[Toque]

Guys:

Installed a set of C5 Fog lights, and then installed HID 6000K lights in the fog lights, and then HID 6000K lights into the low beam head lights. WOW what a big difference ! I'm comparing to the Silverstars too ! The silverstars are YELLOW big time compared to this setup ! I can only imagine how it would compare to stock....

Total cost for C5 fog lights, and all HID hardware was $423 everything in . I got the C5 fog lights, console button, wiring harness, brackets etc... from a scrap yard. :thumbs: All the HID setups were fron that auction site. Please PM me for more details if your interested.

Its not too bad to do really.....

I first installed the fog lamp button in the dash. It was easy to pop out and snap in the new one. Once the button was in, and you have the head lights on you can press the fog light button and it should light up the LED in the button, and you should hear a "CLICK" from under the hood.

Then I installed the 2x factory C5 fog lamps with some mounting HW I got at Lowes (see below). I then ran the 2 seperate purple wires from each fog lamp to the purple wire under relay #39. Be sure not to cut the purple wire because it leads from the fuse box to the relay inside the car (your little light on the fog lamp button will not light up if you clip the purple wire)(don't bother asking how I know this :lol. Just solder the two purple leads from the fog lamps to the purple wire under relay #39. Use electrical tape or heat shrink and secure/isolate the conection.

Lifting the fuse box to get under it is a bit of a pain, and you don't have too much room at all to work. I removed the shroud around the battery/fuse box to give me some elbow room. You will have to try to pull a bit on the wiring harnesses to get some slack. Just be careful with it and you should not have any issues.

In theory you could run a single wire from the purple wire in the fuse box to one lamp, then one wire from that lamp to the other lamp. I just chose to do it the same way the factory did it.... Just in case it was done like that for a specific reason. I suspect each lamp was run seperately so that you would not over current a single wire and melt it.

I then ran the 2x black GND wires from the fog lamps and connected them to the GND block over the passenger wheel inside the engine bay.

I then used the black plastic wire wrap that I got at Lowes to cover the wiring all the way from the fog lamps to the fuse box. I tie wrapped it along the way to secure it. I also tried to hide it so its not seen. The parts of the wire wrap that you can see it still looks like stock because it looks like the wire wrap that the factory harnesses use.

I have not had a chance to drive it yet, but I hope to this weekend :willy:

Here are some pics...

Wiring schematic

Stock wiring harness from scrap yard. What a mess this was :yesnod:

Fog harness striped from old C5 harness. Speed clips and screws from Lowes

Close up of speed clips from Lowes

Speed clip installed.

Stock C5 fog light installed.

Stock C5 Fog lights on. What a horrible yellow glow.... :crazy:

HID 6000k - 9006 (HID Low Beam) and 899 lights (HID Fog lamps).

Input plug into HID unit is like factory connector.

Mounted both HID units under the brake cooling duct. Duct moved to the side so you can see one of the boxes mounted.

Brake cooling duct moved to standard position. You can't even see the boxes under the duct.

6000K HID low beams on, and 6000K HID fog lights on.

ONLY the 6000K HID fog lights on.

HID 6000K Low beams, and HID 6000K Fogs shining on the wall

HID 6000K Low beams ONLY

HID 6000K Fogs ONLY (took some work to get them to match up like that.

Silverstar high beams. I can't believe how YELLOW the silverstars are. The pic can not show how big a difference there is !

Please feel free to ask any questions.

Toque

 

[WIT911]

Sweet! artyon:

 

[Photog.]

For starters, thanks alot for posting this...that post took some effort:thumbsup:
Ive always been interested in putting fogs in my 2001 Z06. Can you go with a higher number(temperature?) bulb? Say in the 7000-9000 range? More blue/purple? Im guessing at these numbers but a buddy has the HIDs on his Supra and I think they are a higher number than the 6000 and they are piercing blue/almost purplish...I dont know much about HIDs but didnt know if the control boxes had problems handling numbers of a certain range?

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Toque]

For starters, thanks alot for posting this...that post took some effort:thumbsup:
Ive always been interested in putting fogs in my 2001 Z06. Can you go with a higher number(temperature?) bulb? Say in the 7000-9000 range? More blue/purple? Im guessing at these numbers but a buddy has the HIDs on his Supra and I think they are a higher number than the 6000 and they are piercing blue/almost purplish...I dont know much about HIDs but didnt know if the control boxes had problems handling numbers of a certain range?

Thanks,

Steve

Steve:

Thanks ! and I have no problems sharing my learning experiences on here. Its what the forum is all about right ? :thumbsup:

I went with the 6000K (9006 low beam, and 899 fog lights), but I know that numerious Ebay vendors carry many different colors. Type in HID and 9006, and 899 you will find many places to get these lights.

Color Temperature Color Emitted Lumens (Brightness)
4300k Xtreme White 3100Lm
6000k Diamond White 2900Lm
8000k Iceberg Blue 2500Lm
10000k Brilliant Blue 2300Lm
12000k Violet Purple 2000Lm

Your friend may have had the 10000K or 12000K lights to get the Purple blue color. Remember that the higher color temperature you go, the less brightness they are.

Toque

 

[Patrick]

Oh man. Great post. I've been thinking of new lights since I got the C6.

The C5 Z lights are indeed yellow and are nothing in comparison to the fabulous lighting on the DC C6.

I am bookmarking this!

 

[iburke]

I prefer being followed at night by a C5 better than a C6.

 

[Toque]

Guys:

I went for a cruise tonight, and I am absolutely SHOCKED ! These are the BOMB !!! artyon: Turning on the high beam "Silverstars" is light driving with your lights off in comparison ! Its actually scary turning on the high beams after driving with the HID's. I will never go back to stock lighting again. There is no shaking, or flickering. Its perfect ! The light coverage is really good ! Its even better than my GTI with stock HID's !

Toque



Head on HID low beams and Fog Lamps

HID Fog lights only

HID Fog lights only

HID Low Beams only

HID fog lamps, and HID low beams - Side angle

HID fog lamps only - Over the top of the car

HID low beams only - Over the top of the car

HID fog lamps, and HID low beams - Over the top of the car

SilverStar high beams - Over the top of the car. It is HORRIBLE !

SilverStar high beams - Over the top of the car. It is HORRIBLE !

HID fog lamps, and HID low beams - Side view

HID fog lamps, and HID low beams - Over the top

 

[jmaal13]

Nice

Nice write up! I have been thinking of doing just the fogs so I wont have to flip up my lights at night. Now I can see how that looks.

Thanks

 

[Toque]

Guys:

I found that mounting the 2x boxes on top of the brake cooling duct was too much weight. I found last night that while driving, the passenger brake duct pulled away from its slot. Today I mounted the 2x boxes under the brake cooling duct. It looks better now, and will be much more stable. You can't even see the boxes now under the duct :thumbsup:

Toque

Mounted both HID units under the brake cooling duct. Duct moved to the side so you can see one of the boxes mounted.

Brake cooling duct moved to standard position. You can't even see the boxes under the duct.

 

[sheriffd2]

FANTASTIC WRITEUP, THANKS FOR THE EFFORT!

Very cool! I'm definitely doing this!:thumbsup:

 

[mexicanZ06]

Hey there, pretty cool setup I bet it drives much better at night! I've been thinking about doing that also but I have vararam intake installed, do you think I might have a problem with that?? Where did you get the console button for the fog lights and how much was it??

 

[The Bad]

Man that looks good, thanks for the write up!:thumbsup:
I've been thinking about a better lighting system as the factory left something to be desired.
I'll have to bookmark this page.

 

[Toque]

Hey there, pretty cool setup I bet it drives much better at night! I've been thinking about doing that also but I have vararam intake installed, do you think I might have a problem with that?? Where did you get the console button for the fog lights and how much was it??

It is AMAZING to drive at night. I can't believe it ! Driving with the HID lights, and then switching to high beams (I have Silverstars) is scary ! I will never use my high beams again. I might as well remove them :laughing:

I have the vararam too... Had no issues here...

I got the C5 fog lights from a Corvette Scrap yard - Fog lights, mounting brackets, wiring harness, fog light button.... $135 shipped.

Pic taken before I cleaned everything up... sorry for the dust... The light lights up on the button just like the stock C5 button

 

[festone]

High Beams as well?

It is AMAZING to drive at night. I can't believe it ! Driving with the HID lights, and then switching to high beams (I have Silverstars) is scary ! I will never use my high beams again. I might as well remove them :laughing:

This may be a dumb question but can't you also replace the high beams with HID lighting kit?

 

[Toque]

It is AMAZING to drive at night. I can't believe it ! Driving with the HID lights, and then switching to high beams (I have Silverstars) is scary ! I will never use my high beams again. I might as well remove them :laughing:

This may be a dumb question but can't you also replace the high beams with HID lighting kit?

Absolutely ! I just never use my high beams in Dallas... There is just no need to do that. There are street lights everywhere. If I lived where I used high beams a lot I would do this mod for sure !

Fog Lamps are - 899
Low beams are - 9006
High beams are - 9005

I'm sure the Ebay vendors carry the 9005 bulbs just as easy as the other 2.

Toque

 

[LTstewy8]

I just got mine in, same kind as posted, but I seem to have more wires on my kit. How do you wire it, I can't figure it out?

 

[Toque]

I just got mine in, same kind as posted, but I seem to have more wires on my kit. How do you wire it, I can't figure it out?

See my post here:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1687872

Toque

 

[LTstewy8]

mine didn't go in as cleanly as your install, Toque. My oem wiring harness wouldn't go into the ballast because the polarity was backwards. so i had to use the extra wires that came with the kit, but even those didn't go in perfectly since the clip dimensions were a little off. a little persuading and tape took care of it, but it feels a little ghetto rigged. also, i mounted my ballast where you did, but i was worried about it getting wet, any thoughts on this?

 

[Toque]

mine didn't go in as cleanly as your install, Toque. My oem wiring harness wouldn't go into the ballast because the polarity was backwards. so i had to use the extra wires that came with the kit, but even those didn't go in perfectly since the clip dimensions were a little off. a little persuading and tape took care of it, but it feels a little ghetto rigged. also, i mounted my ballast where you did, but i was worried about it getting wet, any thoughts on this?

I had to do a little tweeking on my pins after swapping them opposite polarity. You not alone there. I don't drive my car in the rain. I never thought about water pooling in that area. That is something you may want to consider if your car is a daily driver.

I hope you like the light improvement though ?

Toque

 

[LTstewy8]

it definitely lights up the road better:thumbsup: . but, I expected the HID fogs to outshine the lowbeams, however this isn't the case and I still have to have the lowbeams on. in town i could go with only fogs, though. I need to fix the yellow headlights now, as it creates a color mismatch with my white fogs. i'll probably get the projector housings from corvette garage or the euro headlights gm put on it's exports. now that i have decent lighting, i'm addicted to get more. it's like a drug, but improves my safety instead:smack