the wifey will kill you all. as for me. the girlfriend likes my car modded. untill the day i get married then she will hate it :P. ****. now i understand what you all say. butt ahhhhhh well gotta do what ya gotta do

 

Steve, I ordered a set of 6000k, 55w H7"s to replace the low beams, and a set of 5000k, 35w H11"s for the fogs. They should be a good match in color to each other since the higher wattage (55w) ballasts/bulbs wash out the color a bit. I had wanted nothing higher than 5000k, 35w"er"s anyway. And they don"t recommend the higher wattage bulbs for use in fogs or any limited space use, though I don"t know why?
The OE Halogens are 55w and produce a lot of heat, but I don"t think I really need or want 55w"er"s in the fogs anyway.

 

Sooo..... When are you going to start (Modding?)

 

Virg,da car gotta come outta the chop first.

 

Cool, gotcha on the two sets. Is this a simple replacement or do you have to disassemble the entire engine bay to get them in? (I am still bitter from the process of removing the stock airbox assembly)

 

well im getting new tails in january, 3" catback exhaust hopefully by march, and hes right i need the car back in order to do anything :P. god i miss my mazda tree. HIDs coming soon too . i just gotta pay umm debts. and insurance [sm=badidea.gif][sm=chairshot.gif][sm=bustedsign.gif]

 

annd when are you taking your springs outta the trunk and puttin dem on the damn car lol

 

Jaimie, a 3" is way too big for an NA 3, especially a 2.0. That"s turbo territory. You will lose power and certainly torque. A 2.25" would be much better for the street for sure... unless you are talking just the tailpipe tip. But since the stock tip is already 3",I didn"t think you meant that.

Steve, if you thought the SRI was a bad install, you may have some trouble. While they are plug "n" play, you would need to find a home for the ballasts to live... in my case, four of them. I plan to remove the front bumper cover (easier access to the fogs anyway) and install them behind it. It"ll take me the better part of an afternoon to do both, I"m sure.

 

I didn't find it technically challenging. It was just a very cold morning so I was in a hurry and probably didn't do as much dissassembly as I should have to make it easier. The only challenging part was getting the lower half of the factory airbox out. The rest was pretty simple. I am not really afraid to dive in and pull stuff apart, I just tried to short-cut it that time - not my usual M.O.

What are "ballasts" as they relate to the HIDs? I am not seeing a correlation to electrical with the traditional definition of the word. What do they do?

 

As in fluorescent lights, they boost to voltage way up. They are essentially a transformer. Most of the ones in HID kits are "smart" transformers though. They have chips to help control voltage, especially on start up, and to detect that proper arc between the electrodes has been achieved before settling in.