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'03+ Light Upgrade w/ HIDs on a 2000

9K views 33 replies 17 participants last post by  jbreese00 
#1 ·
Alright... so on my 2000 I recently installed the '03+ Projector style headlights and put an H7 (projector housing size) 4300k HID unit in. I wanted to have complete functionality of the current setup and make it as close to OEM on an '03+ that Toyota's switched grounds would allow me. I also wanted it to be as stealth as possible. You don't have to trim any frunk plastics, and you can't see any wires from inside of the cabin.

What you will need for this project: '03+ Headlight Housings, H7 HID Unit, H7 sockets, 9005 sockets, soldering iron, solder, flux, electrical tape, a couple small gromets, a 30A fuse (and housing), 10-15 feet of a ~12 gauge wire, numerous wrenches and sockets, etc. etc...

1. Take out old headlight housings. Search for more on that...

2. Cut the existing 9004 socket (current 3 prong) off.

3. Take the 12 gauge wire, hook the fuse up to it, and with an eyelet attach it to the battery. Drill a small hole into the firewall and fill with a gromet. Next snake the wire through all the rest of the interior parts. Drill another hole near where the steering column exits the interior (see pictures for reference). Again, fill with a gromet and snake the line.

Once inside of the frunk region, run the line to the drive side light. Around where the brake lines meet the firewall, T into the line with the same gauge of wire and run that to the passenger side.

This line is important as it is a constant source of power for the new H7 bulb. As of yet, no one has been able to find a constant source in the engine bay that can handle the amount of juice that the HIDs need to run.

4. New wiring socket info...
Driver Side (US):
9005 power - red
9005 ground - red/yellow
H7 power - fused power (line brought up from battery)
H7 ground - red/yellow
Passenger Side (US):

9005 power - red/blue
9005 ground - red/yellow
H7 power - fused power (line brought up from battery)
H7 ground - red/yellow
***note: the red/black and red/green wires no longer need to be used. Tape and cap them off

For those wires and sockets, be sure to spend the time and do them right; solder and tape them for the best connection possible.

5. Plug bulbs into new housing (9005 and H7). Your old 9004 bulbs serve no purpose anymore, sorry, get new bulbs.

6. If you are going to install HIDs, disable the daytime running lights as per the library. If you are not going to install HIDs, you are able to keep the DRLs. Reasoning being that daytime running lights are put on the low beam (H7) bulb with slightly less power than the HID systems need to be operated. This means that instead of having DRLs, the HIDs will flash once (which is horrible for HIDs) everytime DRLs try to engage. Disabling them (at your own risk) takes about 3 minutes...

7. Once you are sure that all of the wiring is correct, install you HID unit. It is very easy, plug and play. With the '03+ style, you have no worry about having to switch around the polarity as there is only two prongs; either the light works, or it doesn't (in which case you simple put the plug in the other way around).

It sounds really easy of course on screen, but it really wasn't. With wiring, Murphy's Law generally applies so be ready for it. Don't try to snake in the fused power by going through existing pathways, they are really tight to get into and you risk shedding the insulation on all of those tiny wires in the enginebay firewall; just drill a new small hole, there is no noise increase from doing so.

The HID unit - that I have - does not need to be grounded, so you can mount it to anything. The driver side, I found a beefy bolt and bolted down, and on the passenger side I zip'd it to a bunch of different things.

I did my whole install for $345 (not including cost of tools that I already had). A typical install would be in the $400-$450 range I'd think though; I was just patient.

Here are some pictures of the install for some visualization...

Giving credit where credit is due: Joe Schmoe for the wiring info, LT for HID install, my Father, and the people who I bought sick deals from.


This shows the fused line coming off from the battery


Gromet hole running from engine bay into driver side of storage plastics near the ECU


Fused line running into frunk area via near the steering column


This is the where the fused line comes into the frunk area


Fused line T point in frunk area


Passenger side wiring


Driver side wiring


Driver side HID mount


Completed install, you can't tell they aren't stock...
 
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#5 ·
Not a problem guys, glad I could give my two cents. And of course if I were to do it again it'd go much much faster. I was stuck at the disabling DRL step. DRLs worked fine with regular halogen H7 bulb, then when I retro'd the HIDs the DRLs would just flick on. I thought it was a faulty product, wiring was bad, etc. So be sure you disable them if you do it.
 
#7 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (alex500 @ Aug 16 2007, 01:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
what type of hid did you buy?
3000K - GOLDEN YELLOW

4300K - BRIGHT WHITE

6000K - CRYSTAL WHITE

8000K - CRYSTAL BLUE

10000K - AQUA BLUE

12000K - PURPLE-BLUE

14000K - PURPLE

also im trying to find the forum about taking off the daytime light but i can't find it.[/b]
He said 4300k in the TP

drl disable how-to by Blitzo (always check spydermagazine.com for how-tos)


This mod has been around since the early days of the MkIII MR2, but this picture always seems to get lost. But here it is to stay for good - complete with nostalgic Photopoint banner. The original source of the picture has been lost. All I can remember is that it originally came from a TOyota service technician from the northern US. If this is your picture or you know who the original poster was, let me know so I can give proper credit.

This is the wire to clip from the wiring junctions at the driver's side kick panel to disable the daytime running lights without affecting the brake warning light. This picture is for US models - I'm not sure if the Japanese and/or European models even have DRL's that might need disabling. The color of the wire on the 2000 models is *supposed* to be red with a yellow stripe, but these colors can change from year to year and even within a model year. So be sure to check the wire's position before cutting. I prefer to remove the pins from the harness and tape it to the wire bundle instead of cutting so that it may be reversed quickly.


 
#9 ·
He said 4300k in the TP

drl disable how-to by Blitzo (always check spydermagazine.com for how-tos)


This mod has been around since the early days of the MkIII MR2, but this picture always seems to get lost. But here it is to stay for good - complete with nostalgic Photopoint banner. The original source of the picture has been lost. All I can remember is that it originally came from a TOyota service technician from the northern US. If this is your picture or you know who the original poster was, let me know so I can give proper credit.

This is the wire to clip from the wiring junctions at the driver's side kick panel to disable the daytime running lights without affecting the brake warning light. This picture is for US models - I'm not sure if the Japanese and/or European models even have DRL's that might need disabling. The color of the wire on the 2000 models is *supposed* to be red with a yellow stripe, but these colors can change from year to year and even within a model year. So be sure to check the wire's position before cutting. I prefer to remove the pins from the harness and tape it to the wire bundle instead of cutting so that it may be reversed quickly.





thank you, i will look to see if i can take this light off, im going to buy the hid on this week, the problem was that i have to buy one bulb that is damage, so im going to change both for hid.
 
#10 ·
I'd definitely buy the 4300k bulbs. It has the most visability. Anything below that and above that range is not effective. This is what all OEMs use for their bulbs. Use them and you will be impressed.

And can we library this, it'd be more useful that way...?
 
#11 ·
great write up, if i'm not upgrading to HIDs and just doing the housing swap does anything need to be cut, the reason i'm concerned is because I'm not the one doing the swap, a body shop is the one doing it while they do other repairs to my car and they don't do custom work and since my stock lights still work from the crash I may ask them to just let me do the swap later if more stuff is involved. If you have any info on what goes into just the housing swap or if that information is elsewhere (checked library and couldn't find it) more info would be greatly appreciated. Also this would be really helpful in the library.
 
#12 ·
If you are not doing the HID upgrade - which I highly suggest you do for visability purposes - then yes, you still need to do cutting.

You would still need to cut up existing harness and splice in the new ones like I did. You would still need to run a line or constant power from battery to the front just as I did. You still need to buy the sockets that I listed and the appropriate ada

The only thing you can do different if you do not install HIDs is that you don't have to disable the DRLs; disabling takes 5 minutes max though so that doesn't count. You could tap the power from a source up front, but I did mine right from the battery so I could turn the lights on if the car was off (OEM like). My swap is to mimic OEM. The only thing OEM I couldn't retain - which I think is important - is the DRLs.

Doing this wasn't that big of a PITA. I've had it now for a few months and it still works flawlessly.
 
#14 ·
I've got a pretty decent write up on how to disable your DRL's...




Step 1: Invite Breese out for the weekend


Step 2: Have him offer to disable your DRL's for you


Step 3: Say "yeah, sure, go ahead"


Step 4: Have a drink




Seriously, good write up though.
 
#15 ·
hello everyone
i just got a pair of 03 headlights that want to go into my 01 spyder. was woundering what to do next. im really lost and i ran into this talk and found myself even more lost. where do i get everything else to plug and play these headlights. anyone pls help me. i seached and this is what i found.
great write up tho.
thanks
jonathan
 
#16 ·
So this witeup tells you how to do it. Do you have any specific questions? I don't know what else you need. There is the parts needed up there, and the wiring diagrams. Let me know if you have a specific question.
 
#17 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jbreese00 @ Oct 12 2007, 11:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
So this witeup tells you how to do it. Do you have any specific questions? I don't know what else you need. There is the parts needed up there, and the wiring diagrams. Let me know if you have a specific question.[/b]
How do you punch that hole through the firewall?
 
#18 ·
i can tell that it's a good post ...

but i just want to mention that u don't need to connect the cable across the cabin from the front to the rear....
u just need to plug your wire into the front fuse box , u 'll get power ....

i'll post mine tomorrow after taking a foto
 
#19 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (broudie @ Oct 12 2007, 11:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jbreese00 @ Oct 12 2007, 11:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
So this witeup tells you how to do it. Do you have any specific questions? I don't know what else you need. There is the parts needed up there, and the wiring diagrams. Let me know if you have a specific question.[/b]
How do you punch that hole through the firewall?
[/b][/quote]

A drill. Then insert a gromet.
 
#20 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aw11onfire @ Oct 12 2007, 11:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
i can tell that it's a good post ...

but i just want to mention that u don't need to connect the cable across the cabin from the front to the rear....
u just need to plug your wire into the front fuse box , u 'll get power ....

i'll post mine tomorrow after taking a foto[/b]
That was always in question, but from the readings I did, I found that there wasn't a constant source of power (even when the car is off) that I could use to get power. I also did know the gauge of the wiring and wanted to put a good 30amp fuse on it. I really didn't want the increase draw to be pulling from my main fuse line.

But please show where you tapped from. Does your setup retain completely OEM functionality?
 
#22 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (paul price @ Oct 17 2007, 07:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
glad i found this.

i cant understand why someone would go through all the trouble to take pics and do a great write up, and it not get put in the library where it can be easy to find :\ .[/b]
haha Someday Paul! Thanks though. If you need any help with it let me know. Library anyone?
 
#23 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jbreese00 @ Oct 17 2007, 11:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (paul price @ Oct 17 2007, 07:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
glad i found this.

i cant understand why someone would go through all the trouble to take pics and do a great write up, and it not get put in the library where it can be easy to find :\ .[/b]
haha Someday Paul! Thanks though. If you need any help with it let me know. Library anyone?
[/b][/quote]
Nothing makes the Library anymore.
 
#24 ·
hello
i read and read the post but always get lost. sorry. what are sockets?( are they the things that hold the bulb in place)? where can i buy them?
im confused because i know there are 3 different bulbs used for the 01 head lights(1st amber bulb,2nd tiny bulb,3rd the main bulb) but in the 03+ there are 4 ( 1st amber bulb,2nd tiny bulb,3rd the main bulb,and the 4th for the projector)what wires do i use for the 4th bulb?
thankyou
 
#25 ·
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jonathan_m12 @ Oct 27 2007, 12:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
hello
i read and read the post but always get lost. sorry. what are sockets?( are they the things that hold the bulb in place)? where can i buy them?
im confused because i know there are 3 different bulbs used for the 01 head lights(1st amber bulb,2nd tiny bulb,3rd the main bulb) but in the 03+ there are 4 ( 1st amber bulb,2nd tiny bulb,3rd the main bulb,and the 4th for the projector)what wires do i use for the 4th bulb?
thankyou[/b]
Sockets are what the bulb plugs into; some people call them harnesses. For this headlight upgrade, you need to not think that you are doing a 3 bulb to a 4 bulb. You are doing a 1 to 2 bulb. The rest of the bulbs (turn signal, etc.) are irrelavant.

You'll need an H7 socket and a 9005 socket. The 9005 socket is easy to get; you can get it at advance autoparts or anything like that. For the H7, get it here http://www.racinglab.com/kyo-pnp-wh-h7.html

I listed out the wiring schematics, use them as they make perfect sense.. It does not make much sense now but if you go to your car, pull out the plastics and take a look at the colors of the wires, they will make some sense. Get your hands a little dirty.
 
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