Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[midnightmower]

Can anyone give advice on what is involved in Retro fitting Xenon Headlights.
I have an Elite donor

[RobG]

Can anyone give advice on what is involved in Retro fitting Xenon Headlights.
I have an Elite donor

Wait for the can of worms to explode

[TheBoy]

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

Alledgedly soon to be enforced at MOT

[Raymienets]

Very straight forward onyl 2 wires to connect on each side. I put a set in the other week then removed them a few days later thinking that the local cops would have great pleasure in pulling me over. Lights were 10 times better that standard halogen Maybe I was being paranoid after reading all the posts on the forum about them being Illegal. Maybe someone will enlighten me further.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Without a self-levelling system fitted (as all cars with factory-xenons have) dont forget that if your car isnt perfectly level, someone in the back seats, full/empty tank of fuel, you WILL be dazzling oncoming traffic at some point.

Depends how you feel, really. But we've all been on the receiving end of idiots with main beam on/aftermaket 'iceblue' bulbs in a chavy saxo at night, so you lose your night vision for a few seconds.   

Retro-fitting xenons is not an easy job. Someone on here will give you the full list of what you need to change over... 8-)

[Simon72]

Are you on about Xenon Bulb replacement or H.I.D. After market kit??

If it is just the Xenon Bulbs then straight forward just like for like.

If you are on about H.I.D. kits then you need to replace the standard Filament bulb with a High Intensity Discharge Lamp, then fit a ballast kit and wire in.

Most people will now say that with the HID kit they are illegal due to No Headlight washers or automatic self-leveling.
BUT I have now driven around for 6 weeks even at night and even followed a copper or two, and last week had an MOT with them flying through without a problem with alignment.

Work really well in Projector lights.

[TheBoy]

This is DfT's view, and will soon be enforced at MOT...

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


If you have a (fully working) Elite, then as long as you use headhight units from a factory HID equipped car, you should meet all the requirements, as all Elites have levelling (via suspension) and washers.

Aftermarket HID kits (that use existing halogen headlamp units) will, rightly, never meet the requirements.

[Welung666]

I know the washers are fairly easy to retro-fit as I have the loom in place at the bottle already. What about the self levelling? Would my 99 CDX have the loom in place? What else would I need from the donor car?

[TheBoy]

I know the washers are fairly easy to retro-fit as I have the loom in place at the bottle already. What about the self levelling? Would my 99 CDX have the loom in place? What else would I need from the donor car?

I reckon you may be better trying to retro fit all the headlamp levelling stuff. Loom will not exist.  ECU up in the OSF wheelarch liner.  Wiring doesn't look too bad if you have to make up bits of loom.

[TheBoy]

Oh, and take pics and write it up

[Martin_1962]

Very straight forward onyl 2 wires to connect on each side. I put a set in the other week then removed them a few days later thinking that the local cops would have great pleasure in pulling me over. Lights were 10 times better that standard halogen Maybe I was being paranoid after reading all the posts on the forum about them being Illegal. Maybe someone will enlighten me further.

I think personal safety comes first.

[Welung666]

Oh, and take pics and write it up

  The cheek!

I'll have a look on this breaker over the weekend as to where the loom is/goes. I'll see about removing it and doing a HowTo

[2woody]

the dft "view" is definietly not law, not legal and not enforceable. My lawyer laughed her **** off when I first showed it to her.

the type-approval process applies only to new cars as designed by the manufacturer - we do not live in a state where any deviation from type-approved is prohibited. As an example, the Omega was type-approved with only a couple of makes of tyre, so if you fit Dunlops for example, then you break the law to just the same extent as DfT reference in this statement.

its difficult to see how this is going to be enforced at MOT, but even if it is, then you still won't be breaking the law using them.

all of the above comes with a proviso, that the installation you perform is SAFE. That's going to mean that you take appropriate steps to ensure that you don't dazzle other road-users.

the headlamp washers thing isn't really about safety per se, and the levelling system is there to ensure that a driver cannot forget to use the manual levelling system.

So, if you install a system such that the HiD bulb is in the same place as the H1 and you ensure that you never forget the manual leveling, then you're going to be safe and within the law.