Conversion to Forester STi HID Headlights

Stage 2 - The HID Ballast connections

Okay. Onwards we go. Kids in bed by 19:30, watch a little of Master Chef, put down a tea and it was off to the garage.

With the 9006 male connections delivered in under a week, I was now able to undertake another of the stages for the retrofit conversion.

In principal, the focus of this stage was to remove the OEM Ballast Plug that would have connected the headlight loom and add in the new plug that connects to the HID Harness Relay connection.

This picture shows you the ballast sitting on the bottom of the headlight assembly and also the plug and wiring leading away from it. This is what requires retrofitting.
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This picture shows the two components that are going to be spliced together.
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With the required length of overall wiring determined I removed the leads from the 9006 male plug to facilitate and easier installation of heat shrink. With the wires all soldered up, I was half way.
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I reused the original black plastic sheath and used some heat shrink to cap off each end and replaced the leads into the 9006 connector. This is an example of before and after side by side.
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Onto the second one and a few cable ties and the job was done.
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I was going to silicone up the back ends of the 9006 plug but I could not find my small syringe, so a trip to the Chemist is needed tomorrow.

Stage 3 will be installing the HID Relay Harness. I'm almost half way through.
 
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Stage 2 - HID Ballast Connections - UPDATE

Okay. With a visit to the Chemist, I can now complete the waterproofing to the retrofitted ballast plugs. Syringe cost about $1.50 for a 3mL size. You just have to remember to wash it out with Turpentine once your done otherwise the silicone sets hard.
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And here is the finished product ready to rock and roll.
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As requested, here are some side by side comparison photos of the standard halogen headlamp assembly vs the HID headlight assemby
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Stage 3 - HID Harness Relay Installation

Well today is the day. No kids, no wife, no Boss... wait a sec, I'm the Boss :rotfl:

Well, trying to keep everything close to the battery and finding somewhere close to secure the harness relay was a real pain. I ended up removing the spot light relay and wiring as I was not very happy with it plus I now have plans to install HID's into my Lightforce 240's :lildevil: Here are a few photos of where I located the relay harness and also to give you an idea of the tightness for space.
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It sure helps having this as a reference. Whilst you can't see it in this photo, I had little stickers attached to the various plugs just to remind me where they go. It might seem straight forward, but a little bit of method sure helps the retrofit installation process.
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The H4 plug that goes into the OEM headlight socket also got a going over with the silicone syringe just to be sure.
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Stage 4 - HID Headlight Installation

I started the installation at 9am. It is now 12 noon and I'm inside having lunch with one headlight in :discomonkey: The rain has not helped the situation though. Alas.

I am certainly amazed at how long it is taking though. Everything just seems to be in the way. Bullbar, driving light relay, battery, existing wiring :twisted:

The only thing that has been easy going is all the connections. Thus far, all the connections have been plug and play with my minor adjustments to the connectors.

Back into it and into the right hand side which has more room than the left. I'm really not looking forward to when I have to replace the LHS bulb.
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The RHS OEM headlight socket is now redundant, so I just placed a heavy duty plastic bag around it and put a few cable ties to water and dust proof it.
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This is jut a close up of the headlight levelling plug and the wiring colours. It's nice when the Service Manual Wiring Diagrams match to what you physically have to deal with. I got in touch with All Things Subaru and they were able to square me away with a levelling switch for about $20 :ebiggrin: When I have some more time I'll install this switch.
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These little white clips were a real pain to remove from the halogen headlight assembly and took the better part of 30 minutes to remove and swap over.
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Here is a close up of the actuator that moves out of the way when power (from the high beam throw) is sent to the solenoid.
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Alright, all in and kinda working. I have low beam only at this stage. Not sure why though. I have to run some diagnostics to track down what is wrong.

In the mean time, here is a sample of what it all looks like working.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOynFe_0y_0"]YouTube- HID install sample.mpeg[/ame]
 
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Alright... A bit of testing and diagnostics compliments of HID Planet allowed me to fault find the problem.

As it turned out, I had blown a high beam fuse which explained why I was not getting any movement from the actuator solenoid and the lights turning off when thrown to high beam.

Had I checked the fuses first I'd have saved myself 3 hours this evening out in the cold... DOH

I'll try to post up a night time clip of the power up and throw to high beam.

All that is left now is Stage 5 - Headlamp Alignment and Stage 6 - Levelling Switch Installation.

:discomonkey:
 
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That is epic. Well done spinners. Would love to hear more about it.

I have always been dissatisfied with the OEM headlights. Not sure if I could get organised enough to do the whole retrofit that you have done.

This raises the issue of Xenon HID bulbs. I noticed these on ebay:

https://cgi.ebay.com.au/XENON-HEADL...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item230b5c2395

and these

https://cgi.ebay.com.au/Xenon-Headl...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item56369ff129

Both are advertised as plug and play.

I'd be interested in what others have to say about these...
 
Djulpan said:
This raises the issue of Xenon HID bulbs. I noticed these on ebay:

https://cgi.ebay.com.au/XENON-HEADL...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item230b5c2395

and these

https://cgi.ebay.com.au/Xenon-Headl...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item56369ff129

Both are advertised as plug and play.

I'd be interested in what others have to say about these...
Click to expand...

don't bother with those, they are likely fake. how can they be HID with no ballast?

For the same money get the best halogens around - Philip Xtreme power
https://cgi.ebay.com.au/PHILIPS-EXT...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3cb1fe7d49

I have a set of these and they are great. Not as bright as HIDs though.
 
I know that this is a really old thread but it was here I made my first guest visit to ORS a while back to wire up some HID cross sport 4200K headlights. So thank you Spinners for a great write up, good advice and my reason to finally join up.
 
Hi
I'm new to this forum and im trying to wire new JDM headlight that I ordered and need help... I want to wire HID, leveling switch and high beam actuator. But I can't see your pictures?

Any suggestion?
 
Hi I as reading your hid conversion which was very informative I myself has a 2006 XT I'm doing a JDM hid swap. I need help with pictures and info thanks
 
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