Black Housing Headlights

[DownTheHatch]

Black
Housing Headlights

Tools: Phillips
Screwdriver, Screwdriver, 10mm Wrench (socket), Exacto Knife, Patience.

Supplies:
Flat Black Spray Paint, Masking Tape, Clear Silicone Sealant.

 

Well, lets
get started shall we? Gather your tools and supplies and get ready to give your
Si a makeover. Pop your hood and find these clips holding the top of your bumper
on. To remove them, take our flat screwdriver and pry it under one of the sides,
then twist the screwdriver to popup the clip. Do this for all the clips on top.
There are 2 screws in each wheel well, and finally 8 more clips on the bottom
of the bumper along with 2 more screws.

Take the bumper off
carefully by pulling on the sides to remove it from the groove, then set it
somewhere safe where it will not get scratched, carpet, grass, and away from
traffic.

You now have to remove
the headlight, there are 4 10mm bolts holding the headlight in place, #1 and
#2 are on top, #3 is on the side and #4 is underneath the headlight.

With these bolts removed,
you should now notice the horizontal metal bar holding the headlight in at the
bottom, this will pull out and down allowing you to remove the headlight. Do
so carefully.

...There it is, very
large headlight is it not?

''Tonight on the Food
Network, how to make a gourmet headlight any chef can appreciate..."

First take a cooking
pan and set your headlight on it, no need to grease the pan :) Set your oven
to 250° and put the headlight in right away, no need to preheat. If your
oven has a preheat notifier, this is good, it will tell you when the oven has
reached 250°, when the oven temperature has risen to 250° you should
now remove your headlights. If you do not have a preheat notifier, the headlights
stayed in my oven for only 5 minutes then I removed them.

At this point, you
will need to pull the headlight apart quickly, all I used was a flat screwdriver
and popped up the tabs around the headlight then I got a grip on it and pulled
the pieces apart, it was easier than I thought. NOTICE: Once you've removed
the two pieces do not set them down so that any hot sealant will get on anything.

Remove this screw
from the headlight cover and take out your housing, this is what you will be
painting. Take the clear plastic cover and set this aside on a bed sheet, pillow
and far away from where you are working, if you scratch this, or get sealant
on it you will not be enjoying yourself too much.

Now its time to mask
the headlight, take your roll of tape and apply long straight lines to the edges
of the turnsignal. You can mask it anyway you want, I decided to go with the
Type-R look. The parking light is a little more difficult to mask but I found
a great method, apply alot of masking tape to the inside of the parking light
to the outside. Take an exacto knife and follow the groove around the outside
circle and peel away the excess, this leaves a nicely shaped circle. Before
your paint, make sure to press around all the edges, if the tape isn't adhesed
very well paint will spray underneath leaving a poor line.

Yes...painting this
part is really fun :) I used a can of Mr.Spray it dries really fast and looks
just as good as any other flat black, you can get it at almost any auto parts
depot. I have one thing to say though, make sure you inspect the headlight many
times look in all the cracks and make sure you touch up any light spots, there
is one spot that doesnt get sprayed you have to hold it up with your hand to
get it, its just under the main housing. So throughly inspect the housing. I
used many light coats of paint. After the housing is dry, you can remove your
masking tape and see how well it turned out.

Put the headlight
back together, replacing the screw and pushing the front and back pieces of
the headlight together, be sure to wipe the lens for fingerprints, dirt, dust,
grease, etc. Line both pieces up perfect so the clips line up, if they don't
line up your headlight will look funky when you re-install it. Now put the headlight back in the oven to soften the sealant and press it back together, at this point you can silicone
it, I used McKanica Auto Marine silicone because its automatic and has a throttle,
it makes for a cleaner job. Apply it around the edges.
NOTICE: Do
not apply silicone to the side of the headlight where the turnsignal is, this
part does not make contact with the seal, if you put silicone in the crease
you will see it outside the car, if you make this mistake quicky wipe it off
with a paper towel, thats the good thing about clear silicone, it dries a little
slower. Instead, you may want to apply silicone to the inside groove where you
will not see it. After
you're done applying, run your finger along the edges to make it smooth and
invisible.

Before putting your
headlight all the way back, put your bulbs back in, for H4 bulb seems to be
the hardest, just remember the bulb has 3 pins, the the side of the bulb with
1 pin points down. Re-bolt everything and remember the front support bar.

Repeat this process
for the second headlight (the second goes quicker).

Now you can re-install
your front bumper.

Not too shabby...

[oompaloompab0i]

i messed up, before looking at these instructions, i painted the lens so now (after using nail polish remover) i removed most of the paint, but the lens is all ghetto and blurry, do you have any tips?

[03NighthawkBlac]

Is that safe to stick in your oven, or did you use a spare oven outside?????;)

[03NighthawkBlac]

Is that safe to stick in your oven, or did you use a spare oven outside?????;)

[Soon2beEP3]

How did you keep from getting moisture in your headlight?

[chet]

Originally posted by Soon2beEP3
How did you keep from getting moisture in your headlight?

Some guys have had problems with moisture after the fact. I think the most important thing to remember is to let them completely dry in a relatively warm environment. I have yet to grow the cahonees to do this myself. I definitely think its a great modification for the amount of $$ you would spend vs. the JDM's.

Getting them sealed properly is also obviously an important fact.

[LASI02]

I actually had a problem with moisture in my headlights without even attempting this mod. :(

[gold_MUGEN-EP3]

yea i found a cool new touch to this mod
if you like hte real JDM look of black crome go to your nearest hobby store or tunning shop and get a can of transparent black spray paint (the kind you use to smoke out tail lights) and use it instead of flat black.
i think mine look better that way i will post pics sone!!:)

[the1986]

i just wanted to thank downthehatch for posting this. It was very imformative and it was actually quite easy to do. I had a problem with moisture but then i pulled it apart again and baked the painted piece individually. It looks really good, and it only cost me 3 bucs!:D

-Teal

[DARKsiDE]

Originally posted by gold_MUGEN-EP3
yea i found a cool new touch to this mod
if you like hte real JDM look of black crome go to your nearest hobby store or tunning shop and get a can of transparent black spray paint (the kind you use to smoke out tail lights) and use it instead of flat black.
i think mine look better that way i will post pics sone!!:)

how did your headlights turn out? I smoked my friends integra turn signal using transparent black spray paint. At first it looked nice and clean but after a couple of weeks the paint started to fade.

[dankdogg]

Thanks for the advice great how to i did mine today. took about 4 hours. but i have a tip for people who are going to do this.

first heat the oven to 250 and let the light sit for 5 mins and when reassembling heat them back up in the oven after sealing this will help the sealant form a bond, i hope....

ill post pics of mine soon as i get the car washed

thanks for the diy

[siver-SI]

I do not know why even after I have installed spring on my car but I am still worried about doing this install for some reason. I have a question is there a way to clean out all the sealent from lens? I would like to just clean them out and start from scratch. I am just worried about dammaging the plastic lens incase I use the wrong stuff. I figure if I can clean it out and then run a new bead around the whole lens I should be good. This is what I do when I do constuction work and I never have a seal problem with taking the extra time to clean everything down to nothing. In construction I am never around these types of plastics.

thanks

[scrunkness]

Would it be possible to use gloss black on the headlight and also in the turn signal so you will still get a reflection. And not be left with the big ugly crome turn signal.

[JxSmooth808]

Is it legal to do this or am I gonna have to get a new set of housing's when I go in to get my safety check? This sounds pretty cool and i'm tempted into doing this but I gotta think about the effects that will happen later. Thanks :D

[DraginSi]

I see where you taped off the Turn Signal on the side.. Can you do that in black to?