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.


Take the bulb out then twist the light grey connector which is attached to the body just below the headlight.


Press the tab nearest to the headlight to free the connector from its bracket, then pull the connector apart.


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

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].


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:


And here's the car peeking into the garage, before & after...

[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)