H.I.D. conversion kits for the classic mini
 

$160 for the headlamp housing and single hid kit or
$180 for the headlight housing with dual hid

this is a complete set up with ballast and everything needed to wire in.....pretty easy to do....

I found this guy online seems like resanable pricing.....if interested Email him @ omarresto@hotmail.com and let him know Norm sent ya !!!

do you know if the housing are designed specifically for hid? if it's a standard halogen housing with hid capsules, i'd highly advise against them.

Norm, would you have any photos? Do you know if the kit comes with the relays (instead of subjecting the factory wires to the high initial fire up current). I'm assuming these are the more "modern" kits that have the ballast with built-in ignitors?

I'm sure i could email the vendor, but was curious about your opinion :)

I know I am in the extreme minority on my opinion of h.i.d's, but does anyone else think they are too bright for the oncoming driver?

I find that with the right housing that is non diffracting... better yet, projection... would be perfectly suitable for any car. Oncoming glare would not be an issue with the right housing, and you would have the benefit of much brighter and more usable lighting. I believe my mini is outfitted with the H4 halogen housing and bulbs. The glass housing actually has a cutoff line that you can see in both the diffraction pattern in the glass and in the light pattern.

as mentioned by lenn, simply installing a hid system in a housing designed for halogen will yield poor results as well as cause glare to oncoming traffic. unless the housing has the proper optics for hid, i would not use this system as it can be a safety hazard to you and others.

for those interested in hid, you can easily retro fit projectors into a halogen housing. here's the retrofit i did:
http://www.vtecminis.com/gallery/thu...s.php?album=15

I will take a guess that Toyota and Acura don't use proper housings then, because those are the brands that frequently blind the crap out of me! :impatient:
Thanks for the info by the way! :)

Unfortunately, No HID kit is legal in the US right now. HID are only legal if installed at the factory.


Paul

Neither are downpipes/replacement cats (unless the original failed) as well as a host of other common mods but I don't really think many people care.

While Halogen designed housings aren't optimal, as long as you aim the lights properly they'll work fine and won't be blinding to oncoming traffic. Will the light output/pattern be as good as housings designed for HID's? No. Will it be an improvement over the stock halogens? A million times, yes. (Provided you go with a normal color temp and not the 8k-16k ricer bulbs.

Good luck registering/inspection.:wink:

The inspectors care and LEO's care. HID's are easy to spot.


Paul

well I don't have to have my car inspected.... so.. where are the photos and where is the info!?!

:D


BTW... hey Shon... long time no see... coming to MMW08?

Just email the guy for details.....he is really cool.......the kits includes the housing and everything.....all you have to do is wire it up.....very easy instructions on install......i got them for my truck and there great.....just tell him Norm sent ya......:thumbsup:....he also has differant brigntness HID's .....8500 is within street regulations

Ok... I'll do that... any pics of your truck, or the kit before you installed it?

i'll have to take some......right now my truck is with my body guy/painter getting a makeover.....

I got an email back from Omar about the HID kits....

here's the info:

"If you want your Mini to have hid kit, you will need to upgrade your headlight housing that allows for interchangeable bulbs. You will Also need single or dual H4 HID Kit. The headlight housing is $60 for the pair. You have two options for the HID kit. The single HID means that your low beam is HID but your high beams will be Halogen. In the dual HID kit, you will have both lo/hi beams in HID. For single HID these are $100 and for Dual these are $140. The HID are Plug-n-Play easy installation. I have attached pics of the Headlight housing and the Kit. All items are New in the box."

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/6...housingli4.gif

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4...small2lux5.jpg

it's a hell of a deal :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Not all states require annual inspections.

For the states that do, it's a quick swap to put in the original halogens - most HID kits are plug and play and the only part of the job that takes any time is mounting the ballasts/concealing the wiring.

HID's are easy to spot - if you go with one of the ricer color temps. At this point so many cars have them as original equipment that provided one doesn't go with an obnoxious color (4300k would give the best lighting performance and is the same color temp as OEM systems) and makes sure they're properly aimed a LEO shouldn't give any problems.

based on some responses from omar, it appears his using a halogen housing and adapting a hid capsule. this conclusion is made as he mentions H4. if it was a true hid housing, he should have referred to the standard hid capsules designed for reflective housings; the d1r and d2r capsules. with this in mind, optics may be a problem.

take note, even if you try to aim a halogen based housing with an hid capsule, glare can still be an issue. since the arc of the hid will be in a different location than a halogen filament, the light produced from the hid arc will not be controlled/aimed properly thus causing glare.

lastly, for those you who plan to use this system, i highly suggest you do not get the dual hid system; especially for city driving. for the most part, high beams are used to "flash to pass" and quickly illuminate the road ahead of you. if you use an hid system, you will need >10sec to achieve usable output as hid requires a startup time. this essentially will render high beams useless. if you would like to use hid for high beams, a projector with a bi-xenon capability is required.

i'm not trying to put this system down, just trying to inform people.

Thanks for the info Shon...

I like the idea of having HIDs on my car... they are factory installed on my TL... and when I had my 94 integra (before it got stolen) I had an HID kit in there that we did an install feature on when I worked at Super Street... I love the look, and the light output is great... I don't want to blind people though... if the housings had the proper optics for the HID bulbs (even if they use the H4 mount) I would be all over this... but I'm not sure.... so I'll wait..... here are a couple of pics of the bulbs

Norm - do you know how this set-up deals with the voltage across the headlamp switch issue?

For those that don't know: the standard headlight setup sends 100% of the headlamp current through the cabin switch, which leads to melting of the switch if the lamps are upgraded to more powerful units (more current = more heat in the switch). Since HIDs use ballasts, I assume that his wiring rig uses a relay system of some sort - is it a plug-and-play harness-type setup?

I ask because I have a set of 110W "cool white" replacement lamps on my bench waiting to be installed, but I've been procrastinating because of the need to splice in a set of relays (one for dip beam, one for standard) to deal with the melting switch issue. If he has a harness-type setup that just snaps in, perhaps if could be modified to work with different headlamp bulbs?

Let me know... Thanks!!

I would wonder how well these will work with the ride of the Mini. Let's face it... even in a well sorted state the ride in a classic is far from smooth and is even a fair amount behind civilized in some respects. I'm just wondering how well these will handle the shocks and vibrations. (That assumes of course that the subject platform is actually driven :wink: ) I thought that part of the reason that factory applications have leveling and such was to provide some addition insulation from the road vibrations.

These won't hurt the wiring at all?

It shouldn't, provided he constructed the wiring to use the existing headlamp voltage as simple trigger voltage for a relay or set of relays - I'm assuming that this is how he set it up, hence my last post. I honestly can't imagine constructing the circuit any other way, given the power output of the HID ballasts. The question is: does the wiring setup employ some sort of "plug in" harness system, or do you have to manually build the circuit via splicing the relays into the existing headlamp circuit? A simplier, plug-in system would be adventageous for the more casual MODder, as I find people have quite a bit of trepidation over the thought of cutting into the electrical system...

all detailed questions should be submited to the email i posted, because i have no clue...lol.....all i know is that there are nice and bright and i can see driving down the road for once

I'll mail him and post when he replies - thanks Norm!