DTA HID headlights installed in 02+

[Ewan]

hi all

I bought an HID upgrade kit from Dan at DTA, and thought I'd document & take some pics of the install since Dan's excellent instructions are based on a pop up model.

In practice, the install is easier on the fixed car since you don't need to take the whole headlight out. I decided to keep the screw-on dust caps at the back of the headlight unit, but there was no problems of access. [I put new bulbs - Osram Nightbreakers - into my Accord estate, and it has exactly the same light unit by the look of things, but much more fiddly]

Firstly, unscrew the cover at the back of the dipped headlight and remove the two connectors from the bulb and the assembly.
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Take the bulb out then twist the light grey connector which is attached to the body just below the headlight.
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Press the tab nearest to the headlight to free the connector from its bracket, then pull the connector apart.
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Now the wiring from the old bulb is free, it's easier to do all the connecting to the HID bulb away from the car, rather than fitting the HID bulb first then plugging everything together.

Carefully cut the old grommet off the OLD bulb connectors [it wouldn't do any harm to leave it on, I suppose].

I made a hole in the middle of the new HID's grommet
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then took the silicone covers off the old bulb's connectors then (carefully, with long nosed pliers) pushed them through the grommet, then reattached the silicone covers and attached the Red wire's to the corresponding Red connector from the HID unit, and the same for the Black connector to the Black connector on the HID unit. [Dan's instructions had Black/Red and Red/White, obviously the wiring on the pop up cars being different].
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I didn't have a small enough file to make the aperture in the headlight assembly any larger, but a Dremel & vacuum cleaner did the trick. The Dremel was also used to enlarge the existing 20mm grommet hole in the middle of the headlight cover, to around 25mm.

All the wiring for the HID bulb passed through the headlight cover easily, grommet pushed into place and the installation took minutes from there. I tucked the ballast just behind the headlight and stuck it using the double-sided sticky pad.

So far, I'm very pleased - the HIDs and LED sidelights should make the car look sharper, as well as giving a better beam!

[TheSebringOne]

Excellant job Ewan! How long did the whole job take from start to finish?

Did you test the red/red & black/black connections as different from Dan's instructions for pop ups? Worried it may blow any fuse(s)?

Good write up :)

[Ewan]

hi James

The whole thing probably took me two hours, since I spent a while figuring out what to do and wasted time on a few unnecessary steps (like trying to unpick the clips on the old lights so the wires could slip through the old grommets - after stabbing my fingers so many times, I gave up and cut the damn things off).

I didn't test the black/black, red/red combo... I just figured it would be lunacy to swap the colours round :)

The second light took me all of about 20 minutes once I'd figured out the process written above...

Total cost (including the ultra-bright LED sidelights) cost £112 incl delivery, which seems like a bargain.

Here's the location I chose for the ballast:
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And here's the car peeking into the garage, before & after...

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[TheSebringOne]

Ewan, did you do a before and after pictures with the side lights too?

[Lankstarr]

Nice install and write up mate - for what it does for the car it is the best money you can spend on an NSX IMO. I'm still dead chuffed with mine 2 years on and have had no problems.

L*

[Ewan]

Ewan, did you do a before and after pictures with the side lights too?

I did, but it's hard to see the LED sidelights in the pics I took in the garage (the sun was shining on the car at the time).

Suffice to say, the sidelights look amazing - especially on <02 cars. It was at our recent Bracknell meet when I was leading and Luke was behind, that he was driving with sides on and I thought they look really good in the mirror, that I decided to do the deed :)

cheers, Ewan

[jaytip]

Just got to hope now that you don't bump into a copper(not literaly) who is having a bad night.

[Ewan]

Yeah, well as long as the lights are properly adjusted, how's the copper to know that they're not standard fitment, at a glance...?

(I suppose with popups, you've at least got headlamp washers, which are required fitment on UK cars with Xenons... but the JDM S2000 didn't have washers, yet was imported and presumably SVA'd...)

[Sudesh]

Very nice!

HID definitely bring most cars into the modern era!

Only one thing though and I'm not sure if its the same for the UK and N.I but; HID are apparently illegal if the vehicle does not have headlight wash!

[markc]

HID definitely bring most cars into the modern era!

Hi Sudesh, I'm not sure what you mean by that?

If you mean they give more light output so are safer then yes they do :)

If you mean they have a "modern" blueish look then IMHO they've got the wrong bulbs in and are giving away brightness for the sake of fashion ;)

Make sure you fit 4300K bulbs for the brightest (white) light output and don't put yourself in the same category as the Corsa/Saxo, baseball cap boys with their purple (>8000K) headlamps which are as silly as they are useless... rant, rant :)

Cheers

Mark (only half joking on this occasion)

[Sudesh]

Hi Sudesh, I'm not sure what you mean by that?

If you mean they give more light output so are safer then yes they do :)

If you mean they have a "modern" blueish look then IMHO they've got the wrong bulbs in and are giving away brightness for the sake of fashion ;)

Make sure you fit 4300K bulbs for the brightest (white) light output and don't put yourself in the same category as the Corsa/Saxo, baseball cap boys with their purple (>8000K) headlamps which are as silly as they are useless... rant, rant :)

Cheers

Mark (only half joking on this occasion)

Nope not talking about bulbs that try to give the LOOK for the sake of fashion.

[Ewan]

Very nice!

HID definitely bring most cars into the modern era!

Only one thing though and I'm not sure if its the same for the UK and N.I but; HID are apparently illegal if the vehicle does not have headlight wash!

Yes, you're right. The Dept of Transport says that, according to the letter of a law coined 20 years ago and therefore before HID/Xenon headlights were in existence, they are not legal unless fitted on a new car or in a total headlight replacement scenario:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps

New vehicles with xenons get exemption from this ruling because they have European type approval, so (the logic goes), the only way to get aftermarked HID lights would be if the entire headlight was changed and replaced with one which itself had type approval.

EU legislation says that new cars with Xenons must have self-levelling suspension or the lights need to self-level, and they must have some form of headlamp cleaning.

I asked Dan from DTA about MoT pass/fail with his kit, and he said he's never had a customer have a problem at MoT time because of having the kit. Passing an MoT and being legal aren't the same thing, mind...

Anyway, the legality issue has been covered before - http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/testvb/showthread.php?t=2229&highlight=department+transport&page=4 - and I'm guessing no-one on the forum who's been running an HID kit for the last couple of years, has been nailed for it...

[AR]

Hi there great write up, but why have you got to file it? I got a slimm digital set from SAW on Prime, and the bulb was a perfect fit. I got the 6K kit into OEM NA2-R lamps.

Cheers,

AR

[Ewan]

thank Ary - I did try the bulb against the aperture before filing, and it looked like it would fit but would have scraped down the side of the bulb - I figured taking 1mm off wouldn't do any harm and the bulb could go through without touching the sides.

Maybe the 02+ aperture is slightly larger than the popups, though it does look pretty much the same as the diagram in the instructions.

cheers, Ewan

[DTA-Motorsport]

Hi Ewan,

Thanks so much for your superb write-up! I'm glad you are pleased with the upgrade :)

Just to answer a few questions that were asked further up in this thread:

(1) Light colour (temp) vs output: It is indeed true that the HID bulbs with the most light output are 4300K bulbs. The HID conversion kits I sell are all 6000K (4300K is optional) and this is a very happy compromise between light output and colour. You are absolutely right in saying that he Saxo/MaxPower brigade choose 8000K+ kits because of the blue/purple "look". What they fail to notice (probably because it is a bit "dim" everywhere) is that light output drops as the colour temperature goes up. I've had people phone up asking for a 12,000K kit and I will always refuse to sell that as a candle would probably put out more light!

(2) Red/Black/White wiring: All pop-up headlights have red (+) and white (-) headlight wiring whereas fixed headlights use red (+) and black (-) wiring. All our HID kits utilise red/black wiring so that should take the guess work out of the installation procedure. Furthermore, Honda uses two different size spade connectors (5.0mm and 6.3mm) in their headlight wiring loom. Initially our HID kits came with spade connectors of only one size (6.3mm) and I normally include a (home-made) conversion lead to overcome this problem. However, our current bulb supplier ships bulbs with the correct size spade connectors so there is (a) no need for a conversion lead and (b) the kit can only be wired up ONE WAY thereby eliminating any chance of getting it wrong. By the way, if you install a HID kit "the wrong way round" it won't blow a fuse/ballast/bulb - it simply won't ignite and start up.

(3) Increasing the size of the bulb holder aperture: The reason for this is that (at least with all our kits) the HID bulb is of a larger diameter than the standard halogen bulb. As was said above, the HID bulb will probably squeeze through the existing aperture but it "could" damage the bulb. Therefore I recommend you increase the diameter of the cutout by approx. 1mm by using either a rounded metal file or dremel. Make sure you don't get any metal filing in the headlight enclosure (not a disaster if you do but it just makes for a neater looking headlight). There are some HID bulbs out there which are slightly smaller in diameter but ours are definitely not.

(4) Headlight adjustment/MOT/Legality: It is IMPARATIVE that you check and adjust the headlight alignment AFTER you've installed a HID kit. Because the HID bulb is longer than the standard halogen bulb the focus of the light is in a slightly different part of the headlight. This causes the lens to focus the light higher which in turn could dazzle on coming traffic. Any garage/MOT station will check and adjust the alignment for a token payment (usually no more than £5/£10).
I have been selling these kits for over 3 years now and not a single customer has ever had a problem with passing an MOT. I too use these kits on my own cars and have never had a problem. I know what you're thinking, he's saying that because he sells the kits but I guarantee you that it has never been brought to my attention that an MOT failure was due to the installation of one of our HID kits.
Legally speaking, yes - these aftermaket kits are illegal because retrofitting a HID kit into what is originally a halogen based headlight will invalidate the E-mark of the headlight. That is technically the only reason why it is illegal. However, reality is somewhat different in that if your headlights are properly aligned and you're not sporting blue/purple 8000K+ headlights it is extremely difficult to tell whether the headlights are OEM or aftermarket. Headlight washers are only mentioned as requirements because dirty headlight will scatter the light more than clean ones. This is more prevalent with Xenon headlights than halogen ones.

The beauty of our kits is that the installation is completely reversible. Should you be required to remove the kit for whatever reason you can easily pop the original halogen bulbs back in and off you go! 10 minute job if that ...

Apologies for turning this into an essay but I think it is always useful to give all the information at hand. That way owners/customers can make informed decisions.

Should anyone have any further questions please feel free to contact me.

All the best,

Dan
MD - DTA-Motorsport (UK)
T: 0845 4744-382
E: info@dta-motorsport.co.uk

[Ewan]

I've been doing a bit of reading on the pros/cons of fitting HID upgrade kits - most (if not all) people who have them will sing their praises, and everyone who sells them will tell you good they are.

If you're sitting on the fence, there are a few sites which paint a different picture - about how the type of light from any HID is *technically* not as good as Halogen in some cases, how the headlamps designed for Halogen are not optically suitable for Xenon bulbs etc etc.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html
http://hid.moonfruit.com/#/beam/4529652061

[Papalazarou]

On a slightly different note, I notice that you installed the ballasts on the wheel arch. When I installed mine I put them upright behind the light assembly with double sided tape. There's probably not a lot of difference, but it just looks a little neater.

Cheers,

James.

[DTA-Motorsport]

how the headlamps designed for Halogen are not optically suitable for Xenon bulbs etc etc.


This is indeed true. Although not generally advertised you should generally NEVER install HID's if the headlight is of the reflector type. Retro fitting HIDs is only really viable when installing in a projector type headlight. I do have some HID bulbs (H4) which have been specifically designed to be used in reflector situations but they are very expensive (treble the normal HID bulb price).