H.I.D. Headlight!

[SubaRyu]

Finally installed the HID headlight system last weekend. In order to maximize the function, I also installed the clear outer lens... My vision is getting worse and worse every year so night time I had hard time looking at street signs, etc.. Especially day is getting shorter now I really needed SVX headlights to be brighter.

Installing the clear lens was painfull since you have to basically cut the old lens out with hack saw and put new one. Cutting and smoothing took time. I took it slow so took 1 whole day. I actually gave up in the middle, so I went to buy a dremel tool It speed up your work like crazy..
Now I guess I need new grill or '97 body color grill!




Installing the HID system was easier, it only took about 2 hours or less.




Sorry I didn't have chance to take photos of old halogen light to compare. But trust me, it feels like 5x brighter than before..consume less energy too.


Link to More Photos

I'm in love with the result.

[SomethingElse]

Man!! that looks really good

nice rims too

[Hose92SVX]

That looks really good, if you don't mind me asking what did the len's and new lights cost you?

[SomethingElse]

i saw them on ebay a while ago for about 250

[SubaRyu]

Originally Posted by Hose92SVX

That looks really good, if you don't mind me asking what did the len's and new lights cost you?

Thanks

The Clear lens set is like $155
The set comes with both lens, and silicone adhesive sealant. To be honest, this seems overpriced, but I'm really happy with the result.. One downside of the clear lens is... the high beam and fog light beams don't spread well. But after installed the HID, I don't need to use fog light anymore!

The HID kit is like $395
But I guess you can find less expensive ones on ebay. I wasn't sure if they are good enough so I got this one from Dayle.(does anyone know what happened to his website motorsports warehouse?) My buddy got his HID kit for $150 for his truck and told me it worked pretty good too.


Although the price of the HID kit is going down every year, it's still $$. But you're gonna love the HID!!

[SubaRyu]

One thing I had to let all of you know...
I have tried those inexpensive "HID look" imitation type bulbs before, but ones I had were distaster. The clear blue coat on the bulb surface got dried up in the light housing, and flaked off... Made mess inside.. I had to clean up, but still it's not cleaned enough. Don't waste $$ on those!

[SubaRyu]

Originally Posted by SomethingElse

Man!! that looks really good

nice rims too

Thanks! It works very good too!

[Hop]

That looks AWEsome! I gotta admit, I am getting tired of holding a flashlight out of the window when it gets dark.

[SomethingElse]

what color did you end up getting? Are those white or blue ones?

[SubaRyu]

Originally Posted by SomethingElse

what color did you end up getting? Are those white or blue ones?

It's 6000K (color temp), it's bit blue-ish white. Kinda nice with yellow fog light and orange corners..IMO.

[NikFu S.]

Looks great!
I'm having second thoughts about the 97 grilles, though.

[dynomatt]

Out of interest, do you guys fit HID's to all lights, or just low/high beam etc?

Also, with the clear lens kit, what do the fog lights end up like? Are they like another set of spot lights?

Could you in theory get HID kits in all 3 lights? What would that be like on high beam?

Matt

[dynomatt]

OK...and now I've read the two linked threads. Seems that Ebay HID kits aren't technically what they say they are.

Out of interest, if I want more light out of the front, will the HID do that? Mohrds is probably technically correct, but physics tells me more light has to come out if more light is put in?

Or maybe not?

Matt

[mohrds]

Originally Posted by dynomatt

Out of interest, if I want more light out of the front, will the HID do that? Mohrds is probably technically correct, but physics tells me more light has to come out if more light is put in?

Or maybe not?

Matt

More light in does more light out. It just doesn't mean it is in the right place

Look at the image of the garage wall at the top of this thread. See how blurry the cutoff is and how the cutoff line curves up in the middle? These particular capsules are aligned well in the base, but not perfect. The cutoff line should be sharp and horizontally straight, then go up at about 30 degrees to the left. The lights in the image have a very small rise to the left and are overall aimed too high when compared to the car in the next stall. They will blind an oncoming driver if they are more than about 50' away.

The HID mount provides a small 'notch' cutout in the base where the HID capsule conveniently places the "return wire". This is the wire that extends from the tip of the bulb back to the base, alongside the bulb itself. It is insulated by a thin tube of ceramic to prohibit a premature arc of electricity outside the bulb.

As this wire is not transparent or thin, it casts a shadow on the light projecting from the bulb. In a normal mount, this wire is on the "top" side of the bulb, creating a pie-wedge shaped shadow of light upward. The projector housing uses a shutter to cut off the bottom half of the light from the reflector, and a single lens to focus it. A halogen designed projector does not compensate for the return wire and does not have a properly designed shutter. On top of that, the retrofit capsuls don't always have the return wire on the top. Some times it just ends up where it ends up.

Here are some pitures of an HID designed car next to a halogen designed car. See how the patterns match except that the HID is cutoff lower? Now look up to the image at the top of the post and see how blurry and undefined the pattern is.




Doug

[sicksubie]

I have a friend who had some McCullough HID's in his Subaru and he is selling them for 200$. They are 9007's though. Can I still make them work?