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How to Fit HIDs to a FN2 CTR

Loxy

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First of all thanks to LeeH who supplied the kit and helped me beforehand exercise my demons and helped me convince myself that I would be capable of doing the conversion.

To be honest it really isn't that hard. I was just being soft and if you can change a bulb, you can fit HIDs.

Anyway in case anyone is feeling like me and not sure about it I have taken some pics and will explain the process.

All in took me about 2 hours but I was being careful, and as you will see from the pictures, I don't have a garage so have to work at roadside so I was locking the car up and running back inside for tools when I needed them, eventually having everything I needed outside and working out of the boot. It has taken me nearly the same length of time to write this how to! :lol:

The offside was easy, the nearside was just plain awkward, so giving you the benefit of my experience, do the nearside first! I also have an earthing kit fitted, which is blue in the pics, so don't expect to find these cables under your bonnet unless you have had one fitted or fitted one yourself.

You will also need to make sure that you buy a H7R kit. You can buy H7 HID kits and these are for projector style headlights. The FN2 has a reflector style headlight and if you used a H7 kit it would fit but the light scatter would be all wrong and you would end up dazzling oncoming traffic.

Oh and at no time should you touch the bulb glass as the oil from your finger will shorten the bulb's life!

Right onto the How-to...

Tools/Parts required:
Flat head screwdriver
25mm spade drill bit
10mm socket

(optional)
1x M6 x 10mm bolt for fixing backet
zip ties

Standard lights look like this, and in my opinion are very weak for a modern car:
Sdc11295.jpg


In case you've never opened the bonnet :| this is roughly what it looks like:
Sdc11296.jpg


It is not strictly necessary to do this bit but gives you more room to work. Remove the cover over the slam panel, just 8 plugs to remove. Push your flat head screwdriver into the plug's slot as far as it will go and gently twist the screwdriver. If you push the screwdriver all the way into the slot it has less chance of braking the plug:
Sdc11297.jpg


Again you don't have to do this but I changed the sidelights as well to match the colour of the HIDs, uncrew the covers at the back of the lights closest to the grill. Less than 1/4 of a turn and they just pop off. You are presented with this:
Sdc11298.jpg


There are two bulbs in here, the full beam headlight and the sidelight. Sidelight is at the bottom, just pull it out and you can then replace the bulb:
Sdc11299.jpg


Right, it says this in the manual so it is not just me, to replace the bulb for dipped headlight on the nearside you have to remove the cold air feed pipe. To make this easier, remove the plastic cover that goes over the top of the wing. Again two plugs at the top, use the screwdriver to pop them off:
Sdc11301.jpg


Next, and you will spend a while trying to maneuver the top part of the air feed out, but to be honest there is no finesse involved, just tug it out:
Sdc11302.jpg


Next you need to remove this bit, bottom end of the cold air feed. That bit is pretty much pinned in by the battery, so the only way of getting it out is to loosen the battery. I didn't take it out completely, but had to remove the earth strap, using the 10mm socket. This effectively disconnects your battery, so you may have to input your radio code etc, but your manual has information of what you have to do after disconnecting the battery. So I just removed the battery strap and fixing bars and the earth strap from the slam panel. Getting this bit of the pipe out is the real pain in the *** part:
Sdc11306.jpg


Now you can unscrew the cap on the back of the light where we are going to install the HIDs, looks like this, you can see the bulb holder (spring clip) and connector plug:
Sdc11303.jpg


Next we need to prepare the caps off the back of the lights that you have removed. They need a 25mm hole (in this case, check what size if you get a different kit than Lee's), for the cables to fit though. The cables have a grommet on that keeps the back of the cap water tight. Pictures speak a thousand words. Just put the caps on some wood before you start drilling, it stops the drill bit from snapping the cover:
Sdc11307.jpg


Both done, including hole in the wood, yes it will cut the wood it's inevitable. I have bought some spare covers for if I ever put the lights back to standard, they were £5.75 each, part number 33126-SMG-E02:
Sdc11308.jpg


Push the leads through the holes and secure the gommets over the covers. Make sure the bulbs are on the inside of the covers!! :lol: :
Sdc11309.jpg


As the HIDs have the leads connected to the back of the bulbs they will not plug straight into the back of the bulb holders. You need to disconnect the spring clip from its hinge at the bottom of the bulb holder and feed it over the HID cables with the bulb in place, reconnect it to the holder and then spring it back into the locked position. This sounds complicated but is really obvious when you are doing it, the spring clips look like this:
Sdc11310.jpg


Once the bulb is in, connect up the spade connectors to the original bulb connector. Check with your kit's instructions, but on Lee's kit it was black to brown and red to yellow. Now you can screw the cap back on the back of the light and connect up the ballast. I didn't take any pics of that bit as the cables will only connect up one way. The plugs should be waterproof connectors so make sure they fit securely together and the fixing clips 'snap' home.

Now it is up to you where you fit the ballasts, but I took the easy option and mounted the nearside one using the same bolt and hole that the earth strap is connected with. I used a pair of pliers to bend the mounting bracket so it went over the lip on the slam panel. If you want to be neater there is a hole in the wing where you can probably fit the cables through and mount them there, but I didn't fancy taking the wheel arch lining off, and personally I think the ballasts will be less exposed to the elements in the bay.

You should then fit the cold air feed pipes back on, being careful not to damage the cables coming out of the back of the light cover and the plastic covering up the side of the wing, finally you can then put the battery back in place and put the battery strap back on:
Sdc11312.jpg


Sdc11313.jpg


The other side is exactly the same, but much easier since you have much more room to work in as there is no battery or cold air feed to move out of the way. There are exactly the same threaded mounting holes on that side so I used the M6 bolt and secured it in place:
Sdc11315.jpg


Now it is also worth noting that at this side of the engine there is a belt and an engine mount. So that the cables didn't interfere with any of these moving parts, I zip tied them in place:
Sdc11316.jpg


Sdc11314.jpg


End result, lights that are actually some use:

Sdc11318.jpg


Sdc11321.jpg


Just in case you are in any doubt, before and after! :
Beforeandafter-1.jpg


:smt023
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks John, you are a superstar!

If you have any problems with the kit drop me a PM and I will send out any spares ASAP.

Thanks.

Lee
 
I hope I can put this how to guide to good use when I purchase the kit from the link you sent me. Thanks again John.

Mike
 
I hope I can put this how to guide to good use when I purchase the kit from the link you sent me. Thanks again John.

Mike

No worries, I'm not a spanner whiz and I managed to knock up this guide while doing it so it can't be that hard! :lol:

I did the guide as I thought it would be a big job until I actually saw what needed to be done, so I thought this guide might help other people see what they are up against before starting the job.
 
You would have thought xenon lights would be standard on all newer sports models, especially a type r by now, cracking write up mate, will be very useful judging by the before pictures !
 
I Installed mine at the weekend following this guide, took no longer than 1 hour and 30mins! thank you Loxy!!! will update with a pic when I can
 
Hi guys, does anyone know a decent place to get HID kit and fitted in Manchester by any chance? I've had my fn2 type r for over a year now and would like to get the kit fitted but don't know anything about HID lights. Can anyone recommend?
 
Cracking write up - however, I followed this last night and the majority of it was good. What I would say is, take the battery out as well, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to get to the air intake pipe that you need to remove, and also give you plenty of room when carefully putting the new bulb back in!

Takes two minutes to take the battery out so I would advise it. I got my bulbs off ebay - £37.99 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35W-H7-XE...ts_SM&fits=Car+Make:Honda&hash=item564f8a2fdb)

Enjoy!
 
That's the toe-rag that stole my pictures. Got nothing to do with me or the site.
 
Sadly i already jumped the gun and purchased these. I did eventually notice you posted the pictures up as stolen. Well I'm
about to ruin the 100% feedback score. ''As not suitable for fn2'' they was funny about me asking to cancel my order when i tried explaining fn2 requires H7R, anyway I
ended up fitting them to to my mrs tigra as she has projector headlights.
 
Yes I bought the kit with the wrong bulbs from them as well. Managed to sell it on no problems.

Bought the correct kit and fitted with the guide no problem. Thanks for the guide Loxy - definitely alot easier with your help.
 
Hi guys, looking at doing this pretty soon. Where's best to get these kits at the moment? Do they have to be 35w H7R?

I've seen a few kits on ebay matching this spec for around £35. Not sure if they are any good?

Cheers, Scott
 
Hi guys,

This time has come a lot sooner than I thought. A headlight bulb has failed so it's time to go HID. What's everyone fitting and where from?

Cheers,

Scott
 
not sure the lad still sells them on here. I'm going to order a H7R set off eBay also. there around £35

think ill go for 55w 6000k
 
Ive ordered mine from HIDS Direct.

H7R 35W 6000k , been doing bit of reading up it seems 35w are more than capable and have a longer life expectancy.

2 Year warranty Also :)
 
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