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'91-96 GP headlight HID/LED light tutorial?


Brodizzle83
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Looking to convert my tiny rectangle headlights to something with better lighting. I know it's been done, just never have seen HOW it's been done. Anyone?5ef2cf770b1fb0864219c7b3d4e517ea.jpgf825e81716948f964a0092ff75181bb3.jpg945d1bc8acff1d6df7fa75caca5e966d.jpg

 

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Putting LED and HID bulbs where they don't belong (e.g. a halogen housing) doesn't give you better lighting despite what random people on the Internet may have you believe. The fundamental basis of improving light performance is focus and optics, something that LED* and HID bulbs cannot deliver without a projector or specially designed housing. Dumping 2000 lumens 25 feet in front of the car and up into the trees does not equal better lighting.

 

The cheapest solution: Some aftermarket company makes 4351/4352 housings that have a normal 9005/9006 bulb socket so you can install your own hardware. Buy these housings and install 9011/9012 HIRs in them. This will give you up to 50% more light output with the same halogen beam pattern the lamps are designed for. 

 

The expensive, but best solution: Build a custom lamp to fit in the miniquad pocket and shove the biggest bi-xenon HID projector you can fit into it. This is going to require a lot of work and money, but it will deliver the best lighting performance.

 

 

* = The exception to my no LED rule is the Diode Dynamics SL1, which are made right here in the USA and are specifically designed for use in a halogen, reflector-style housing. If you insist on not using halogen, go this route.

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Leave the OEM lights in position, start engine, turn the lights on, TEST THE FRIGGIN' VOLTAGE ON THE POWER, AND ON THE GROUND SIDE OF THE FILAMENTS.  Compare to alternator voltage.  You should have "about" one or one-and-a-half volts less at the headlights compared to alternator voltage.

 

Headlights are rated for brightness at 12.8 volts.  Headlights are rated for service life at 13.2 volts.  Your voltage at the lights needs to be between those two figures.

 

Example:  You have 13.3 volts on the supply side, and .1 volts on the ground.  13.3 - .1 = 13.2 = OK.

Example:  You have 12.9 volts on the supply side, and .6 volts on the ground.  12.9 - .6 = 12.3 = dim goddam headlights.  Fix the ground

Example:  You have 11.9 volts on the supply side, and .1 volts on the ground.  11.9  - .1 = 11.8 = dim goddam lights.  Fix the supply.

Example:  You have 14.2 volts on the supply side, and .1 volts on the ground.  14.2 - .1 = 14.1 = lights burn out quickly.

 

Before you fukk around with aftermarket junk headlights, make sure the lights you have now are being fed properly.

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Two solutions I can help for this.

Easiest is twist the old halogens out and put sylvania silverstars in. You need to epoxy them in place. Clean the housing very well and use acetone to remove any oils. #s 9005 and 9006. I have these on my high beams.

I have leds on my low beams and they are very bright. Same install twist out the old and epoxy back in. Don’t get cheap Chinese leds or you’ll be disappointed. You have to make sure the leds are aligned in the housing correctly so the beam is horizontal and not vertical. Also the housing needs to be in good shape if the miiroring is flaking off replace then.

My opinion is the leds are much better than hid and halogen. I had a really good hid kit on my truck and switched back to silverstars. No matter how low I pointed the hids I still got flashed. The light on those is very diffused and scatters badly. They also require a ballast box which makes their install very annoying. And the ballast can quit just as the lamps themselves.

Don’t go over 5k colour temp on the leds though.

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I bought a set of 6K HIDs for my 95. Got them off Amazon. Brand called Kensun. It's the 35W kit. Had them for over 2 years now and not one bit of trouble from them. Bulbs still working fine. I did aim the down towards the road a bit and haven't had any issues. Might get flamed, but I'm happy with them. Look at the Kensun setups on Amazon. 2 year warranty and really well made kits.

 

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I have to get some pictures but the Monte actually patterns and has a cutoff with HIDs in factory housings. The Regal and Bonneville do not but my GF has terrible night vision and they make night driving tolerable for her. I do have to admit the Monte with it's more or less proper aiming is better at night.

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Done the mini-quad LED upgrade on my '92 GTP.  I used Opt7 (USA) off Amazon, 6K, 7000LM (3500/ea) in the lows and 8400LM (4200/ea) in the highs.  Contrast that with about 1200LM on the HIRs.  I think they were about $89/pr for the lows, and $109 for the highs.  Obviously not the cheap route, about as expensive as you can buy on Amazon, but at $200 complete still way less than an HID upgrade.  I had already done 9011/9012 HIRs in the housings back in 2013, so it was drop-in.  You have to remove the existing bulb without damaging the housing itself.  Then you need to rotate the new ones in the housing until the beam looks its best, and use hi-temp silicone (preferably the copper stuff) to secure them in place.  What I found is you're better off finding (or buying) two more low-beam housings.  They're rare to find good ones that aren't chipped or cracked in the junkyard, and matching two is even rarer.  Depends on your patience and whether you care if they match.  Only a handful of cars ever used them besides W-bodies.  '93-97 Camaros also did.

After 4 years with HIRs, I can say with complete and utter awe that the LEDs are jaw-droppingly better than the HIRs were.  They are awesome once they're properly aligned and aimed.  Especially the way they light up reflective signs, it's incomparable to incandescent.  Pic below from a previous post.

 post-2402-0-32768300-1508787480_thumb.jpg 

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What led bulb did you use in the low beam lamps?

 

I've searched over & over for a 9006 equivalent in a three sided led that only lights up two of the three filaments for a low pattern effect,

9007's led's would do the job but I have to alter the harness to use & no online supplier seems to want to custom swap the 9006 collars onto the 9007 bulb & sell as such.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you want to convert to HIDs properly, there is at least one kit out there (made specifically for 93-97 Camaros, but should fit the same): https://www.blackbirdlighting.com/camaro93-97.php

It's definitely not a cheap solution, but (full disclosure) I know the owner of Blackbird Lighting, and the owner of the blue Camaro in those pictures, and the light output is outstanding.

 - Justin

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It's not difficult to make your own lighting harness, a relay, fuse holder, some wire, a couple of ring terminals and that jumper that always comes with a HID kit.

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On 8/9/2018 at 12:25 PM, pshojo said:

are our headlights same as 93-97 Camaro?

GM in its infamous cost sharing technique used the headlight in the...

 

- 1992-1997 Cutlass Supreme

-1992-1996 Grand Prix

-1993-1997 Camaro

- 1992-1993 Geo Storm 

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