# HID headlight swap



## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

Well, I've got the HID bug once again. Just as a recap, shortly after I took delivery of my car last year (May '04), I bought two Audi/Hella bi-xenon projector lenses and two Hella ballasts. The idea was to somehow mount the projector lenses inside my reflector lenses. Well, the idea fizzled because of worries on my part about the local constabulary cracking down on headlight violations and such (esp. blue-coloured halogen bulbs!).

So, this time I'm planning to do it differently. I managed to located and purchase two (yes, 2!) OEM xenon headlight housings, complete with bulbs, ballasts and all original wiring. One of them is a 2005 variety, and so it should just drop in place of my existing headlight. The other is from a 2003, but before someone tells me they're a different shape, let me say that I'm only planning to use the ballast, bulb and reflector from it. If you look closely, you'll notice that Nissan didn't change the internals of the headlights when they refreshed the look for MY2005. As such, I'm going to bake open the 2003 headlight, remove the low-beam reflector, and then swap it for the reflector in my housing. The D2R (xenon) bulb actually mounts to the back of this reflector, just like in the halogen version.

I wish I could find two 2005-style OEM xenon housings, but alas they're hard to come by and are usually expensive.

I've only received the 2003 housing so far, and here are some pictures of it (click image to enlarge):

 

I'll update this thread with pics as things progress.


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## djliquidice (Apr 29, 2005)

some peeps on .net got it done.


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## Marvin (Oct 16, 2002)

I just did the straight swap of putting the HID system into my reflector housing. I've been bright flashed maybe 10 times in 2 years, never had a problem with the law. And I live in Atlanta, driving on the interstate in the morning in heavy traffic every day and downtown at night often. So its not like I live in the sticks where I see a car every other day.


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

Mark said:


> I just did the straight swap of putting the HID system into my reflector housing. I've been bright flashed maybe 10 times in 2 years, never had a problem with the law. And I live in Atlanta, driving on the interstate in the morning in heavy traffic every day and downtown at night often. So its not like I live in the sticks where I see a car every other day.


Yeah, but the Toronto cops are getting *REALLY* picky about illegal headlights. Granted, retrofitting projectors is better than using rebased xenon bulbs in a stock halogen reflector, but I'd just as soon have OEM housings and components. Quite frankly, the less I have to do with the cops around here, the happier I am.


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

I'm aware that HID ballasts draw more current during bulb ignition than a stock halogen headlamp circuit is designed for, which is why I was planning on using a harness to power them directly off the battery (with relays for switching).

However, I noticed today that the low-beam power connector on my stock halogens (black in colour) is almost identical to the 2003 HID connector (brown colour-see pic below). The difference is in two lines on the inside which are reversed. So I'm wondering if this is a difference between the 2002-2004 and the 2005 headlights, or if it's a difference between halogens and xenons. 

If it's the former, then this leads me to wonder if perhaps Nissan uses an HID-capable headlight wiring in all Altimas? If it's the latter, then I'll have to get a harness to avoid overloading the stock wiring. If anyone has the schematics for this, I'd be interested to know for sure before proceeding with my project... might save me buying an add-on harness.


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

PROJECT UPDATE...

Well, I've received both of my OEM xenon headlights (one 2003 and one 2005 model).

I'm converting the 2003 xenon to a 2005-style by swapping the clear lens portion and some of the internal reflector pieces. I started this process today by "cracking" open the 2003 xenon headlight assembly.

I contemplated using the oven method to bake it open, but the assembly wouldn't fit in my oven. So, I went with the less desirable and more time-consuming heat-gun method. I started by carefully heating where the clear and black parts join to soften the sealant Nissan uses. It took about a half-hour total, but I got the two parts seperated with no casualties (i.e. nothing broke).

Here are some pictures of the two parts separated....


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

If somebody can either describe where the factory Xenon/HID ballast mounting location is (or, even better, post pics of it) I'd really appreciate it.

I looked in the FSM, but can't seem to find this information, presumably because dealers would only be working on cars that came with HID from the factory, and thus it'd be obvious where the ballast is mounted. 

Thanks in advance!


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## AltibOi02 (May 30, 2005)

blitzboi said:


> If somebody can either describe where the factory Xenon/HID ballast mounting location is (or, even better, post pics of it) I'd really appreciate it.
> 
> I looked in the FSM, but can't seem to find this information, presumably because dealers would only be working on cars that came with HID from the factory, and thus it'd be obvious where the ballast is mounted.
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Show me how to post pix and ill show you where it is mounted in the factory location...that is where I mounted my HID ballast....or better yet let me e-mail them to you and you can post them on here (if you know how) some everyone else can see where it is mounted also....


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## djliquidice (Apr 29, 2005)

AltibOi02 said:


> Show me how to post pix and ill show you where it is mounted in the factory location...that is where I mounted my HID ballast....or better yet let me e-mail them to you and you can post them on here (if you know how) some everyone else can see where it is mounted also....


you can host it and use the [ img ] tag, or e-mail it to him.


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## AltibOi02 (May 30, 2005)

yea send me an e-mail address so I can send it to you if you want...hmm...dkliquidice that name sounds familiar lol!....


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## blitzboi (Apr 13, 2004)

*PROJECT UPDATE...*

Well, I finally did the HID headlight swap this weekend. Removing the headlamp housings on an L31 Altima requires removing the bumper cover to gain access to two hidden bolts, which is a pain and time-consuming, but not really all that difficult or complicated.

I did the passenger-side housing and wiring harness (for both sides) on Friday afternoon, followed by the driver-side on Saturday. Here's the sequence of events.... (don't blame me if you break something though!)

1. Begin by jacking up the front of the car and removing the tire. Then remove the clips securing the front-half of the inner fender liner (two pieces), plus the single bolt securing them together.

2. Disconnect the grille by removing the four clips on top, and pull gently forward at the bottom to release the hidden clips.

3. Remove the two clips holding the top of the bumper cover (at the edges of the grille opening) and the five clips holding the engine under-tray to the bumper cover. There's no need to remove the tray, just disconnect it from the bumper.

4. Remove the two screws that secure the bumper cover to the fender, which are located forward of the wheel well (and why we moved the fender liner out of the way).

5. Pull carefully up and forward on the bumper cover to release the clip hidden below the headlamp (see right picture below). Don't pull too hard, or you'll snap the wires going to your fog lights. You'll need to disconnect these before proceeding.

6. If you do this one side at a time, as I did, you can just let the bumper cover hang in place (see pics below).

For my purposes, this was all that was required to allow me access to the two lower bolts holding the headlamp in place (right image below). Just remove those, and the two on top, and the housing pops right out.

















The low-beam connector on the OEM housings is slightly different between the HID and halogen versions (brown vs. black). This is because a stock altima halogen circuit uses a wire guage that cannot handle the power load of repeatedly starting xenon bulbs, and would eventually burn it out, blow fuses, or in an extreme situation, cause a fire.

But in any case you can't buy the stock-type connectors, so to solve this incompatibility I simply cut off the stock connectors and replaced them with standard 9006-type connectors (male with pigtails). To ensure a perfect and maintenance-free connection I soldered the wires together, followed by heat-shrink tubing, and then wrapped the length of wire with electrical tape (just like OEM!).

I also cut off the stock connectors on the new xenon housings and replaced them with 9006 (female with pigtails), using the same perfectionistic process as outlined above.

I used a 9006 xenon wiring harness from XenonDepot.com (on ebay), which happens to be located in Toronto, and just plugged it and powered it up (battery and ground). The harness uses relays to control the headlights from the stock harness, but powers them through heavier guage wires so as to not cause fires and whatnoe. It honestly couldn't have been any simpler. A few black wire-ties and voila, the whole thing looks just like OEM.










I'll post more pictures soon!


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