question for those of you 1st gen cl owners out there who has done this. how the f do you remove the headlamps?!. i've tried to remove my front bumper but i don't have a clue which clips, scews to take off!!! thanks ah

 

http://home.comcast.net/~daklepto/diylightning1.htm

 

nippon thanks for the 411. though i hope it will turn out nice like the 1 shown on ur ride again thanks!!

 

that is really hot. im thinking about doing that too with the clear directionals.

 

yea i love the way it looks, it makes a big difference over the stock appearance.

 

hrmm whos car is that?!

 

dont know, but its ugly as SHIT

 

POSTED TONS OF TIMES!!! search should have found it
my how too

LENS REMOVAL

1. Take off your front bumper (if you don’t know how to do a search or by a helm manual. you should buy one anyways)

2. Unbolt the headlamps. (6 bolts each, impossible to do without taking the bumper off)

3. Remove all bulbs from headlamps.

4. Use a heat gun or bake the headlamps in the oven. Work on only one headlamp at a time! I found 250 degrees is a good temp. I left one in there for 15 minutes to see what would happen and it was fine. If you don’t think your oven temp is accurate 200 is good. Bake them for 8-10 minutes. Make sure you put foil on the baking sheet if you use one! The housing on the bare metal will probably melt. Don't worry about the small black venting tubes. Just make sure none fall if into the oven.

5. While baking or before heating place a soft cloth or towel down on your work area. This is so you don't scratch headlamp when you’re working on it with the clear lens face down.

6. If you baked them use an over mitt on your secondary hand to hold the headlamp from moving. The metal parts are going to be red hot! I find that a medium flat head screw driver works best. Make sure you don’t crack the grey plastic clips that help hold the lens to the housing. If it seems hard to pry apart then the sealant isn't hot enough yet! You will just end up bending the housing up all along the edge and this does not help when you reseal them.

7. When you do pull the lens off and you get strings of grey oem sealant don’t push it back into the housing! You'll just end up making it hard to push completely back together again. As long as you put enough new sealant in you'll be fine. I recommend Permatex Ultra Grey sealant. Good to 500 degrees, perfect for custom xenon setups. Squeeze a good bead in the housing. Make sure you heat the housing back up first if you don't have a heat gun. Then just push the lens on. The sealant will glob out. DO NOT SMEAR IT OR WIPE IT!!! LET IT DRY!!!! When it does you can pull it right off with no damage to the lens. Never ever use Goo Gone to clean up any silicone sealant or for anything on headlamps!! It will melt the lens and you will make a huge mess and ruin the housing. It just smears the silicone everywhere.

* I’ve been told that Nissan part # B6553-89915 is a black butyl rubber sealant same as the Honda OEM sealant.*


PAINTING TIPS

1. Sand the chrome off. This prevents the paint from chipping easily. Nothing worse then chipping the paint trying to get the trim piece back inside the lens. I recommend wet sanding them with 600 grit wet sand paper until most of the white plastic is exposed.

2. Take your time and mask everything carefully. Be sure to cover the bulb opening of the corner lens! If you don’t overspray will end up on the corner reflector.

3. Using a high temp engine enamel put about 5-6 coats on with about 15 minutes between them. I would use a flat not a gloss. The first coat is most important. The paint will not cover it the first time. Don’t worry. All you want to do is get some color on it. The next coat will completely cover the plastic. Don’t put too much paint on! It will run easily because of all the steep angles.

4. Allow at least 24 hrs after the last coat before handling them. You don’t want to chip the paint reassembling the trim back into the lens or pulling off the paint when you take the masking off.

5. Finally, make sure you pre-bake them or heat them. Most high temp paints will change color and release chemicals. This will make your headlamps foggy inside or make a rainbow like film inside. This is another reason to use a flat color. It will typically turn into a semi-gloss once it’s exposed to heat.

6. For xenon projector retros a higher temp paint is needed if your projector lens sits close to the housings. Not sure if that will prevent the paint from flaking off, but it has been brought to my attention that over time the heat wins. I never had this problem but my projector sat over 1” from the housing.

 

That really doesn't sound that hard... Just the prying part would be the most delicate, as well as making a good final seal.

 

pretty much, just make sure you dont break them trying to get it apart and then make sure you seal em up good with extra sealant so that they dotn fog

 

that sites pretty helpful ..

 

i broke my clips for my bumper....they were pissing me off, so I kicked my bumper really hard till it fell, lol.

 

another reason why cocoa owns.. anyways im getting together with a TLer and an accord guy n were gonna do all of ours @ the same time next week

 

Do NOT broil it like it says on Klepto's site....BAKE IT! I melted my entire headlight trying to broil it. Now I'm having a bitch of a time trying to find a new headlight.

P.S. Yes, I got my CL back. The 300zx turned out to be a piece of SHIT. But I got the CL into my name and it's happy modding from here. Besides the headlight.

 

that sucks about the 300 but at least you got the CL back

 

Yeah, the CL is much classier in my opinion.

 

You actually tried to broil it...? LOL... Sorry man.

 

Yeah, I'm a moron. But I got the second one done right....and I managed to salvage the actual chrome piece to paint...all I need is the assembly so I can swap out the chrome parts...if anyone wants to help me find one....

 

I know of an Acura salvage here in OKC, I was thinking of buying a set for modification. I want to do a projo conversion at some point.

 

I hope to God I can find a headlight tomorrow or I'm fucked.

 

thanks 4 the tips u guys!. i was going to start removing my bumper and all but till this day in honolulu has been rainy so theres no way of having me paint the housings. and the forecast still says that i'll be cloudy and raining over the next few more days. anyways ill let you guys now when i get the chance to finish the housings.