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Refurb and painting headlights guide


supra_si
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Mods please make this a sticky if you feel its comprehensive enough.

 

Welcome all, i thought i would make this guide as i went along refurbing my j spec headlights.

This guide would have been really useful had someone created it before me so i thought i would share the experience if anyone else is looking to do the same.

 

First off start off with taking the headlights out via the 2 bolts and 2 nuts.

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02342.jpg

 

once they are out, take out all of the screws etc from the back inc any wiring looms prior to putting into the oven.

 

I put my oven on hot ( about 200degs) and left the headlight in for about 5 mins or until it was touch hot

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02357.jpg

 

then i used a screw driver to prise apart the lense from the body and it comes away eventually, you need a lot of patience and elbow grease.

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02343.jpg

 

once they are apart you can take out the insert via a single screw

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02346.jpg

 

and you will end up with three pieces like so

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02347-1.jpg

 

now its time to mask off the rings if you so wish, but before i did this I wiped everything over with prep wipes to get a clean surface then let it dry.

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02348.jpg

 

i didnt bother sanding anything down as i used plastic primer like so

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02349.jpg

 

i did 3 coats of primer to make a sound base for the vht paint, i used plasticote satin black, 3 layers of black.

 

the before and after look

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02358.jpg

 

whilst the paint is drying get hold of your lens and cleaning product, i used autosol but there are other on the market

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02350.jpg

 

i cleaned both surfaces twice and it came up very very well. i found that most of the grime and contamination was on the outside so dont be surprised if you need more coats on the outside.

 

once everything is done, i put the painted cover back into the lense and laid the lense back on the body.

 

then it was back into the oven top get that sealant hot to bind back together.

 

take out and push the lense back in place making sure you get a good seal around the edges.

 

once that is done i re-attached the fog wiring loom and screws into the back and also the clips around the edges.

 

at this point i put an added bead of clear silicone around the edges of the lights, i think black silicone would have been best though.

 

now its time to re install them back onto the car, stand back and admire your handy work

 

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/si706/DSC02365.jpg

 

hope this helps

 

Si

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Thanks for the guide mate, i'll be attempting this in a couple of weeks.

 

You used the existing sealant plus new stuff round the outside, do you think it would have been better to remove all old sealant and just run a new bead all round? or was the old stuff sufficient?

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you think 200dec c is over the top, wait til you try and get that sealant apart. it needs heating up hot to get it maleable.

 

some say 70 degs but then ud be waiting a short lifetime for it to get hot

 

if i had used the img button which i was nearly going to do then it will be very very picture heavyu this thread, at least now you can just click on it when u need to see it rather than wait for all the images to download onto here

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

all done and lookin good...

 

dont matter if u preheat, jus leave em in till seal goes soft whack em back in if needed...

 

a gloss black would look good aswell, but i went 4 satin... i used meguiars plasticX to clean lens.

 

heres a pic of one completed and one original....

100_4228.jpg

100_4230.jpg

Edited by fizzle (see edit history)
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