Why, why why, you might ask?? Have we here another mad car nut that just has to have all of the latest "in" things on his car just to say they have them?? Bright Blue Lights? Same lights as on the latest Mercs, BMWs, Rovers and Jags?? Dazzle every other poor bugger on the road?
Well.... yes, but for a more pragmatic and less flashy reason. You see, my passenger side headlight assembly was damaged (don't ask, don't hear me curse about it) and I needed to finally get off my arse and do something about it.
So, that means tracking down a replacement headlight for a 2002 Australian Spec STi. As you would, first port of call was the local Subaru dealer over here in Perth and the shock quote of $1600+ dollars for a replacement set from Subaru - and no, they sell as a pair so you can't have one for $800. Keep in mind that this is for the Australian Spec, Non-HID versions of the lights.
Hmmmm... need options. Rummage around the internet... Have a look on E-Bay and nothing available on the .au site and all shite on the .com site so not much luck there. Have a look at aftermarket versions of the lights and run into the HID option for the first time with the $2000+ JDM versions of the lights available from Japan Parts. I joined the WRX forum and had a rummage around there and posted a WTB note... Better. Some options coming in and looking good with a brand new Subaru supplied set available on the forum pages for a very good price of $900. Thanks BTW to all the guys on that forum.
In the end, while I was searching around, I came across a website for Japanese Wholesale Spares up in Wangara, Perth, and a phone call to them assured me they should have a passenger light available for approx $400. Did the drive up there one Saturday morning (the other reason to go with a local supplier - at least I could go and see what i was buying before handing any money over) and was allowed to rummage around in the "Headlights" crate and turned out that 80% of the lights in the crate were the Jap Spec HID items, and 99% of the 2002 STi lights were the HID versions! Best of all, the only assembly available in standard halogen projector trim to suit my car was for the drivers side! Damn!!
Problem. I really just wanted to stick with the Halogen Projectors as standard on the Aus Spec car, but there were none in the crate. To go to HID I would need to buy both LH and RH sides.
Good - price for the HID's for $400 per side as well. Bad - No ballast for the lights seemed to be in the crate. Good - Bloke offered to source the ballasts and call me when he did. Good - Got a call a week later and had both HID lights, with ballast supplied, set to go for $800 all up. Deal!
Done and Dusted - For higher res versions of all pics, just click on the smaller thumbnails.
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Well, here we go. Pop the hood I suppose and get into it.
First thing to do is remove the cold air intake that blocks access to the driver side light assembly. Undo 2 bolts and Bob's your uncle... |
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The headlight assemblies only have 3 bolts holding them onto the car. First one is immediately available on the top side of the bonnet edge.
Remove it... |
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The reason for needing to change the lights. The crack started off smaller, but as you may guess, these pesky damn cracks just seem to have a habit of growing. |
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Now, once the easy bolts have been removed, it's time for the trickier part... removal of the grille assembly.
There are a couple of latches and pins that need to be removed/un-latched. Am sure you can work it out, but have a few pointers in the pic.
Once you have them all removed/un-latched the grille will, with a bit of effort and gentle forcing, come off the front of the car. |
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For the pin type things, just use a flat head screwdriver to lift the pins up, and then the whole pin mechanism will lift out. |
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Once you have the grille off - you will have access to the last two bolts holding the headlight assembly to the car.
Remove them... |
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Once all the bolts are removed the assembly will pull out of the car. It takes a bit of "jiggling" to free it, but trust me, it will come out. |
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Here we see the back of the assembly for the Aus Spec car with major inputs labelled. If I had of rememberd, I would have taken a photo of the back of the HID assembly, but I didn't, so I can't show it to you!
Major item of note, is that the Aus car has a manual headligh levelling system, where the HID version has an automatic levelling system. Meaning, there is an extra connector on the back of the HID lights for the Levelling system. This connector sits right next to the "parking/blinker" connector. |
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One thing you need to do is find a safe home for the ballast box for the HID lights. This spot looked pretty good to me, and it's where I put mine. Should be safe and sound here. |
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While I was digging around the wiring harness, I found this. Seems the Aus Spec car had plans for self levelling headlights that didn't make it, but the harness still kept the connector.
Not sure if it'll work, but I plugged this in to my HIDs just to see, and as my means of providing insulation from the elements for the connector on the back of the light anyway. |
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Sizing up the ballast in it's new home.
Tip: Push the ballast as far towards the middle of the car as you can to ensure everything fits back together.
The HID lights have an added protustion on the bottom edge (the self levelling motor) that will jam against the ballast if you have it too close to the outer edge. |
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Now for the wiring. With no instructions and no real results from hours of internet searching for a wiring diagram I still had a dilema... The Aus Car has the following wires on the connectors:
Drivers Side: Black & Green - Passenger Side: Black & Red.
Problem being the Jap Spec HIDs have Orange & Brown wires on both sides...
Obviously the black wire on the Aus car is the negative or "common" wire and the colour wire is the power or "on/off" control wire.
So what the hell are the equivilant wires on the HID lights??? |
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One sure fire way to find out... trail by fire!
Here we see I have got a working HID light. What you don't see is the busted fuse I got in the process, but have to say, better a busted fuse than a busted ballast or headlight!
One thing I might add: Have seen some posts where people are saying you need to upgrade the fuses from 15 to 20 amp for the HIDs. This is not correct, the standard 15 amp fuses work fine... one you have got the wires connected the right way around of course! |
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As it turns out, my first guess on wiring connections was wrong and my trail by fire only cost me a fuse.
For the PASSENGER side you need: (Orange to Black) & (Brown to Red)
For the DRIVERS side you need: (Orange to Black) & (Brown to Green)
So the bit of trivia there is, for Japanese import cars, the Orange wires in the wiring system seem to be the negative or common wire. |
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Make sure you provide a good earth for the ballast. Mine used the lead as was supplied and I teck-screwed it along with the ballast into my new mounting point.
I've saved the old connector from the harness in case I need to go back to standard versions. Also kicked myself for not being smarter and working out a way to get the required connections without having to cut the standard connection off the harness.
Would have made it easier to go back to standard if I wanted to, but am sure the lesson will not be wasted on you, the reader. If you were to clip the wires and remove the harness attached to the standard light, you should be able to work it out. |
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Passenger side all installed and ready for the light to go back into the car. |
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Driver side all installed and ready for the light to go back into the car. |
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Passenger side in and the HID fired up. Looks Good! |
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Driver side in and the HID fired up. Looks Good as Well!! |
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With the high beam on. |
In summary - once I'd worked the wiring out it was a pretty straight forward job. If you want to do it, for whatever your reasons may be, I would suggest give it a go. If you're in Perth, head up to Japanese Wholesale and have a rummage in the headlight crate and you'll be suprised what you find.
As for use on the road and legality - One of the issues the police have with HID conversions is the fitting of HID bulbs into light assemblies designed for standard halogen bulbs. Problem being, the HID bulbs require a different reflector pattern to halogen bulbs and when you fit a HID bulb into a standard reflector pattern, you get lots of scatter, unfocused light and just general blinding of on-coming traffic with your High Intensity shotgun!
As I have fitted the proper Japanese HID assembly, which has been designed for the HID bulbs it contains, any issues of scatter and general blinding of other road users is no longer a concern. The other factor is that the bulbs are in a proper "projector" system and the beam of light is tightly controlled.
Ayway. Have been out on the roads using them for the past week or so and have not had any "flashes" from unhappy motorists coming towards me so am satisfied that I am not causing a menace to anyone else on the road. |
