Article on: Headlight Modification

 I had a set of headlights laying around my house and I was bored and decided to do the headlight mod for the hell of it....

Heres some pics along with a "how to" on it.

You will need a can of high temp spraypaint (whatever color you want), some thin flathead screwdrivers, some tape (masking is best) and some extra black silicone sealant just to be safe.

1. Take of all the unneccesary hardware of the headlight. Theres 4 screws and some light harnesses.

2. Preheat the oven to 225 and when the light goes out, stick the headlight in for 22minutes. Use a timer. Do them one at a time because its much easier.

3. After 22 mins, use some oven mits to take out the headlight. Place it on a flat surface and use the mini flathead screwdrivers to pry open the 5 clips holing the headlight together. 2 on the top, 1 on the side, and 2 on the bottom. Your headlight will pry open like this.

4. After you have the headlight apart, theres 2 screw you have to remove on the inside of the lens. You will see them. This is what you should be looking at now.

5. Sand down any part that you want to paint with a fine sanding sponge until its not shiney anymore.

6. Now tape up the spots on the chrome that you dont want to paint

7. Spray on as many coats of paint as you want, Let dry in between each coat. If you encounter a run, then lightly sand it with the sponge (after its dry) and respray it and it will look perfect. Just dont get to close with the spray can while spraying and you shouldnt have this problem.

8. After the paint is dry, then bring them inside and carefully peel of the tape to reveal the chrome part that you wanted to keep unpainted. Also, put that little clear piece back on.

9. Now make sure the inside of the clear lens is really clean, and then attach your newly painted headlight face. Just 2 screws.

10. Now its time to resilicone the housing (not the lens) to assure that there is no leaks where moisture could get in. I went over it with a small bead of black silicone. After you made sure that there is enough silicone, stick the housing (not the lens) back into the oven at 225. Let it sit for about 8 minutes and pull them out and and be ready to push that lens back on. It will snap in like a glove. Here is you finished product once everything is back together, hardware and everything:


Now congrat yourself and have a drink. You did a job well done. I hope this comes in handy to some people!
(The ISDC cannot be held responsible for any modifications that adversely effect the warranty of your car.)