Like many others, I have opted to install HID bulbs. This will serve as a guide with pictures for people that want to change to these better bulbs! I will only be covering on how to install the low-beams too.

I'm not going to cover which HID sets to buy. They can range anywhere from $70.00 on eBay, to $300 for the more expensive McCulloch sets. To be honest, I dont know how much of a difference there is - I don't know anyone with an expensive set to compare them to. I bought the cheap eBay ones, as many other members have done, and have been MORE then pleased. The principal is the same for the installation.

Also, i'll make a quick note about the temperatures.. around 4300k is "pure white light." Anything higher, you lose light output but gain a more bluish tint. I have installed a 6000k HID set, and on my Aero Blue Coupe they look more then spectacular. The light output is incredible also, but if I had to choose again I would maybe go for a 4300k kit or 5000k. You can search for other pictures / charts / etc on these different temperatures.

First I will make a couple notes about the installation. FIRST WORK ON THE DRIVER SIDE! There is SO MUCH MORE ROOM, it is easier to see what you're doing, and understand how the bulbs go into place.

Secondly, if you install your HID's and you think they suck / light is being scattered / it barely illuminates anything. 99.99999% of the time YOUR BULBS ARE NOT SEATED RIGHT. This is THE MOST DIFFICULT part of the installation, making sure the bulbs are in place. The bulbs sit DEEP DEEP in their socket.

Let's get started then. This is a picture of my car, one HID bulb and one OEM bulb.

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I also have some night shots in my gallery of the HID bulbs in action.

First, take the rubber cover off of the lower beam light.

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This is the one with the red/blue wires sticking out. (Sorry I took the picture AFTER I installed the hids, your light will have no wires hanging out.)

Inside you should see the harness attached to the bulb. Like this:
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Pull on the black plastic and yank the harness off of the bulb. Pull straight back, there's nothing else holding the harness in place.

Now with the harness off, take a good look at how the bulb is seated with the spring clip in place. The key to an easier installation is knowing how the bulb goes in, sits, and is held in place, so you can emulate this instead of guessing on how the bulb goes in.

 

This is what it will look like:

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This is a picture of the bulb taken out (I will cover how to do that in just a second, I want to make a strong point)

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Notice the bulb has a unique shape. The metal part has a notch at the bottom, and two little indentations on the top left and top right side. The part that is VERY important is the bottom, where the notch is. This notch is the bottom of the bulb, and should be on the bottom of the light housing when you insert the bulb in, for proper bulb seating and alignment, I will make more note of this later, but I cannot stress how important it is to know this for proper seating of the bulb.

Now for the spring clip, push in on the bottom where the hook is (refer to the previous picture) and gently slide it over, then let go so the spring is free to move up and down.

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A little blurry, but you get the idea, move the clip all the way up, and carefully pull out on the bulb, removing it. Pull it out by the metal, and do not touch the actual bulb, as the oils will decrease light / life of the bulb, in case you ever want to re-use them. Look at where the bulb was on the bottom, you will see a little slot where the notch on the bottom of the bulb slides in to place with the slot on the bulb housing. Once again, this is crucial.

 

Now, take one of your HID bulbs and look at it.
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Notice the overall shape is exactly the same, most important is the notch on the bottom of the bulb. There is one very big difference though, the two wires coming out of the bulb.

What we must do is put the bulb in, feed the two wires THROUGH the spring clip, seat the bulb perfect, then clip the bulb down.

First, make sure the spring clip is ALL the way at the top, giving you the most room to put the bulb in. Now, insert the bulb into the socket with the notch on the bottom of the bulb downwards. If you want to get a feel, I recommend trying to get the bulb seated perfectly while nothing is at stake right now. Wiggle the bulb with your fingers while trying to push the bulb in so it sits very very deep and recessed. Once you have it in place, you will know. Once you get a feel for where the bulb needs to be to be properly seated, we can resume to the next step.

Now we have to feed the two wires attached to the bulb through the spring clip, as the clip won't close properly if you leave them in the way. First, take one of the wires at a time (I usually do the top wire first, followed by the second so they don't get tangled) and feed them through the spring clip. You must push the connector through the widest part of the spring clip for them to go through. It's a tight fit, but they do fit. Don't worry about the bulb not being seated correctly right now. We have to seat it when both of the wires are through.

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Now, do the same thing with the other wire, this one will be a little harder since there's the wire kind of in the way.


Here comes probably the most difficult part of the whole installation.. seating the bulb and pushing the clip down. This is the method I do it.. you really have to experiment to find what is the easiest for you.

I give the wires a little slack, move the spring clip all the way up, and hold the wires with one of my hands so they don't get in my way.

I take my other hand and wiggle the bulb slightly left and right until I feel it go into the housing correctly. Deep and recessed. Notch correctly lined up on the bottom. With the same hand holding the wires I push the spring clip down and slide it over into the clip holding it in place.

Voila! The bulb is seated now. I think it took me a good hour or so for the first time. Make sure you do it during bright daylight or have realllly good lights so you can see exactly what is going on. I've taken them in / out (for bringing the car in to the dealer, wanted NO hassle) a million times, so I can put the bulbs in about a minute.

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Now if you look on your ballast (the main unit), you should have a few wires coming out of it.

Connect the wires coming from the bulbs to the ballast. Mine were blue/red with different connectors so there really was no way to screw that up

Now, there should be another pair of wires coming out of the ballast that looks similiar to this:

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There will always be a black wire, and 99% of the time the other will be red. That's not so important, just the black wire is. This is the negative wire.

Look at the black plastic harness coming from the headlight housing, the original one that you took off of the original bulb. Notice there are two connectors, one has two wires, and one has one wire.

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The one with two wires is the negative, and the one with one wire is the positive. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AND DO NOT REVERSE THE WIRES!!!!!

Insert the black wire coming from the ballast into the slot with the two wires.

Insert the red wire coming from the ballast into the slot with one wire.


Go into your car and turn the lights on to make sure it works okay. This now leaves you with two options.

You can unplug the wires coming from the vehicle harness (black and red / negative and positive) and take a razor blade and slit two slits in the rubber cap. Feed the wires coming from the ballast into the housing, connect them, and then shove all the wires into the housing and put the cap back on. It makes it really easy to put the rubber cap back on and it will never fall off. I had this method done until I got new headlights from the dealer.

Or, you can try to force the rubber cap on with the wires in the way. I do not really prefer this method, but I do not know if I want to slit my only pair of rubber caps yet, as they are brand new.

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This is what it looks like with the cap forced on with the wires hanging out. It is very hard to put the cap back on, and if not done securely / carefully the cap could fall off during normal driving.

Now you may want to know where to mount the ballast. This is virtually up to you. For the N/A crossfires, look at where I mounted mine. Where the Intercooler pump is on the SRT-6 there is a screw already drilled where you can put the ballast harness on and put a nut on. Refer to the picture for the exact location.

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Now for the passenger side, I used a self tapping screw and put the harness right by the overflow tank. IMG_0035.jpg

There is also a spot down below by the engine that there is a hole already there, you can just put a screw in there and mount the harness there.. Picture is really blurry but the black dots are the holes.
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For the passenger side, you have to do the same thing as the driver side, but you have 90% less room. This is where small hands come in play, otherwise your hands will feel like they've been through meat grinders. Some people take the whole headlight assembly out, I DO NOT recommend doing that. Some people also take the overflow tank out to give them a little bit more room.

To be honest there is no real easy way to do the passenger side, it is a royal pain in the ***, but very doable. You can move the hose by unclipping it and moving it out of the way, this helps a tad. IMG_0034.jpg


That's it, if there's anything else i've missed / need help with, please let me know.

 

Very nice write-up, I hope to do my car soon this will definitely help a lot. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the clear instructions. I will be doing mine soon.

 

that is a nice write up. i cant choose whether or not i want 5000 or 4300 i need to see them back to back

 

Yes, that would be a very hard decision. I think I would most likely go with the 5000K kit, for the more blue color. The 4100k-4300k is pure white light.

I would go on your age and eyesight.. if you need the extra light to see, go with the 4300k. If you don't, go with the 5000k! Either way they will look millions of times better then the original OEM lights.

 

I went with the 5000K and am soon purchasing 4300K (no return/exchange-I modified the grommet).

5000K have a very noticeable blue tint. They make yellow reflectors green

I want white.

 

you shouldn't have to buy new ones, just the 4300k bulbs.. unless that's what you meant

 

Yep, just the bulbs. Waiting to see what they will charge for just the bulbs.

Hope it doesn't hurt too much. I did point out to them that they called 5000K "OEM White" on their listing.

Maybe they'll take pity on an old geezer.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll be replacing mine soon.

 

so the 5000's make the turning signals look green???

 

No, what I mean is that while driving all yellow reflectors in the beams' path don't reflect yellow, they look green due to the blue tint of the light.

Yellow reflectors in other car's bumpers look green too.

I really like to have true color on objects that I see. I've ridden in cars that have 8000K HIDs and everything looks mono-chromatic blue to me. Drives me nuts.

 

ohhhhhhhh thanks yeah i could see that being annoying. well it looks like maxcichon made my decision for me!

 

x2.

Nice and helpful.

 

Great info!!!

 

I can't imagine how much brighter they would be. I have the 6000K bulbs and yes, they are that much more brighter!!!.

 

Do your 6000k produce blue tint light?