JDM HEADLIGHT INSTALL HELP???

[str8304]

I have some one piece JDM headlights and need help with the installation. I did a search, but could not find a tutorial as to what I need to to install them as well as how. All your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Stylin_G]

This has been talked about throughout other posts.. But correct me if I'm wrong... If your planning on using a USDM grill you'd have to trim down parts of the radiator mount brackets. But if you have a JDM spec grill everything is bolt on and fits with very minor fitament issues. Thats just to get it to fit in... NOW, to get the lights to work you'd have to get hold of a H7 and a H1 wiring harness unless your planning on using HID's, to find out how to wire the lights together, search for a member here by the name of Reelax - he has a tutorial on how to do that! Good Luck dude!

[Reelax]

nope. you gotta cut metal no matter what and the USDM grill will not work with the JDM headlights. i'm gonna post this all again one more time:

you will need to cut the metal near the inside edges where the headlights fit into the subframe. also you will need to bend the radiator rails for clearance as well. the 2 mounting points for the headlights remain the same (top and corner) but you will have to make a custom brackets or use a longer bolt into the radiator and drill a hole in the mounting tab of the headlight housing for the inner mounting points behind the upper grill. also if you get a JDM grill you will see where you have to trim some of the plastic on the back to make the grill clip in fush as well as make a small hole for one of the mounting clips. once you get your JDM headlights, compare them to the us spec and remove one us spec to see where you will have to trim the metal and some plastic on the housings to fit. the wiring is another story but it's not too hard... you will need to buy a pair each of H7 (low beam) and H1 (high beam). the corners thankfully just need a little trimming to the bulb socket (not the headlight housing) to fit and are wired and work just like stock.

my lights have a custom relay network direct from the battery triggerred by the stock wiring... i did this for my dual HID's but since HID's draw less power than regular bulbs, this was totally uneccessary and the stock wiring should hold up to any regular bulbs you put in.

now your going to do the following for each side of the car: basically to convert the H4 bulb (3 wires) to dual bulb (JDM H7 lo, H1 hi - 2 wires each, 4 total) you just need to do some wire tapping... you can even keep the H4 wiring and plug intact. basically, you tap and add wiring to each of the three stock wires ahead of the H4 plug. there are 2 positives (one for hi beam and 1 for low beam) and 1 ground (-). now just add another tap and wire to the ground (your going to need 2 of those total). the H7 low is easy, just add a female spade connector to the low beam positive and also another to one of the grounds (-); those then clip onto the bulb (H7 has 2 terminals and 1 is poitive and the other negative... they are interchangeable). the H1 is almost as easy... add a female spade connector to the hi beam positive. the other ground you extended will screw under the screw on the headliight housing itself that holds the clip that holds the H1 bulb. the reason this has to go directly to the housing is that the H1 bulb only has 1 terminal (+), the ground is the bulb's mounting collar and that contacts the headlight housing and clip. so now the clip that holds the bulb is the ground and then just clip the female spade connector onto the H1 terminal and it will have access to power.

btw, the corner 1157 sockets will fit into the housing w/ minor trimming. the grey plastic socket has locking tabs... 3 narrow and 1 wide. trim the side of the wide one down so it matches the other 3 and it should just push in and turn like US spec. also w/ this method there is no need for a new bulb / socket / wiring; it'll work just like stock

now for the diode trick...

there r 2 positive wires that go to your H7 an H1 bulbs... u want to bridge those wires w/ a diode. a diode basically is like a one-way-valve for current. you want to have the high beams (+) send power to the low beams (+), but not vice versa so that when you hit your brights, your lows stay on drawing power from the highs; not the other way around.

http://www.the12volt.com/images/12voltdiodes.gif

http://www.the12volt.com/diodes/diodes.asp ('http://www.the12volt.com/diodes/diodes.asp')

you want the ANODE side (no stripe) connected to the high beam positive (H1) and the CATHODE side (w/ stripe) connected to the low beam positivem H7). i soldered the diode to a short length of insulated wire at each end to lengthen it then wrapped the diode in electrical tape. you can simply splice these wire leads into the harness on the wires that lead to the bulbs.

the diodes you want are rated for 12VDC. you can get them at any electronics store like radio shack.

that's how it goes, if i forgot anything , hit me up.

[str8304]

Well got damn that is a lot of work. I appreciate it. https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

[TWISTED II]

reelax, thats a good ass post, seen it a few times, lol. but i don't remember cutting any metal. i know i took off one of the mounting spots on the JDM assembly, and i remember bending some metal with a pair of vice grips, but i didn't cut any metal. maybe i just bent where i could have cut?

[Stylin_G]

Damn... Got shut down :mg: :explode: from Reelax https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif , as you can see I haven't done my install yet :mrgreen: . I'm still waiting word with my JDM Front End.. when I do I'm damn well be using this wiring tutorial....

Thanks Reelax for getting my back... I tried and I failed https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif . Guess my memory wasn't as good as i expected! https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif