What FC headlight bulbs to buy?

[grinder]

dunno - never looked

[m1tch]

Its a H4, I have just changed my driver side bulb over if you are getting HIDs you need to make sure they are motorised and are ment for reflector headlights as the \'normal\' HIDs are for projector headlights only due to the beam pattern. Plus you need to make sure that the motorised HIDs fit ok behind the popup covers, some of them don\'t as they are too big.

[L18M]

theres loads of space behind the pop-up cover for hid\'s. i even fitted my ballasts under the pop-ups with enough space for the headlights to close :p actually iirc there\'s enough space to fit on the side of the car so when the lights are down the ballast sits next to the light. though maybe different for ukdm fc\'s.

[Prof]

theres loads of space behind the pop-up cover for hid\'s. i even fitted my ballasts under the pop-ups with enough space for the headlights to close :p actually iirc there\'s enough space to fit on the side of the car so when the lights are down the ballast sits next to the light. though maybe different for ukdm fc\'s.

Mitch is referring to the space between the back of the bulb and the bulkhead metal. There isn\'t much space and I had to shop around for motorised HID\'s that didn\'t protrude too far backward.
 
This problem occurs because the headlights in an FC stay upright when they go down due to a unique parallelogram hinge mechanism (so they can flash through the FTP lens)
 
It might be different on JDM cars - but the US and European models have this problem.
 
The problems with converting to HID\'s:
 
1) You need to provide Hi/Lo beam function. From an electrical point of view this can be done 3 ways:
 
a) Use 2 HID bulbs - one for Hi one for Lo (with dual ballasts)
b) Use 1 HID and 1 ordinary bulbs (it could work with either HID=LO or HID=Hi)
c) Use 1 bulb, and a motorised bulb or light guide to change the beam pattern.
 
2) In the UK, the car must pass an MOT - so the beam patterns must comply with the regulations. If you use the stock lens - the only way to do this with an H4 HID is to use the motorised one - the dual bulb offerings have one bulb off centre so the beam pattern is wrong. Also, the centre bulb is normally not shrouded at it\'s top end also causing the beam pattern to be wrong. Trust me on this - I tried 3 times to get through the MOT before getting it right.
 
These images might illustrate the problem:
 
The shrouded HID:
 

 
The Hi/Lo dual bulb arrangement (Hi beam is halogen bulb):
 

 
Note: These will fail an MOT on beam pattern
 
Dual HID bulb:
 

 
Note: These will probably fail MOT because the top of the HID is not shrouded and light bleaches out causing an irregular beam pattern. Look at any standard H4 bulb and you\'ll see it has a cap on the top to prevent direct light.
 
You can see that the back of the motorised bulb goes back a lot further than a stock H4 or the other HID offerings.
 
The other option is to install dual lens fittings - and have one for Lo Beam and one for Hi. The MR2 kits are likely candidates if you want to go down that route - but may take some modification to get it to fit.
 
3) For UK cars, you need to eliminate the DIP-DIM circuit entirely - with a HID ballast - it must either be on or off - you can\'t run it through a resistor to drop the intensity. (Unplug the DIP-DIM resistor under the airbox and the internal DIP-DIM relay behind the glovebox is all that\'s needed)

[L18M]

good read! i think jdm is slightly different then as theres no FTP.
all the HID\'s i\'ve seen protrude the same amount (just my experience).
didnt know about the dip-dim, i dont think jdm had it (but then my fc is the second most basic model with a lack of luxuries and optional equip lol)

[turbointhebrain]

Good read lads, lovin the info!