Upgrading to Lightning Bolt Headlights and DRLs is a common modification among early Nissan GTR owners, though it doesn't come without its challenges. Credit for this blog post goes to fellow GTR owner Hugh Keir, and we hope this guide will assist other GTR enthusiasts looking to perform this upgrade.
This guide assumes you are upgrading both the headlights and DRLs simultaneously. For CBA models (the early versions of the GTR equipped with sidelights), the Lightning Bolt headlights are a straightforward fit requiring no wiring changes—they simply plug into the existing wiring harness and function correctly.
For those with DBA models, the headlight DRLs are powered through pin 8 on the headlight connector and grounded through pin 4, as shown in the graphic above. More detailed information on this connector can be found below.
Fitting the DRLs to a CBA isn't quite as straightforward. Here is a wiring diagram that illustrates the necessary modifications.
As shown in the diagram above, Pin 1 on the DRL includes an additional resistor to dim the DRLs when using dipped headlights. By connecting the DRLs to a bench power supply to measure the current draw, we observed that the DRL pulls 22 milliamps on Pin 1 when in the dipped light setting.
Additionally, we discovered that the DRL pulls 296 milliamps on Pin 3 when operating in the main beam setting. See the image below for reference.
As a result, we'll need to create our own wiring loom. Below is the wiring schematic that details the loom you need to assemble.
To maintain a neat and organized wiring setup, we assembled the custom loom shown below.
To build the loom, we drew power from the headlight connector, routed it through a standard 5-pin relay, and then supplied it to the DRLs.
In this example, since we didn't have 22AWG multi-core cable available, we used high-quality single-core wires instead. This required labeling each wire to identify them within the loom, but you can opt to use different colored wires to differentiate them if you prefer.
We discovered that we initially overlooked the fact that the dipped headlights remain on when the main beam is activated. To accommodate this, we added an additional wire from the headlight circuit to pin 87 on the relay.
To complete the installation, I secured the relay just below the passenger-side headlight, ensuring easy access and a neat wiring arrangement.
Here is the end result:
Lightning Bolt Headlights and DRLs Successfully Installed
Bolt + DRL + Dipped
We hope this guide has made the installation process clearer and more approachable for fellow GTR enthusiasts. Special thanks to Hugh Keir for his invaluable contributions to this project and figuring this out for us fellow GTR owners. Safe driving!