I've decided to let you guys in on my Xenon conversion project that I've been working on this winter.
What i currently have:
-Breathless Performance non-popup headlight kit(this thing is not worth half of what it costs, it came with the car when I bought it used.)

What is going in:
-Audi A6 halogen housing
-Xenon Bulbs
-Audi ignitor/ballast
-30 amp relay
-New wiring to handle more amperage

I am reusing everything from the breathless kit except the lights. I had to make a new bracket thought because the new housing is a little longer. So I just pretty much copied the old bracket and moved the mounting plate forward half an inch. I had to cut the fiberglass cover to make the new housing fit. I also had to cut into the fenderwell. There is also cutting on the halogen housing because the Xenon bulb is larger than the halogen. I still need to figure out a way to clamp down the bulb to the housing. I will post pictures as soon as I take some, which will be sometime this week. If you must know, the reason I am using Audi stuff is because I have only had to pay $100 so far in materials. If you guys have any questions, let me know. I will try to answer as best i can.

Dave

 

pretty cool! i've been toying with that same idea for my next project. cant wait to see some pictures

 

Nice man I have been looking at getting something done for the pathetic lights that the vette has stock. I did the PIAA bulb replacement so far but I would really like A LOT more light. Hell my stock bulbed WRX headlights are still 5x better than the PIAA vette lights

Pics bro

Fej

 

Tell me about it. After I found out how much that breathless performance kit was, i was pretty shocked. I would never have bought it. Only thing I like about it was that it didnt have the protruding plastic lens like the c5r ones. Which i can see why they have the huump in the lenses now because of the size of the housings. I finally got far enough into the project where i can take some pics. I will take some tonight and hopefully have em posted tonight as well. I still have to come up with a cover to cover the exposed part of the housing sue to the cutting that I had to do. I'm pretty much gonna be asking you guys for suggestions on some covers that I will need to make. So far not a bad project. Just time consuming because this is my first time doing something like this. I still have to find another ignitor for the drivers side, but that can wait because i havent even started on the other side. Its been too cold in the garage. The weather has finally been cooperating. The nice thing about thid build is that since I installed the PIAA fog lights into the Z, ive been able to just throw on the cover and lens on the housing and just use the fog lights as my driving lights. The PIAAs are brighter than my regular driving lights were. Dont worry, pics will be coming. I know how we love the pics

 

i wonder how hot the lights get, i was thinking about testing some smooth-on clear casting resin for the headlight cover but i'm not sure if they will discolor

 

Not sure how hot they get. I wasnt too worried about heat because of the fans that are built into the painted fiberglass covers. Those fans move a lot of air. If I remember I will try to see how hot it gets, but since its cold here, temps can vary a lot.

 

pics finally here...
Heres what I started with:


Xenon with cover off:


Xenon on the new bracket with the vertical housing mount moved up half an inch:


Another shot of the xenon mount with the fender cut to fit the larger housing:

 

Light on with covers off:


Crappy halogen light on:


Xenon with the cover and lens cover on:


Above shot:


Head on shot, here are the covers that I will have to make:


Crappy halogen compared to Xenon:


As you can see how much whiter the xenons are compared to the halogen. Any questions let me know guys. Also if you have any suggestions on how to cover the hole and the xenon metal housing rim that would be great. Im open to all ideas. Enjoy the pics... oh dont worry all the brackets and stuff will be painted and the remaining wires will be tied off and/or hidden in wire loom

 

Looks cool man g'luck with finishing that up. I think I am just going to have to buy a set of the PIAA foglights and throw them in my z .. although I love the amount of light that the xenon stuff throws out .. makes me mad when a BMW or an Audi or Benz puts a shadow of my car in front of me :o

Fej

 

Yea, thats what got me to do this. I was fed up with even crappy cars giving off more light than i was. fej, what do you have as a headlight system right now. Have you checked out the HID kit that is out for the stock pop up lamps. Looks promising.

 

I just have all stock housings/wiring etc with PIAA low beam bulbs. Certainly helped a bunch but like I said I have stock wattage bulbs in my WRX and it just is a TON better in terms of light output than my vette is. And it should not be with stock crap bulbs vs the PIAA bulbs ... the one that looked solid to me but is $$$ is the vettehid set. I think the site name is corvettehid.com or something.

www.vette-hid.com

Fej

 

that is a very hefty price. I also just thought of the euro housing as well. I guess there is a different headlamp housing used in europe and that all you have to do is add a xenon bulb, ballast kit to it.(i think). If I had the stock pop-up assembly, i was would have gone this way. But its been a long time since i have looked at the euro housing topics. Its such a shame that vettes came with ****ty lights from the factory. I'll try to do a quick search for the euro housing stuff.

 

Forums price on those HID kits is a fair amount lower but still over 1k for lights is seriously spendy at least in my world heh.

I have a feeling I will do the PIAA fogs and maybe ramp up the wattage on the stock bulbs a notch and call it good

Fej

 

The PIAAs are better lighting, and they were brighter than my headlights. Which is why i am upgrading my headlights. Hope upping the wattage on the bulbs works for ya fej. You can just throw in a relay and do some wiring to get the wattage you need. Im sure that adding a relay and rewiring just like you would to add xenon could go the same for adding higher wattage bulbs to be on the safe side for your wiring

 

Very cool I have the Breathless non-pop-ups and while I love the non-pop-up look, they are pretty weak in both build quality and lighting. I've been eyeing various xenon lights in other cars and thinking, that looks like it would fit. Is the $100 for the Audi A6 halagens a special deal or what they go for normally? I can't wait to see it once you get the fiberglass cover done. Thanks for posting!

 

$100 is a special deal i guess because of my connections into the Audi world. But even with those connections, its hard to get. I gave a friend a salt water fish tank setup worth a lil bit and he's doin this as a favor. I know that the bulbs alone cost $150. I have heard of people buying housings and sets off of ebay. I'll try to take pics of the housing out of the mounts and show you guys how much modification was needed for everything. Also my dad was able to fab up the new mounts and brackets as well. Only down side was that he wasnt able to get a hold of aluminum, so i'm stuck with the steel. I am going to drill out as much steel that I can to lighten it up and still make it strong and sturdy. Right now, im trying to just get everything to fit right and mount in a secure way. I have my one bulb right now being held in place in the housing by a garden twist tie type wire. I have to come up with something for that as well. Its been slow progress so far because of the cold weather here and the gf wants her attention as well. So my time isnt devoted to this 100% like I'd want it to be. Oh well. With the warmer weather and summer vacation coming, I should be able to get this thing in full swing. I work for a school district as a tech, so I get summers off. More pics to come soon.

 

Did you ever finish this install?? Pics??

 

funny that you ask. I just finished putting in the driver side in last weekend. It went in a lot easier than the first one did. There are a few issues that I have run into. On two little spots, each side of the lens, the lens acts as a magnifying glass and is slowly burning into the fiberglass painted cover. Also, I am getting glare off of the plastice clear cover lens. I will show pics as soon as i can. Hopefully tonight. Driving at night is a pleasure again. ive only gotten one flash of the brights from an oncoming driver in a little over a week of driving. Pics soon i promise.

 

Can't wait to see the pics!

 

we got some rain here last night so i didnt get a chance to snap some pics outside. Tonight looks good