DIY TO REMOVE ORANGE TURN SIGNAL LENS AND SMOKED HEADLIGHT HOUSING

Before you start with this mod, a couple of things to consider:
* Having a clear turn signal is illegal here in the US.
** I only removed the orange signal lenses. Therefore, you can see the signal bulb through the clear housing cover. This also makes the signal light a lot brighter and more direct than before since there’s no orange lens to diffuse the light. I’m doing this coz’ I will change the bulbs to white bulbs soon. But if you stay with the original signal bulbs, you will have a bright yellow light shining thru at night. This weekend, I will try to take some pictures at night with the lights on so you can get an idea what the original bulbs look like without the orange lenses.
***This mod requires you to bake and open your headlight which if done improperly can cause a lot of damage. So do this at your own risk and be very careful.
**** This is to be done by 2 people; so don’t try to do it alone. Prepare to spend the whole day on it.

Overview of Procedure:
I. Remove Headlight Housing from Car
II. Open Headlight Housing
III. Remove Turn Signal Lenses
IV. Smoke Headlight Housing
V. Re-seal the Housing

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I. REMOVE HEADLIGHT HOUSING FROM CAR

Tools Needed: Wrench & driver, screwdriver, 2 car jacks.

A) Remove Front Bumper

There have been numerous posts on removing the front bumper so I’m not going into too much detail. I jacked the car up on both sides for the bottom screws on the bumper and for clearance to open up the fender protector. By doing this, you don’t have to remove the wheels.

1) Remove the push pins on the top of the grille.
2) Remove about 10 screws on the bottom of the bumper.
3) Open up the fender protector. It’ll help if you open up the fender protector all the way by removing the screws on the bottom where it meets the bumper. It’ll help with the removing the bumper and you’ll need to access the headlight thru this opening later.
4) Remove the 2 screws holding the bumper to the quarter panel. The second screw is hard to get to which is why opening up the fender protector helps. Try going thru’ from below rather than the side.

B) Remove Headlight From Car

1) Remove 3 screws holding the headlight housing in place.
2) Reach thru the fender protector and unplug the wires attached to the wire harness on the back of the housing.
3) Remove the headlight

C) Remove Wires And Bulbs From Housing

1) The turn signal and clearance bulbs can be removed by turning counter-clockwise.
2) For the HID, remove the cap, Remove the small yellow wire. Then twist the metal harness (has a lightning sign) counter-clockwise and pull towards you. Then undo the clip holding the HID and remove.

***DO NOT TOUCH THE BULBS WITH YOUR HANDS. We wore latex gloves to prevent this. Place them in a safe place away from dust***

3) Remove the ballast for the HID and the heat-shielded wire that runs to the HID.
4) The wire harness holding all the wires at the back of the housing simply clips on to the housing. Slide it out parallel to the lever it’s clipped on and it should come out.

***Make sure all bulbs and wires are removed from housing***

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II. OPEN HEADLIGHT HOUSING

Tools Needed: Oven, screwdrivers (flathead + Phillips), oven mits, towel.
Tools that will help: Blowdryer or headgun.

This procedure requires baking the headlight. It is quite risky, so do this with a lot of precaution. Make sure the oven is big enough to fit the housing. You need oven mits and towels. Also have a flat-head and phillips screwdriver ready.

A) Baking The Headlight Housing

This part is needed to soften the glue holding the 2 pieces of the housing together so that you can put it apart. Be careful as you open the housing to not get glue on other places.

1) Clean the clear headlight cover and housing.
2) Pre-heat oven to 200C
3) Place the rack on the lowest level
4) Put a wet towel on the rack (this is what the housing will sit on)
5) Place housing in the oven. Make sure NO PART of the housing is touching the oven. The housing should sit on the wet towel.
6) Bake housing for 10-15 min.
7) Take the housing out with oven mits and place it on a dry towel.
8) Remove 3 screws holding the housing together.
9) Use the flat-head screw driver to pry the headlight open. The housing is clipped together at certain places which are very visible. Use screwdriver to pry the clips open.
10) Once you open it up a little, you can use your hands to pull the headlight apart. You may have to use a lot of force so have your friend to help you out. You may also use a blowdryer or headgun to help keep the glue from hardening.
11) If it doesn’t open, put it back in the oven for 5 more min or so.
***Make sure when you pull the headlight apart, pull it open evenly. If you pull it apart on just one corner, it may damage the seal between the 2 pieces on the other end.

B) Remove The Chrome Plate

1) Once housing is open, you can remove the inner chrome plate. It is held on to the clear housing cover by 2 screws.
2) The chrome plate is what you’ll be working on, you can partly close the housing up and place it in a safe place away from dust. You don’t want any dirt getting in the housing.

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III. REMOVE THE ORANGE TURN SIGNAL

Tools Needed: A dremel with cutting and sanding tools. Masking tape. Chrome paint or other metallic paint.

A dremel is the best tool for this procedure. We tried drill and soldering gun but they don’t work. The lens is at least quarter of a centimeter thick. You need to use the cutting tool and sanding tool on the dremel. You can place masking tape on area around the orange lens to prevent any unnecessary damage caused by the dremel. You can also put masking tape on the rest of the housing to prevent debris on the housing.

1) Cut out as much of the orange lens with the dremel cutting tool.
2) Use the sanding tool to remove the remaining orange lens around the signal tube.
*** Be careful not to scratch any part of the housing when you use the dremel tool.
***Note: THE ENTIRE SIGNAL TUBE IS ORANGE! The chrome part of the tube (which is all of it except for the orange lens) is just a layer of chrome paint over the orange plastic. So no matter how clean you remove the orange lens, you will have a ring of orange at the back edge of the tube. I use the diamond graphite metallic touch-up paint to cover the orange up. You can use chrome paint to do that.

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IV. SMOKE HEADLIGHT HOUSING

Tools Needed: Testor’s transparent black tint and clear coat. Towel and rubbing alcohol.

To smoke the housing, we use Testor’s transparent black tint and their clear coat. Clean the housing with a clean towel to remove any dust. You can add a little bit of rubbing alcohol if you like. But don’t over rub it with alcohol as it might strip the chrome paint. Also when you rub it, you may create static electricity that attracts dust and lint, so be careful.

1) Place masking tape on the inlet tubes of all 3 bulbs, leaving only the front surface of the housing exposed to paint. I left the inlet tubes of the bulbs unpainted coz’ they have to reflect light from the bulbs; if painted, the intensity of light output may be reduced.

***The housing has to be spotless before you spray paint***

2) Lay the housing on a bunch of newspapers.
3) Spray the housing evenly with the transparent black tint.
4) Spray in a zigzag motion and spray pass the housing on each pass.
*** DO NOT OVERSPRAY, as you will get wet spots. If you get wet spots you’ll have to remove all the paint. You can do so with rubbing alcohol before the paint dries***

4) Do at most 2 coats and leave it to dry before you do more coats. Do as many times as you like for the color you want. I left it at least 40 min in front of a heat coil to dry before I put on more coats. I put a total of 6 coats.
5) After you’re done with the black tint, spray a couple of layers of clear coat to protect it. Make sure the black tint is dry before you spray the clear coat.
6) You can either leave the housing for 12-24 hours to dry,
or you can place it in the oven at 170C for 10-15 min.
***Make sure NO DUST gets on the housing while it’s being dried***

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V. RE-SEAL THE HOUSING

Make sure the paint is dry. And the inside of the housing is clean. Do a good inspection.

1) Carefully place the painted chrome plate back with the clear headlight cover. Place the 2 screws back on. It has to fit perfectly just like before and be careful not to scratch anything.
2) Now put the back piece and line up the clips that holds the housing together and lightly push the two housing pieces together.
3) Place it back into the oven at 200C for 10 min.
4) Take the housing out and quickly push the housing together. Make sure all the clips are in place and then replace the 3 screws.
5) Once you’re sure that it’s air-tight, put the whole piece back in the oven for another 5-10min so that everything seals up nicely.
6) After we did this, the housing sealed up pretty well without any visible areas of leak. So we did not add another layer of sealant. But if you are worried, you can run a layer of silicone sealant to be sure.
6) Once its done, let it cool and then replace HID ballast and wires and then put all the bulbs back in. The lightning sign on the metal harness behind the HID should be pointing down when the housing is upright.
7) Put the headlights back on the car and put everything back together in reverse order. Make sure you adjust the position of the headlight before you put the bumper on. You do this by adjusting the 3 screws holding the housing in place, make sure the housing lines up properly just like before. And you’re done.

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* Be patient when you do this mod. It takes time to bake the headlight and then takes time to remove the orange lens.
** Make sure everything is very clean. We use latex gloves most of the time to avoid touching the bulbs and having fingerprints on the housing.
*** The housing is pretty hot right out of the oven, so be careful.

****This DIY instruction describes the procedures I used for my headlights. They are not the only way and may not be the best way to do it. However, it did work out pretty well for my headlights. If you find a mistake or come across a better /easier way please do post and let us know. Also let me know your experience with this mod. This mod took a long time for me and friend but I feel like the time spent was well worth. Thanks for reading and good luck.