DIY: Morimoto HID Retrofit - 2016 WRX Base

Hey guys, I just got finished installing the Morimoto HID retrofit kit and the Diode Dynamics C-light switchbacks. Additionally, I added the DRL module from DD as well. I took about a couple dozen or so pictures of the process so I figured I would share my experience for those of you who need some guidance down the line. Mainly so you don't have to guess since there are no formal instructions included and the SubiSpeed video is outdated and incomplete. If you have any questions feel free to ask or shoot me a PM.

Time. This entire project took place over the course of 2 days but is very doable on Saturday if you have a full day to work with.
~ 1 hour getting the bumper and headlights out.
Baking and painting the headlights took about 20 minutes of actual work time but about 5 hours of drying time.
The retrofit took about an hour total for both headlights.
The wiring ~ 2 hours.
Reassembly and cleanup ~2 hours.

First, the parts. This was all purchased from SubiSpeed:
Morimoto HID's: Morimoto Retro-quik Bi-Xenon HID Headlight Retrofit Kit - 2015+ WRX - Lighting - 2015+ WRX
DD C-lights: Diode Dynamics Switchback LED C-light DRLs for Headlights - 2015+ WRX / 2015+ STI - C-Light / Boomerang - Lighting - 2015+ WRX

Don't be intimidated by all of the wires, this endeavor is relatively easy. Patience is key. And yes, this is a Snapchat video, deal with it.



I am not going to tell you how to remove the bumper, there are already a million videos on YouTube. I am also not going to tell you how to take out the headlights since there are several videos on how to do that as well.

I will be starting at the point that you have baked the headlights and pulled off the clear lens.



At this point, if you are not doing anything with the front housing (the piece that is attached to the clear lens) you can just set aside. In my case, since I had to open up the headlights to do the retrofit I also took the opportunity to paint the housings black. I. hate. fake. chrome. I just picked up a can of Rust-oleum primer and a can of Rust-oleum satin black paint. 3 coats of primer and 5 coats of black and they were looking pretty good.



There are only 3 screws holding this piece into the lens. The side marker covers pop off from the back side with 3 small tabs and the C-light covers also pop off of this piece from the back. I did need a set of pliers to squeeze a couple of the C-light tabs to remove them. No pictures, sorry.





I didn't take a picture of them painted for some reason but you'll see it in the next set of pictures....somewhere down below.

Alright, where was I....so starting from the back, we need to get the OEM lights and harness off. To do this we just need to remove 1 screw. Once removed, you can twist off the high beam, low beam, C-light bulb (base), and side-marker light. Once those are off, you should be able to pull the entire harness off of the headlight and set it aside.



Next, we need to separate the inner housing (the reflector assembly and OEM projector housing) from the black plastic shroud. To do this, there are three (3) screws that need to be loosened. BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, take a picture or use a sharpie on the threads poking through the front so you can reinstall in the approximate location without needing to make a ton of adjustments later (it's a PIA). Don't say I didn't warn you.

These are the thread locations that I am referring to.


On the back, these are the 3 screws you will need to loosen. One of them has a rubber cap and another one has a rubber piece that prevents it from rotating. Pop both of these off. The screws are captive so just keep an eye on the reflector part. Once all three are out, the only thing left holding the reflector in is the two rubber seals on the back. You can just pull on the housing and it will pop out.


Now for the fun part, swapping the OEM projector for the HID housing. This again is not a difficult process, it just requires patience and a reasonably steady hand. First step is to unscrew the four screws holding the OEM projector housing in place.


Once those screws are removed, pull out the OEM projector and you should be looking at this.


Now it's time to prep the Morimoto HIDs. For this part we will be needing the mounting bracket that comes with the SubiSpeed kit.


First we need to remove the 6 screws (3 on each side) holding the HID lens to the rear reflector. You can set these aside, they will not be reused.


Place the new black mounting bracket between the lens and rear housing and use the longer screws included to reattach. Note the orientation of the bracket. The opening should be at the botton to leave room for the high beam cutoff solenoid. It should look like this when you are done.


We can now insert the new HID assembly back into the OEM reflector shroud. Again, note the orientation. The high beam solenoid/actuator should be at the bottom. If you look closely at the back of the HID there is a indicator for "top". You will reuse the 4 OEM screws you removed earlier to reattach the HID. Once complete you should have an assembly that looks like this.


Next, we need to attach the high beam signal wires to the HID. In the Morimoto box is a baggie with several items, among them is a small two wire (brown and white) harness and a large connector for the exposed pins. DO NOT PUT THE PINS IN THE PROVIDED CONNECTOR! This gets attached after the wires are fed through the housing.


The small connector goes on the back of the HID in the bottom right corner, here.


Now we can begin reassembling everything. The reflector housing can go back into the black plastic shroud. Be sure to feed the two wires for your high beams through the C-light hole, or you can drill a small hole in the housing to feed them through. IF you use the C-light hole you will not be able to reattach the OEM connector. This is where a picture of the threads comes in handy. You want to get the housing in roughly the same location as it was. You can make adjusts once the headlights are back in the car but it is a little more tedious so getting it as close as possible is beneficial.


From here things will vary, in my case, I also installed the DD C-lights/switchbacks and painted my housing.This is what it will look like once reassembled.