My minor modding thread

[aragorn]

35w will be fine. This is THE way to HID convert cars, so much better than clagging the crappy conversion kits into some standard halogen projectors!

 

[george_seamons]

Oh god yeah, 35w is awesome. You will be over the moon when they are on. They are one of the favourite things on my car. I love driving at night now The switchover between dipped and main is so crisp, such a satisfying action.

 

[<tuffty/>]

The other headlamp turned up today so will try and get it done at the weekend... looking forward to the results...

<tuffty/>

 

[lorryz]

Man, you make this look easy.
Are you running the old Mini d2s with the 2.5" lens or the newer mini d2s 3.0 (3" inch) ?

 

[<tuffty/>]

Man, you make this look easy.
Are you running the old Mini d2s with the 2.5" lens or the newer mini d2s 3.0 (3" inch) ?

The 2.5" ones... got them for a really good price...

Spoke to Trups of EM Tuning (@t8ups) yesterday about some complimentary main beam bulbs... he has an ice white plasma range that would do the job so have ordered up a couple of sets of those in H7 for the mains and the fogs...

Turns out that he also is a dealer for Morimoto bi-xenons too...

<tuffty/>

 

[Adam P]

Interested to see some night time shots of what these are like when they are working. I think a headlight upgrade is due on mine soon.
Im down at bills next friday for my remap if your going to be there? your beers are ready for dispatch.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Interested to see some night time shots of what these are like when they are working. I think a headlight upgrade is due on mine soon.
Im down at bills next friday for my remap if your going to be there? your beers are ready for dispatch.

I normally get to Bill's around 4.30 on my way back from work if you are still likely to be there

<tuffty/>

 

[Adam P]

I will let you know on the day how we are getting on. I think last time when we were there with nicks s3 we just about finished around then so it may work out well. If not i will leave them with Bill for you.

 

[Gops]

Mine are 55w in the standard halogen projectors. They're alright, very bright but admittingly hard to keep low enough to not blind people. The beam pattern isn't the best. But it's still a vast improvement on the s3 xenons! Have been shopping for some morimitos though

 

[t8ups]

Hi Guys.

I am the UK dealer, ID 2213 for morimoto.

I haven't shouted about it yet as my website shop will be live before the year is up and that's where I will have a retrofit section, and also building up the stock ready for deployment.

take a look at the lights I made myself
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?59765-04-Polo-Retrofit

Trups

 

[Golfer1991]

Could please measure the depth of these Morimoto's projectors?

I actually have a set of Hella Evo XR projectors, which are 147mm deep and can't find a solution to make them fit

 

[t8ups]

Are the evo x r's you have rhd?

 

[Golfer1991]

Nope, they're lhd as I'm swiss

 

[t8ups]

Ahh cool.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Made a start on the other headlight today...

Removing the halogen projector...

Need to cut down the posts to allow the bi-xenon unit to fit...

The bi-xenon unit is shorter than the halogen projector fitted to these lights... no idea if this would be the same on OE units...

As I and a few others have mentioned before the cut off pattern is different on proper HID/Xenon units....

Halogen cut off pattern plate...

...vs the xenon cutoff pattern...

...and the b-xenon bit of course... the solonoid should be wired to be energised when main beam kicks in and then the flap drops giving more light out put...

Have made a start on the brackets but run out of time to finish them off so thats tomorrows job...

<tuffty/>

 

[Prawn]

the more I see these, the more I think I need them.

 

[marcgj]

Great work mate,I fitted vids in my deposit s even though the output is better,I still find it poor to hid projector conversions,can't wait to see the results.

 

[Gops]

Great job mate! Speaking to Trups now about these. With my current beam pattern, I need the bi-xenon beam pattern..

 

[<tuffty/>]

Stopped off to fill up on lovely (cheap at the moment) V-Power and grabbed this...

Finished off the other headlight so set about fitting them...

Need to cut off the plug for the H1 dip beam connection as you need to replace this with the cable that runs to the ballast...

Also need to cut out these bits for the OE cable to run through..

Soldered the cable on and spliced into the main beam to trigger the bi-xenon solonoid...

Used a grommet for the xenon cable...

Fitted them in and did a quick alignment...

And the result?... frikkin' awesome!!!... its such a difference its difficult to describe... now... this is compared to my tired S3 OE units of course but I thought the A2 lights were better than the S3's until now!!

Quick (and blurry as my HTC M8 has a fecked camera) video of the bi-xenon bit working (you can see the halogen main beams fade out as I switch)


Conclusions....
Bi-xenons in context of the lighting I had are awesome... well worth the effort in fitting...

Stuff I would do differently...
I would use a new pair of Hella headlights... these are 'ok' in fairness but... there are a few things that are not quite right with them... for one they don't fit as well as OE... I might be able to sort the gaps out with a bit of fiddling but they are not an OE clean fit IMO...

I would set the headlights up properly before refitting the lens... the reason being one of the lights (nearside) doesn't look 100% horizontal so would ideally need rotate the projector just a tad... its not enough that I am worried about it or will fail an MOT but something to consider... also not sure if the normal main beams are aligned with the projectors line... will revisit this once I have had a chance to get them to my mates place and checked out with his MOT beam jobber...

I had to use the OE indicator bulb holders as the wiring plug was very tight on the supplied ones and didn't click in place... thankfully they copied it close enough that they fitted..

The other thing I have noticed is condensation in the lens... not sure if this is down to me not getting the lens sealed 100% or just due to them being cheap copies... will monitor that and deal with it as and when

All in all though I am happy...

<tuffty/>

 

[Lavis89]

They look pretty awesome, definitely a step up from the hid kit i put on my a3. I do get a pretty sharp beam pattern with them /¯¯ shaped but not as tight as these

 

[<tuffty/>]

The fully tested cable set for my FIS Control arrived this week... have to say that Stefan at FIS is a sound bloke for turning this around so quickly..

So took the drivers side lower dash off (again!!) and fitted the FIS in properly with the new cable set...

Wired in the oil pressure and oil temp sensors too...

...and gave the camber plates a lick of satin black ;P

Very quick vid of the sensors working


<tuffty/>

 

[S3Alex]

Nice tanker......I think though that you're going to be needing the real thing,with the way your car is going!

I do like that FIS Control device...he needs to get working on the 8P....

 

[Alex C]

When do you think you will get started on your gearbox build? Quite interested in that project of yours

 

[<tuffty/>]

When do you think you will get started on your gearbox build? Quite interested in that project of yours

Its a good question lol... have been pre-occupied of late and have a round of servicing for the <tuffty/> household fleet coming up... plus this cold weather does nowt for my enthusiasm (must be my age lol)

First thing I need to do is strip the broken quattro box to clean and prep the cases... I need to find some cash to buy ARP crown wheel bolts if I need them and decide what to do about the rather expensive VAG gearbox sealant that is the preference to use...

Once I get into it I am sure it will just flow but I am trying to have a bit of a recovery period financially speaking and is the main reason I haven't bothered pursuing it at this time... I still have cams to buy!!...

<tuffty/>

 

[<tuffty/>]

... although disappointingly I think they are going throw my fuel economy out the window....

<tuffty/>

 

[Vex182]

My rear PS3's are "E" for fuel and "A" for wet weather and I still get 500 miles to a tank lol. They are 71db too and I think noisey. My fronts are primacy 3s and "C" fof fuel and "A" for wet weather but only 69db and they are quieter. Not having the Ps3's again for my power level.

 

[<tuffty/>]

So made a decision to borrow a mates tyre fitting jobber and have a crack at fitting these myself.... built not bought remember lol...

Whats the worst that could happen!!??

Getting the old ones off was relatively easy... was starting to get the hang of it after the second wheel...

Getting there...

All was going well... think I have scratched the wheels a little but nothing a polish couldn't deal with however... the last tyre was being a complete *** to get off and the inevitable happened!!

Boooo!... wasn't massively fussed as to be fair I had already caught this wheel on a curb so was due to go back for a refurb soon but the Nankangs are hard as nails with very stiff sidewalls so next time I come to swap these I will leave it to the pros...

They need a bit of bedding in so did a couple of launches to warm them up and span up all four wheels... pretty cool lol... there might even be a video as my mate videoed me leaving so if he has it I will post it up

Will report back as to how I get on with them but initial thoughts are that they make the car feel more planted and no wafting about on soft tyre walls

<tuffty/>

 

[RGL]

Yeap it's those pesky XL tyres. Are more stiffer (the ride with them as well) due to tougher sidewall for eXtra Load.

 

[<tuffty/>]

The Hankooks that were on there are XL rated... The NS-2r's are in another league compared...

Massively stiffer but not noticeably so on the road really...

<tuffty/>

 

[Prawn]

Nice to see you've got some proper rubber on there at last PT

I reckon you'll like them a lot once you've put a few miles through them

 

[<tuffty/>]

Thanks Nick... will be taking the car out tomorrow to work to get some miles on but they already feel better than the others...

Bill got hold of a corner weight kit this weekend so thought it would be rude not to at least see how much the old girl weighs in at...

She had just over half a tank of fuel, all my stereo gear and the rather heavier NS-2r's...

...scores on the doors...

Was really surprised as was expecting well over 1500kg

Obviously there could be some work regarding weight distribution and of course I wasn't in the car at the time but that would require coil overs and faffing which tbh I have no real interest in... the camber plates are ready to go on over Christmas break hopefully and then I will get the front aligned to a fast road ish spec and that will be that... I am under no illusion she is lardy but turns out not as lardy as I thought

Then put Bill's Leon Cupra on (Mk5 chassis)... was rather surprised at the result...

I didn't realise they were that heavy and this is FWD!!!

Obviously the Lupo had to go on too...

Skinny little ****** lol...

So... power to weight is interesting....

Lupo: 370hp (ish, can't remember actual figure off hand but at this point largely irrelevant), 1047kg = 352hp/tonne
My S3: 477hp, 1475kg = 323hp/tonne

Can't remember the exact figure for the Leon either off hand... gonna go with 360hp for now, 1433kg = 251hp/tonne

I'll ask Bill tomorrow for exact figures and edit the post but irrespective of the actual figures its still interesting

Clearly I need to sort these cams out to nudge ahead lol

That said I do have a lot more torque and the means to deploy it plus the S3 is inherently more stable when venturing into triple figures than the Lupo but the skinny little pocket rocket is gonna be causing a fair few performance car owners to take their cars back to the dealers thinking they have suddenly lost power after going up against it LOL...

<tuffty/>

 

[daz-20vt]

saw this and thought of you

 

[daz-20vt]

not in a nasty way of course lol

 

[badger5]

Arosa lightest of the bunch at 1008kg

 

[<tuffty/>]

Managed to grab a ramp this afternoon...

Ta-da!!!!

I have a front end alignment booked for Friday so hopefully that will draw a line under the suspension mods on the car...

Couple of small issues... there is a bit of a gap where wheel arch rubbish could get into the engine bay...

...will have to add a splash guard or something at some point...

Also noticed the 'new' drop link I had fitted to get the car back on the road looks in a sorry state...

...In fairness they did cost a mere £5 each but kinda expected for them to last a little longer... ah well... they don't knock yet so will wait until they do and swap them out for something a little better

In other news... I have got hold of...

<tuffty/>

 

[g60leigh]

What wiring adaptor are you planning on using to find the E? I tried the kufatec one but wouldn't work and they messed me about for 5 months to get it sorted (ended up just getting a refund)

 

[<tuffty/>]

What wiring adaptor are you planning on using to find the E? I tried the kufatec one but wouldn't work and they messed me about for 5 months to get it sorted (ended up just getting a refund)

I have ordered one from eBay... will sort all the links out in the write up but its stated to support Bose, CD Changer and Phone so it was worth a punt...

I have also ordered a lead to utilise the amp outputs as I have aftermarket stereo kit in the car

<tuffty/>

 

[g60leigh]

I have ordered one from eBay... will sort all the links out in the write up but its stated to support Bose, CD Changer and Phone so it was worth a punt...

I have also ordered a lead to utilise the amp outputs as I have aftermarket stereo kit in the car

<tuffty/>

I am using a cheapish eBay one. Only downside being it doesn't turn on/off with ignition. And I cannot remember if it displays on the dis or not.

 

[Gops]

 

[<tuffty/>]

Happy New Year to everyone etc... started in a traditional manner on new years day with this...

Washed the car as she was a little dirty from all the salted roads of late...

...then took her over to get the front aligned...

Scores on the doors... top being the before, below being the after

For reference I pulled up the factory settings...

On the road she feels massively planted... none of the nervousness experienced before... the extra grip from the tyres is very noticeable although while I have still not pushed her hard when I am accelerating out of corners the back end is not trying to break free and she digs in and goes...

In fairness I am not going to be the best person in the world to comment on handling as I am not a press on kinda driver but I can say I am getting my confidence back in the grip and the handling and very pleased with the results... I can now happily draw a line under the handling...

While I am sure its not up to Prawns level she feels just about right for how I am prepared to drive and feels more confidence inspiring than ever before...

Be interesting to see how it handles the next power hike lol

In other news I had notification that the RNS-E has shipped and should be with me Monday... plan will be to mod the facia out of the car as I have a full console to play with then modify the RCA loom I bought (pictured below) to hook up to my amps...

At some point I still need to get around to fitting the electronic cross over and extra 4 channel amp to have a fully active speaker system...

..but that will be when the weather is a bit better maybe...

<tuffty/>