Need some wiring help for changing to projector headlights on BG legacy

[dmanww]

I've got a 96 Legacy with the regular headlights and I managed to find a cheap pair of projector headlights.

I want to swap them over, but need to do some rewiring.

I've figured out the wiring on the projectors but just want to confirm what I need to do on my current ones.

Some questions I have.

- It seem the projectors run a common power wire and have individual grounds for each bulb. Is this the same way with the H4 bulb in the normal one? Can I just wire old-low to new-low, etc and have it work?

- Is there a way to have the lows and highs turn on at the same time. The instructions on SL-i for USDM headlights seem to show that grounding the low-beam wire to the chassis will do it. But to me it seems it will have the lows on even if I just have the parking lights switched.

Any help would be awesome.

[les666]

I just did this myself a few weeks ago. You need to ground the projector to the chassis as well so that both low and high work at the same time. I can take a pic of what I did in the morning if you want?

[dmanww]

 les666 said:

I just did this myself a few weeks ago. You need to ground the projector to the chassis as well so that both low and high work at the same time. I can take a pic of what I did in the morning if you want?

I think I know what you mean. Run a wire from the Low-beam on the headlight to the chassis as well as to the low-beam wire in the harness. A photo would help anyway.

How did it go? was it worth it?

[les666]

It was pretty easy and definitely worth it! Besides looking better they also seem to work better, that is, you can actually see a lot more at night. Did you get the connectors with the lights? As it's a heap easier to wire up as the coloured wires all match up and you just tee off a wire from the projector to the chassis. The park lights you just cut the positive (red wire) and connect it to the new lights.

Sorry not a great photo. Not a lot of light this morning or after work tonight.

Have you read these? http://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5941

http://www.uklegacy.com/forums/index.php/topic/91437-how-to-fit-gtb-projector-headlights-to-a-early-gt/

Edited August 19, 2014 by les666

[dmanww]

Thanks. I'll check those out.

I do have the pigtails so can wire it directly. I completely forgot the wiring colors might be the same.

How did you connect them? Crimp connectors? I'm thinking of using insulated blade terminals so I can put the old ones back in when I sell it.

[les666]

Yes the wiring colours match up and Yeah I did the pig tail trick first to test it out. You can pop open the original plug open to see how the wires are routed so you don't and to guess and blow fuses like I did first time. I ended up cutting the original plug off and soldered and used heat shrink once I decided that I was gonna keep them that way.

[dmanww]

Cool will try it out this weekend if the weather is ok. Will do one side at a time so I don't mess too much of it up. Luckily I don't drive it that often.

[dmanww]

Go them in over the weekend. I think I can feel my fingers again now.

It turned out much easier than I thought.

Basically I dissembled the car side connector from the projector donor car and put in my wires with new terminals crimped on. Since we're JDM, all the wire colors match and it's easy to see where everything goes. The only oddity is the low-beam ground cable and extra wire on the parking lights.

The ground cable I stripped and jammed in underneath the correct terminal in the connector. Once it's reassembled and taped, it wasn't moving anywhere. The extra wire for the parking lights just got clipped and taped to the wire bundle so they don't short against anything.

It seems you only need a ground cable on one of the headlights and it takes care of the whole circuit.

Also, I found out my front end seems to misaligned and had to take the locating pins out of the headlight so I could screw it down. Once I aim them it should be fine.

Haven't driven it at night yet, but the difference in the parking lot is apparent, there's much less light lost off the sides and it's hard to see the light are on except if you're looking directly at them. So far so good.

Overall I'd say it's worth the trouble if you can get a cheap set

The terminals look like this. I got mine from Jaycar and they were brass

https://www.ozautoelectrics.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/640x480/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/q/u/quickcrimp_non_insulated_female_crimp_terminal.jpg

Edited August 24, 2014 by dmanww