Skyline R32 Hid Install
Skyline R32 Hid Install
Ok, I thought I'd write up a tutorial on how I did this install, because although on alot of cars these conversion kits are plug 'n play, on my car they were anything but...
The kit I used was one of NYTSKY's (Dave) Helligkeit group buy conversion kits, but I'd assume you will have the same problems with all of them if you have the same lights as mine. My car has the projector type lights which take a h1 globe. However, they have a funky(?) design in which the globe actually sits in the front of a globe holder and this holder gets pushed into the back of the headlight assembly. The following pics show the design...
As you can see, there is no way that the HID kit globes are going to work in these lights without some mods - the HID globes have their wires running straight into the back of them and will not plug into the standard globe holder.
So to make it work in your lights....
*Before you begin, have both your lights out of the back of the headlight, but only do one at a time - this will allow you to make comparisons in terms of positioning etc*
Step 1: Pull out the globe holder and dissasemble. This involves removing the rubber grommet then carefully bending out the metal tabs
Step 2: This was a big leap of faith, because from this point there was no turning back - if it didnt work i'd have to source new holders. All was good in the end though. Start off buy using a hobby/stanley knife to scrape all the silicone goo **** off the back of the plastic holder with the metal tabs on it. This is a messy job, but removing as much as you can will make it much easier to do the next step, which is to drill out the holder. The aim here is to make as large a hole as possible, and also to remove the metal tabs which are moulded into the plastic. I used a bench drill with the largest drill I had (not sure what size, but still left reasonably thick walls on the plastic holder) to carefully drill from the metal tab end of the holder through to the front. If you do this you will notice the metal tabs fold over on the front of the holder making it difficult to drill right through. Once I hit the metal tabs i carefully bent them out of the way, then snapped/cut them off, and finished drilling through.
Step 3: If you don't have a dremel/multitool this next step will be quite difficult. I used a dremel and cutting/grinding attachments to gradually increase the size of the hole and cut around the plastic that was holding the metal tabs in. I was then able to pry/snap them out.
You will notice in the picture there are 3 plastic pins that locate the globe in the right place. In the first light I did I removed these, however I later realised they are important in locating the globe in the right location in the holder, so do your best to avoid damaging these... If you do, its not vital, as you will see further down.
Step 4: Increase the hole size, and removed the electric contacts and file out the holder so that your HID globe base will fit into the hole.
Step 5: It is at this point that you will need to test to make sure your HID globes will fit into the hole. However, on my kit, the globes were wired to a nice rubber grommet and new connections that fit into the headlight plug - neither of which would fit through the hole. This meant I had to cut the wires running to the back of the HID globes and put in some spade connectors.
Step 6:
By now, you're HID globes should slot nicely into your modified globe holder, and are ready to be fitted back into the holder and then the headlights... As I mentioned, keeping those 3 little plastic pins means that straight away the globe will fit in place nicely as seen in the first picture, hoewever if you damaged them in the drilling stage you can do what I did for the first light I did (when i didn't realise they were fairly important). I ended up using 3 o-rings around the base to make sure the globe sat in the appropriate location. The first pic below shows the O-ring approach, the second shows the neater and easier plastic pin approach...
Step 7:
Now you can connect the spade connectors back up, wrap them securely in electrical tape as well to make sure they are well insulated, and reassemble the holder. Make sure you orient the metal ring and the metal clip the right way, then bend the tabs back down to hold it all in place. Don't forget to put the rubber grommet on too, otherwise you will have to try and stretch it over the globe (which from experience is not easy).
Step 8: Now you can put it all in the way you would if it was plug n play - connect the HID spade connectors into your existing light plugs, mount your ballasts somewhere secure ( I used some existing holes down behind the front bumper, bolted em up and used some stick on velcro between the ballast and the car frame so they were secure and didn't rattle).
Step 9: Wait until it gets dark and go test em out! Mine came up sweet, with a nice cutoff, minimal hotspots and no adjustment needed. I wouldn't say they are as good as OEM HID headlights, but they are alot better than the standard lights I used to have...