720DEBORAH_OWNER

The Platinum Edition of the 98 GS does have a HID projectors on it. This was a big problem for my buddy who bought that Platinum Edition car a parts car to rebuild a normal GS that had been spun on ice and smashed all four corners of the car. Headlights were one of the parts he needed from the Platinum Edition car. He was PISSED that he had to buy headlight assemblies after buying the parts car amd later realizing it had a different assembly. Hence the reason he is willing to part with them for free...he is still pissed off about it and wants nothing to do with them. I have a pic of his lamps,ballasts and autoleveling controls.. Its definitely a projector with a fresnel lens. Havent figured out how to post pics easily yet or I would share it.

Again Mike is right here. i misread the orginal post........ How about Pilot bearing/bushing?

Well, ask and ye shall receive. Mentioned my retrofit idea to a buddy who rebuilds wrecked cars for extra cash....and he offers me a pair from a 98 gs 300 for free.....woo hoo!!!

Another way to isolate is to CAREFULLY use a pry bar to add or remove a bit of load on the suspect. If it is your culprit the pitch of your noise will change. Example: one can pry a bit on the body of the suspect accessory this works best on non-serpentine systems. Serpentine's reqire more finesse. Adding tension anywhere adds it everywhere. But by far the best way is to use a mechanics stethoscope on the body of the device that the suspect pully's shaft is mounted in. This method is VERY definitive. Doesnt matter if the noisy bearings are in the pully itself like a tensioner or if the shaft is fixed in the pully and the bearings are inside the device, like an alternator or power steering pump.

Here's a decent site on automotive HID'S. http://www.hidretrofits.com/ Has a bit of sales speak in it, but alot of info on general theroy and construction. After reading this, I think im gonna go with Bi-xenon's where the low beams are now and then a HID pair with yellow fog bulbs mounted in the high beam location. Gonna have to make custom bezels to mount them in, but thats no hill for a climber....that would complete the updating of the lighting systems on the truck as I'm using LEDs everywhere else.

No offense taken or intended back at cha in saying this... I'm well aware that is two systems melded together. ;-) I'm new here so a bit of background on me is probably in order to save us all some time discussing the obvious. I've been building cars for near 25yrs now. Was involved in my first frame off/full tear down at 14. I do all my own work. I grew up with a guy who now teaches automotive refinishing at a university level tech school. I am fully tooled for anything from engine building to welding/cutting frames to upholstery to custom sheet metal...... Hope that doesn't sound like braggin, wasn't intended to be.....I was just lucky to have inherited most of it and happened to grow up down the gravel road from the right guy. My buddy's dad was like a mad scientist. Back to HID'S... Does that 40w figure include ballast as well or bulb alone? Im a audiogeek who prefers the old school high current amplifiers to these new digital switching amps (I think they sound very dull compared to a classic AB design) consequently I am very carefull about adding electrical load on a sub 100a alternator. Sounds like an HID system might save me load overall...unless the ballasts are very power hungry/inefficient, which I doubt. As for my fitment question, im thinking more along the lines of using a standalone HID lens/housing that would occupy the same approximate amount of space as the orginal high beams. Doesn't have to be rectilinear, necessarily. My 720 is barely better than a rough parts truck. Lots of mods will be made. Its already trashed anyway. I bet there are generic HID kits out there., now that I'm writing this and thinking on it. That makes me feel better. I would rather an Acura part on my truck than a Bring Massive Wallet part any day of the week....

Im betting on throwout bearing......

datzenmike is right on the money here. Checking a tstat is a waste of time, pull it and drop a new brand name part in. I worked a service counter in a 12 bay independent repair shop for years. Sold hundreds of tstat jobs. I disagree with the notion that a dealer thermostat is inherently better than a quality aftermarket part. Definitely better than house brand, though. This is not to say no dealer parts are better, many are. A part as simple as a tstat is likely to be built by an aftermarket part maker anyway and boxed as OEM for the manufacturer. For instance, 15yrs ago, we had a situation that proved Saturn brake pads from the dealer parts counter in a GM box were IDENTICAL to AC Delco pads for that car. GM bought AC Delco's pads to manufacture with. There is a long "pissed off customer being filled with BS by a dealer" story behind that one.

What did that light come from? I just made the jump from Toyotas(had 5 22r and re celicas) to the Nissan/Dastun world. Feels like home. Reminds me of Mopars. Lots of awesome but highly underrated engineering... Anyway, I digress.. I just rescued an '84 720KC 4X4 some redneck kid was bent on destroying and was pondering doing an HID retrofit. Its been 10years since I've built a car or really followed the new tech much. Anybody have a line on what JY parts are gonna be approximately sized/built to do this retrofit easiest? How much current do these HID setups draw? What about durability with rough terrain?