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View Full Version : New HIDs installed, Safari Bar, lights



atilla_the_fun
01/24/2011, 09:00 PM
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/photo-18.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/19686)

After I figured out how to remove the headlights, the rest of the install took 30 "normal minutes."
I use "normal minutes" because it took my girlfriend and I, 2 hours to do in the MN cold (it turns out that it was a sunny 1 degree farenheight that day).



New 80$ HID kit shipped from china. Bought of ebay. Is of the "Bi-Xenon" variety. You can tell by the chrome shield around the bulb that moves in and out to work as both high and low beams.

The kit came with a relay and all wiring. It was really plug and play. The ballasts were not the slim type. The Light output of the 6000K bulbs are wonderful, but there is a slight purple flicker on start-up for the passenger side ballast due to a drop in voltage at that location on the headlight wiring harness. This apparently is normal and has no effect on the lamp past the 1 second start up.

The hardest part of this install was removing the original headlights. The key was to remove the rubber boot completely, by pulling it off and making sure that you don't pull the bulb with it - to prevent the housing from breaking. In fact, I broke the lip that holds the passenger headlight retaining clip, but this was fixed by using the nearby screw to hold down a washer to act as a new lip.

The driver's side headlight work was done with the factory air box removed (three screws, one outside and two below the air-filter.)

The ballasts fortunately came with brackets, which I bolted down.

The safari bar was installed three weeks prior, the safari-fog-lamps two weeks prior but I waited for the HIDS to finish the electrical. I was going to double stick tape the relay to the engine compartment but found that no kinds of tape will stick to metal or plastic that cold. Its literally too cold to finish the job! At least wires can be stripped by hand, by just bending them where you would like and flexing them until the rubber shears! Amazing.

I would recommend this kit. It had very fast shipping and the quality was very nice.

vxaddict
01/27/2011, 04:07 PM
That looks fantastic!

Quick question - for the safari bar, did you already have a set of Tone's brackets? Did the installer fabricate something custom? I'm thinking about getting one installed, but wasn't sure how difficult it would be.

Thanks!

atilla_the_fun
01/27/2011, 04:46 PM
Actually, the bar is off of the Ebony VX that MrMonk recently sold. We made a deal for the bar just before his buyer approached him. It came with the brackets. The installation was really very easy. I had to remove the front tow hook to give my tools room to move, then I mounted the brackets, had someone hold the bar as I screwed it in, and re-installed the tow hook. I don't understand why SBC customs, who make the window brackets, can't sell these mounts. They are pretty simple. Maybe getting the designs from tone's family for the mounts any everything else he made would help us all?

vxaddict
01/27/2011, 06:00 PM
Actually, the bar is off of the Ebony VX that MrMonk recently sold. We made a deal for the bar just before his buyer approached him. It came with the brackets. The installation was really very easy. I had to remove the front tow hook to give my tools room to move, then I mounted the brackets, had someone hold the bar as I screwed it in, and re-installed the tow hook. I don't understand why SBC customs, who make the window brackets, can't sell these mounts. They are pretty simple. Maybe getting the designs from tone's family for the mounts any everything else he made would help us all?

That's a great question/request/idea! How about it SBC?