DownTheHatch
07-20-2002, 07:56 PM
I had a dream, a dream to change my headlights to black housing. And I have fullfilled this dream today. Okay enough with the post-modern folklore, yea it took me like 5 hours but I did a pretty solid job, and...let me tell you, it looks badass.
The pictures speak for themselves.
The headlight barely fit into my oven, but please take notice the first headlight I put in I forgot to put it on a cooking pan this left the bottom of the first headlight slightly warped, however the second time I used a pan and absolutely nothing happened to the headlight, it came out and I basically pulled the pieces apart, it was easy as pie.
Painting was pretty straightforward, mask off the turn signal and parking light then spray. I used a fast drying flat black paint with 1 coat.
Sealing the headlight was a good idea too so I picked up some auto clear silicone to seal it up with, this stuff dries and you don't even see it, one note to take is not to seal the side of the headlight, the side with the turnsignal, this is not necessesary because this part doesn't make contact with the seal and you can see the silicone, I did this on the first headlight not the second, as you can tell the second one came out better than the first because I knew what NOT to do.
Basically there's a few things to remember, when you remove the clear plastic headlight cover, set it aside, when I say aside I mean go put it on your bed sheets so you don't get anything on it, I set it down on some newspaper that had sealant on it and needless to say it got stuck to the headlight, I got it to come off with a little gasoline on a paper towel but it's better to put the plastic cover in a better place from the start. Okay what else, oh yea use a cooking sheet when baking your headlight, and do not preheat the oven, just put it on 250 degrees and only for 5 minutes, do not go over 5 minutes that is over kill. I was pretty confident on the second headlight I stuck it in set the timer and only came back to it at 5 minutes, the first headlight I kept checking cause I was paranoid.
Thats about it, just remember to take your time don't rush, a little extra time spent masking will make a big difference in the final outcome, oh yea when you mask, make sure to press around the edges good so it makes a nice seal.
This is by no means my "How-To" I plan on writing that up later on.
And as usual it got dark and started raining before I could snap any good pictures but first thing tomorrow I'm grabbing my digital and getting some nice shots, you won't believe how good these look.
After I was done I decided to paint over my orange reflectors, I painted them black I didn't snap any photos but tomorrow you'll see. I also pulled off my chrome H emblem to finish off the make-over. Next is my H&R springs :)
Here is the link to my pictures:Black Housing Headlights (http://www.webphotos.com/list_photos.asp?mi=1&smi=1&a=83498)
The pictures speak for themselves.
The headlight barely fit into my oven, but please take notice the first headlight I put in I forgot to put it on a cooking pan this left the bottom of the first headlight slightly warped, however the second time I used a pan and absolutely nothing happened to the headlight, it came out and I basically pulled the pieces apart, it was easy as pie.
Painting was pretty straightforward, mask off the turn signal and parking light then spray. I used a fast drying flat black paint with 1 coat.
Sealing the headlight was a good idea too so I picked up some auto clear silicone to seal it up with, this stuff dries and you don't even see it, one note to take is not to seal the side of the headlight, the side with the turnsignal, this is not necessesary because this part doesn't make contact with the seal and you can see the silicone, I did this on the first headlight not the second, as you can tell the second one came out better than the first because I knew what NOT to do.
Basically there's a few things to remember, when you remove the clear plastic headlight cover, set it aside, when I say aside I mean go put it on your bed sheets so you don't get anything on it, I set it down on some newspaper that had sealant on it and needless to say it got stuck to the headlight, I got it to come off with a little gasoline on a paper towel but it's better to put the plastic cover in a better place from the start. Okay what else, oh yea use a cooking sheet when baking your headlight, and do not preheat the oven, just put it on 250 degrees and only for 5 minutes, do not go over 5 minutes that is over kill. I was pretty confident on the second headlight I stuck it in set the timer and only came back to it at 5 minutes, the first headlight I kept checking cause I was paranoid.
Thats about it, just remember to take your time don't rush, a little extra time spent masking will make a big difference in the final outcome, oh yea when you mask, make sure to press around the edges good so it makes a nice seal.
This is by no means my "How-To" I plan on writing that up later on.
And as usual it got dark and started raining before I could snap any good pictures but first thing tomorrow I'm grabbing my digital and getting some nice shots, you won't believe how good these look.
After I was done I decided to paint over my orange reflectors, I painted them black I didn't snap any photos but tomorrow you'll see. I also pulled off my chrome H emblem to finish off the make-over. Next is my H&R springs :)
Here is the link to my pictures:Black Housing Headlights (http://www.webphotos.com/list_photos.asp?mi=1&smi=1&a=83498)