Greetings all. This is my first DIY and I hope it helps. It was time to replace my ballast and I figured I'd give a shot at trying the after-market ballasts and bulbs from Omni X (http://www.omnixautosports.com/). For $179 delivered for the pair of new ballasts and new bulbs I thought it was worth the effort for a possible savings of $600...for one OEM ballast and install at the Stealership. Since I searched endlessly for pics on the "how to" of this with no luck I tried to get good pics of what I did. I am not saying this is the right way, but it worked out great for me. My father-in-law helped out as this should be a 2 person job and he being a former Ford mechanic didn't hurt either. I printed out and used an awesome Clearing Headlights with bumper and headlight housing removal DIY from Dave586270 to get to the point of actually making the mods. Refer to this (https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...dlight+removal

Here is what you need:
Aftermarket Ballast and bulb kit. I got the 10,000K kit (for you haters...yes I agree I hate seeing some $4,000 sled with blue/purple HID's, our cars come with HID so to me custom HID's are no big deal, most drivers would expect an Acura to have HID...no? just MHO)
10mm Socket, rachet and extension
Phillips head screwdriver
Flat head screwdriver (to pop up the push pin tops that hold the bumper in place)
T-20 Tamper proof Torx Screwdriver. (Tamperproof screws have a small bump in middle to prevent us f'ing with bulbs)
RTV silicone seal which is waterproof and will assure housing is gonna stay dry
1/4" Heat shrinking wire wraps (any local automotive store)
Electrical tape if you don't go with the heat shrinking wraps
4-Double ended wire connectors to splice power
2-25a blade type fuses to upgrade from the 20a we have now for HID
Drill and at least 3/8" drill bit
About 3 hours of time

BEFORE BUMPER AND HOUSING REMOVAL:

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AFTER BUMPER AND HOUSING REMOVAL, YUCK:



THE NEW STUFF:

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For this DIY I will refer to the following parts as:
Red: Power Harness
Blue: Ballast
Yellow: Headlight Harness
H/L- Headlights

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Once you have everything removed you will need to mount the new ballast with the bracket provided. I used the RTV seal around the hole at the bottom of the H/L housing where the OEM once sat. There are 3 screws used and I RTV'd those too. Be sure to just stay inside the OEM molded bracket area and you will be fine for space.
MAKE SURE TO SEAL ANY EXPOSED AREA OF THE BOTTOM HOLE WITH THE RTV

INSTALLING BRACKET

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Now you will cut the OEM power harness off of the OEM ballast

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Next you will crimp the end of the OEM power harness to the New power harness that plugs into the New Ballast. You can see in the pictures that we trimmed it down to have just a little bit of slack and then we heat sealed it with the heat shrinking wrap to make waterproof. Another good tip is to stagger your splice so you can slide the wrap over it easily. Simply cut one of the 2 wires on the harness the length of the connector and then do the opposite on the power harness. Short red, long black on one and Long red, short black on the other. This makes for a nice clean and waterproof splice. Again, you may choose to go electrical tape, but I think this will hold up MUCH better.

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After that we used a small blow torch to lightly and quickly heat the shrink wrapping, you can use a heat gun instead.



This is what it looks like after splicing the New power harness into the OEM connector that you reattached and the New Ballast clicked into the bracket you installed, pretty clean huh? You can see how the heat shrink wrapping seals everything in nice and neat.
You will also notice the red circled hole where we drilled through the housing to pass the New H/L harness through later. This is the passenger side H/L.

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Now I am showing you the Driver side H/L with the H/L harness as it passed through the hole you drilled.



Notice that I had to cut out a portion of the OEM molded ballast housing (driver side only) to plug the New Power Harness into the New ballast since both ballasts face the same way and we are working on both right and left H/L's

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Now connect the New H/L harness to the New Power Harness with the 2 slide connectors and push excess wires into the housing closest to the turn signal since there is a lot of room. Then connect the New H/L Harness to the new bulb you installed.



Here is the nearly finished product with the RTV around the hole you drilled to protect from water and air. After this coat I did put on a whole other layer for added piece of mind. A good tip is after you fill and circle the hole like you are using caulk, you can wet your finger to mold the RTV to shape and fill without it sticking to your hand. I also tested the system before the final re-install...just to be safe!

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After doing tests on both headlights it was safe to put the car back together. MAKE SURE TO CHANGE YOUR FUSES!
I was very surprised that it came together so quickly and so cleanly! Very pleased with the color and brightness.The second pick is of my Father-In-law in front of his '32 Deuce Coupe he built from the ground up, it's pretty BA! Notice the nice color and clean lines of the new headlights.




Some may be nervous about drilling into their headlight housing and modifying wiring to make this affordable mod work. This system is intended for a halogen to HID conversion, they don't make a HID to HID which made the mods necessary. I feel it was worth the time and care to save some big bucks. I, like most of you, love my car and that being said we all have heard the woes of owning these cars. I say it's worth it and I can't wait to take on some new projects now that I have gotten this one out of the way. Well that's it for now, hope this helps and yeah it really can be done! Peace!

 

real nice write up with good photos!

 

looks real nice with the aftermarket hids. i will have to do that on mine soon. much more light then the stock hids

 

Sweet deal! Good info for those of us that don't feel like shelling out $300+ for a new inverter

 

Nice....

 

This should be added to DIY/FAQ page + stickied!


Ahem...

 

wow thanks alot!

 

Thanks for doing this!! I've been looking for something like this for a while. Now I just need to find the time to do it.

 

Okay, no dumb questions, just dumb people. Since my stock Phillips 4300k's are still good, I can use them with the new After market ballasts...right? The connectors are now after market, but look the same, I was just curious about voltage, wattage, etc. The new After markets are 35w as well. CL-SA? LOL!

 

Finally!! I was wondering how this would work out. Nice write up!!

 

which bulb kit you get, i know that they are 10k just don't know if i need to get the 9006 kit or a differ one? i want to do the same wit my headlites.

 

Hey blak_wit_blak,
Our cars use the D2R bulbs or D2S. The D2R has a shield built on to it where the D2S does not. Since our cars use a reflector instead of projectors, the D2R will cut down on glare as opposed to the D2S. Not sure about the 9006 part but when you order I would definitely get the D2R's. Peace!

 

so wat was the exact kit that you bought? i understand the buld size. what i don't understand is the aftermarket hid kit comes with a different fitting for the headlights correct? so wat fitting did you use for the back of the headlights. the fitting i'm talking bout is in picture #12 your holding it in your hand. i'm not sure if i'm making it clear..

 

Hey I pm'd you. Go to the omnimax website on my OP ^ and get the D2R conversion kit for $179 delivered.

 

Oops, didn't read you're entire post. The aftermarket hid kit does come with a new fitting/harness for the bulbs, but they are the same connector/fitting as OEM for a D2R or D2S bulb (this means you can use your stock 4300's or any other kelvin bulb you want as long as they are D2R or D2S). Our factory ballast has a round part on top where the headlight harness can access the bulb from within the entire headlight housing, making it water tight. The aftermarket kit does not offer the same design as OEM, this is why I had to drill the hole in the back of the housing and seal it to make the connection to the back of the bulb.

 

oh hell yeah...great DIY man, lol at the big ass red scissors..NICE!

 

looks great man

 

Lol, TY TY . I was wondering when someone was gonna point that out!

 

Dude, seriously mad props on the write-up. Thanks for the shout out on my D.I.Y. write-up, haha. I got a kick out of that. Its crazy that I found this cause my driver side ballast is going bad and i was looking to do this mod next weekend. I was all ready to do the write-up and everything. You beat me to it, but I'm glad I don't have to go through all the guess work, i can just jump in and do it! Great job man!

2x add to DIY/FAQ

 

P.S.

Too bad you didn't clear the lights while you were doin all this work, haha!

 

One of the best DIY's I have seen on the CL side. Thank you so much for contributing!!

 

Wow...that's awesome of you to put this together.

 

HA! I know man, I should have. I just couldn't dedicate the time needed. Definitely on my To Do list...maybe next winter during a Cleveland blizzard. I am going to put a laundry list of "wish" mods and chronicle the DIY progress over the next few months so keep an eye out. Have a good one!

 

Sounds good man. You got the write-up to clear 'em and now i've got the write-up to fix 'em!

 

wow i was talking to my pops about how i need to replace my ballast and he found this thread. i totally forgot about it.

but definately thanks ill be doing this within the next few weeks

 

Hey no worries on this, it really is cake. PM if you have any questions or I can PM u my cell if you want to ask any questions prior to or during the install. I may live in Cleveland now, but I grew up around Clearwater Beach/Tampa...GO GATORS! Fach the Suckeyes!

 

Hey man, what gauge were those butt connectors you used? I have no idea how thick the wires are for the headlights so i didn't want to grab the wrong kind. I have everything else though, just waiting for the new kit to come in! My driver-side light is getting so bad lately...

 

Hey Dave!,
Ha, I am not really sure sadly. My Father In-Law had them laying around so we just used his. I will call him and find out for you, I can PM you the answer when I get it. Let me know if you have any other questions (hopefully I will know those answers!) about the install or you can PM and I can give you my cell. Good luck!

 

Alright thanks. I'm looking forward to getting it done this weekend if the parts come in on time. Now the light is barely coming on if it does at all . I'll keep an eye out for your pm. If i have some serious questions i'll def get back to you for your cell. Thanks again.

 

Nicely done, thanks for the effort and contribution.

 

HA! I love the "Not Asian" in your signature...hilarious!

 

So i got the conversion kit and i was all ready to do the work, when I noticed that one of the bulbs was broke... Now I have to wait for replacement. But on the plus side i found out that its just the bulb thats bad, not the ballast!

 

Hey Dave, so wait...you just had a bad OEM bulb? That's good, now you can hold onto those ballasts until one of the OEM ballasts eventually crap out. What kelvin did you get on your after market bulbs? The 10k's I got are REALLY blue, too blue to be honest. They of course look bright, but throw below than average light. I'm on the fence if I should get some 6k's or keep the 10k's and install some HID fogs on my '03. Good luck!

 

Yeah it was just the bulb that was bad. Good, but lame at the same time cause i took it all apart to do the work on the ballast and it turns out i could have just pulled the bulbs...

I just went with the 6K. I think its a perfect tint of blue so i'm happy with 'em. Just have to get a replacement for the kit. I'm gonna try and just return it all cause I don't need the kit. But hey if he just sends me the replacement than I'll be posting in the BM!

I'd def swap out for some 6K if you don't mind buyin new bulbs. I personally like the color much better. Its all up to you man.

 

Such a nice job on the description I decided to do this myself as one of my ballasts has just gone out. The kit should arrive next week [I hope].
I do have a question though - why do you say to change the fuses [which are 20A I think] in caps no less.........

Just curious
Scamparoni

 

Grate job dude, i'll do the same thing when my ballast's take a shit... I'm loven the tag on the hot rod!

 

Just ordered a set myself. I looked at a lot of other kits online/ebay etc. You can find cheaper kits but this out looks like it has the best mounting brackets and the wiring looks substantially better than the cheap opens.

 

Really nice write-up!

One more question before ordering my set: do you need to drill wholes to install the bracket?

Thanks!

 

i bought a hid kit about 8 months ago for $120(brand new) and it came with the conversion harness so you do not have to cut it off of the factory ballast. I have had no problems and the kit seems to be very reliable.

 

I paid less than $300 for a new Acura ballast and installed it myself. Do you know who makes your kit or where it was made or what components are in it? Trusting your life with a $179 kit ain't for me.