Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

I have a 2001 civic just for reference

So as much as I have wanted to do a retrofit I have not had the money, but have recently fallen into a good set of stock headlights and there are some Morimoto mini's on the local craigslist for super cheap (guy bought them and never used them). My first question comes here. Is there anything I should look for to make sure they are actually legit and not knock offs or defective or anything like that?

Second is about the bulbs/ballasts I should use. I have searched for the last few days trying to figure it out but I'm still confused so sorry if this has been answered before, but I'm gonna ask again anyway.

My understanding is that the Morimoto Minis accept H1 bulbs, so I would want to get an H1 kit (I was considering this DDM kit http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DD...ast-35W-or-55W), but where does this leave me as far as plugging into the car? 01's have H4/9003/HB2 bulbs/plug ins, so if I get an H1 kit for the minis will I be able to easily wire it to my car?? Also, from what I've read I was planning on ordering the harness as well just FYI.

Another question I had was regarding the Bi-xenon. From my understanding the mini projector itself is what is "bi-xenon" in that is had a shroud that is lifted to allow more light and it does not have anything to do with the bulb itself. Does this shroud wire into the car and just act as the high beam essentially? If so, why do they sell bi-xenon bulb kits? are these kits for cars with separate hi/low so they car retain use of high beams?


So to wrap up, I am currently planning to go with morimoto minis with ddm H1 bulb/ballast kit and harness. Is there anything else I need to make this work???

Thanks in advance!

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I'd find out if it were the Morimoto h1 or d2s projectors first.. TRS has the projectors in both bulb types

And I'd slap in TRS's Morimoto HID kit with that.. but that's just me

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Hmmm the link in the posting is for the H1 projectors. They're only $60 which I figure I'm not gonna be able to beat. What extra wiring/work is associated with going from the H1 projector to the 9003 plug in?

Yeah I should go with the better kit, but I don't have the money and it seemed like a decent number of people have used DDM kits.

MindBomber

The morimoto HID kit is nice, but the ddm kit will work just fine if your trying to save some cash.

There's a retrofit for sale in the marketplace now for 01-03 I believe, you might want to check that out too.

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I saw that marketplace posting. Good deal, but that takes half the fun out of it right? I've been antsy to find a project the last couple weeks.

like I said, I'm just worried about the wiring for the most part though.

Shift-E

Just make sure you have a good wiring harness. Before you do this you're going to need to understand how the H4 works.

If you dont already heres a brief explanation:

Here is your H4 plug

Highbeam Ground (Blue/red wire) |___| 12V Power
Low Beam Ground

Both grounds get power from the 12 volt but when you switch the highbeam on and off switches grounds respectively.

Since the H1 isn't the same shape as the H4 you're going to need to make sure it's grounded to both low and high so the bulb doesnt switch off when you go to high. You'll also need to make sure the MM highbeam solenoid is grounded to highbeam and plugged into the 12v to get power.

Here's the wiring harness model I used, made by gearbox:

SpeedDownZone

Or you can solder a diode on the right spot like I did and will work the same.

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Alright, awesome! I think I feel pretty good about hooking those up now. I think I'll go ahead and go for it on the projectors if they look as good as the guys says. Then just order the HID kit. Thanks for the help!

Any opinions on 35 or 50W? And 5000k or 6000K? I want whiter than stock, but don't want to bring unwanted attention.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

the shrouds on the morimotos can't handle 50w. Been stories of melting them.. 35w 5000k will do you nicely

Shift-E

I'm running 35w 6000k and it's running nice and white

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Haha alright, I'll stay away from the 50W. Thanks for the heads up!

wade623

bi xenon are for hi/low in the same bulb also if you want light with no blue in it go with 5000k they put out pure white

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Alright, new question. I tried wiring everthing up, and when I wire the low beams to the bulb and the high beams to the Morimoto solenoid everything works like it should..... except that the bulbs go off when you turn on the high beams (makes sense).

What I tried to do was wire BOTH high and low into the HID harness and left the solenoid wired to just the highs with the idea that the bulbs would stay on whether I had highs or lows on, but the solenoid would switch on for high beams.

Unfortunately when I wire it like this, when I turn the low beams on, the highs automatically come on (they cant actually be turned off). What's up with this? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance

Shift-E

Did you use gear box's diagram? You shouldn't have anything plugged into the low beam because your wiring harness will take care of that.

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Ah, alright, I'll try just connecting to the low beams. I didn't make my own harness, I'm using the DDM one, but I'll give it a shot. So even if nothing is connected to the low beams the HIDs will come on when I turn the low light switch on and the solenoid will activate when I use the high beams?

Shift-E

Did you get the H1 Harness from DDM? Because if you did then it won't be of any use to you. DDM is thinking you're installing the HID into a car that was made with factory H1 bulbs, not accounting for retrofits like ours. I ordered from DDM too and had to make my own harness in the end because it didn't work. You could probably alter it in a way that works, but you'll have to change a lot.

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

hmmmm crap. I can get the H1 harness to work for low beams, but not high beams. I think I'll use their harness for the time being and make my own harness in the mean time.

Shift-E

Lol ya, build your own. Low beam with the MM is pretty good. I barely ever use my highbeam, and if I do it's for fun lol Not cuz I need it

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Yeah most of the time I use mine it's to let someone know to get out of my way when they're driving 5 under the speed limit haha.

AUTO Design

We do custom projector retrofit! we even do black housing/ LED halo rings, CCFL, custom LED strips, etc...