How To: blackhousing stock headlights
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How To: blackhousing stock headlights
hey guys i just finished doing this last week and i thought i would share it for people on here because i have heard alot of people say that you should not try it with the stock lights and me being the rebel that i am said f-it and did it anyways
this is my first how to so bear with me,and do not hold me responsible if you screw up your headlights.do it at your own risk
ok so here we go;first do not try to use a oven to soften the glue holding the lens to the housing,the only thing you will do is melt the plastic,trust me on this one.
so what we do insted is use a dremel motor tool with a cutoff wheel to cut the lens away from the housing.dont panick.its not that hard to do properly.
you want to start cutting as far away from the face of the lens as possible.i kept mine as close to the seam of glue as i could
working slowly,very slowly. cut all the way around the lens.and then gently pull the lens away from the housing,it may take a lil effort cause the lens has a way of melting itself back together and you do no want to force it.it is very easy to crack the lens by rushing
this is how it should look at this stage
at the top of the inner head light surround there is two small tabs holding it to the main housing.i dont have pictures cause i was lazy but you will see what i mean.cut them with your cutoff disk and pull it apart
now it should look like this
now its the fun part,sanding and painting
i found out that the chrome on these lights can be removed by a good sanding with 320 grit paper and some acetone.forgive me here but none of the pictures turned out good enough topost so ill describe what i did next and you should be able to follow along easy enough;after the chrome was fully stripped and sanded,i cleaned it with dish soap and warm water.from this stage on i used disposible gloves whenever i touched any part of the head light to avoid finger oils and prints on the inside of the housing/lens.and sprayed duplicolor highbuild primer on the headlight surround,after letting it dry for around a half hour i then sprayed some duplicolor universal black auto paint in three light coats.followed by three light coats of the duplicolor clear wheel coating.i like the wheel coating cause it does not seem to be as brittle and yellow like most rattle canned stuff.i do have a shop set up with spray guns ect,but i wanted to keep this simple.after letting the surrounds dry over night i cleaned up the extra melted plastic on the lens with a razor blade and a little time,and then washed the lenses in dish soap once again wearing gloves to avoid finger prints,after they had dried a fit the now black surrounds to the housing to make sure it all lined up properly.after being satisfied with the look i fit the lens over the surround/housing.it is a little tricky to get it back on without scratching the surround but trust me it can be done.i did not bother to sucure the surround because it makes it alot easer to fit the lens if it is not.and once thens is on it wont move at all.now use some clear sealant to glue/seal the lens back up,i used some sealant that i had lying around that was very thick.i cannot remember the name of the product for some damn reason but you can find many plastic repair kits in autozone ect that will work.i will try to find the name and part number for the sealent that i used this weekend.use alot of it to make sure that there will not be any leaks and let it dry for a day or two.at this point remember no matter how shitty it looks the seam will be covered with the headlight gasket.this is what it should look like
i hope this helped to give an idea of how to do this ,i am sure there is alot that i forgot to mention but please feel free to ask.i will post more pictures soon.
this is my first how to so bear with me,and do not hold me responsible if you screw up your headlights.do it at your own risk
ok so here we go;first do not try to use a oven to soften the glue holding the lens to the housing,the only thing you will do is melt the plastic,trust me on this one.
so what we do insted is use a dremel motor tool with a cutoff wheel to cut the lens away from the housing.dont panick.its not that hard to do properly.
you want to start cutting as far away from the face of the lens as possible.i kept mine as close to the seam of glue as i could
working slowly,very slowly. cut all the way around the lens.and then gently pull the lens away from the housing,it may take a lil effort cause the lens has a way of melting itself back together and you do no want to force it.it is very easy to crack the lens by rushing
this is how it should look at this stage
at the top of the inner head light surround there is two small tabs holding it to the main housing.i dont have pictures cause i was lazy but you will see what i mean.cut them with your cutoff disk and pull it apart
now it should look like this
now its the fun part,sanding and painting
i found out that the chrome on these lights can be removed by a good sanding with 320 grit paper and some acetone.forgive me here but none of the pictures turned out good enough topost so ill describe what i did next and you should be able to follow along easy enough;after the chrome was fully stripped and sanded,i cleaned it with dish soap and warm water.from this stage on i used disposible gloves whenever i touched any part of the head light to avoid finger oils and prints on the inside of the housing/lens.and sprayed duplicolor highbuild primer on the headlight surround,after letting it dry for around a half hour i then sprayed some duplicolor universal black auto paint in three light coats.followed by three light coats of the duplicolor clear wheel coating.i like the wheel coating cause it does not seem to be as brittle and yellow like most rattle canned stuff.i do have a shop set up with spray guns ect,but i wanted to keep this simple.after letting the surrounds dry over night i cleaned up the extra melted plastic on the lens with a razor blade and a little time,and then washed the lenses in dish soap once again wearing gloves to avoid finger prints,after they had dried a fit the now black surrounds to the housing to make sure it all lined up properly.after being satisfied with the look i fit the lens over the surround/housing.it is a little tricky to get it back on without scratching the surround but trust me it can be done.i did not bother to sucure the surround because it makes it alot easer to fit the lens if it is not.and once thens is on it wont move at all.now use some clear sealant to glue/seal the lens back up,i used some sealant that i had lying around that was very thick.i cannot remember the name of the product for some damn reason but you can find many plastic repair kits in autozone ect that will work.i will try to find the name and part number for the sealent that i used this weekend.use alot of it to make sure that there will not be any leaks and let it dry for a day or two.at this point remember no matter how shitty it looks the seam will be covered with the headlight gasket.this is what it should look like
i hope this helped to give an idea of how to do this ,i am sure there is alot that i forgot to mention but please feel free to ask.i will post more pictures soon.
Ziptie's come in handy when a prostitute gets mouthy or reluctant
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I like people who BUY a 10 sec car and then brag about it. Thats like hiring someone to bang your wife and then bragging about the kid
*eye twitches*
I like people who BUY a 10 sec car and then brag about it. Thats like hiring someone to bang your wife and then bragging about the kid
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ok, this is perfect...and thank you for proving my point about the headlights, i got shot down for it lol
Swordfish2Cowboy wrote:They left a pry bar? Well get the prints like they do on CSI, and track those fuckers down. Then cap them.
grindpunk16 wrote: You and about 2 dozen other folks want that cover. It came with the car, and it's all mine..
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^^ lol.its not hard at all to do if ya take your time.if anyone has any questions pm me,i am going to take some more pics this weekend to finish my how to.been realy buisy
Ziptie's come in handy when a prostitute gets mouthy or reluctant
*eye twitches*
I like people who BUY a 10 sec car and then brag about it. Thats like hiring someone to bang your wife and then bragging about the kid
*eye twitches*
I like people who BUY a 10 sec car and then brag about it. Thats like hiring someone to bang your wife and then bragging about the kid
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Hmmmm....oven worked for me
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nope not impossible to seal,and mine look great,ill take close ups.i used a black sealant and took my time,one light fogged up just after i did them but then i took it out and found a small pinhole i forgot about, no problems at all.i have asked everyone i know to see if they could tell that i had cut it open and no one could,i even had one person tell me that i was jerking there chain,just take your time and do not rush anything and they will come out fine,it only looks sloppy when you do a sloppy jobwiggyx wrote:Oven. 250° for 15 minutes. They pry apart with relative ease. I've had no issues using this method on the last 10 lamps I pulled apart. Re-sealing them using the cutoff method is nearly impossible and it looks sloppy.
Ziptie's come in handy when a prostitute gets mouthy or reluctant
*eye twitches*
I like people who BUY a 10 sec car and then brag about it. Thats like hiring someone to bang your wife and then bragging about the kid
*eye twitches*
I like people who BUY a 10 sec car and then brag about it. Thats like hiring someone to bang your wife and then bragging about the kid
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- keeders08
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Bumping this, as I am interested in doing a OEM black out on both my 1st and 2nd gen.
-So, its 100% negative on using original OEM headlights in the oven?
-Also, why paint aftermarket.. they still make the OEM style blacked out ones dont they? (and by "they" I mean DEPO or Ebay specials.)
-last but not least, anyone know if 1st gen OEMs will come apart in oven?
-So, its 100% negative on using original OEM headlights in the oven?
-Also, why paint aftermarket.. they still make the OEM style blacked out ones dont they? (and by "they" I mean DEPO or Ebay specials.)
-last but not least, anyone know if 1st gen OEMs will come apart in oven?
Keeders
[KUTTER AUTO]
Formerly Of Warner Robins/Bonaire, Ga
aaaw no son, not a bacon slice!!
[KUTTER AUTO]
Formerly Of Warner Robins/Bonaire, Ga
aaaw no son, not a bacon slice!!
- more like 80% but almost impossible
- yes they do. just decide: spent 120$ for a new set or 5$ for paint and some work. but if your headlights are yellowish - better buy a new set
- 1gen used the same gorillaglue. no chance in the oven. be carefull with them cause the inhousing = the reflector! there is no extra bezel to paint like in the 2gen and 2003+ headlights!
- yes they do. just decide: spent 120$ for a new set or 5$ for paint and some work. but if your headlights are yellowish - better buy a new set
- 1gen used the same gorillaglue. no chance in the oven. be carefull with them cause the inhousing = the reflector! there is no extra bezel to paint like in the 2gen and 2003+ headlights!
- keeders08
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Theres no way I'm going to be able to seal those fuckers back up lolJenni wrote:- more like 80% but almost impossible
- yes they do. just decide: spent 120$ for a new set or 5$ for paint and some work. but if your headlights are yellowish - better buy a new set
- 1gen used the same gorillaglue. no chance in the oven. be carefull with them cause the inhousing = the reflector! there is no extra bezel to paint like in the 2gen and 2003+ headlights!
Keeders
[KUTTER AUTO]
Formerly Of Warner Robins/Bonaire, Ga
aaaw no son, not a bacon slice!!
[KUTTER AUTO]
Formerly Of Warner Robins/Bonaire, Ga
aaaw no son, not a bacon slice!!
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why cant you heat them? my friend has done it on several different headlights. what does lsp do for her retros?Mr Josh Zombie wrote:we said you couldn't heat them. never said anything about not being able to cut themDoubtedNeon wrote:ok, this is perfect...and thank you for proving my point about the headlights, i got shot down for it lol
and if i have aftermarket headlights would the oven work for me? i think i got mine from MP
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- sidepipe87
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I imagine it's like the TYC replacements I bought for retros. Got them cheap from rockauto. They uses a hard sealant just like OEM, not one that softens in the oven like DEPO. Yeah... they were nearly impossible to get apart in the oven and I destroyed the headlight housing getting them apart. It's not really an issue it will still seal fine but it doesn't look pretty. It took me 3 separate 15-20 min sessions with some high heat to even be able to pry them apart. Luckily the lenses didn't craze.
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- keeders08
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fuck gorilla glue. IM OUT!sidepipe87 wrote:I imagine it's like the TYC replacements I bought for retros. Got them cheap from rockauto. They uses a hard sealant just like OEM, not one that softens in the oven like DEPO. Yeah... they were nearly impossible to get apart in the oven and I destroyed the headlight housing getting them apart. It's not really an issue it will still seal fine but it doesn't look pretty. It took me 3 separate 15-20 min sessions with some high heat to even be able to pry them apart. Luckily the lenses didn't craze.
Keeders
[KUTTER AUTO]
Formerly Of Warner Robins/Bonaire, Ga
aaaw no son, not a bacon slice!!
[KUTTER AUTO]
Formerly Of Warner Robins/Bonaire, Ga
aaaw no son, not a bacon slice!!
- sidepipe87
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are you serious dude? that's a fucking toyota or something in your sig... nothing like comparing apples to fruitcakes...
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