My official Prius mods thread.

Yes, I am thinking of converting my fogs to HID's...

Oh wait, I already did it two weeks ago. Guess you missed the photos.

I've read that article already. While his article is useful, it doesn't apply directly to the conversion of the fog lights. His article is geared towards the conversion of halogen headights to HID headlights. Yes, I agree that this CAN be a problem. Not always, but it can be. Every car is different and he simply cannot make a summary judgement on all headlights woth one blanket statement. Anyway, I already have the factory HID headlights.

Now, like I said, the foglights on the Prius are a perfect setup to be converted to HID. The lighs have an integrated metal reflector that the bulb fits into. Only about 40% of the actual bulb is visible, so all the things he describes don't happen. THe reflector controls the light and refelcts it in nearly the EXACT SAME pattern as the standard halogen bulbs. The light is simply brighter and whiter. I've been driving with them for a while now, day and night, and have yet to have someone flas me becuase they are too bright. They work too, effectively lighting up the ground infront of an dto the immmediate sides of the car. As an added aesthetic benefit, they now match the headlighs perfectly.

 

Well, correctly aimed HID headlights are MUCH, MUCH safer than incorrectly aimed halogen headlights.

How many idiots out there have incorrectly aimed headlights? Too many. Or how many cheap bastards are there who are so damn lazy that instead of replacing a burned out headlight they simply drive with the good one on high all the time.

I don't buy the HID's are dangerous crap. Simply rediculous. As far as I know, all cars with factory HID's have a self leveling feature to ensure proper aim. Halogen equipped car do not. The aim on these things often wanders with time. That is a hazzard!

You want the real problem, it's idiots who don't maintain their cars.

tbstout2: When was the last time you checked the aim on your headlights? If you look in the manual of most cars, it tells you how to do this, and how to adjust the aim.

ANyway, I stand by my modification. I tested them thoroughly and they DO NOT make a blinding amount of light. I had my brother drive the car up and down while I checked to see how bright they were. This is the best thing I could have done to the otherwise useless fog lights. Now they are actually usable.



My suspension braces are arriving on Tuesday! Yippee!

 

Well, as far as I'm concerned, there is no more to discuss on the subject of fog lights, HID, or anything else realted to lights. Mine are HID, and they'll stay that way. There are plenty of other threads on PC to discuss this. My thread here is only to discuss my mods, and as far as the fog lights are concerned, there really isn't anything left to say.


I went in for the full consultation on my planned stereo yesterday. I have pretty ,uch decided on the setup. The front and rear speakers will be replaced by a set of JL Audio components. I'll be using the Evolution ZR series (ZR650-CSi) in the front and rear. THey are pretty pricey, but after thorough listening of them and other speakers, I think these just sound best. Well at least without going up to a set like the Focal Utopia's which are REALLY pricey.

The low end will be hadles by a JL Audio 8W7, which is ideal for hte location I've chosen. We had to verify it would fit, and it will just make it. It will be enclosed in a fiberglass enclosure in the driver's side rear corner.

Amplification will be through a JL Audio 300/4 for the front and rear, and a JL Audio 250/1 for the sub.

Finally, signal processing will be handled by a JL Audio Cleansweep CL-SSI for channel summing, and a JL Audio CLeansweep CL-441dsp for signal equalization and conversion to RCA outputs for the amps.

For the video portion I will get a set of 7" LCD's mounted in the headrests and use a PS2 for the video source. That way I can get movies and games in one small package. Besides, I have one at home, so I can use all the games I have. Err, actually I mean the kids can use all the games. Yeah, that's right, the kids...


Hopefully I'll be getting this around the second week of March or so. Stay tuned.

 

Yes, I know. And I've tried herding cats before, too...

First, no, I am not getting a backup camera. I have an '06, so I already have one. Don't really need two... Then again, maybe I'll install one up front. That way when I add the front spoiler and the Sportivo suspension kit, I can use tha camera to make sure I don't hit any curbs.

Well, I put down the deposti on the gear today. We are just waiting for JL Audio to release the CL-SSI for the channel summing. It should be out in anywhere from 2-6 weeks. As soon as it arrives, the system will be installed. I dediced to do it in stages (a matter of time), so the first step will be the ZR components and the 300/4 amp. Of course the two Cleansweep units are necessary for this. the sub will be another step and teh video system will be inatalled last. I figure that even without the sub, it will be far superior to the factory system. Also, that way I can really appreciate these speakers for what they are, and the sub will be the frosting on the cake later on. This part of the system will only take about a day or so to install, so it can be done in one weekend. I can't really be without a car at all right now, so this is the best way. The sub box will take at least 2-3 days to craft and finish, so that will have to wait until I have more time. The video system should also take just a short amount of time, so I'll likely do that pretty soon as well.

 

OK, here's a pic of the front suspension brace and the strut tower brace. Nice pieces, not too bulky but plenty stiff. Look very well made. Now if they were only easly installed. THe suspension brace came with no instructions, so it'll be fun trying to pput it on. Actually it's a simple installation, but I haven't been able to figure out where it goes yet. Car is too low to get under there...

The strut brace is normally a VERY easy piece to install. Loosen three bols on each side, slap iton and tighten again. Well, since the Prius is not exactly a big car, the packaging is very tight. I included two pics of the top of the strut tower. At leat that's what you would see if there wasn't a bunch of stuff in the way. That big black plastic piece that is at the bottom of the windshield and in the engine bay has to come out completely. It's a three page, multi-step process, and of course the instructions are in Japanese. Well, good thing I enjoy this kind of thing! Pics of it being installed, and possible my cursing a lot are soon to come (this weekend).

I also go the PIAA wipers for the front. THe passenger side is the factory length, and snaps right on, but the drivers side is a couple of inches longer on each side, and actually has a different mounting system. It does a much nicer job of getting the whole windshield though, and is worth the work. The installation was potentially very difficult.

I say potentially, becuase I found a HUGE shortcut. Edward at Sigma recommended using two of the C1 clips that normally hold the wiper inplace. The passenger side used one of these clips and it snaps right in to the wiper arm. THe driver's side larger wiper has a wider fram where it mounts to the arm, though. The C1 clip would slide back and forth and would not work very well at all. So I looked at the wiper and tried to see how to trim the second C1 clip to put into there to fill the space. Well I thought it looked just big enough for a small plastic compression washer Ihad left over from istalling a faucet. Its a small, hard, black plastic washer that tapers on one side. I cut a little V shape out of it and it snapped right onto the wiper and fit the space perfectly. See the attached pictures/diagram and ask questions if they are unclear.

 

Well, it has been discussed already, but I'll revisit it because I like you! (and you seem to be on my side during most arguments/discussions)

The lens is clear, so the fogs now look the same as the HID headlights. The lens/reflector has not changed, so it has the same sharp cutoff as the factory bulb. It jsut shines farther and wider, as well as havign a more natural color. I'm VERY happy with it. I've only had light fog since I installed them, but they worked great. No reflecting or glare as the naysayers swore to. I have no regrets and will probably change my other car to HID fogs as well.

Also, some sources have stated that there is no real benefit to having yellow fogs vs clear fogs. The beam pattern is more important than the color. If the light shines up from the fog light, then it can reflect back at the driver, but if it goes straight out, it can't reflect back becuase of the angle (well, a little can, butit's minimal). Adding HID bulbs to the Prius fogs does NOT change the pattern at all, only the output level.

 

Well, I din't take any photos, as there is already an excellent source out there made another PC member. Check this link for easy instructions on changing the fog light bulbs. No lamp disassembly involved.

http://www.vfaq.net/mods/Lights.html

The bulbs twist right in. As for the ballasts, you kinda just need to find a place to put them. I just zip tied them to the structure of the car. Less than ideal, but it works. There isn't really a good place to put them under there. The wiring was very simple. The factory harness that plugs into the bulb now plugs into the ballasts harness and the ballast then plugs into the new bulb. That's it.


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