Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and just picked up a Z that had been vandalized and needs a bit of TLC before she's road-worthy. I've already tried searching for what I was looking for, but didn't find any clear, precise answers. Anyways, what I'm wondering is if I can get a set of STOCK halogen headlights and put my HID lights in them. The reason I ask is because on the Z, they smashed the outer headlight casing, but everything inside was fine and I don't want to buy a whole new HID light if I don't need to. Is it possible to take the ballast, wiring, and all that good stuff and just swap it into the halogen housing? Thanks for your replies.

 

I am also interested in this. I broke the casing of my HID lights, but the bulbs, ballast, and everything else is still intact. I would rather not pay 700$ for the hid assembly. So if anyone knows for sure, I will greatly appreciate it.

 

you can, but the light output will not be the same. Internally they are somewhat different (the light output).

 

I have HIDs in my halogen housings and it works fine. Granted it wont be as good as the HID housing. I actually bought my HID kit from Jun, thanks bud!

 

Thanks for the replies. Just curious, but how are the "internals" different? The housings are almost identical and I don't see how the light output would really be affected at all, it's just light going through a thin plastic case. I'm not putting the HID bulbs in the halogen "projectors", I'm going to completely swap in the HID "projectors" alltogether. I guess this might be a trial-and-error, but I'm willing to spend $50 on a used halogen light as a test light than drop $500 for a set of used HID housings.

 

The main difference between HID and non-HID housings has to do with reflectors and the projection lens. HID housings are designed for HID and concentrate the light better than non-HID housings.

Basically its all about cutting off the light and dispersing it correctly for your type of lighting. You will notice a difference as HID housing will be aimed and cutoff will be correct, but its all up to you as to how picky you are about that stuff.

 

well, if you are going to swap all internals (i.e. just using the clear plastic lens/black plastic back cover), then i guess that would be fine, but then you run into wiring problems, because they are wired differently.

 

What do you mean by wiring problems? If I'm using EVERYTHING from the HID except the plastic headlight "casing," I don't see how there could be any wiring problems. Sorry if I sound redundant, but I really want to get this figured out as soon as I can.

 

gthompson, if you mean just replacing the headlight CLEAR (polycarbonate) "casing", yes, I guarantee they will work. I did the black housing DIY mod and messed up my "casing" in the process. I bought a new non-HID headlight assembly, and swapped the "casings" with each other. Light output is exactly the same. I have stock HID's. Hope that helps! =)

 

Well, I was planning on using the polycarbonate "lens" AND the black plasting "housing", but I don't see how that would affect the wiring. But being as I'm going to be pulling them apart anyways, I might as well just use the plastic lens and call it good. Thanks alot.

 

In regards to the black plastic "housing" (I assume you are referring to the other piece of the assembly that the bulb connectors twist into), I know it is DIFFERENT between stock HID vs. non-HID. The non-HID has some missing cutouts that are used to mount the HID ballast and its wires. I don't know if you can cut out the opening. For some reason the pics were too big, I sent them to your hotmail account.