HID's for the 944

[bigbird944]

My brother has a pair of HID's that he is willing to give to me because he's selling his cadillac eldorado however i have the stock wiring and stock lamps in my 944. I was wondering where i can get a decent set of lamps and wiring that could hold output of the HID's.

I believe they are 12000k but not sure, they are purple if that helps.

Also what amp fuse should i use for the HID's? I was told that the amp for the fuse should be jumped up but im not sure how much for my 944.

Thanks a bunch of any help. Hopefully soon i can get this running and post some pics of my yellow bird with purple eyes in the dark.

[AaronM]

No.

There are exactly ZERO non-OE HID kits that are legal for use. Unless you can find a set of HID lights that Porsche installed on factory 944's, you cannot legally install the lights in your car.

Automotive headlights are NOT simple flashlights. The optics are incredibly complex and having the bulb alignment off by even a millimeter can have disasterous effects on the beam pattern.

Unless you are retaining the ENTIRE reflector and lens from the Cadillac or you have an advanced degree in both optics and engineering to design and fabricate your own lenses and reflectors (probably a couple months of design time in front of a CAD machine if you're experienced in optics), you are guaranteed to have a screwed up beam pattern that will cause issues for oncoming drivers and probably also for you.

Again, don't even try this. It's not legal and the laws of optics guarantee that you'll get worse results than the standard headlights. Also, enjoy melting your wiring if you pass any extra current through the stock wiring.

If you want better lights, go with Hella E-Codes. At least the lens design on those is proper. (Or you can find a way to mount the entire Caddy assembly, lens, reflector, and all, into the 944.)

[bigbird944]

Well i looked at the iceshark kit and that looks incredible, i was thinking about buying the hella e codes from there and maybe a few other things to complete the transplant.

[Eldorado]

unfortunately iceshark has passed away and his kits are no longer available.

[AaronM]

Originally posted by bigbird944
Well i looked at the iceshark kit and that looks incredible, i was thinking about buying the hella e codes from there and maybe a few other things to complete the transplant.

This is something you can put together yourself with a little time and some help.

Daniel Stern's website (Link) is a great resource and will give you the direction you need to run the relays yourself.

[Techno Duck]

Rennbay makes a wire harness similar to what Dan Wray was making. They also sell the 100w bulbs and Cibie e-code lenses.

This is basically the exact setup that Dan was selling short of the voltage regulator which wasnt 100% neccesary.

The only real difference is the wiring is not as heavy duty, but still up to the task.

The cheapest way to get more light output is with 55w bulbs and the e-code lenses. That right there alone is probably 2x what the stock wiring and sealed beam lenses put out.

[Rrrockhound]

Originally posted by AaronM
No.

There are exactly ZERO non-OE HID kits that are legal for use. Unless you can find a set of HID lights that Porsche installed on factory 944's, you cannot legally install the lights in your car.

Well said. I wish everyone had as much sense when it comes to upgrading their headlights. I'm tired of being blinded by riced-out headlights.

[SoCal Driver]

Was said in 85 that you couldn't put H4 E codes in your 944.

[nize]

it's a stock fit.

[AaronM]

Originally posted by SoCal Driver
Was said in 85 that you couldn't put H4 E codes in your 944.

The difference is that there are properly engineered reflectors and lenses for H4 bulbs that fit in the 7" round sealed beam nacelle.

A HID setup would have to be cobbled together, which would mean that the bulb and reflector would not be matched, which would result in an unacceptable beam pattern.

"Can" HID's be installed? Yes. Will a cobbled together HID kit ever produce a safe beam pattern? No.

I "can" install the turbine from a chinook helocopter in a 944. That doesn't mean that it's going to work well.

[bigbird944]

me and a friend took a saturday, went to a junkyard and cut out projector headlights from an audi and put them into his 01 jetta doing our own electrical, fiberglassing, and adjustment...lights came out fine and do not blind anybody. We even used HID's and upgraded what we needed to. Hence me not being a total idiot on when it comes to these things. I do NOT mean to blind anybody and i will make sure they dont. I just wish he was still around to help me with the electrical...

[bigbird944]

can anyone lead me in the right direction for an H4 upgrade? I'm not sure where to look and whats good...

I'd apreciate it a lot.

[nize]

read this first;
http://arnnworx.com/lighting.htm

then order here;
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/7in.asp

[bigbird944]

Thanks a lot nize, i was thinking about upgrading the wiring for some higher wattage bulbs...wiring or just adding a relay, im not sure if maybe both? i thought there were kits somewhere...

[nize]

there used to be a kit made by iceshark but he died recently so no more kit.

and you'd definitely need to upgrade the wiring if you want to run higher wattage. otherwise you'll melt your stock wires or worse.

[bigbird944]

il have to look into some wire harnesses, i cant seem to find any...so i might just stick with the 60 w bulbs.

[Razorback1980]

Check this out and see if that is what you are looking for...

http://www.rennbay.com/porsche-944-headlight-relay-harness-p-111.html

[nize]

oh wow. anyone know if those can handle super-high-wattage bulbs or what their limit is ?

[Techno Duck]

The Rennbay harness is meant to handle the high wattage bulbs.

The kit is very similar to the Iceshark one, it bypasses all of the power going through the headlight switch and runs the headlights directly off the alternator. The switch is just used as a trigger for the lights with the proper relays.

[nize]

i believe the iceshark kit also had a transformer that bumped the power from the alternator's 12volts to 13.5volts or something, in order to properly run the e-code bulbs (they run on higher than 12volts).