Vijay

So I picked up some Hella HID projectors and a set of lower grill insets with the openings for the ACC cameras. (note: my car does not have ACC). The fitment is spot on in terms of being able to house these in the bumper where the ACC cameras would go.






The big question is whether to do it myself or have it done professionally. I have a decent amount of tools and the ability to do it, but what I do not have necessarily is the time. I usually find that I can get things done very professionally, but to do so takes me like 3-4x longer than it would a professional shop with everything at their disposal and the years of expertise. Of course, I live in New England, so there aren't the huge number of custom car shops like in SoCal of SoFlo either.

The mounting would likely include some fabrication of brackets, and custom switches since I want to be able to operate these independently of the headlights. The way they come from the factory is that they are meant to splice into your existing light lines.

HyperS4

Looks like a fun project. Where do you live exactly?

tenspeed

Very nice looking lights. Hella always has the good stuff.

You could break the project down to two parts. Mounting them is not going to be easy either way. Electrical connection isn't bad.

What does the back of the lights look like? Do they mount on a flat plate or a bracket. Is there any provision for adjustment? With the tight tolerance of the grill openings, triangulation would be the way to go.

On the electrical side, do you want them controlled by an ignition circuit? I have a pair of 55W halogens on my DD and I sometimes forget to turn them off when I park.

Vijay

I am having them installed by a tuning shop. I have popped out the grilles on my car and there is definitely enough room to mount the lights. The trick will be getting them aligned with the outlet holes in the grill. There may need to be some cutting/bracket fabrication that needs to be done. They mount by hanging from an upper bracket. Ther rear of the lights hook to some ballast unit which also need to be mounted.

Looks like the are designed to splice into the existing lighting system, but I want independent control so I am looking to tap into a ignition switched circuit with a seperate switch. The switch, along with my laser jammer switch are going to mounted on a panel that will sit in the cubby in front of the shifter.

Vijay

Work in progress teaser......



The front bumper cover is off the car. You can see the custom fabricated brackets and the Hella HID driving lamps in the area that would normally house the ACC cameras. Laser jammer also being installed while the bumper is off with 4 front mounted pods. All controls will be in the cubby in the center console in front of the shifter. Will post full pics over the weekend. Picking up the car tomorrow or Saturday along with APR flash and Stasis rear sway bar. Summer wheels/tires going on also !!! Can't wait !!!

Paul Smits

Is it difficult to remove the old grills?