I finally scored a used set for my car. Of course I had to get them from out of state. Michigan isn't exactly an import paradise.

Problem being, the finish inside of the headlights is shot, and they don't put out very good light. I've practiced spraying chrome spray paint on abs plastic with very good results, which would be perfect if....I could get the actual glass lenses off of the housings. If I could get those lenses off, I'd be straight.

I tried to to take then off of my old broken housings. No dice. They seem to be on there real good.

 

you have to bake the lights at around 215F for about 10 to 15 minutes to loosen up the glue holding it. But before you do that you have to remove the metal tabs holding the glass firmly on. I just used a flathead screwdriver on the flat portion of it(the area in between where it holds on). be careful when doing that because if you add too much force they will fly off. When the lights are baked(while still hot) I also used a flathead screw driver to slowly and carefully pry it apart. Be patient with it and you will not break the glass.

 

thanks. that's a great idea.

I already took the metal tabs off of my old lights. I've been thinking about it since I posted, and I came up with a strange idea that I'm not even going to try now.

I'll try this when I get home, using my old housings for practice.

 

To tell you the truth
Buy new ones from EBAY

I did just that and it made a heck of a difference. I bought mine for 65 bucks each for my 88. Before that it use to be the total for those two for 1. So just jump on it. Youll be much happier you didnt play around with paint or other methods.

 

spraypainting the inside of your headlights......

buy some new...ebay.

or do a projector retro.

 

I have successfully taken mine apart though. It was hard but after the first time it wasnt a problem still go for the new ones.

 

they are right. it is only worth it if you are going to do a retro or something. The light output with that chrome paint isn't really any good. When I did my retro I actually used that chrome paint to reduce glare(with open e46 projectors in the housing). new ones will have that mirror finish that is needed to have good output.

 

Screw it. I'm gonna buy the new ones.

 

nice work well done.

 

alright. I fixed the originals, so I'm back to normal on light. The hot glue gun works wonders. I actually got everything withing spec by about 2mm. Not bad.

So I have these headlights I bought. Everything is tight and not broken, so I'm thinking of a projector setup-possibly. Possibly meaning that more than likely I'd have to buy new stuff, considering there's nothing in Michigan as far as imports go.

How do I go about doing this? The wiring isn't a problem, it's figuring out exactly which parts to use.

 

It's brilliant what noobs come up with.

 

This is the way that I did it without cutting anything(except for holes)

Seeing as though our lights do not have that much space inside for many of the larger projectors(have tried lexus rx330 projectors and the bowl was too tall) I would recommend a smaller projector like an e46 single xenon. Those are the ones that I used in my headlights, when I had them on the car. Those will allow enough vertical space inside the headlight for any vertical adjustment that may be needed. I used the four holes on the bowl as guides for making new holes. I used a thin phillips head screwdriver to mark where my holes were going to go and used my dremel to make the holes. I am not sure which screws would be best, because I just used ones that I found that were long enough and fit. I used two nuts on the part of the screws that were inside of the bowl(which was hard for adjustment). Now that I think of it, the way I used for adjustment was to lay the flat part of the bowl(where the screw holes are) on the bottom flat part of the light to make it level with the light, and made holes in my lights with the bowls laying that way. there has to be a better way for adjustment. You can always ask the people at HID planet forums for their ideas, they always have good advice. It involves trial and error.

One important last thing is to remember to use lexan or similar clear plastic(can be found at home depot, i think in the windows area or something). That plastic is clear(which is important for HID output), and can withstand the high heat and won't yellow easily.

 

true about the lexan it wont yellow, but it will get dirty and if you wont spray it off it will scratch like a byiotch, so i use microfiber cloths now and windex, but now i gotta re lexan them and might do another version of the headlamps, was careless before and now i know what im doing.