@ tealeg: Yeah, ebay coils are the worst. Ride quality is the least favorite thing about my car, and unfortunately one of the more expensive things to fix.
In a tragic and unsurprising twist of fate, one of my xentec ballasts kicked the bucket, or bit the dust,, or quit "ballasting" or whatever they do when they quit working. I pulled the kit and found that my driver's side headlight plug was pretty much melted, which I suspect had to do with the ballast but can't confirm. My low beam fuse was also blown.
Either way, I went to PickNPull and snatched up a new connector, as well as an armrest + bracket out of a sedan. It needs paint to match my interior, but I'm stoked to have a place to store all my spare change.
Look.. it's practically a build thread now.
Sylvania Xtravision bulbs shining brightly in the chilly evening.