Installing Euro headlights

[Peter Henriksen <peterhe@microsoft.com>]

I thought I'd chronicle the process of obtaining and installing Euro
headlights on my 91 200 for the good of anybody else who wants to do it.

I bought mine from Peninsula Imports (905-827-9407) at $329/side. I also
got quotes from other places, but the only one that matched was Ron's
Parts Inc. (RPI) and they didn't have them in stock. Caveat: apparently,
RPI includes a wiring diagram, which Peninsula doesn't. You should be
able to do without based on the following.

The part numbers for the Euro turbo style lights (wider than the
non-turbo lights) are:

	Left side: 0301071105
	Right side: 0301071106

As supplied from Peninsula.

Additional parts you'll need:

	2 rubber boots (seals) to go around the Euro connectors (PN 447941189,
$3.23/side)
	2 plastic connector holders (PN 447972957, $6/side)
	8 spade connectors (PN N-0170851-4, $1.50/per!!!) - these are German
style crimp on connectors and
		will fit in the connector holder without backing out. Don't even think
about using the Radio
		Shack spade connectors - they back out and tend to not fit well around
the wire.
	2 15amp fuses - some people do without, but I found that the 10amp
standard fuses for the high beams blew out.

US dealers generally don't have the first 2 parts in stock, so allow for
4-5 days lead time on those. The connectors they should have in their
connector box (yes, they have one of those). Technically, you can do
without the boots and connector holder, but the connectors are very
close together and the connector holder keeps them in place and, more
importantly, apart. The boot just finishes it off nicely, leaving
nothing exposed.

Removing the US headlights is pretty easy (on my 200 anyway. YMMV by
model and year). Remove the grille (one screw above and three below),
then the chrome trim piece in front. Then, unscrew the 3 screws (behind
the rubber strip) that hold each piece of the chrome trim running around
the corner on top of the bumper and remove the trim pieces. Unscrew the
2 bolts on top and 2 screws below each headlight and pull them out. Oh,
don't forget to unplug them first :-). Unscrew the battery terminal from
the washer reservoir. The Euro lights are too deep to allow it there...
>From what I know, there's no good place to put it, so I just tucked mine
in somewhere it won't move from. I might tie it down better soon though
- I'm not really comfortable with a hot lead flopping around in the
engine bay, nor with loose plastic and rubber that near the turbo...

To wire the Euro headlights with the US wiring, things get interesting.
The US wiring has 3 connectors: headlight, driving light (on the inside
of the headlight) and side marker light. On my car, the side marker
lights weren't hooked up at all - they have an oblong pipe rubber
connector. Take the 3 wires from the headlight connector (yellow, white
and brown): those are the first 3 wires for the Euro connector. Then,
take the live wire (grey with a stripe) from either the side marker or
driving light (shouldn't matter which one) and use that as the 4th wire.
Seen from the back of the connector holder - which has numbers by the 4
holes for connectors - this is what you want to see:

	   #1       #2
	******************
	* brown *  grey  *
	******************
	* white * yellow *
	******************
	   #3       #4

DO NOT snap the connectors into the plastic holder until you're sure
where they go and have the wires crimped onto them properly. If you do,
you'll need the connector removal tool (I'm told the dealer has such a
thing...). You may want to test the wiring by pushing the spade
connectors onto the connectors on the headlights before mounting them in
the holder and putting the rubber seal over the whole thing. The brown
wire is ground, the grey is the city light (the little bulb below the
H4), white is high beam and yellow is low beam.

I wouldn't snip off the remaining wire bundles, but simply terminate
them in an electrically expedient manner in case I find other uses for
them.

Before you plug in the new lights, you may want to upgrade the high beam
fuses (#8 and 9) from 10amp to 15. As I understand it, when flashing the
high beam the H3 bulb and both filaments in the H4 come on all at once
and draw just a little more than 10amps...

Slide in the Euro lights, reverse the disassembly, plug 'em in and aim
them. Brilliance and ability to see more than 5 feet in front of your
car at night is now yours.

Other things to worry about: according to a usually reliable source, the
trim pieces around the headlights are structural members and if they
ain't there, parts of your front end will disintegrate at high speeds.
Not good. Those trim pieces snap onto the little bowtie-like things on
the headlight assemblies. If you break the little bowtie thingies, the
dealer has them. Note that there are 2 sizes: little ones and big ones
(...). Get the right size - or just get a few when you're at the dealer
for the other parts anyway. Can't hurt and it might save you a trip
later.

Many, many thanks for Joe Yakubik for repeated, detailed mails about the
wiring.

Good luck.
- peter henriksen, peterhe@microsoft.com, issaquah, wa
  91 200qw
  94 acura legend gs
  80 mazda 626

(Keywords: 1991, 91, 200, quattro, wagon, European, headlights,
installing)