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What did you pay for your headlight upgrade?

G2WANIT

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Utah
I've been reading/following threads on headlight upgrades because, well, I'm afraid of the dark. Anyway, I've noticed there is a common theme: BIG BUCKS!! I'm willing to bet no one here is into it less than $120.

I bought a new HID for my DDer and holy crap - $98 at the parts store. Now granted RockAuto has them for $60+shipping, but still, that's $130 just for the freakin' bulbs!

The most sensible upgrade for an XJ is to H4 housings but even then you have to upgrade the wiring as well, so you're into it for the housings, wiring and bulbs. The wiring can (should?) be DIY'd with wire and relays - and a lot of work...

To me the cheapest & easiest option seems to be just adding some sort of small axillary KC/LED lights to use on those wooded roads... (which I already have.)

So I want to hear from those who have done it: what did you do and how much are you into it?

* Don't bother posting if you are running HIDs in H4 housings - I fart in your general direction!
 
$ 26 pair of AutoPal H4 housings
$ 36 e-autoworks headlight wire harness upgrade
$ 35 Sylvania SilverStar H-4 bulbs

$ 97 of brightness on the pavement. Cheap crappy Chinese HID kits suck.
 
$40 - Autopal E-codes
$15 - Hella H4 100/80W bulbs
$35 - Putco relay harness

That was great until the relays died. Add $15 bucks to replace them since they're not standard bosch style relays.

Then they died again (this time partially my fault for locating them next to the opening in the inner fender where lots of mudd/water come in after removing the inner fender liners).

Then I bought new wire and bosch style relay pigtails and remade the whole damn thing, for about $75

So I'm into it about $180. If I were to do it from scratch and skip the shitty harness that just gave me trouble, I could save 50 bucks and lots of headaches. If you just want to do it once, I'd strongly recommend building your own harness from scratch if you have the tools and capabilities, or buying one of the higher quality harnesses that are available rather than the putco. While there are a lot of people running that Putco harness, and it's better than nothing, I've had several that caused problems, and have no desire to ever buy another. (I've bought or installed 3, and two of them have had problems. The one that hasn't had issues is also the newest so I'm not exactly confident that it won't give me trouble in the future).

I also cracked one of my housings (started as a rock chip, then cracked badly) so I have to buy another set of autopals, but that could happen to any light.
 
autopal h4 housings like 30-40$
eautoworks harness like 30-40$
sylvania ultra stars 50$

rought estimate cant remember pricing, good bit brighter but i wouldnt mind if it was better
 
Its sort of off topic but will the factory wj harness run 80/100watt Hellas, or would it need upgraded? The wife's 01 wj could use an upgrade, but if the factory wiring will work it could be a $15 affair.
 
Honda relays fit the Putco/e-autoworks harness. A whole pocketful of relays cost me $2 for admission to the junkyard.

e-autoworks Honda relay

Honda s2000 2000-2007, Pilot 03-07, Prelude 97-01, CR-V 91-01, Odyssey 95-98, Civic 2d 96-00 or 4d 98-00, Accord 2d 98-02 or 4dr 98-02.

The Honda part number is 39797-SE0-004
 
Autopal H4 housings - $40 on Ebay - "blah"
home built headlight harness - $30 - 40 or so. "WIN"

I've run the harness with one high wattage bulb and one bulb the same wattage as the sealed beam units. The bigger difference, by far, comes not from going H4 but from using a headlight harness.
 
If you want a quality harness and to get it done right the first time check this out from Daniel Stern:

The relay upgrade can be achieved with parts kit RIK-2, $49.
The RIK is not a harness, but a _parts kit_ containing all relays, brackets, terminal blocks, terminals, plugs, sockets, fuses and fuseholders. You supply your own wire (or your mechanic does) and use the parts from the kit to build up your own wiring harness to take the workload off the switches and bring full power to the lamps. Specific instructions are provided, and the concept is explained at http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html .
Parts are specially made premium-grade items (e.g. ceramic headlamp sockets) that accept large-gauge wire; this is not the "consumer grade" junk you can find at the parts store.


For quality wire and supplies try these guys:
http://www.kayjayco.com/index.htm
 
I paid about $100 for a putco harness and some autopal e codes they were a massive improvement. Since the I ordered some H4 housings that have been retrofitted with morimoto mini bi- xenon projectors. And 5000k temp bulbs for about 250
 
I'm in my upgrade for about 100$. IPF H4 housings, Hella 80/100 bulbs, LMC truck harness.
 
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