Refurbished headlights

Okay, so I'm by no means the first to have made this modification to their Supra, but I'm quite proud of the job I've done of refurbishing and painting my Jap-spec headlights, so I thought I'd share it on here with a couple of pics.

The impetus was that my passenger-side unit kept filling with moisture and fogging up for no apparent reason (I know it must have been that a seal was faulty, but it wasn't like that one day and just was the next...) so I thought: if I've got to strip and re-seal one, why not do them both and give them a new look while I'm at it?

It was actually surprisingly easy, so if anyone reading this is in the situation that I was in (i.e. wanting to strip their lights but putting it off because it could be potentially expensive if it goes wrong), my advice is simply to get on with it! It only took me a few hours last weekend with an oven and a heat gun and the results, I think, really do speak for themselves...

good job mate, mine is an import but has had the uk glass spec lights fitted by previous owner:d

They do look great bud, never knew how good the black headlights look on a silver supra.

Okay, so I'm by no means the first to have made this modification to their Supra, but I'm quite proud of the job I've done of refurbishing and painting my Jap-spec headlights, so I thought I'd share it on here with a couple of pics.

 

The impetus was that my passenger-side unit kept filling with moisture and fogging up for no apparent reason (I know it must have been that a seal was faulty, but it wasn't like that one day and just was the next...) so I thought: if I've got to strip and re-seal one, why not do them both and give them a new look while I'm at it?

 

It was actually surprisingly easy, so if anyone reading this is in the situation that I was in (i.e. wanting to strip their lights but putting it off because it could be potentially expensive if it goes wrong), my advice is simply to get on with it! It only took me a few hours last weekend with an oven and a heat gun and the results, I think, really do speak for themselves...

Just out of interest, how do you re-furbish headlights because my facelift headlights for my '98 is starting to go a bit yellow... :-(

Looks great btw matey... :-)

Good job mate they look tops

Ive been meaning to do mine for ages now just not got the time at the moment im up to my eyes at work.

My supes red has anyone painted the lights red inside or how do you think it would look.

Sorry for the thread hijack!

Good job mate they look tops

 

Ive been meaning to do mine for ages now just not got the time at the moment im up to my eyes at work.

 

My supes red has anyone painted the lights red inside or how do you think it would look.

 

Sorry for the thread hijack!

Black or Grey is the only 2 colours i would ever do them. I don't think they look right bodycoloured. Same goes with any bodykits where the lenses are removed, i just don't think the lights are meant to be bodycoloured, they are meant to appear seperate.

Looking good by the way

Cheers scotster i didnt know/fancy them red i just wondered what other people thought.

Maybe i should do them black what do you think?

I know of one with a kind of pearly baby blue and he did his the same colour as the body and with the crystal looking covers I thought they looked really clean and smart. I think body coloured lights can be nice and would do mine but as the car's black it takes away some of the crystal clean look being dark inside imo

Okay, so I'm by no means the first to have made this modification to their Supra, but I'm quite proud of the job I've done of refurbishing and painting my Jap-spec headlights, so I thought I'd share it on here with a couple of pics.

 

The impetus was that my passenger-side unit kept filling with moisture and fogging up for no apparent reason (I know it must have been that a seal was faulty, but it wasn't like that one day and just was the next...) so I thought: if I've got to strip and re-seal one, why not do them both and give them a new look while I'm at it?

 

It was actually surprisingly easy, so if anyone reading this is in the situation that I was in (i.e. wanting to strip their lights but putting it off because it could be potentially expensive if it goes wrong), my advice is simply to get on with it! It only took me a few hours last weekend with an oven and a heat gun and the results, I think, really do speak for themselves...

How do you do this then??

Cheers scotster i didnt know/fancy them red i just wondered what other people thought.

 

Maybe i should do them black what do you think?

yeah black will look great

I know of one with a kind of pearly baby blue and he did his the same colour as the body and with the crystal looking covers I thought they looked really clean and smart. I think body coloured lights can be nice and would do mine but as the car's black it takes away some of the crystal clean look being dark inside imo

Looks great being black inside. Mine are matt black. I just wouldn't do them body coloured other than grey or black. I also wouldn't do them gloss but thats just my preference.

well done fella

How do you do this then??

I found the answers on this very site. Here's the link I used:

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=153261&highlight=headlights

Very informative and it worked for me. A couple of things that I found were different were:

1. Putting the lights in an oven just didn't quite melt the glue enough for my liking, so once they'd been in there for the time stated in the guide, I gave the seal the good news with a heat gun set to v hot, too. That did the trick! It does take a lot of effort (i.e. elbow greese) to prise the units apart too, so don't be scared of hurting them (within reason). Start at the bottom of the unit, too.

2. I used black heat-resistant paint (the type used for exhaust manifolds,etc) with no undercoat rather than the type stated in the guide, but you pays your money and takes your choice, I guess.

Because one of my headlights had been filling with moisture, I found that the thin alloy piece that makes up part of the insert beneath the dipped beam headlight (you'll see when you get there...) had oxidised and needed sanding quite thoroughly for the paint to stick properly. At first, before I did this, the finish cracked and looked like a spider's web - not cool! A few minutes with a piece of (dry) fine wet & dry glasspaper sorted it out though. The other light was fine without any sanding.

Hope that helps!

Cheers scotster i didnt know/fancy them red i just wondered what other people thought.

 

Maybe i should do them black what do you think?

Black is instantly cool but actually, if done right, red inserts could look a bit Ferrari 360-esque... If that's your thing.

I found the answers on this very site. Here's the link I used:

 

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=153261&highlight=headlights

 

 

Very informative and it worked for me. A couple of things that I found were different were:

 

1. Putting the lights in an oven just didn't quite melt the glue enough for my liking, so once they'd been in there for the time stated in the guide, I gave the seal the good news with a heat gun set to v hot, too. That did the trick! It does take a lot of effort (i.e. elbow greese) to prise the units apart too, so don't be scared of hurting them (within reason). Start at the bottom of the unit, too.

 

2. I used black heat-resistant paint (the type used for exhaust manifolds,etc) with no undercoat rather than the type stated in the guide, but you pays your money and takes your choice, I guess.

 

 

Because one of my headlights had been filling with moisture, I found that the thin alloy piece that makes up part of the insert beneath the dipped beam headlight (you'll see when you get there...) had oxidised and needed sanding quite thoroughly for the paint to stick properly. At first, before I did this, the finish cracked and looked like a spider's web - not cool! A few minutes with a piece of (dry) fine wet & dry glasspaper sorted it out though. The other light was fine without any sanding.

 

Hope that helps!

Yes thanks that helps, i want to do this but i have just got a fear of wrecking them and having to fork out £250 odd for new headlights!

another happy customer, glad my thread helped ya out buddy

works very well against the silver buddy!! i like it

Black is instantly cool but actually, if done right, red inserts could look a bit Ferrari 360-esque... If that's your thing.

Yeah that is my thing mate but i think it would need to be done really well or could look tacky i might be safer with the matt black;)

Yeah that is my thing mate but i think it would need to be done really well or could look tacky i might be safer with the matt black;)

Blck would definitely be safer, yes. But that's what it's all about... Take the risk! You could always re-do it if it does look truly terrible.