Vimmy Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 I was fed up with having to replace the rear driving/brake lights every other month or so. I'm not sure if the saloons suffer the same issue but the bulbs seem to fracture when the wagon tailgate is shut so either you lose a driving light or a brakelight, major pain in the derrier I went back to Auto Bulbs Direct again for some LED based bulbs and found a pair that were a direct fit for my wagon. Hopefully these are going to be shock proof, for £!6 a pair I sure hope so, but if they last a year I'll get my money back. Not sure how much, if at all, brighter they will be but as long as they dont break I'll be a happy bunny Whilst I was looking at lights I happened to stumble upon the Demon Tweeks site and found myself looking at HID 8000k replacement lights with associated ballast. My hand fell upon the buy now button yesterday in the afternoon whilst taking a work break They turned up this morning to my surprise so I'll be fitting them at the weekend, I was wondering if it would be worth doing a write up on installation etc? I've seen a few vids on youtoob so there's info there on what to do, but if you think it would help I'll do a wee write up on it? Cheers, Col Link to comment
stum450n Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 I was fed up with having to replace the rear driving/brake lights every other month or so. I'm not sure if the saloons suffer the same issue but the bulbs seem to fracture when the wagon tailgate is shut so either you lose a driving light or a brakelight, major pain in the derrier I went back to Auto Bulbs Direct again for some LED based bulbs and found a pair that were a direct fit for my wagon. Hopefully these are going to be shock proof, for £!6 a pair I sure hope so, but if they last a year I'll get my money back. Not sure how much, if at all, brighter they will be but as long as they dont break I'll be a happy bunny Whilst I was looking at lights I happened to stumble upon the Demon Tweeks site and found myself looking at HID 8000k replacement lights with associated ballast. My hand fell upon the buy now button yesterday in the afternoon whilst taking a work break They turned up this morning to my surprise so I'll be fitting them at the weekend, I was wondering if it would be worth doing a write up on installation etc? I've seen a few vids on youtoob so there's info there on what to do, but if you think it would help I'll do a wee write up on it? Cheers, Col Writeup for TG would be VERY welcome mate! Oddly enough, I was looking at an HID kit earlier - kinda tempted! Link to comment
stum450n Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 You inspired me to hit the very same buy now button Col thought I would treat my baby to a set for Christmas - opted for the 10k though after speaking to them (they said although brighter, because of the spread pattern of the blobeye headlights, the 10k would give the same brightness as the 8k on a classic). Went for a set of White LED sidelights, silver side repeaters and silver front repeaters too - damn good price all in (plus a little discount!) Link to comment
Vimmy Posted December 31, 2010 Author Share Posted December 31, 2010 Blimey Stu you have been busy with the plastic, even better with a discount too I went to fit my rear led lights today to find they wouldn't fit into the rear cluster. The rear cluster has a plastic outer that firms the outer shell and a thin metal inner/reflector....so after a bit of filing the bulb slotted in nicely. After turning on to check the light levels the new bulb seemed a lot dimmer and also a pinky colour too, not safe to use on the roads Having checked for other bulbs on the site it mentions to choose red led's as the white ones look pink behind the red cluster diffuser and red bulbs appear a more normal colour..grrr I'll have to send these back and ask for bulbs that are brighter and will give off a more red colour, bummer, at least I have my HID's to play with tho' I'll have a stab on sunday, going shopping on saturday, and take some snaps and put pen to paper Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Blimey Stu you have been busy with the plastic, even better with a discount too I went to fit my rear led lights today to find they wouldn't fit into the rear cluster. The rear cluster has a plastic outer that firms the outer shell and a thin metal inner/reflector....so after a bit of filing the bulb slotted in nicely. After turning on to check the light levels the new bulb seemed a lot dimmer and also a pinky colour too, not safe to use on the roads Having checked for other bulbs on the site it mentions to choose red led's as the white ones look pink behind the red cluster diffuser and red bulbs appear a more normal colour..grrr I'll have to send these back and ask for bulbs that are brighter and will give off a more red colour, bummer, at least I have my HID's to play with tho' I'll have a stab on sunday, going shopping on saturday, and take some snaps and put pen to paper Yeah, after a pretty disastrous Christmas and NY I decided to treat the scoob to a pressie - it's only what would've been spent on beer, fuel and going out Shame about your rear bulbs. You had much luck with the HID kit? Been looking through my kit and it doesn't look too bad - I have to take the complete lights out anyway for the side lights and besides cutting some holes in the rear covers, it's seemingly straightforward (famous last words eh! ) Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) Hi Stu, I spoke to the nice lady at Autobulbs and she can do s straight swap for another set of led bulbs with more led's and in red too, that should stop the dull pinky glow I have been looking for space to locate the ballasts and I'm going to mount them flat right behind the lights as there's a nice wee spot just begging to be filled. I'll use the brackets they came with to secure the bracket to the chassis with a couple of self tappers. I'll need to put small rubber stick on bumpers to the bottom of the ballasts so they wont sit in any water (bonnet covers leak right behind the lights ) The rest of the install should be a doddle (famous last words) I have started doing a write up and started taking some piccies of the kit, loom and connectors to show whats involved - but my pics came out crap, not being a photographist (is that a word?) I'll have to do a few more. Whilst I'm doing that Ive been making up wiring looms so that I can fit in a voltage and exhaust temp gauge to a new A pillar pod, move the boost gauge so that I can see it properly in this new pillar pod and in-place where the boost gauge was, to fit a water temp gauge. Should have some pics of the water sensor install and the exhaust temp gauge install sometime soon, wife and time permitting If you get stuck with the lights gimme a shout, we can electrocute each other with 20kv off the balasts Edited January 6, 2011 by Vimmy Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Was doing mine earlier and luckily found that there's quite a useful recess under the lights slightly deeper than the ballasts so they're going in there. That was the good bit... ...I had intended on detangoing the headlights and painting the silver surrounds inside matt black but after stripping them down and heating them with the heat gun I noticed that they had been opened before and there was a crack in the rear of the case so had to leave it. That for a few £££ on new lights! The ballasts will be fixed in place after the trial fit today and the wiring and bulbs are installed in the headlights ready to drop in and connect (wiring looks better than OEM now with the waterproof seals that came with it) but I have had one issue: the connectors to join the HID Kit with the OEM loom are different. Not a biggie but me being me decided I would take apart the male OEM plug and switch the two wires for the HID wires... after a bit of fiddling the plug came apart and all was seemingly well until I tried removing the wire from the OEM pin and it ripped off leaving all the exposed wire in there. Now I can't get it out to add the HID kit wire. The new and old wires side by side The 'broken-apart' male plug - it's the live pin shown here at the top that I need to get onto the HID loom. The 'complete' assembly - looks tidier than OEM! So, plan is, I either need to give up on the idea of making the whole thing completely waterproof and just slice and crimp the wires together (might make it difficult next time I remove the headlights) OR source two new pins and/or waterproof connectors. Off to Maplins in the morning but I'm not holding out much hope Will keep you posted Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Nice bit of work there Stu, it looks way more complicated an install on mine. I went to Maplins and picked up some stick on rubber feet (for pc's) to sit on the bottom of the ballast units to stop them rattling about in the engine bay, £2 for a set of four, so I bought 2 sets, cheap as chips. Not had a chance today to do any work on the lights due me spending pretty much the whole day removing some very old bath and basin taps, whilst getting myself into small spaces trying to remove the pipes, lots of foul language was to be heard Fitted the replacements bought today and spent the rest of the night until 8pm resolving leaks, I'll never make a professional plumber Tomorrows plan is to fit my A pillar triple gauge pod ans wiring in 3 gauges with a ready made loom, fingers crossed they go in without shorting the battery I got my 36-LED brake/tail lights very quickly from Autobulbsdirect after sending the other ones back and doing a direct swap for some red ones with more led's. The problem i have now is that although the tail light is a little brighter with a deeper red colour, the brake lights brightness is only a little brighter than the tail light and I'm a bit concerned that there may not be enough of a lighting difference to let cars in my rear know that I am braking...the original bulbs were dimmer as a rear light but the brake light was dazzling so I may have to return these again The only saving grace is that the car has a high level brake light too so this may be enough of an indicator to show the car brakes are in use to other drivers??? These are the wee blighters, do they stay or do they go now ? Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Blimey, they make my LED sidelights look pathetic! I would imagine your brake light issue is a non issue with the high level as well. If it helps though I'm happy to pop over and follow behind to get a real world idea of the difference? The HID kit's not too bad, just me being anal and wanting it all perfect, waterproof and switchable with the halogen bulbs in case there's any issues come MOT time. I've even gone through rerouting the factory wiring, removing what is essentially electrical tape and wrapping it in rubber sleeves! Just hope it all works now! Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) I'm sure it will be fine Stu, if you've taken this many precautions wrt water ingress it should all be good. There's nothing wrong with being anal either with the possibility of 20kv being present and something shorting, not to mention to money spent on these lil' babies it's to be expected, I'd be worried if you werent so cautious I plan to water proof the oem loom ends too, but rather than having the lights switchable for MOT time, I'll take the easy route and swap the bulbs Might take you up on the offer of the light check matey Now my turn for being anal, I checked the MOT testers manuals site for anything about the ammount of light emitted that may constitute a fail, nothing Edited January 9, 2011 by Vimmy Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I'm sure it will be fine Stu, if you've taken this many precautions wrt water ingress it should all be good. There's nothing wrong with being anal either with the possibility of 20kv being present and something shorting, not to mention to money spent on these lil' babies it's to be expected, I'd be worried if you werent so cautious I plan to water proof the oem loom ends too, but rather than having the lights switchable for MOT time, I'll take the easy route and swap the bulbs Might take you up on the offer of the light check matey Now my turn for being anal, I checked the MOT testers manuals site for anything about the ammount of light emitted that may constitute a fail, nothing From what I've read it's more about the spread of the beam pattern (glare) and the colour temperature. As mine are 8k and slightly blue I wanted to err on the side of caution Let me know if/when you want me to pop over mate - just heading over to Maplin so mine SHOULD be installed by early afternoon. Link to comment
crispyduck Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Vimmy, Stu, Sounds like an interesting install you both are going. I'd be happy to publish an article on Scoobypedia for you guys to maintain if you took a few pics and a little text. Just let me know. -Steve. Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Hi Steve, I'd be up for that, my HID's are going in a Classic and Stu's in a Newage so that should cover the install for the majority of cars, I would think. I started taking snaps of the gear you get but they turned out poor so I'll take some more tonight and put down some words to the photos. I have found places to put al the kit in the engine bay, so that in theory wont take long to put it, the time spent is in documenting it Cheers, Col Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Finally installed the pillar pod and gauges today, piccies aint the best but the light was failing.. Daytime lights on the gauges.. Nightime lights, less distracting.. The bottom right pod is a different manufacturer so only goes light and dim, the rest default to red and I use a push button switch on the centre gauge pod to temporarily apply +12v to each gauge and it switches in the white background light. The final pieces are to install the water temp sensor in the top cooling pipe and install the exhaust temp sensor in the exhaust manifold branch.... Link to comment
crispyduck Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 This sounds good, as you say to have classic and newage HID writeup will be great. The gauge install looks great too. Think I can see another 'project' page for that too! Just send me what you have (I'll pm you both my email) and I'll create the initial page(s). Don't bother with formatting I'll sort that. Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 looking good chaps - do you need any tools etc??? pin outs??? Nope, mostly plug and play... unless you're bulb arrives DOA like mine! Doh!!! Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 I'm sure with the right words with the supplier and a mention of a pending review for a large car forum with a lot of readers, the replacement will be back very shortly i don't think there was much else we could try, nothing other than the bulb going would explain the symptoms? Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 looking good chaps - do you need any tools etc??? pin outs??? The only thing we didn't have Matty was the Mk1 Wet Finger needed to touch the ends of the plug that went into the bulb, at 23Kv I wasnt willing to try it, Stu wasn't up for it either Saying that i nearly kacked my undercrackers when I had a fluke measuring the loom for 12v from the lights ans Stu 'accidentally' hit the horn, i thought I'd shorted something Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I'm sure with the right words with the supplier and a mention of a pending review for a large car forum with a lot of readers, the replacement will be back very shortly i don't think there was much else we could try, nothing other than the bulb going would explain the symptoms? Will find out tomorrow I guess but thanks again for all your help mate - much appreciated! Good to catch Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Saying that i nearly kacked my undercrackers when I had a fluke measuring the loom for 12v from the lights ans Stu 'accidentally' hit the horn, i thought I'd shorted something Ah, yes... well, err... wasn't me guv'na ... honest! Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Will find out tomorrow I guess but thanks again for all your help mate - much appreciated! Good to catch No worries Stu, anytime old chap, but in fairness you did the legwork, I just confirmed what you thought was the problem Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Ah, yes... well, err... wasn't me guv'na ... honest! Uhuh Link to comment
badbaz Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Saying that i nearly kacked my undercrackers when I had a fluke measuring the loom for 12v from the lights ans Stu 'accidentally' hit the horn, i thought I'd shorted something The old horn trick - gets them every time!! Link to comment
Vimmy Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 The old horn trick - gets them every time!! Aye, I have a cleaning bill to send to somebody.... Link to comment
stum450n Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Aye, I have a cleaning bill to send to somebody.... Honestly mate, I'm not sharp enough to think of such larks. Wish I had thought to genuinely do it - wouldn't have scared me so much either! In other news: I may have mentioned to the lighting guys that I edit TG... will have new bulb and ballast by the end of the day/by 10am tomorrow! Link to comment
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