996.2 HID install - anyone done it?

[MrJingles705]

Bought the HID Stealth kit from HIDS4U .... struggling to get my head around the best way to fit all of the electronics in.

1) Some people have said they just jammed everything into the light cover - not only can I not figure out the logistics of doing this, but surely heat build up from the ballast must be killing components bottled up in there?

2) Assuming you do it the way the instructions say (cable through grommet, boxes outside the headlamp) where do you put it? and how do you avoid it getting yanked when you are removing the light?

[gsewell]

The installation of HID's looked like a major headache to me, so I opted for LED's instead. Direct replacement of existing bulb. So far they have been great - have MOT booked at the end of June so will find out then if they are too "blue".

[MrJingles705]

gsewell said:

The installation of HID's looked like a major headache to me, so I opted for LED's instead. Direct replacement of existing bulb. So far they have been great - have MOT booked at the end of June so will find out then if they are too "blue".

Worried that LED's wont be bright enough for dipped beams (I do quite a bit of late night driving) - I didn't think LED's were as bright?

[MrJingles705]

And yes, you are right, major headache hence this thread

I've seen people silicon blob and ziptie these things loose within the wings too... all sorts. Looks like a receipe for disaster done like that.

There must be a better way....

[Pugley]

I have been on this trip also:-

I fitted aftermarket HIDs and managed to get the slimline ballasts into the headlight under the removeable cover. It was tight but possible.

However, the light was great for me but obviously not for oncoming taffic as I was forever getting flashed. The HID beam was much more diffused which meant the headlamp was not properly focussed.

After about a year one of the ballasts packed up (probably due to overheating?)

It would have been cheaper to buy a complete kit rather than a single ballast so I decided to try the lastest version of Osram Night Breakers.

Simple to fit, correctly focussed with conventional lens and at least twice as bright as standard halogen.

I have them in all my cars that use halogens. I have OE HIDs on my Turbo and I would say that the Night Breakers are of similar light intensity.

[MrJingles705]

Pugley said:

I have been on this trip also:-

I fitted aftermarket HIDs and managed to get the slimline ballasts into the headlight under the removeable cover. It was tight but possible.

However, the light was great for me but obviously not for oncoming taffic as I was forever getting flashed. The HID beam was much more diffused which meant the headlamp was not properly focussed.

After about a year one of the ballasts packed up (probably due to overheating?)

It would have been cheaper to buy a complete kit rather than a single ballast so I decided to try the lastest version of Osram Night Breakers.

Simple to fit, correctly focussed with conventional lens and at least twice as bright as standard halogen.

I have them in all my cars that use halogens. I have OE HIDs on my Turbo and I would say that the Night Breakers are of similar light intensity.

Thanks - I had the Osrams in previous 996 (2000 C2 Manual) and they were much better than standard bulbs but still poor. This car (2003 996 C4 Auto) got a set of them as soon as I bought it but seems worse (maybe because of the C2 projector headlight? not sure). In any case, looking for something better.

Sounds like the "stuff it in and pray" method is out as I suspected

[nxi20]

MrJingles705 said:

And yes, you are right, major headache hence this thread

I've seen people silicon blob and ziptie these things loose within the wings too... all sorts. Looks like a receipe for disaster done like that.

There must be a better way....

There is. I've had HIDs on the GT3 for the past 9 years. Never had a problem with blinding people or getting it through the MOT. I don't even switch the beam pattern over for the continent these days & again, no issues.

The first thing to realise is that you need a hole saw to open up the rear cover to get the grommet in. The ballast box needs to be secured to the inner wing using something like Dual Lock (think Velcro on steroids!); https://www.directa.co.uk/index.php?route=product/... There are still wires running all over but it's all hidden away so who cares?

This is my install:



My current cover with LED high beams (the braided stuff is the heatsink which needs to be in free air to work)




My covers with just the HID grommet installed. I use silicon sealant to ensure no water ingress past the grommet; again. not pretty but hidden so who cares?

Edited by nxi20 on Monday 15th May 12:47

[MrJingles705]

nxi20 said:

There is. I've had HIDs on the GT3 for the past 9 years. Never had a problem with blinding people or getting it through the MOT. I don't even switch the beam pattern over for the continent these days & again, no issues.

• SNIPPED TO SAVE ROOM*

Thanks for pics - I thought about the same spot as you for the ballast, struggling to find a way to secure the decoder (black box in your picture) and the igniter (not shown on yours). Are they free hanging in your install? or cabletied together or something?

I haven't had reason to complain about the full beam, mainly as I get so little chance to use it! LED's worthwhile?

[nxi20]

MrJingles705 said:

Thanks for pics - I thought about the same spot as you for the ballast, struggling to find a way to secure the decoder (black box in your picture) and the igniter (not shown on yours). Are they free hanging in your install? or cabletied together or something?

I haven't had reason to complain about the full beam, mainly as I get so little chance to use it! LED's worthwhile?

Not secured as it makes it too difficult to remove the lights when you don't have the full extension of the cables. If you wanted to, I guess you could secure them using some sort of elastic to pull them out of the way. Never been a problem leaving them to hang free so I never bothered.

LEDs are a huge improvement over even 100W bulbs. Really white & very bright. I got them from here after doing a lot of research.

https://www.auto-lighting.co.uk/product-eng-6338-H...

They are "instant on" & great for waking up dozy L3 dawdlers

[MrJingles705]

nxi20 said:

Not secured as it makes it too difficult to remove the lights when you don't have the full extension of the cables. If you wanted to, I guess you could secure them using some sort of elastic to pull them out of the way. Never been a problem leaving them to hang free so I never bothered.

LEDs are a huge improvement over even 100W bulbs. Really white & very bright. I got them from here after doing a lot of research.

https://www.auto-lighting.co.uk/product-eng-6338-H...

They are "instant on" & great for waking up dozy L3 dawdlers

Fair play, if you've been running them like that for 9 years that kinda answers my question

Lots of the issues we seem to have with the 996 is the fact that the bulbs are enclosed as a whole unit.... case in point, the video on that LED site shows the braid hanging in free air behind the light which we can't do.

Makes this much more difficult then it should be.

[nxi20]

MrJingles705 said:

Fair play, if you've been running them like that for 9 years that kinda answers my question

Lots of the issues we seem to have with the 996 is the fact that the bulbs are enclosed as a whole unit.... case in point, the video on that LED site shows the braid hanging in free air behind the light which we can't do.

Makes this much more difficult then it should be.

Just to be clear, the HIDs have been in for 9 years, the LEDs are a new thing & only been in a few months. So far so good though. I've also put them in the 993 as high beam bulbs(it's got Litronics as dipped beam) but can't get the braids out into the air on that install. As you say, you don't normally get the chance to use high beam for any length of time so thus far I haven't seen them overheat. Time will tell if this is going to be a showstopper, which would be a shame as they really do transform the amount of road ahead you can see clearly.

While I was out at the local shop, I spied these & thought they'd be ideal for pulling the loose wires & gubbins out of the way. I will install them & see how it goes...

[gsewell]

Looking back to my old thread...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
These LEDs are good for 9000lm (4500 per bulb) which is about 3 times halogen.

[MrJingles705]

gsewell said:

Looking back to my old thread...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
These LEDs are good for 9000lm (4500 per bulb) which is about 3 times halogen.

Looking at your post, you had to remove the clip to fit... was that because the fan assembly couldn't be removed? 996.2's have a bulb holder rather than a clip so if the back portion won't split it becomes a pain in the backside.

...

Anyway, got stuck in last night but didn't have much time. First things first, to use the 996.2 bulb holder with the HIDS4U stealth kit's supplied HID bulb (the one in the kit doesn't fit well at all) you need to first gently file down the 'lumps' in the bulb holder:



You can then thread all but one of the plugs through (the biggest one) - for that you need to remove the pins, a tack pin (or watchmakers screwdriver) can be used to do this (trick I saw from another installer):

https://youtu.be/5xIEpYNTHFk

After you do that it all feeds through the bulb holder nicely and you can put the connector back on.

Did one out of two because I ran out of time faffing around with the packaging - pretty good, photos don't do it justice (other bulb is an osram nightbreaker) - compared one against the other by standing in front of one headlight:





Problem is packaging... driver side there is more room, but passenger side in the C4 is very 'busy' - thinking of sticking the ballast to the inside of the wing or on the flat space right next to the light fitting tray... rather than on the back of the headlight (which seems to just kiss the pipework at the back as shown here):



Then tidy up the 'odds and sods' by either tucking them into the small gap behind and slightly lower than the tray, or way up in the wings (your bungy key idea looks to be a good one!).

Edited by MrJingles705 on Tuesday 16th May 14:14

[MrJingles705]

Ballast vecro'd to the side...


wires tuck behind and down the gap a little.