Installing Xenons/HIDs in a BMW E36 - DIY

I'd been looking at getting Xenons in my BMW for a while now, especially after adding CCFL Angel Eyes (see blog article), and I finally got hold of an upgrade/conversion kit this weekend.

I opted for a 6000k kit which is pure white with a slight tint of blue, its the brightest and whitest and in my opinion, the best choice.

Its essentially plug 'n' play, but there's a bit of DIY in finding space to mount the ballasts and working out where the power connectors go.

This is the all the contents of the H1 Xenon/HID Conversion Kit (nearly all kits are the same as this). Ballasts mounts are not included in this photo, they vary anyway with each manufacturer.

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The ballasts are silver packs on the left, the other wires literally just plug in, there's no wrong way of connecting those up which is why I didn't get photos to show you. You'll want to leave everything unplugged until you've mounted the ballasts though.

First thing is to find a place to mount the ballasts. Now I have a 318iS 1.9, yours may be different dependant on engine, but what I found was that there wasn't much room for these ballasts. Make sure the wires will reach the headlamp unit before you drill any holes.

The first one, on the right-hand side of the engine bay, was the easy one (You should be able to work out from this photo where this is. You'll need to drill a hole right though to secure the mounts - but before you do this, make sure that you're not going to be drilling into anything underneath! Also make sure the hole you're drilling is big enough to fit the bolt/screw that goes through the ballast mount, but also make sure its not too big so its secure.

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Once the ballast is mounted, take off the headlight cover (where the existing low beam bulb is) and remove the existing bulb, and disconnect it from the existing connector, yellow in my case. Then unhook the ground, brown wire from where its connected - the photo below shows how it looks before you remove the existing bulb.

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Next thing is to connect all the connectors/cables that came with the HID Kit like in the top photo. Then you'll want to drill a hole in the headlight cover that will fit the bulb through as well as the two power connectors.

These two wires below are part of the HID Kit - the red one easily plugs into the yellow wire, and the black one easily plugs into the brown wire.

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When you've drilled the hole into the headlight cover, quickly check that the new Xenon bulb works by plugging in the power connectors pictured below. Then if all is ok push everything through the drilled hole. Plug the bulb into where the old halogen bulb went and connect the power connectors up like explained above. Here is a photo of how mine looked before I tidied my wiring up a bit, the view is looking straight down at the back of the headlight cover.

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Now you just have to find a place for the other ballast, mount it and repeat the process. I ended up having to mount mine just below the screen washer module, the photo below shows before I had fully mounted the ballast. I'm not 100% sure if this is ok, but it is secure and doesn't move, I also put insulating tape over it as precaution for any overheating.

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After making sure everything is working held firmly in place, I then used more thick insulating tape to make the ballasts even more secure and protected.

The Final Results (1st photo shows with Angel Eyes as well)
click photos to enlarge

BMW E36 - CCFL Angel Eyes DIY

Seen these bad boys online over the last few months always wanted some. You can buy complete new headlight units, but they often look shit and cost anywhere between £150-300. Also half of these aren't very bright so during the daytime you can't see the Angel Eyes.

The ones I bought, are an upgrade to standard BMW E36 headlights. They're normally about £50 but I got them for £25 with free delivery on Ebay! They're called CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps) and are brigher than LED's meaning that they show up in daylight and are Xenon bright at night. The basis is that you place the CCFL Rings inside your sidelight/full beam lens, and attach them to your sidelight wiring. Sounds easy, but its a complicated and risky task, as if it goes wrong worst case scenario is that you end up with needed a new headlight unit (£50!)

Me and James H carried out this upgrade just over a week ago on my Beamer and think the end result was fantastic, but it was a bit scary seeing the car without any headlight units in place!

Here's how its done.

First, you need to remove your headlight units from your car, consult your BMW manual for this, or have a look here

After doing this, you need to remove the lense cover from your headlight unit.

Use a flat blade screwdrive and remove the 4 metal clips on the top and also the two smaller clips, one on top and one on bottom. Then you'll have this

Carefully place the CCFL rings inside the lenses, they will need to be very lightly pressed and maybe slightly bent, but be very careful as they're made of glass.

Then place masking tape in a few places to hold the rings in place. Follow this by putting silicon adhesive in the places shown below, then leave to dry for 45 minutes.

While the CCFL Angel Eye rings are setting into place, you can get on with the wiring. Remove the back covers on the headlight unit. Soldering in an option for connecting the new power invertor pack, or you can use bullet connectors. Basically anything that will hold 2 or 3 copper wires together securely.

Join the RED wire (positive) from the power pack to the GREY wire (positive) from the headlamp side light circuit.

Join the BROWN wire (earth) from the power pack to the BROWN wire (earth) from the headlamp side light circuit. Check that all connections are secure.

Next part is carefully putting the lens cover back onto the headlight unit.

You need to bring the wiring through the top of the headlight units so the wires come out of the back.

Now after double-checking the connections are all secure, you can slot the power packs inside the headlight unit.

Then put all the covers back on.

Re-assemble the headlights and indicators onto your car carefully, and you are done!

Thanks to the 'Eclipse' manual for some of the photos.