Official 2nd Gen GX Modification (DIY) Thread!!
03-25-10, 09:32 PM
#34
Looks good!!!! I need to do the doors too. Working on HID and hopefully will post some pictures tomorrow with DIY. There are couple difficult points I didn't expect which added couple hours to the project. Will try to finish tomorrow after work.
HIDs next?
03-26-10, 10:20 PM
#40
HID Kit install
First of all, I would like to thank Steve from XenonDepot for all help. He provides top notch customer service and very high quality kits. Fully recommend buying HID kits from www.XenonDepot.com aka www.KBcarstuff.com
So lets start with DIY instructions.
I have decided to go with Xtreme Digital 4300k Philips HID kit. I want the most factory look and Philips brand name. For anyone who has Base GX460 and want to upgrade to HID, I would recommend to go with this kit. If you want to skip one of the steps of routing additional cable through dust cover then I would go with non-Philips kit which already has the calbe routed through grommet. Will cover that shortly. When comes to color temperature, I wouldn't go above the 5000k kit as I don't like the blue tint you see all teenager driving with. I like the factory look.
Overall everything is plug and play and process takes +/-20 minutes for pluging the kit and making it work. It took me substantially longer as I couldn't find a good mounting location and as well I had to deal with dust covers.
Step 1.
Plug the kit to make sure you have a working one. There is always a small chance to have a defective kit and it is painful to find out this after you mount nicely everything and have to start over. Also be careful with the factory plug which factory bulb was plugged in. It is very fragile. I broke off the clip which holds it plugged in and had to use electric tape. First picture shows the plug.
Step 2.
Remove dust covers and drill 18mm hole in the middle. If you go with the Philips kit, you need to perform one more step (it will eliminate in near future per Steve). Notice that I have drilled an additional tooth. Factory plug for the light bulb is inside the headlight so I had to make space for a cable from the harness to plug in to the plug. If you go with non-Philips kit, you will not have to as the wire is already integrated into water-tight grommet. Since I had to improvise, you will see the brown glue to make the hole water tight. This will not be necessary if you go with non-Philips kit.
You will notice on below picture that I took apart plug which needs to be mounted inside the headlight. It is necessary as the hole in the dust cover will be too small to pass it through it. Plug has clips and it is very easy to remove/plug in wires. Again this is for the Philips kit.
So lets start with DIY instructions.
I have decided to go with Xtreme Digital 4300k Philips HID kit. I want the most factory look and Philips brand name. For anyone who has Base GX460 and want to upgrade to HID, I would recommend to go with this kit. If you want to skip one of the steps of routing additional cable through dust cover then I would go with non-Philips kit which already has the calbe routed through grommet. Will cover that shortly. When comes to color temperature, I wouldn't go above the 5000k kit as I don't like the blue tint you see all teenager driving with. I like the factory look.
Overall everything is plug and play and process takes +/-20 minutes for pluging the kit and making it work. It took me substantially longer as I couldn't find a good mounting location and as well I had to deal with dust covers.
Step 1.
Plug the kit to make sure you have a working one. There is always a small chance to have a defective kit and it is painful to find out this after you mount nicely everything and have to start over. Also be careful with the factory plug which factory bulb was plugged in. It is very fragile. I broke off the clip which holds it plugged in and had to use electric tape. First picture shows the plug.
Step 2.
Remove dust covers and drill 18mm hole in the middle. If you go with the Philips kit, you need to perform one more step (it will eliminate in near future per Steve). Notice that I have drilled an additional tooth. Factory plug for the light bulb is inside the headlight so I had to make space for a cable from the harness to plug in to the plug. If you go with non-Philips kit, you will not have to as the wire is already integrated into water-tight grommet. Since I had to improvise, you will see the brown glue to make the hole water tight. This will not be necessary if you go with non-Philips kit.
You will notice on below picture that I took apart plug which needs to be mounted inside the headlight. It is necessary as the hole in the dust cover will be too small to pass it through it. Plug has clips and it is very easy to remove/plug in wires. Again this is for the Philips kit.
Last edited by Luke27617; 03-27-10 at 07:37 AM.
03-26-10, 10:22 PM
#41
Step 3
Here are mounting locations of all components on the passenger and driver side. I have used included double sided tape (have cut in smaller pieces for contact areas) and as well zip ties. The ballast on driver side is only supported by double sided tape on edges (a big hole under) and no place to run zip ties for extra support. Since it lies flat, I hope it will work.
Here are mounting locations of all components on the passenger and driver side. I have used included double sided tape (have cut in smaller pieces for contact areas) and as well zip ties. The ballast on driver side is only supported by double sided tape on edges (a big hole under) and no place to run zip ties for extra support. Since it lies flat, I hope it will work.
03-26-10, 10:35 PM
#44
Lights in action... In order you see:
- 4300k Philips HID vs. LED 5k side marker. It seems to be a big difference, but it takes around 100 hours for Philips bulbs to break in and they should be of 4700K temperature. If you want crisp light from beginning, I would recommend going with the 5000k HID (no blue tint).
- Street shot - headlights are not blue (camera issue), but it gives you an idea of brightness difference between headlights and fogs which from factory use the same H11 bulb
- Driving (at least 2-3x brighter than stock bulb)
- Just headlights on
- Headlights and fogs on
- 4300k Philips HID vs. LED 5k side marker. It seems to be a big difference, but it takes around 100 hours for Philips bulbs to break in and they should be of 4700K temperature. If you want crisp light from beginning, I would recommend going with the 5000k HID (no blue tint).
- Street shot - headlights are not blue (camera issue), but it gives you an idea of brightness difference between headlights and fogs which from factory use the same H11 bulb
- Driving (at least 2-3x brighter than stock bulb)
- Just headlights on
- Headlights and fogs on
Last edited by Luke27617; 03-27-10 at 07:34 AM.
