DIY: how to make your headlights black housing with 20 bucks...
 

OK... hey everyone since quite a few of you requested this ill write it up... alright here goes...


BEFORE
http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...567-pi-068.jpg


AFTER
http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ousing-011.jpg



FIRST off i just want to let everyone know... opening your headlights is really really scary if your not patient enough and you pry it to soon ull damage ur headlight.... This is actually my first time using the heat gun method on opening headlights so if i can do it you can do it... I usually use the boiling water technique really great!!! you dont warps on the plastic and its more clean.... the reason why i didnt do this technique is cuz well... i dont have a pot that huge... that technique is good for hondas cuz there headlights are tiny ok anyways.... the advantage of heat gun method? you dont have to remove the harnesses if you dont want to.. and the heat is directed only to were u point the heat gun... my friends do the oven technique also and it works great too but... i was super clueless in this technique thats why i didnt do it this way...

The tools you will need is as follows...

HEAT GUN
SILICON SEALER
FLAT HEAD SCREW DRIVER
CAN of satin black KRYLON FUSION!!!! (highly recomended no sanding!!! or prep)
and color you wish to paint your accents... you can color match your body if you want...

Before anything first remove your headlamp... below is a link to the removal of your headlights... created by digitonium

http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...t-removal.html

please note: due to frustration and fatigue... i sort of didnt take a lot of pics during the process... soo this is mainly gonna be a write up... i only have a couple pics...


STEP 1 SEPERATING the lense from the housing (hardest part)

after you remove your headlights.... remove the phillip screws in the back of it holding it together.... now carefully start heating up the sealant on the headlight... now when its hot enough try carefully sticking your flat head in between the gap and prying slowly... if it moves just a lil then your doing it right... if not... then its proly not hot enough so heat that sucker good...

ok when you are prying... first start prying from the bottom of the headlamp...then work your way around your headlamp... breaking the seal is the hardest part.... but once u hear that crispy glue sound and u see u have a gap then ur life gets a whole lot easier...

please note do the boomerang area LAST the reason for this is that the ample amounts of sealant is mainly on the top and on the bottom... the boomerang area has very little....

so you guy get the idea... HEAT it up pry PRY PRY PRY keep prying... dont rush or else u might crack ur headlamp lense...

once ur able to separate the housing from the lense... there will be 3 phillip small screws holding the lense and the chrome housing together... unscrew them and pull the chrome housing up and away from the lense....

STEP 2 Take apart the chrome housing....

Now that you have the chrome housing out... begin to remove all of these things...

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ousing-001.jpg

unscrew all the screws in the back of the and pop everything out... the order to take it out is take out the clear lense below the amber reflector first... then the amber reflector... (u will the tab of the amber reflector if you try to take it out b4 u take out the clear lense....)then the big round silver thing and then the turn signal lense cover....

Step 3 Painting the housing

Now i recommend KRYON FUSION satin but you can choose any color u want... but just make sure u use the brand krylon fusion this is because its meant for painting plastics... if you use any other spraypaint it may not stick and peel off....

Do 3 coats of the satin black on your headlights.... WAIT!!!! 10 mins in between coats!!!! u dont want the paint to be wet inside then when u touch it when ur putting back ur headlights together ull have a ugly fingerprint on it...


http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ousing-003.jpg

now for the accent pieces the two silver peices u can color match it to ur car or leave it silver... the way i did mine was i actually painted it a gun metal so it woudnt be so brite silver... i was tempted to color match but im thinking long term what happens if you change the color of ur ride... ur gonna have a green car with red accents on the headlight? lol yuck :roflpuke2:

Be creative and paint ur housings the way u want to... when your done wait till the parts are fully dry and put everything back together....

PLEASE NOTE!!!! and i cant stress this enough WHEN YOU ARE PUTTING THE HOUSING U PAINTED BACK WITH THE LENSE MAKE SURE THERE IS NO FINGER PRINTS ON THE INSIDE OF THE LENSE OR ELSE THEYLL BE THERE FOREVER...

Step 4 Resealing your headlights...

When everything is done and put back together its now time to reseal ur headlights... this is the most CRUCIAL part.... if you do this part wrong ull have moisture in ur lights and over time it will be a swimming pool in ur headlight so be very tedious when doing this part... ATTENTION to DETAIL......

first scrape off the old sealant.... and clean the passages of where the new sealant is going to be applied....

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ousing-005.jpg

now apply ur silicon in ample amounts DONT BE SHY jam that sucker with alot of it...

http://www.the370z.com/members/simot...ousing-004.jpg

now press ur headlight together and reinstall the screws... wipe of excess amounts of silicon... let it dry... now reapply a second coat of silicon around the headlight to INSURE no leaks will occur or even possible... let it dry and sit for 30 mins until dry... then reinstall everything.... and do it to the other headlight and ur done... :tup:


NOTES: please please please be patient when ur doing this... dont RUSH or else u might break something... this mod took about 6 hours to do from start to finish.. removal of bumper healights and black housing the headlights.... and remember the more silicon u use... the less u worry about moisture... and last but not least i swear to god ull do a :happydance: when ur done with this mod cuz ull feel so accomplished... and u can have a :driving: stroll around the city to show off ur sexy new headlights... :tup:

GOOD LUCK TO ALL

P.S i am not responsible for any broken headlights that occur this DIY is a guideline only!!! it is ur choice to try it out or not....

If mine breaks I blame you .....lol

Nice DIY. Good details and notes

Also, that's good to have no prep. Sanding all the chrome off would be a pain.

haha.... dont worry it wont break... yah dude seriously sanding all that ******* chrome ugh... wat a pain in the ***... krylon fusion is the best though haha

On my G. I got a chrome lip spoiler on the trunk.

Could I use that paint directly on it and then clear coat it??

And the front grille chrome is a major pain to sand also.

+ rep for the write-up. Looking forward to daylight pics!

Dude, great job! Thank you so much for posting this. Very helpful and will save a lot of people money I'm sure.

+1 on looking forward to the daytime pics.

awesome man... im debating whether to bake or just heat gun these suckers

Exactly the look I wanted. simota1, your car and mine will be twins living in different parts of the world... :tup:

Awesome write up, might try this weekend. +1

haha thats kool man....im glad u like the look... :tup: thatll be awesome that ill have a twin in cali... :happydance: ill teach my car how to swim so i can go there and stroll haha...

heat gun those mofos man lol i was to chicken to oven it i was scared of ovening them cuz i was scared of melting my lenses... :eek:

hhaha thats exactly how i feel.. ! you think its easier if theres two ppl and one is slowly prying while the other is continually heating?

Bro its a whole lot easier!!!! duude lol my boi was helping me out for the first headlight he was heating it up and i was slowly prying it... but he split :shakes head: l wat a fuucker... took us about 1 hour to open the first one... IT TOOK ME 2 and a HALF hours to open the second one!!! haha... so ya get a buddy to help u out... makes life a whole lot easier

Is there any kind of lip on teh headlights to use high pressure clamps all around to get that hulk tight seal?? what about heating up the silicone again when you're re-sealing so it gets all mushy and you know it's all melting together vs gunking new silicone on top of old?

using an oven with conservative times and temps followed by a heat gun (if necessary) would probably be the easiest in terms of opening to cut the time and hassle down to about 30 minutes or less...

great write up btw........can't wait to try it....

I believe he mentioned in there that he cleaned out all of the old silicone to make way for the new silicone for a better seal. I will be doing it with an oven, and also re-heating when I put the lens back on as well.

I tested my LED's tonight and got a full string wired up and connected it to my battery to test my resistors. looked fantastic, and got me excited to start this project this weekend!

hey caravanshaka .. when will your DIY yourself be up.. im am interested in that option as well.. where can i buy the parts?.. also is it safe for someone with not much electrical experience to do it?

DJ, I don't want to Hijack the thread, so going to PM you :)

Thanks Simota! +1 rep.

I looked up a youtube video on doing Civic headlamps and it was this technique. I was scared to try it, but now that you've done it on a 370z, I'll give it a shot too!

No problem Phimosis.... dont be scared... jus be careful :tup:

SORRY!!! i totally missed this post... but heres my answer...
U can reuse the old silcone but im scared itll have lil spaces in between.. and it rains ALOT here (guam) where i live so i wouldnt want to have moisture in the headlights... and i think even if u super super heated the old sealant it doesnt really melt and move... it just sort of turns shiny and get mushy but it dont move really... as for the lip... u dont need the clamps... the headlamps themselves have screws that will give it that hulk tight seal u want :tup:be careful though u can tightin them so much that u can break the plastic inside that the screw threads on too.. so yah

Great write up! The only thing I can say for everyone is that it might not be such a good idea to use a screwdriver to open the headlights. I've seen a lot of guys chip/crack/break their headights using a screwdriver. I suggest a hard plastic putty knife or equivelant. Much safer!!

Thanks for the DIY!

looking forward to doing this.

How much would it cost for a shop to do the same thing? Is it a huge difference.

yes it would.... cin city i heard is chargin like a grand to mod out ur headlights soooo its a enormous difference... just do it ur self ull feel so accomplished after u do it...

Any other new pics out there? I have a black car and wonder how this would look.

Do you think it would be a better idea to clear out the old sealant first, before applying the paint?

it wouldnt matter because ur gonna add sealant again where u take out the old sealant and if u paint it it would be covered by the new sealant when u apply it :tup:

Unless you are still shaky hands nervous and slip?

Assuming you are scraping it off with a flat head as mentioned abov.:icon17:

lol wait... i just FULLY understood that question now... yah u should clear out the sealant first and then paint it lol.... then add sealant again... :D

I should be trying this, this weekend on the nismo. If I do I'll post pics.

^^^^ awesome man

Here I come with the retarded questions again.. what exactly is a heat gun and where the hell can i get one?

One more thing... since that krylon paint works on the chrome headlight stuff.... would it work on the badges on the front and back?

This has always been an awesome cheap mod for almost ANY car.

Two thumbs up for the OP, great job!

the heat gun part man... u can get it at home depot.... it should be like 20 some bucks for a cheap one u dont need like the most expensive one they all pretty much do the same thing its a hair dryer on steriods...and the krylon paint part i have used it on the headlights with no fear cuz its pretty much in an egg shell it is not susceptable to weather heat rain because the clear lense and it seals it.... painting ur badges with it i have no idea if it will flake due to these conditions... for my badges i used real auto paint not spray can cuz i wanted to make sure it wasnt gonna flake... :tup:

Great DIY rep added :)

thanks for the rep :happydance:

1

yah man search caravanshaka...... and he has LEDS as well :D