Beetle Install Thanks To Silversport

Hello Gang, I'm finally getting around to writing up my much-awaited installation guide for the Pro Lumen HID kit. I placed my order & within a week I had the kit waiting at my door. The first thing I did was go thru the wiring instructions & familiarize myself w/the wiring layout. Here's a shot of the kit & the wiring for reference:

Once I was familiar w/the wiring, it was a pretty straight-forward install. The toughest part was figuring out the wiring for the stock headlight housing & where to mount the ballast. Here's the stock bulb in it's protective cover. Pay attention to the WARNING sticker!

Here's a close-up of the bulb & the new base. It simply plugs into your old headlight housing.

Here's what the bulb looks like installed:

One of the first things you need to do is remove the back of the headlight housing & drill a 1" hole in it like this: I used a 1" plastic/metal hole-cutter bit in a drill press, but I'm sure you can improvise. The supplied grommet is 1" in diameter & provides a nice, snug fit.

Next, since the stock wires just plug into the new harness, I wanted to prevent any possible chance of a short & wrapped the stock bulb wires in electrical tape & shrink wrap.

Here's a detail pic of how it looks-not pretty, but it gets the job done.

If you're looking at the wiring harness supplied with the kit, you might say, "that's nice, but do I leave the whole harness sticking out the back of the headlight housing?". The answer, of course, is 'No' (but you could if you wanted to), that's why you drilled a 1" hole in the back of the housing. Take an awl (or a metal skewer) & poke 2 holes in the grommet. Then, you need to cut & splice the wiring harness that came with the kit so you can pass the wires thru the grommet. It should look something like this:

Here's a shot of the harness & grommet from the outside:

Here's a completed shot showing the wires all jacketed & the spade connectors I used to re-attach the spliced wires. Of course you could also solder & shrink-wrap the spliced wires, but I wanted to make it easy for removal, if necessary.

Here's a more complete shot:

Like I said earlier, the bee-yotch is figuring out where to mount the ballasts. From what I've read, most peeps have removed the front clip to discretely (sp?) mount the ballasts. I took the cheap & easy way-out & used readily available mounting spots. Of course, there was already a hex-head bolt ready to use (although you will have to slightly widen the mounting slot-I used a Dremel w/a sanding attachment). Here's the paasenger side:

...and the driver's-side:

Yes, I realize you can't use the engine cover, but like I said, I took the easy way out. I'm sure w/a little imagination, someone can come up with a better mounting point, just make sure to share some pics when you do. Here's an overview:

Now you're ready to wire everything up. It's simply a matter of following the instructions. I didn't get too fancy, I just wanted to keep everything out of harm's way.

used zip-ties to keep all the wires in check & installed the actual headlight housing last. I found it easier to attach the wiring to the headlight & then replace the headlight. If you haven't already done so, now would be a good time to make sure your headlight levers & runners are in good shape & nothing is out-of-whack.

Once everything is back together, it's time to make the magic happen. Now just wait till it's dark out to enjoy your MUCH brighter lighting!

Some Other Ballast Mounting Locations Thanks to Matt Devo:

the driver's side ballast I mounted under the post for the engine cover, using the existing screw:

for the right ballast, I mounted it using an empty post on the lower right side of the engine bay, and one of the included screws, which happened to fit perfectly:

these mount points allow the engine cover to still be used, though the left one will need to be bent downward slightly if you don't want the engine cover to touch it (though the ballast shouldn't get hot enough to cause any problems):

comparison between the HID and halogen output:

all done! I forgot to snap a picture of the beam pattern, but I'll try to get one tonight and post it