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DDM h4 HID's install (V3.1)

13K views 36 replies 9 participants last post by  Filimafiarep 
#1 ·
Hello All.
I am posting on how i am doing my H4 HID conversion on my blue '08 675.
Check out the following threads, and post questions and/or concerns.
Yes, there will be pictures. I knew i would get hell from all of you if i wouldn't have taken any.

Intro:
I am doing this, since after months of searching and posting on this forum and more searching, and then some more searching, i was still slightly unsure on how to do this. I did learn one thing, i REALLY wanted to do the conversion.
Firts off, after 6 months of owning the bike, i accidentally realized that my headlight, (the low beam) was not producing sufficent light. i was out riding with friends at night, and when we were stoped to BS, everyone had shut off their lights, and i was the last to do so, when i realizd that my headlight was not bright enought to be used at all. The light was on, just not enough light output. I was left to run with my high beam on ALL the time. Lucky enough, this was not bothersome to my friend's mirrors.
Upon further investigation, i found out that the chrome inside the housing had worn off, and had bare metal, which was not reflective enough to have usable light output. After i moved up north, i finally took the bike in to the dealership, to get a warranty claim on it. So, now i had a brand new headlight assembly courtesy of Triumph, and a working set of headlights. No matter what, i was determined to get a set of HIDS, more sepcifically, since i like to be seen, and have had a few close calls to where people decide that its a good idea to pull out in front of motorcycles. (this was a bigger problem in Florida, where you have old senile folks who can barely see over their steering wheels and drive cadiliacs and buicks). Yes, i also realize that having a set of HIDs is annoying to other people (my wife HATES anyone that has them) but i would rather be annoying and be seen, than to be not noticed with a wrecked bike. Plus, it kind of bothered me that during low beam, only one side lights up, and i wanted both sides on at the same time. It looks a bit more symetrical.
The biggest hurdle was to separate the headlight. I was absolutley afraid to just put the brand new headlight in the oven, so i found one on e-bay that came off a wrecked bike. Not really usable, but i just wanted something to play with. It had de-chromed housings, cracked lens, and water residues...
Once i got enough nerve to touch the new headlight, i finnally split it. pulled out all the parts and admired it......
Since the spare bell housings from the projectors were not usable, i bought a cheap H4 Bulb, used a lathe at my job, and figured out how to attach the HID bulb to the housing since the 675's use an H7 and H9 bulb. here is where i realized that i will probably have to re-chrome the housiongs, and had a chrome shop out of Illinois on stand by.
When i finally got my new H4 HIDS from DDM, i realized that i would need to have a different plan of attack. Stay tuned for the next posts to see how the mod went.
Martin (aka Buzz122)
 
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#2 ·
Install (Tools)

Firts off, for those that do not wish to separate the headlight, you don't necsarily have to, in order to do this mod. Theres an issue that will come up if you don't, but i will cover that later.

Tools i used:
Dremel --> very handy
Drill bit --> i have a tool that has a .060" bit (see pics)
Torx Bit --> very small, Kobalt tools ( i think from Lowes)
RTV --> Black, High-Temp silicone
Patience --> Trust me, you will need it.

Drill Bit Tool


Torx Bit Tool
 
#3 ·
Install (housing differences)

One thing to keep in mind is that the two housing vary in shape, which will give you different light output styles.
Here you will see how they differ. one is meant for low beam, and the other for high beam. stay tuned for actual light output patern pictures.

Housing 1



Housing 2

 
#5 ·
Install (HID Modifications)

I bought a set of DDM Tuning HID's H4's 55W (I think they were either 8000K or 10000K)

Heres the bulbs, and how they sleeve separates.





Heres where you separate the shield......
take note at the two screws that hold it all together, this is where you need the Torx Bit.



Heres an "exploded View"

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/BUZZ122/675 headlight/xDSC06491.jpg

Now, take your sleeve, and use the dremel to shave the tabs so you can use the same screws to attach it to your bell housing.



Heres another pic (take note to which side to shave off)



One more pic, to show how much to shave off..... (if you don't have calipers, see the picture above, i shaved off to about the mold line) There is about .075" material left



then, i used this sleeve and placed it on the housing, and marked where the two holes need to be drilled. MAKE SURE you align the sleeve, so the "lock" and "unlock" words are outside. (also, you will have to strip the housing of the screws and clips that each housing uses to hold the H7 and H9 bulbs)



another pic (the open tab on the housing is on top)



heres another pic that shows the alignment of the text



Now drill out the holes, enough, so you can use the same screws that held the original sleeve together, only you will use them from the other direction. This is not necesarily a structural hold, but really as a place holder, and alignment.



Then, i just used the black RTV High-Temp silicone to "spooged" it around, more or less to glue the sleeve to the housing.



Then, let it cure for at least 24 hours, and your ready to assemble your housing back together, if you decided to split the headlight. Otherwise, if you didn't split the headlight, you are ready to slide in the HID bulb, and wire it up. Then, use the alignment screws and align each bulb against your garage door, ar anything else for your light patern.
 
#6 ·
Install (More notes) Please READ

so, heres where it gets tricky.
If you noticed, the earlier post where i showed the differences in the housings, well, theres more to it than that.

If you chose to not split your headlight, then your light patern will vary from what mine is, because there is a shield on the low beam side, (which i think is the reason why my first housing had the broblem of peeling chrome) I removed this shiled, and put the piece on a lathe, to cut of the bracket that holds the shield in place......

( i will edit this, to add pics here to show the difference )

IMPORTANT:
The other thing that is an issue at this time will be the size of the back of the bulb, At this time, the back housing that covers the back of the bulb WILL NOT fit back on your headlight. I am working out a solution for this. I need to go an auto parts store to see what is available. I have a couple of ideas, and will post up o solution. For those that are NOT splitting the headlight, ignore the following, as you are not able to get to them. As far as my own headlights go, i plan on looking at removing some spacers that are part of the projector, to see if that will help. I noticed that ( NICK, the resident tech ) did a similar project, and his re-assembly did not have those spacers, but his HID was of different style.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Any particular reason you went with h4's over the stock h7 and h9? Sounds like you're turning a 30 minute mod into a day long project. Good work, though.
thank you for the compliment

Actually, this has taken longer than a day, since this is my "winter project". My bike has been apart for over two months, and i am only now getting to this, since i am dying to ride.

H4's have both the "low" beam and "high" beam option, as opsed to the H7 which is only a "low" beam, and the H9 is only a "high" beam
 
#8 ·
Beam paterns

Beam patterns will vary, due to the "block-off" plate, and the two different housing styles. check out the previous post to see the housing differences, and which housing shows which patern.
So, here are the current beam patterns without any obstructions:

The paterns weres shot against a light lime green wall to about 8'-0" distance, so ignore the color difference.

Housing 1 (Low)



Housing 1 (high)



Housing 2 (low)



Housing 2 (high)



Both (low)



Both (high)



heres a couple of fun pics to show what the headlight looks like all lit up. Don't mind all the fingerprints and dust on the lens.



 
#9 ·
Update

So, in looking at different options, for myself, i am choosing to go with the simplest way of fiiting the bulb and the back cover on, by modifying the layout of the projector housing, and trimming a few pieces inside the headlamp for clearance.
So far, i had painted the "pretty" ring and other pieces with some high temp spray paint, but it seems to scratch off very easy, as is being a PITA. I have a shop near me that does powdercoating and ceramic coatings, so i had them powder coat the "pretty" ring, and it came out really nice.
For the "lens" housing, i put that on a lathe and trimmed that up a bit, for my reconfiguration, and dropped that off at the powdercoating place. Once that is back, i will take pics to show my progress.

On a side note, this project is a lot of work, but the results will pay off in the long run.

At the first look, it seemed like this was going to be possible without splitting the headlight, but i am mistaken. There are options, by making a special spacer for the back cover, but i'm not sure of fitment and clearance issues. :itsok:
 
#10 ·
as promissed: the pic of lens housings, one shows the bracket that holds the block off plate, and the other, not.
This block off plate bracket, i put the piece on a lathe to "cut it off". then did some clean up work by making the faces "true" only cuz i'm anal.

 
#11 ·
This is actually REALLY REALLY COOL. Excellent work! I'd really love to do this myself.

From the pics/explanation, I'm just a bit confused... Have you gotten the lights back on your bike yet? From looking at the front fairing pic it doesn't look like it's on your bike, and I'm wondering how much extra stuff (ie ballasts) is hanging out of the back with these lights.
 
#13 ·
This is actually REALLY REALLY COOL. Excellent work! I'd really love to do this myself.

From the pics/explanation, I'm just a bit confused... Have you gotten the lights back on your bike yet? From looking at the front fairing pic it doesn't look like it's on your bike, and I'm wondering how much extra stuff (ie ballasts) is hanging out of the back with these lights.
First off: Thank you Samieee and Knolly

In resposne to your questions, no, i do not have them back on the bike.
i was going to, but then i found someone who does chrome. Long story short, i removed the "sleeve" from the housing, and the guy is going to just polish up the housing, and is making a custom "adaptor sleeve".
I will have pics, once that is more finalized. The whole assembly was modified to be able to re-fit the whole assembly with bulb, inside, with nothing hanging out, except for the plugs for the bulb. The balasts i plan on installing just below the headlamp, ontop of the front fairing, just as other people on this site have done so. The harness, i cut, trimed, and incorporated the factory wiring harness for the two small bulbs, which will end up being turn signals as well, and i will will post pics of it as i get closer to the final install.
So, i got this bug to take the bike out, and considering that my headlights are not quite done yet, i bought a set of round driving lights, and installed those in just so i have lights, but in the end, once i will have everything done, and installed, i will be splitting the headlight again, to have the housing re-chromed, PEREFECT. appearntly, the molds that the housing are made with, have quite a few imperfections, and the chrome that is factory applied is absolute CRAP. There fore i will have it redone. One option i am thinking about is getting the housing gold plated, and see what hapends with the light out. It's only a thought for now. Experiments to follow.:whistle:
 
#14 ·
Great job but looks like there's a lot of scatter with the low beams on. You'll be doing more hard than good to yourself when you're blinding oncoming traffic. personally, I found that with the HID's for low it's bright enough. I've gotten stuck with my tinted visor twice now at night and could see just fine.

Lights should look more like this with the low beams on. Still some scatter but not too much:

 
#15 ·
Great job but looks like there's a lot of scatter with the low beams on. You'll be doing more hard than good to yourself when you're blinding oncoming traffic. personally, I found that with the HID's for low it's bright enough. I've gotten stuck with my tinted visor twice now at night and could see just fine.

Lights should look more like this with the low beams on. Still some scatter but not too much:
Agreed........ BUT, when i took those pictures, the clear lens was not installed, the pics were really more to show what type of beam pattern each of the housings splay. Your picture also shows the lights much closer to the projected surface...
Once i get my parts back, shoudl be any day now, i wil take more pics....... i'm stalled at the moment........
 
#17 · (Edited)
Not to be a dick more just curious but you were not happy with the light output so you went all the way to 8000k or 10k?? You do realize there is LESS visible light the higher you go up the temp chart? You get the most visible light at 4300k. It might make up for it since you got the 55watt but still I think anything higher than 6000k and you are defeating the whole purpose of HIDS..

I dig the work for the project. Projects are always fun! Take pics outside!

Another note I see is your projector housing is all discolored ... what bulbs were in there before? That could be a reason your light sucked so much is because whatever bulb was in there was waay to high via watts and started melting the housing.

I have 6 projectors from our headlights from various projects and none look this:


-Nigel
 
#18 ·
Couple of notes.....

I swear pics are coming....

The discoloration is actually from the factory.

Those are brand new housings, where the original chrome started to peel on the inside, with factoy installed bulbs, therefore i had them replaced via a warranty. The discoloration is like that i'm guessing because it was done in china.... at least thats what i hear from my chrome person, and it is only on the outside.....

I think i bought 8,000K bubs.... 55W

The other reason to use two HID's was to get both sides on at the same time on. I'm a bit anal about that as well... it drove me nuts knowing that only one side was on for low beams.....

(edit)
And one more note......
i changed the setup of how the bulb attaches to the housing... should have those pics soon....
 
#19 ·
Time for update (with pics)

alright.......
so i finally got a chance to do some work on it last night and tonight i will finish up, but heres the scoop

I assembled the housings, which if any one you that have split your headlight will notice, that i re-arranged the spacers and the base plate. see the pics, to get more space inside. The plastic pieces screwed to the clear part of the lens have been modified also to allow for this, but the whole piece has been sitting, taped and clamped and curing with RTV, black silicone.
Now for the pics... (they are assembled, but before i glued everything)







 
#22 ·
Finally Complete

Alright, finnally i have everything installed
unfortunatly i did have to remove the factory steering stabilizer, but i've been meaning to get a better one anywayz. Besides that, it came out AWSOME !!! and i LOVE THE LIGHT OUTPUT. so glad i did this.

here the pics:

Before (with temporary headlights)





AND NOW for the install:











 
#24 ·
I'm lost on your question!!

what do you consider regular HID's?
DDM is just a company that make HID's and when you choose your bulb, you choose the "color" by specifying between 3K - 12K
The higher the K, the more "blue" the light is, but also the more "blue" in the light, the less visible it becomes.
 
#25 ·
4300k is ideal for light output. That's the most visible light you will get, anything higher and you loose visible light... doesn't matter if you get 55watt or stick with the 35watt.. it's defeating the purpose. That being said you probably won't notice much going up to 6000k light to get that lighter shade of blue. As you go up to 8000k, it's very blue, 12000k is a purple shade.

I'm still trying to fab something up in my doner headlight housing to fit s2000 projectors in the housings... I have them in my STi when I did a retro fit and honestly it's been the best mod I've done to the car. I can ONLY imagine what 2 s2000 projectors from an AP1 would be like in our daytonas.... Actually , I know it would be aweome... it's such a WIDE beam pattery and throws light down the road it's unreal!

-Nigel
 
#27 ·
4300k is ideal for light output. That's the most visible light you will get, anything higher and you loose visible light... doesn't matter if you get 55watt or stick with the 35watt.. it's defeating the purpose. That being said you probably won't notice much going up to 6000k light to get that lighter shade of blue. As you go up to 8000k, it's very blue, 12000k is a purple shade.

I'm still trying to fab something up in my doner headlight housing to fit s2000 projectors in the housings... I have them in my STi when I did a retro fit and honestly it's been the best mod I've done to the car. I can ONLY imagine what 2 s2000 projectors from an AP1 would be like in our daytonas.... Actually , I know it would be aweome... it's such a WIDE beam pattery and throws light down the road it's unreal!

-Nigel
The factory projectors already do a really nice job at throwing light, of course, once you remove the blocker plate and adjust them correctly.
 
#28 ·
Oh..
i was being a PITA, and wanted to really screw things up.... he he...
Actually, it alll started out because my chrome housing started to peeel, giving me absolutly NO light output. I got a warranty replacement, but my goal was over-thought and there was no turning back to what i could EASILYdo, and therefore i have what i have.
My goal was to have both projectors on at all times, and have Hi/Lo on each side, with some modifications of course. Since i was splitting the headlight, i ended up powdercoating a few pieces as well.

All in all, yeah, i spent a LOT of time and quite a bit of money ( i give you that ) Only for the fact that i'm anal and i guess you could say spoiled to getting what i want came forth this project. Plus i just wanted to show that theres "more than one way to skin a... cough ... headlight".

My final answer, if you want a quick fix, right away, do the H7/H9 combo. If you want different results, look at more than one option.
 
#30 ·
Not to mention fabricating stuff is half the fun :)

Well either way you did a great job and they turned out awesome!
I second that notion !!!

And of course Thank you.
I am very proud to have one-of-a-kind headlight.
 
#33 ·
I just didn't understand your question. It seemed like you were talking about the color of the bulbs, not the type or style. No worries.

In fact, i would also like to add and clarify that when you choose the color "K" of the HID from DDM, then you also have to take in consideration the wattage as well. DDM gives you the option of 35W or 55W setup, this will also have an impact of the color that you really want as well.
For example, i wanted the look of 6K color, and i would achieve that by choosing a 35W 6K bulb, but if you wish to get the 55W balasts, then you would have to choose 8K bulbs, to get the same color. This is the setup that i have, Two 55W balasts, with two H4 - 8K bulbs.
 
#35 ·
I'm not following how you got both lamps running simultaneously...I do apologize. My question is do you have your high beam switch on the handlebars turned to to the "Hi Beam On" position in order to run them both or did you rewire them to run both lamps off of the low beam circuit? Nice job fabricating too! :thumbup:
 
#36 ·
Both lamps have H4 bulbs, therefore they both have a single filament... but switch between hi/lo
What switches between hi/lo, is my factory switch, which basically changes the location of the filament in the bulb, via a solenoid on the back of the HID.
Hope that helps, slightly technical.....
 
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