03 Headlights 01 R/T bumper

01NeonR/T · Post by **01NeonR/T** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 2:23 am

Hey everyone, I'm putting 03 headlights on a 01 R/T bumper. Going to mount my driving lights where the signals used to be. I got the headlights and ran into a couple problems, mainly the lower bumper area. Seems like I will have to cut a little of the bumper off. I think it should fit flush once I get tha rounder part fo the headlight behind the bumper. Will post pics when done. I'm taking a risk here.. because I really like my R/T bumper.. and wouldn't cut it up if I didn't think the risk was worth it.

01NeonR/T · Post by **01NeonR/T** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:36 am

Well, I cut a bit off my bumper on the driver side only before calling it a night. The 03+ bumper kind of juts out a bit so it tends to clear a little frame piece w/o any problems.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have the driving lights mocked up and perhaps bolted in.

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:54 am

good luck... a rather strange, but possibly cool and new idea. keep us posted.

dblsg · Post by **dblsg** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 5:06 am

noooo....

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 5:10 am

dblsg wrote:noooo....

That's a big gap! I can't wait to see this all finished if you go through with it.

dblsg · Post by **dblsg** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 5:20 am

03sxt wrote:
dblsg wrote:noooo....

That's a big gap! I can't wait to see this all finished if you go through with it.

its too late to go back...

z3roneo · Post by **z3roneo** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:56 am

I think the idea is cool... Looks good too.. I would make some kinda air duct or tube to fill in the turn signal hole to add some cooling under the hood... Just a thought...

caustic neon · Post by **caustic neon** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:02 am

i think he is puting the driving lights in the old turn location

by the way it looks good so far. i like the idea

01NeonR/T · Post by **01NeonR/T** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:49 pm

actually dblsg, it isn't too late to go back. The only cut off about a 1/2" section of the headlight so far. If I have to cut out the bumper for the driving light, THEN it'll be too late. I'm trying to get this done with as little cutting as possible.

scneonchic · Post by **scneonchic** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:17 pm

Interesting Idea...offtopic, but I like your wheels

01NeonR/T · Post by **01NeonR/T** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:59 pm

Officially at the point of no return, I cut some more and test fit my old headlights and the gap was substantial. Good news though, it looks like I will be able to fit the headlights without too much drama or cutting, however, going back to my old style headlights is now impossible with this bumper. Well, not impossible, just would look really... bad. Thanks about the wheels. ADR bronzes. Little dirty. Will post progress pictures later on, hopefully tonight.

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 4:42 am

hurry up gadammit! yeah... bit buzzed, but huury up!

01NeonR/T · Post by **01NeonR/T** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:31 am

The headlights are in! Unfortunately I cut off a LOT around the bumper edges and even part of the steel bumper. The driving lights stuck out a little more than anticipated (eyeballed it when placing the mounting brackets). I will probably relocate the brackets later on. Lots of photos loading, be patient if your internet is slow:

First a look back:
Here's the Bone stock front end:

Now here was where the driving lights used to be:

Test fitting the lights, no bumper, lights bolted down:

Steel bumper. This part caused the the Bumper to flex unattractively when I attempted to put in the rounder headlights:

So what did I do? Ground it off:

Here's where my friend who owns The never-will-be-finished Mustang is kindly soldering the passenger side harness, extending the wires after it became apparent the original harness was too short to fit the now further away signal lamp position on the new headlights:

Here is mock up of the assembly, nothing bolted except headlights:

Planned postion of the driving lights:

Which turned into this, everything bolted except bumper:

Here is the driver side light, showing how far the HID's are extending out:

Passenger side showing same thing:

Hood line is uneven due to pressure required to mount bumper:

Passenger side bumper line. You can see it's off by a bit:

Driver side bumper line fits perfect:

And FINALLY, the finished view:

Overall it required quite a bit of cutting and persuasion. I would not recommend this for a beginner. It wasn't too hard, but I took my time and test fit and re-test fit everything to get it how it looks. I left the driving lights where they are because it was night already and I didn't want to re-drill mounting holes. There is a lot of pressure on the bumper cover due to the headlights pushing down on it. I think it looks good, so let me know what you all think.

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:46 am

Wow, looks like quite a bit of work... Is that how the driving lights are going to be staying or are you going to adjust them more? The gap's a little big heightwise where the driving lamps are located, that's the only reason I was asking. All-in-all, it looks pretty good, especially if you can get those driving lights a little higher.

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:07 am

if the driving lights didnt stick ou so far..... it wouflnt lioook funy... but other than that.. m elikey

scneonchic · Post by **scneonchic** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:42 am

I like, but I agree w/ what they are saying. once you (or if you) adjust the driving lights back some, it will look alot better. but I like it, neat idea.

dblsg · Post by **dblsg** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:02 pm

i'm sorry, but i like the 00-02 headlights alot more... and i'm not digging those driving lights at all.

01NeonR/T · Post by **01NeonR/T** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:33 pm

I'm going to go back and re-adjust the driving lights when I have time later. I need to raise the bracket using washers and re-drill mounting holes to push it back. One option is removing EVERYTHING and re-drill mounting holes and using nut-bolt combos. Well I'll figure that out later. I do like the 00-02 headlights, and the only reason why I went with this setup is because of my driving lights. They forced me to wonder where to mount them. Seem you can't please everyone though. Looking back on it though, I should not have cut so much off between the driving light and headlight because now there is a substantial gap there. However, even if I did not cut off the plastic there, one would have still been able to see a substantial gap, it just would have been slightly covered more. I'll think of something. I need to have my front cover re-painted anyway (lots of rock chips and scratches).

mztykal · Post by **mztykal** » Sat May 05, 2007 4:59 pm

What was the point of that? Wow you made a more expensive costing, 00-02 looking front end. LOL!

Damn...

StarStruckNeon00 · Post by **StarStruckNeon00** » Mon May 07, 2007 6:04 am

quiet, mztykal, i think its a cool idea, a lot of work, but it looks nice, i like it

Mr Josh Zombie · Post by **Mr Josh Zombie** » Mon May 07, 2007 9:55 am

How dare you molest a R/T front end!!!

But, it really doesn't look bad... things just need adjusted.

01NeonR/T · Post by **01NeonR/T** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:56 pm

Damn this is an old thread. Since I finished this back in April 2006, It's been just over a year and now I'm cutting up those expensive headlights to make projector conversions. The HID lights have been readjusted but only back in more, the height has not changed, or else it would have squeezed too much of the middle of the grille. I am considering moving the HID's to the foglight area, and removing the stock foglights and getting rid of them, as their light output is decent at best, but since they get overpowered by the HID's, I don't even use them anymore. Ehh, I'm bored at school, I'll think more about it this weekend.