My Euro 500SEC Project - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

hey_allen · #31 12-13-2008, 06:08 AM

Could you detail what you actually re-purposed so far and from what, to fit HID to a SEC?

The HID headlights are one of the few items that I truly miss from my Subaru STI that was totaled. (Along with 'missing' the $500/month car payment...

)

This project is definitely shaping up well, thanks for sharing your progress with us all!

POS · #32 12-13-2008, 09:21 AM

Your anality knows no bounds. Excellent work -that SEC looks spectacular.

oel_brenner · #33 12-13-2008, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by POS

Your anality knows no bounds. Excellent work -that SEC looks spectacular.

HA HA HA.. I have always said he has HDOCD
(High Definition Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

but that hits the mark too !!

I can t wait to tear it all apart, strip it to bare metal, and refinish it.

Jim B. · #34 12-13-2008, 10:59 AM

Very very nice job. Your write up is very instructive. I have owned a car like yours over a dozen years, it has responded well to Mods.

Latest is this score, a very rare set of Euro Bosch French W126 coupe yellow Fogs that I got on Germany ebay. They were very very expensive. There was a bidding war amongst the German bidders for them, but I got them.

I have also just purchased the pieces to put together a set of Euro style headlight wipers. This was expensive too but I can't stand the US spec ones. I bought new valances at the Classic Center in Orange County last week they are being painted now.

Sorry to thread jack, but the point is, fixing up one of these is really worth it, very rewarding.

I like your car, it looks really really good. You are doing a great job.

SixSpeed · #35 12-13-2008, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hey_allen

Could you detail what you actually re-purposed so far and from what, to fit HID to a SEC?

Absolutely! I'll be cleaning up the wiring today and I will post details on how to fit everything and make it work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by POS

Your anality knows no bounds.

Tell me about it, haha. I waste most of my life cleaning and refinishing parts that nobody will ever see. But I feel good knowing, wherever they are, they look good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oel_brenner

I can't wait to tear it all apart, strip it to bare metal, and refinish it.

Coming soon!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

Latest is this score, a very rare set of Euro Bosch French W126 coupe yellow Fogs that I got on Germany ebay. They were very very expensive. There was a bidding war amongst the German bidders for them, but I got them.

Congratulations on those Fog lights! I was watching those on eBay as well, I really like the way they look. I was going to bid on them, but for the money they went for I couldn't quite justify it as there are some more important mechanical things that need doing first. You'll have to post pictures when you get them installed!!

SixSpeed · #36 12-13-2008, 04:44 PM

Here is your mid afternoon update!

I started the day off cleaning up the HID wiring in the headlights. A few people have asked for me to be fairly detailed about this, so here it goes.

First off, I buy all of my HID kits from www.813motoring.com. NEVERMIND, as I just found out...I guess they are either going out of business, or changing their name. Now I am mad!

Well moving on from that, most HID kits are the same these days. Though they might be sold under a hundred different names and companies, there are only a small handful of actual manufacturers and they are all still very similar. Today, smaller ballasts are becoming popular. These are called "slim" ballasts usually. I would venture to say they will all be "slim" within a year.

Every HID kit I have seen has a small rubber grommet which the wires pass through. This is so the ballast can be mounted outside of the headlight housing, which is necessary. All of the grommets I have seen are the same size.

A 15/16 spade bit does the job extremely well.

Result:

You will likely need to use a 1/8th inch or similar drill bit to make a small notch in the hole to allow one of the connectors to pass through while still having a super tight fit with the grommet.

Here is the connector. This is the piece that connects the HID bulb to the ballast. The HID bulb is large, so the only way to pass it through is to remove the little clip on it. It just snaps on.

With clip:

Without clip:

Here you can see the need for the 1/8 "notch" in the hole as well as the removal of the clip. It barely passes through!

You can now pass through the Ballast power wires, and reattach the clip on the bulb wire. Then just pull the grommet through until it sits in the grove of the plastic:

Then you can connect the power wires. The ballast's power wires plus in to the connector where the old H4 light bulb used to plug in. The ground wire from the ballast (black) will plug into the ground on the connector, which is ground and the power wire from the ballast (blue) will plug into the power wire on the connector, which is yellow.

You may now clip the headlight backing back on, and hide the wires whichever way you choose to. The result is an HID installation that is not only very functional, but very stealthy as well:

Hope you guys enjoyed it, if you have any more questions feel free to ask!

Onto the fog lights!

SixSpeed · #37 12-13-2008, 08:25 PM

Here is your evening update:

Got the fog light wiring all sorted out.

This is where I chose to mount the HID ballast:

I had a hard time finding a good place. I wasn't sure if I wanted to drill any holes anywhere in the car, so I decided to use a preexisting place. I chose to mount it to an unused hole on the bottom of the headlight:

I used factory Mercedes mounting hardware I had laying around. I just slid the clip on the lip on the bottom of the light, and put the screw into there. No modifications needed. It is a good, secure, out of the way to place the ballast.

Once the ballast is mounted, you will need to drill holes in the same method described before for the headlights.

Inner cover:

On the outer cover as well:

The power wire from the HID ballast (blue wire) plugs right in to the existing power wire (which is mounted on the plastic bracket)

For the ground wire, you will need to do a little modification. The ground for a regular H3 bulbs come from the metal base in which it sits. The ground wire has a round plug in which it connects to the metal base. You'll need to remove the round plug, and install the flat style connector as shown:

Then its as simple as pulling the wires and the grommet through the cover as described before with the headlights.

Pull the wires through the outside cover as well. I tucked some of the wires and connectors within the outer cover. The end result is a very clean installation for HID headlights!

Hope you guys enjoyed! I'll have some more pictures later!

SixSpeed · #38 12-14-2008, 12:18 AM

Last update for the night: Here are a few pictures of what they look light at night. I was going to post some pictures of what it looks like while driving, but I got caught up with some other things, it will have to wait until tomorrow. I will also get some daytime photos tomorrow.

Headlights Only:

Headlight Cutoff:

Fog Light Only:

Slightly longer exposure (brighter) picture:

Fog Light Cutoff:

Headlights and Fog Lights:

Headlights and Fog Light Cutoffs:

Enjoy! Look for more updated tomorrow!

Johnhef · #39 12-14-2008, 07:43 PM

Looks good! I may do the fogs on mine as well now after reading this- just need to find a way to make it easily removable since I take out the fog assemblies during track days.