My headlamp project (with pics)

Hey guys this is my 1st proper project so go easy on me!

1st of would like to thank supranature for the headlamps, not in bad shape. Bit gutted 1 of the headlamp mounting points was broken ah well, will just have to replace that 1! donate me a n/s j spec maybe??

In this project im going to refurb the headlamps ofcourse and to show the difference between these 'plug and play' hid kits in stock projectors vs a true retrofit using proper HID projectors ... i always say if your gonna do it then do it proper which is always been my way! Ill be using honda s2000 xenon projectors, on the way from the states as i type this (i hope), and they are off a RHD car so no issues with them being aimed the wrong way

Been a bit busy today so ive only cracked them open so far.. took about an hour

So 1st thing to do is remove all the little bits, rubber seals, brass clip etc...

Next thing to do is seperate the lenses from the housings!

I preheated the oven to about 180 degrees to begin with then popped the 1st one in

Left it in for about 5 mins and pulled it out. Now begins the messy bit. I used a butter knife and a flat head driver to seperate the lense and housing (WARNING! if you ever undertake such a project do not use the misses best knifes!). The key here is to seperate the lense evenly orelse you will probly crack or break it so the way i did it was start at the top centre

The sealant they use is realy tough and go's hard quite quickly so bein quick is key otherwise, back in the oven!

As it starts to come away work the knife around the edges whilst gently pulling it away from the housing

Eventualy it will peel away from the hard to get to places, then with the lense facing down cut away the last bit of sealer along the bottom!

And this is the two seperated

Now that the housing is split its time to remove the projector surround from the lense.

Its only held in with 1 screw

A bit of a tug pulls it right outa there

Then to remove the 2 bits off the surround.

Theres the sidelight bulb lense and a little chrome piece which sits under the low beam projector

The sidelight lense is held on by 2 screws

and the chrome bit is held on by a 3 bendable tabs (not very clear in pic)

Once everything is off

Chrome has flaked away a bit round the reflector bowl, not realy bothered though, should clean up easy enough!

The lenses are as expected yellowed and clouded over

and theres a few deep scratches to attend to

so thats it for today! Next step is the crappy part id rather do sooner than later, cleaning out the channels on the housing and edges of the lenses. Ill be updating soon!

Thanks for reading through!

Nice detailed write up, well done! looking forward to the rest of it, might finally persuade me to get on and do mine.

What are you intending to re seal them with?

Thanks mate i enjoy doing stuff like this, passes the time! for resealing i was thinking of smoothin out the old sealer out with a soldering iron and then put some butyl tape in the channels, heat it up in the oven so it bonds together nicely with the lense.

Now thats a cracking writeup, couple of pointers though....

I would recommend around 80-100 degrees for 10 mins rather than whacking them in for 180. Its just a bit risky and heats up the outside of the glue rather than the inside. Having it at 80 means there is no chance of melting and you can leave them in for longer to heat up the middle of the glue.

I wouldn't take the sealant out. It really is cracking sealant and its best to reuse it. Unless of course you have found a similar glue?

Nice detailed write up, well done! looking forward to the rest of it, might finally persuade me to get on and do mine.

What are you intending to re seal them with?

I use windscreen sealer as it does not go off so if you need to rip them apart again its not a headache;) That means no more oven in the future if you remove almost all the old sealer.

It is indeed cracking sealent! bloody tough to. I originaly did put it in at 100 degrees and left it but the sealer kept going hard on me so i turned up the heat a bit. These were tough to crack open. Had to reheat the 2nd one a few times. Last time i did a refurb was a few years back and there was just not enough of the sealer left to rejoin the 2 so rather than risk it and end up with it misting up again few months down the line, i through in some 3m butyl tape, popped it in the oven and let it bond. It worked realy well!

Wrap the lights in a towel. one at a time at 180 for about 7-9 mins then unwrap and prize apart. use a hot air gun to remove the sealer from the grooves and take your time. Its worth it.

I've had a few sets apart now and i can do it in about 20 seconds once warm

I pry them apart at the full beam end, right at the sharp corner. Screwdriver in there, pry it up then pull. I wear a pair of thin gloves so that i can get a good grip.

Anyway, keep the pics coming. This is easily going to be the most comprehensive guide for lights.

appriciate the input guys! we all have our on preference when it comes to opening and resealing so i say stick to what you know works! not knocking any of your ideas ofcourse as wrapping them in a towel sounds a better idea than just throwing them in

Bit of an update guys. Seeming as my projectors are gonna be a while arriving i thought id get on with the cosmetics.

Spent a good couple of hours melting the old sealer flat and wet sanding the surrounds and lenses.

Sanded back the peeling chrome so its smooth

Im attempting to save the chrome rings round the projector cut outs. It has unfortunatly started peeling back round the bottom and the side, you cant realy see it unless you look realy close but ive got a feeling its gona peel off with the tape when i mask them up , realy thin the stuff they used.

I gave one of the lenses a polish by hand with some G3, it came up pretty well

but they need another going over yet, plus rather than polish them up im gonna clearcoat them at work

1 of the lenses, unfortunatly, has what looks to be a heat spot in the middle, im hoping it will come out with some courser wet and dry likewise with this deep scratch. What do you think?

why not machine polish them? I would not clearcoat them, but I'm interested to see the result of spraying them.

i would machine polish them but down the line again they will yellow up with the sun light. Its like machine polishing a red car that has faided to pink, yes the color will come back but a few months down the line it will be fading again. If there clearcoated it shouldnt ever yellow again for years due to the UV barrier properties in the laquer itself

I machine polished mine when i got the car, and they haven't yellowed up again, been thee years:)

thats not bad at all mate! ive seen headlamps go yellow within months after being polished. I supose it comes down to how much sun light there exposed to and how well they were done to begin with. Ill post up pics later in the week once ive had the inserts painted and the lenses cleared at work

I have a spare set of lenses I'll do mine too. What laquer will you use?

ill probly use the ppg laquer (atleast i think it is) we have at work, cant remember exactly which 1 it is. Ill find out and let you know

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Me too!

Bit of an update guys. Prepped lenses good and proper using wet and dry, starting with 400 grit for the little imperfections, went over it all with 800 grit and finished in 1200.

They will be cleared tomorrow using PPG Deltron progress premium clear D8141

I went ahead and matt blacked the projector housing to see how it looked.. unfortunatly the chrome peeled off round the projectors so i just painted it all

They came out pretty good not bad for 1 coat. Theres a couple of imperfections i wernt happy with

They've been taken care of now with a bit of 800s, gave them a good scotching off and there now prepped up ready for paint tomorrow

Ill be going with the matt finish as i think it looks better and yes i know im a picture whore!

those will look ace on my car when they are all finished

On a serious note great write up bud

im sure that can be arranged cheers mate much appriciated. Just hoping my projectors show up soon!

Please finish the lenses with 1500 then 3000 it will make all the difference.

Please finish the lenses with 1500 then 3000 it will make all the difference.

Got to agree with that, leavbing them with only 1500 grit wioll cause them to yellow quickly. I went up to 2500 grit but even after a year they still started to yellow

1500 is to fine to shoot clear onto, especially with the clear we use. Ill probly use 3000s if the finish isnt perfect then polish up but ive got high hopes with the clear.