Update* Headlights almost done
12-20-2006, 12:43 AM
#1
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Update* Headlights almost done
Well evryone,
Eightball inspired me to do some headlight modifications of my own. Im not going for anything as nearly extreme, but a little more conservative. I split apart my spare set of headlights and gutted them. Now i will be painting a lot of the interior pieces black to give a little "jdm flavor." I will keep all posted with pics.
*update as of 12-20
I finished painting the interior pieces and evrything went great. Now its a matter of splitting the lights on my car to replace the parts with, but anyways heres a quick walk through of what i did.
1. As eightball recomended the best way to split the lights apart is to bake them in the oven at about 250 for 10 mins. When you pull the lens from the housing, these are the pieces you get:
2. The primary piece i will be focusing on is the "eye brow" which also holds the turn signal:
3. The first thing i did was wash the piece and then lightly sand it with 260 grit paper to remove the mirror finish. This is what i got:
4. After spraying the pieces with the plastic primer, i sprayed on some light coats of deep black and baked the piece in the oven slightly elevated at 150 for five mins:
5. A couple more layers of black, some repeat process and this is what i ended up with:
6. Then i mocked up my old assembly just to give evryone an idea of what it will look like:
...I think the final product is going to be REALLY nice. I like how the turn signals now look smoked from the black behind them. cant wait to put them in.
Eightball inspired me to do some headlight modifications of my own. Im not going for anything as nearly extreme, but a little more conservative. I split apart my spare set of headlights and gutted them. Now i will be painting a lot of the interior pieces black to give a little "jdm flavor." I will keep all posted with pics.
*update as of 12-20
I finished painting the interior pieces and evrything went great. Now its a matter of splitting the lights on my car to replace the parts with, but anyways heres a quick walk through of what i did.
1. As eightball recomended the best way to split the lights apart is to bake them in the oven at about 250 for 10 mins. When you pull the lens from the housing, these are the pieces you get:
2. The primary piece i will be focusing on is the "eye brow" which also holds the turn signal:
3. The first thing i did was wash the piece and then lightly sand it with 260 grit paper to remove the mirror finish. This is what i got:
4. After spraying the pieces with the plastic primer, i sprayed on some light coats of deep black and baked the piece in the oven slightly elevated at 150 for five mins:
5. A couple more layers of black, some repeat process and this is what i ended up with:
6. Then i mocked up my old assembly just to give evryone an idea of what it will look like:
...I think the final product is going to be REALLY nice. I like how the turn signals now look smoked from the black behind them. cant wait to put them in.
12-21-2006, 05:02 AM
#2
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I did something similar to my GMC sonoma's headlights, but I was too afraid to put them in a oven so I just took a heat gun to the sides of it a pried it apart slowly but surely. I think I might try this with the xA...
12-21-2006, 07:34 AM
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Hmmm this seems all so familiar. LOL.. Great work. I wish I had time to document my progress with my headlights. I was kinda in a hurry. That whole headlight conversion/hack and slash/ only took me 6hrs to complete! Hahaha.. Yeah it was risky but I kinda knew what I was in for and I always had a knack for customing things on the fly.
Can't wait for the pics of them on your car. Have you ever considered painting them red like your car instead? Now that would be different.
Can't wait for the pics of them on your car. Have you ever considered painting them red like your car instead? Now that would be different.
12-21-2006, 11:39 AM
#6
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thanks to evryone so far.
eightball, i was originally thinking of painting them red, but i want to keep it a little more lo-pro, plus the black matches my grilles and all the lower effects pretty well. Btw, how did you re-seal the lamps? What did you use as far as product? Thanks.
eightball, i was originally thinking of painting them red, but i want to keep it a little more lo-pro, plus the black matches my grilles and all the lower effects pretty well. Btw, how did you re-seal the lamps? What did you use as far as product? Thanks.
12-21-2006, 04:26 PM
#7
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Originally Posted by bfurches
thanks to evryone so far.
eightball, i was originally thinking of painting them red, but i want to keep it a little more lo-pro, plus the black matches my grilles and all the lower effects pretty well. Btw, how did you re-seal the lamps? What did you use as far as product? Thanks.
eightball, i was originally thinking of painting them red, but i want to keep it a little more lo-pro, plus the black matches my grilles and all the lower effects pretty well. Btw, how did you re-seal the lamps? What did you use as far as product? Thanks.
12-23-2006, 10:49 AM
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I can just see it now....
Wife- Something smells, are you cooking something?
Me- Yeah...The headlights off your car.
Wife- Your what!?!?!
Me- You see this guy on Scionlife did this way cool mod to the headlights...where he cooked them so he could seperate them. So he could paint certain pieces of it.
Wife- ***Smack*** You need to stop listening to those fools.
Me- Yes dear....
Wife- Something smells, are you cooking something?
Me- Yeah...The headlights off your car.
Wife- Your what!?!?!
Me- You see this guy on Scionlife did this way cool mod to the headlights...where he cooked them so he could seperate them. So he could paint certain pieces of it.
Wife- ***Smack*** You need to stop listening to those fools.
Me- Yes dear....
12-23-2006, 11:44 AM
#12
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LOL...yea i kinda know how that is...
Mine went a lilttle something more like this....
1. Roomie comes homw after going to school for 5 hours then working a double
2. Roomie instantly smells spray paint and hot plastic (yea, i painted in the kitchen!)
3. Roomie procedes to nearly kick the crap out of me for cutting into his healthy nap-time air.
but then of course there is:
4. Having cool home-made lamps...."priceless."
LOL....anyways i managed to get the pieces to the point where im satisfied. The finish is really smooth and looks great. I hand buffed them a little today with a tiny bit of wax, so i will most likely either pull my lamps apart on lunch or procede to wait until after the holidays. Keep ya posted.
Mine went a lilttle something more like this....
1. Roomie comes homw after going to school for 5 hours then working a double
2. Roomie instantly smells spray paint and hot plastic (yea, i painted in the kitchen!)
3. Roomie procedes to nearly kick the crap out of me for cutting into his healthy nap-time air.
but then of course there is:
4. Having cool home-made lamps...."priceless."
LOL....anyways i managed to get the pieces to the point where im satisfied. The finish is really smooth and looks great. I hand buffed them a little today with a tiny bit of wax, so i will most likely either pull my lamps apart on lunch or procede to wait until after the holidays. Keep ya posted.
