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Yet Another BMW Ellipsoid Intall!


Laecaon

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After getting my ellipsoids I really wanted to get them in. After looking through all the installs I could find on the forum, I felt that I could wing it. This is for the people who dont feel that they could wing it. This is for the H1(HB4) bulb ellipsoids.

 

Wiring for the lights are in the second post.

521 wiring is at the end of post 2

 

The following tools greatly sped up things:

IMG_1002.JPG

IMG_1003.JPG

 

Pliers,

Screw drivers,

Electrical connectors and crimping/stripping tool,

Hammer,

Soldering Iron if you feel like it (I did),

any other miscellaneous tools you find can help you

 

Supplies:

Ellipsoids, bulbs, plug for the lights (I used the BMW ones, but any 9006 bulb connector will work)

Electrical Connects as mentioned above:

SNC11009.JPGSNC11010.JPG

12 Gauge wire (I grabbed a 10 foot section)

2 Relays of at least 30 amp (Must have pins 30,85,86,87)

4-pin-30-amp-relay-2810-p.jpg

Inline fuse holder and fuse (I used a 30 amp fuse, this may be too high to properly protect the system)

NewFuseBox.jpg

 

The fun stuff!

Take out all your headlights/brackets. Remove the cups for the low beams. I then cut 1 inch from the front of the front the cups to make them look like this:

IMG_1000.JPG

 

Next step is to remove the Chrome rings from the ellipsoids. Then to shave down the tabs to the following, This is where the dremel was most useful.Bit of trial and error in this, make sure to shave all the way through.

IMG_1001.JPG

 

Then slide the cup onto the ellipsoid and screw the retainer ring done.

IMG_0999.JPG

 

Next we need to modify the bracket that holds the lights. Angle grinder to the rescue! From this:

IMG_1004.JPG

to this:

IMG_1005.JPG

 

 

I ran into a clearance issue with one of the bumps on the bracket obstructing the ellipsoid, this is the bump:

IMG_1006.JPG

 

I then cut a slot in the bump and hammered it smooth:

IMG_1007.JPG

 

Finally reassemble the headlights back together. I might add, make sure when installing the lights into the buckets you get the orientation correct.

IMG_0998.JPG

 

Next step is to hammer the inner fenders for clearance. I had to cut the washer fluid bracket. Hard to tell how much I hammered it, but not a whole lot, and it goes with the lines already on the inner fender:

IMG_0997.JPG

 

Now you headlights should be able to fit on the car.

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Ok, on with the wiring! Everyones favorite part, actually it was my first step.

 

I did this twice, 1 for each side.

 

Here is the wiring Diagram I am using: (Full size image found here: http://flic.kr/p/9TRUxj)

Headlight%252520wiring.jpg

 

 

 

First step, disconnect the battery!

 

Grab the connector for the low beams. We are going to pull all the leads out of it. It will look like this:

SNC11015.JPG

To pull the connectors out I had to slip in a thin piece of metal into the notch in each slot.

 

On the 510 Harness, Red with Black (RB) is ground for the Low beam light. You will plug RB into the 85 terminal. The passenger positive wire is Red ® while the driver side is Red with Blue (RL). Depending on the side of the car you are working on you will plug either one into the 86 terminal on the relay. You also have a set of wires, Red with White (RW). Wrap the end of the RW with electrical tape, this is the ground for the high beams. You should be done with the 510 harness now.

IMG_1008.JPG

 

Now for soldering and crimping!

 

I first ran my positive wires. I decided to grap my power from the positive terminal on the starter solenoid.

SNC11013.JPG

 

At the other end of the wire I soldered my Inline fuse and placed the heat shrink over it. Added a female spade connector and plugged it into the 30 terminal on the relay. Here you can see the fuse holder:

SNC11014.JPG

 

Grabbed the harness from the BMW lights and did some soldering. Brown is ground, and Yellow with blue is Positive.

SNC11012.JPG

I ran the brown wire to a close screw for ground. The other end of the positive wire runs to the 87 terminal on the relay.

 

Finally I mounted the relay to the core support by a screw I had holding in my valence. Plug everything in and install your headlights if you have not yet.

 

All done!

SNC11011.JPG

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

So here is the new diagram, with proper colors for the 521.

 

Datsun%252520521%252520headlights.jpg

 

Some quick differences between the 510 and 521:

 

Basically the differences between the 510 and 521 are that the 510 is ground switching and the 521 is positive switching.

 

The 510 has separate + power to each side of the car for lights (including 2 fuses, 1 for each side). The 521 shares a common positive, and a ground.

 

On my install on the 510, I ran a separate relay for each side. This was mainly because the stock wiring on the 510 is separate power left and right. Since this is not the case on the 521, it may not be required. But for cleanliness sake I would run separate relays (only additional wires would be for getting power in, versus with 1 relay you have to run a random wire from 1 headlight to the other which just seems odd to me).

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Just thought I'd add that it's really easy to convert these to 9005 bulbs. (highbeams)

 

Just take the plug and pull off the retaining cap holding the wires in:

 

Photo0009.jpg

 

 

Pull the wires out:

 

Photo0010.jpg

 

 

Plug in the new wires. Now you dont have to cut the wires and re-solder them for a different plug! (or mod the bulbs)

 

Get the highbeam bulb retaining ring from a BMW.

 

Trim this little tab off (I found it wasn't absolutely necessary, but I did it anyways):

 

Photo0004.jpg

 

 

Take out the old ring and install the new one. Now get the bulbs and place the o-ring from the old bulb on the base of the new one (for dust/moisture, since the new bulbs' base is smaller) and enjoy your brighter lights.

 

Sidenote: the only difference between a 9006 & a 9005 is one has a coating on the top of the bulb (lowbeam) and a larger base, and the other has higher wattage (highbeam) and a smaller base, and the mounting tabs are a bit different. (hence the retaining ring swap) The filament placement is still the same so it wont mess up the beam pattern.

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Nice how to!

 

Now can we get a pic that shows the cut off? :D

 

Tonight. I went to go drive the car last night and the lights were way out of alignment (pointed down too much), I was in a rush so I just drove my other car. But I plan on aligning the lights tonight.

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If I didnt rush myself, I would have painted the brackets and buckets for the lights. I am thinking I may have an update to convert US ellipsoids to H1 bulbs! Just have to find the proper car at the junkyard.

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Just confirming, are you still able to properly align the lights?

 

Yes, assuming you placed the lights in squarely. You can kinda adjust the lights by moving the backside around. When I had installed mine, they were severely pointed down.

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[quote name='Fixer' date='17 June 2011 - 02:25 PM' timestamp='1308345959' post='495696']
you can still adjust them via the OEM screws right?
[/quote]

Yes you can. After maxing out the screw that changed the vertical height, I decided that it still wasnt high enough. So I am thinking that somehow the lights did not go in perfectly. They are aligned now and will stay. I cant decide if the cutoff is too high or to low. Sometimes its looks right, sometimes low, and others just too high. I tried to compare to my Jettas cut off height.
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So by request, I have made a diagram for the 521's. This may also be correct for other datsuns.

 

So here is the new diagram, with proper colors for the 521.

 

Datsun%252520521%252520headlights.jpg

 

Some quick differences between the 510 and 521:

 

Basically the differences between the 510 and 521 are that the 510 is ground switching and the 521 is positive switching.

 

The 510 has separate + power to each side of the car for lights (including 2 fuses, 1 for each side). The 521 shares a common positive, and a ground.

 

On my install on the 510, I ran a separate relay for each side. This was mainly because the stock wiring on the 510 is separate power left and right. Since this is not the case on the 521, it may not be required. But for cleanliness sake I would run separate relays (only additional wires would be for getting power in, versus with 1 relay you have to run a random wire from 1 headlight to the other which just seems odd to me).

 

Im going to include this in post in post 2 as well.

 

Please notify me with any discrepancies, or if I missed something.

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laulau you from hawaii?

 

I'm actually from San Diego, the wife and I lived in the HI for three years. We had a blast! The kids in the youth group at our church gave me that nick name, I was trying to bust out pigeon with em and made a dork out of myself, it was so funny. Lots of Hawaiians up in the pacific north west for sure, I see em almost once a day, crazy. I think the only other place on the mainland you can find a grip of Hawaiians is Vegas! Good catch, you must either be Hawaiian or a master Google searcher!

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