out any power savings

Also DaleClark, your comments were very helpful, thanks.

 

Agreed... hopefully Dan will have instructions updated ASAP

regarding the H4 connection: You can't use the H4 power for multiple reasons.
1. Current draw for the lights at startup can be higher than the stock wiring is rated for (the current drops to 35w as the bulb reaches operating temp).
2. Plugging the ballasts directly into the H4 connectors will cause a problem with the high beams. When you hit the high beams the low beam circuit is cut and power is then diverted to the high beam circuit. Since the high beam is activated by a physical moving shield on a solenoid (but leaving the xenon bulbs continuously lit), if you temporarily interrupt the signal (between switching from low to high beam) you will temporarily cut power to the ballast. This will make it "restart" causing a temporary headlight blackout and making the ballasts work much harder. The harness has more than just a relay in it, it smooths out the transition between the high and low beam so the signal is continuous.

 

Understood on the harnessing strategy. I think they're well made but they could definitely be a little longer. I'd rather tie some up than worry about stretching it.

Now that I've tested it a little, I'm going to disagree with Dale's point about facing the connectors downward. On my car at least, that causes the cable coming out of the connector to get a little bit pinched. I'm going to have them point to the right and strap the little black box from the ballast to them. Then I double-sided taped the ballast to the outside face of the headlight bucket.

 

I had no probs with the wiring harness. Here's how I did it -

- Plugged the H4 connector into the driver's headlight socket. I popped the plastic wire retainers that hold that wire into the headlight out and routed it back the way it came from. The plugged in connector is down by the fill neck for the headlight washers.

- Attached power wire to the positive battery fuse block, pulled the cover off, removed one of the 10mm bolts on the main power fuse, put it in there.

- Stuck Greddy ballast onto the black plastic fender liner. Routed main headlight power wire from the ballast through the same opening the stock headlight wiring came through. Also routed the ground wire and high/low beam wire there.

- One of the bolts that holds the headlight bucket in on the inside is the ground I used. With the headlight up, it's in the cavity where the headlight goes, kind of low and centered in that hole.

- Harness for the passenger side, I ran it along the frame that the hood rod sits across. There's a harness under that, just tucked it up in there with the harness.

- On the passenger headlight, I ran the wires in from the right side, there's a small opening there. Had to run it behind the stopper for the headlight mechanism. Also put the Greddy ballast on the fender liner with double sided tape.

All my wires were JUST the right length, not too much extra or too much slack. Took a good time planning and test fitting things. That's why my back is killin' me .

And, yes, I fit fine in an FD being 6'6" . I'm also really thin, and long arms with thin fingers is a big plus when working on this car. FD's with sunroofs I'm a bit cramped in, but in mine I fit like a glove.

Dale

 

Dale, Great response and thank you for explaining how you ran the harness! To be honest there is a lot of different ways to mount the ballasts and run the wires, each setup may differ some depending on the mods on the car.

The pictures that I'm about to add to the instructions were from Rich's car and how he wanted things routed. If it was warmer and we had more time I would have hid the wires better and securely mounted the ballast. I actually did my install the same way you did almost exactly, including mounting the ballast to the fender liner.

 

Dale and Dan,
I think mounting the ballast on the fender liner buys you a little bit of wiring. The instructions suggested that mounting the ballasts to the headlight buckets was recommend so I went that route. There is plenty of space for them on the outside of the bucket and that will reduce flexing of those larger cables anyway so I liked that idea. Also, my fender liner seems pretty flimsy so I wasn't happy using it as the mounting surface. However, once you do it that way, there is just barely enough cable to get across to the other headlight in the manner described. I was trying to run it through the rebar at first, which turned out to be impossible. I definitely would have been more comfortable if there was another foot or so of cabling.

I have a couple first impressions of the lighting -

These things are SPECTACULARLY bright. The illumination is way better than it ever was on this car. However, it may be too bright - I notice that the combination of the bright light and the ultra-crisp cutoff makes it very difficult to see anything outside the cutoff when it's dark out. This is probably OK because it illuminates for a pretty good distance but I'm just not used to it. The other thing I noticed is that the crisp cutoff line on the freeway visually amplifies the vibration of the car (I have fairly stiff dampers and 19" bbs wheels, which certainly doesn't help). The light show at the cutoff is a bit mesmerizing and I almost missed my exit from the freeway but I think it's just something I'll get used to.

So overall I'm very pleased, I just need to tweak these things a little bit to get them perfect. Everybody should be very excited about their new lights if they haven't received them yet.

 

Max, Glad to see you're happy with the lighting There is no way you would have enough wiring if you attempted to run the harness through the re-bar.

I personally ran the wiring to the passenger side light on top of the front relay harness near the hood latch....

On another positive note....... the instructions have been revised... Aiming instructions are also included in the document below!!!

Hopefully I can create some better diagrams for the aiming procedure shortly.


FD HID Headlight Installation Instructions

 

so i went to bend that little bar forward a little bit so i can hook up the spring and i pretty much broke it off the housing.. pretty much where the screw goes, the edge of it, took like half an inch off so the screw wont hold by itself.... i did not think it was that brittle.. i put some jb welds on it and letting it dry atm, but it that doesn't suck, i cant find the screw now that hold that little metal piece i think that pisses me off more.. i keep looking and looking but it just doesnt want to show itself

 

I'm sorry to hear that unfortunately the sonar housings are a bit delicate, but as of now they are the best (only) option. Hopefully the jb weld will hold, if not try some high strength epoxy and let it cure over night. If you aren't able to find that screw let me know, I am certain we have extras floating around.