C4 HID Headlight Upgrade

[Venicevette]

Hello guys!!I always apologize for my english,I'm italian I live near Venezia,I 've a question for you:someone has done an upgrade on his headlights corvette to HID technology,I intend real HID bulbs with the ballasts and wiring kit, in my 85' I never change the bulbs so I dont know the type,I see on Sylvania site that the code is H6 054 they talk about a sealed bulb in the lens,and a conversion to H4 socket so you can buy only the bulbs,at the moment my corvette is at the shop for changing Injectors .
I verify that all the HID kit on Ebay aren't for H6...tanks for informations

[-=Jeff=-]

yes you have H6054 Sealed beam headlights. you will need the H6054 housings that will accept a H4 bulb then buy the HID conversion they sell on eBay or wherever you choose. for the housings I would suggest Hella or another decnet brand that is glass, then buy your kit, with some the ballasts are small enough to fit in the rotating headlight assembly.

Good Luck

[Venicevette]

thanks -=Jeff=- I must verify but probably my vette's headlight have the housing changed by previous owner,and so I have only to buy the hid kit,in this case the lenses are good for hid applications or for best results I need special lenses? I alwas impressed by the BMW headlight they cut the night as a blade,my 85' vette seams to have two candles inside the headlight...

[BlueFlame53]

If your sealed beam headlights have already been converted to the H6054 housings that will accept a H4 bulb, then (I believe) you will just need the HID kit (with ballasts & all) to upgrade to HID.

If your headlights are still a sealed beam unit and you cannot put a H4 bulb inside, then you will need to change out the housings to the H6054 housings that will accept a H4 bulb AND get the HID kit.

I have messed with HIDs in the past, but not specifically on a 'vette, so if I am somewhat incorrect here I hope someone will correct me.

L8R,

[Venicevette]

tanks Bluflame 53 the actual bulbs make a particular color light like a rainbow/yellow beam so I think it may be some kind of modern replacement bulb that you can find on any shopping center,so as you told probably I just have to put the hid kit .About the ballast I have to put inside the rotating assembly,I hope there is enough room becouse I never open the assembly.
Someone have experience about a HID KIT on a vette headlight?It works good?Vette headlights are an old technology design,modern Hid xenon sistem normaly work on last generation lenses so I want make the upgrade only if it is a real emprovement...all that kind of bulbs named like blu xenon,ultra white...ecc. do not convince me...thanks guy for all !!
PS on Ebay there are a lot of similar product,but this kit is realy very unexpensive :37 euro = 58 USD what do you think about?

http://cgi.ebay.it/Kit-DE-CONVERSION...ayphotohosting

[guardian]

Ok. The advantages: Absolutely astonishing light!

Now for the downside: Alot of work "IF" you want it done correctly and you only want to do the work ONE TIME...

1). You'll need to pretty much disassemble EVERYTING. Start by removing the upper and lower assembly covers. Upper = flat piece that you see when the headlights are turned off. Lower = the bulb cover that you see after the headlight rotates when you turn the lights on.

2). Most HID kits have ballasts that are sized to easily fit inside the rotating assembly, so that's an easy one. HOWEVER... you will have to remove the metal plate that serves as a heat "shield" (just a guess) for the sealed beam. The small hole at the center of this plate will have to be made several times larger to accomodate the new lenses that you'll need so that you can use the H4 bulbs. If that's already done, all the better.

3). You then have to "cable" everything up. The system I purchased from ebay was CLEARLY made for a traditional 2 headlight system,IE: NOT one where the headlight assemblies rotate! I found the easiest approach to completing the install was to mount the power/control relay inside the driver side headlight assembly (the relay I'm talking about is the one that controls the pivot motion of the HID bulb to simulate the Hi-Lo beams... that is if you get the Bi-Xenon HID kit).

4). Adjust and you're finished... IF YOU'RE LUCKY! This is where the LOTS OF WORK happens if you're not! In my case, I also had to replace a harness... it's the small (less than a foot long) harness that connects to the ORIGINAL Sealed Beam and the rotating assembly motor. From years of engine compartment heat, the insulation had cracked on two of the 3 wires going to the headlight connector. That was the toughest and most time consuming task. But, better safe than sorry.

Good Luck! By the way... I'm Italian and I still have some family over there...

- Joe

[Agent 86]

From the pics I have seen, the light pattern looks like crap. I don't know if it's beacuse they used a cheap lense or the fact that the lense was not designed for HID bulbs.
I'm using Hella E-Spec lenses with 100/80 H4 bulbs and the pattern is great and so is the amount of light. Plug and play, to top it off.

[Venicevette]

thanks Guardian my C4 1985 has an european headlight upgrade,with orange direction lights and probably the headlight lenses will be not sealed,so I think all your explanation will help me very much during the hid upgrade thanks again for your tutorial

[Venicevette]

thanks Agent 86,what you say is what i was thinking... usualy the HID bulbs in modern cars works with lenticular projectors,the last generation lenses.The old generation lenses have a particular pattern on glass surface that produces the rays flow and the light pattern at the end,so probably for the best results with HID system you needs special projector with lenticular lenses ,however with 6000 kelvin on your headlights the lights will be ultrawhite!!!...before i wanna buy your 100/80 h4 and verify thanks

[guardian]

One more thing that I ran into:

Depending on whether or not you have factory fog lights (and how they're wired), you may lose them when installing Bi-Xenon HID headlights.

The Side Effect: When you switch on the Fog Lights, your headlights will switch to Hi Beams and your Fog Lights WILL NOT turn on.

There's a fix for it, but it requires some work... If your Vette is like mine, the Fog Light Relay is on the passenger side underneath the Instrument Panel and is oriented toward the front of the car. You have to pull the relay and make a cable (deleting the "ground side" routing for the relay winding). The new cable's "ground side" will need to be attached to an ACTUAL ground. As the car comes from GM, the low side of the relay winding "sources" its ground thru the High Beams!!! When you apply the high beams, it switches the low side of the fog light relay windings to +12VDC, which will de-energize it (turning off the Fog Lights).

If you need to see schematics, I can provide them...

BTW, the higher you go beyond 4200-4300 Kelvins for the frequency/temperature range of the HIDS, the BLUER the light gets... not WHITER.

The range looks like this: white < blue < purple... etc.

For comparison, regular sealed beams are down in the 3000K (or less) range.

My 4300K driving lights are WHITER than my 5000K headlights (which are much BLUER).

And there are special purpose bulbs made for "projector" lenses versus the "reflector" lenses. They (still) make both and either type can be obtained thru ebay. You simply have to be aware of what you're ordering. Most vendors will tell you (if you read their entire auction text) that they can supply the system you purchase with either, however the "projector" bulbs are special order and will delay their shipping of your order for (at least) a few days to perhaps a full week.

The difference (after dusk) is nothing less than AMAZING! You'll never bother to use your driving lights again!!!

[Venicevette]

thanks Guardian for your tutorial and all your specifications ,very useful for my choice and best application.I'm sure I'll be complitely satisfaced by upgrade to HID on my Vette and the car's look will be more actual...thanks again for your posting

[lewiscotz]

hi guardian can you show some schematics to i have the proble you describe my fog lights doesnt light since i instaled mi hid lights

[Calderone]

Hi guys !
Im in the process of upgrading my Fog lights to HID.
its not plug and play because the 84-90 Foglight style
has a special socket that goes thru a rail.-
I purchased 2 sockets cut from the Harness and i will try to adapt it
to make my HID Fit.- Not an easy task at all
Any of you running HID Fogs on 84-90's ??
i will later go with the headlights,i think i will have to do the "fix"
for the high beam xenon to work .-

[lewiscotz]

where could i buy online a HID kit for my 94 fog lights, someone help

[Calderone]

there is a lot of kits on the bay