updated the original post to maximum length

*Continuation of First Post*

-Fast Intentions RHFC
This was a huge pain to accomplish. I just realized, I have no pictures of the part or actual install, so here is a picture of my car under the knife for a handful of changes. Big thanks to the SG'Z team and friends who came out to lend helping hands. I never could have handled all that without you guys.

I will eventually record a video to hear the difference in the addition in contrast with my other videos.

-DIY Gloss Black Headlights
Wasn't as bad as expected. Took the headlights off, removed the ballasts, screws holding the two pieces together, and the miscellaneous plastic clips. Then baked them at 220 degrees for 9 minutes. WIth a little bit of effort, the lens then separated fine. If you plan to removed the parking light shroud, the tabs holding it to the housing is VERY FRAGILE! Trust me, I found out.






Have some other things to add but need to take pictures.

Thanks for checking it out and leaving your input!
Jd

 

wow! much better! i still want red soooo bad! not a big fan of midnight grill but its not ruining anything either! can u get a shot from farther back!??

 

sure man, i should have some new photos in a couple days from our trip to Austin this weekend

 

Looks sweet! Everything you've done looks awesome IMO. I too found out the hard way how frikin fragile those parking shrouds are, I broke 2 of the prongs on the first one A little silicone seems to be keeping it together so far
If you ever want your grill carbon wrapped shoot me a PM, I'll cut you a nice deal

 

DAMN! that looks sweet! I want to do that SOOOO bad
My buddy and I are gonna do that DIY very soon tho.

Any tips? and which brand of spray paint did you use?

 

yeah.. i super glued the tabs back on while it was off and it held together up when i popped it back in. Unfortunately, when I popped the one I didn't break originally back in, it had two tabs break off
i was only able to reattach one of them, but they seem to be holding in there fine

don't be afraid of the baking step. i was nervous, didn't bake it long enough the first time, and i could not get them apart. I was afraid of breaking something and almost just said forget it and put them back on. but friends told me to just bake it longer, i did so, and they separated much easier.

as far as paint, i used the high heat engine enamel. afterwards, i was informed that the lights really don't get that hot and doing so is unnecessary. if I were to do it again, i would use the rustoleum fusion spray paint as it is formulated for plastic. I think the finish would have came out smoother.

 

Looks great, JD! Man, your car has come a long way since. Good job with all the tasteful mods.

Btw, for anyone who freaks out on the baking. You can go as low as 195 degrees for 15-20 minutes. I can detach the lens in one go this way. I've done my research on the plastics used in the headlights and this is well below the melting point of anything in there.

Also, JD, if you ever get a chance, run a bead of butyl tape around the whole thing. Mine was fine without it, right up to the two weeks of rain that just came --- t'was enough to get water in there. I re-did the headlights this past weekend and butyl taped that thing like nobody's business.

Heat-wise, i think any decent temp-resistant paint will work. Just keep note that once you darken the cluster, the whole thing will heat up quite a bit more than if it were left chrome (oem.)

And yeah, ditto on the parking light thing. Although i broke one because of failure to remove before taking the lens off. It's held on with super glue and a round of electric tape now.

 

thanks mike
im not glad yours broke, but I'm glad it's an issues others have too and i didn't just do it wrong
i was being so careful and when i hardly put any pressure to push them out, they just snapped!

i got caught in rain the day after doing my lights, and my driver side light formed great amounts of condensation
i fixed it in a slightly unconventional way.. you and others will probably laugh at me, but it's working.
after getting the headlight off, i pulled all the bulbs out and dried the moisture with a hair dryer. i really didn't feel like baking and reopening the lights, so i taped everything off but the meeting point and hosed it down with flex seal as my roommate had a bottle of it
it was basically a spray silicone sealant, and i think it will continue to get the job done

 

usually when i apply the sealant i kind of rebake the headlights a little bit to make sure the compound really activates

 

Great Progress bro looks clean

 

Nothing unconventional about it at all! Did it too, but there was too much water inside the ballast that took it out twice. :\ Glad i did take it off and re-assembled. There was a nook just under the shroud holding some water that didn't dry out even with the blow dryer. Hopefully yours didn't have as much water as mine did (the ballast itself was full of it, but worked again after drying it out.)

What's this flex seal? Sounds interesting.

 

Well apprently you can "save THOUSANDS in repairs!"


It seems legit, i bought one a while back for my sheds leaking roof and just forgot about it and never got around trying it. maybe ill try it out this weekend if i can find the can but until then i can NOT say for sure if it works like many 'as seen on tv' products. Hopefully it works out for R3diK3r0u5 and he can update us

 

JD your car's looking great, folks this car looks even better in person.

 

Yep, keep us posted about the flex seal, and all the 07-09 headlight DIYs really need to start off the thread with " handle the parking shrouds like they're made of paper thin glass, just looking at them the wrong way will cause the prongs to break", maybe that would help future light painters.

 

Interesting. Very Plasti-Dip-ish. In fact, i've used PD to keep water from leaking on my kids toys. I wonder if it's the same formula? Some R/C folks even recommend using PD to waterproof their stuff:

http://www.plastidip.com/blog/2011/1...th-plasti-dip/

If it's the same thing, PD might be a more affordable solution. Just a thought.