TUFF GONG

.........that was the Question"

Till today when I decided to take my car apart because I was bored.

Plus I had gotten some LED's to install in the headlight housing in the highbeam section. Well I got the lights out in less then a hour but dealing with the housing themselves were a bit of a pain.

Using the oven technique, I took everything off first including the ballast.....I wouldn't want to bake those:p. After installing the LED's and removing the orange reflector, I put the lights back on.

After that I wired up the LED's and checked it out..........., OH SH!T!!!, I am going to kill my friend. He had gotten me DEI's "Super Bright LED's" and frankly, they are dim as hell! Ain't this a b!tch!! Unless it is very dark, the LED's aren't too visible.

Ahh well, I surely am not taking the headlights apart again! So it stays as is...........at least for now.

Oh BTW, since I had the bumper off (this car is sooooooo easy to work on), I decided to take the resonator off to see how it is. Hmmm.....a few extra HP for free. Very slight but now I have an audible tachometer when VTEC is doing it's thing. I'll see if I'll put it back in as I wanted this car to be quiet. It's entertaining so far.

Rain is a coming tonight so I will see if it's sealed good....I'm pretty confident it's well sealed but I'm still knocking on wood

silfa718

if everything works out you want to help do mine for me

Mr Hyde

Damn Chris, looks great, had you told me you were doin it I would have definitely stopped by. After seeing Crazy's pics I was dying to do this to my car, and now after seeing yours.............:wow:

Fill us in on the Oven method details, time on , temp, toold used etc. Maybe I'll do mine on Monday or Tuesday. Looks great man.

nameeri

Is the oven technique really that much better than using a heatgun?? I dunno, I think that precision heating is a better and safer way to go. I could take apart healights now withing about 15 minutes. I would think its safer than puting the whole thing in an oven... just MHO

nick79

i am from yonkers, ny.. do mine next.... i'll pay u

fiddlyD

im dying to do mine too but my tls is a lease.....
what would you guys do?? would you do it or not if you had a lease??


FiddlyD

bloo_tls02

Nice clean job gandoo-gee!

TUFF GONG

Well, I’m going take a stab at posting my experiences and “my” suggestion for anyone interested in clearing out their headlights. Sort of a how to if you will.

Please excuse me, as this is a rough draft. Hyde asked for some tips because he may be planning to do this mod manana so I‘ll try to explain. It needs allot of editing so please be patient. Feel free to ask any further questions you may have and I will try my best to help. Maybe some of you who have don it can add some input as well. Heck, maybe the pro’s can offer some tips……or corrections.

First thing first, give yourself some time just in case. Plan on beginning this as early as possible because the one thing you do not want or have to deal with is rushing the job.

Removing the bumper:

The bumper is easier to take off then most would presume. First, you simply remove the black plastic piece that covers the radiator support by removing the plug fasteners?? By taking a flat head screwdriver and while keeping the base of the plug down, use the screwdriver to pry the center piece and remove it. Now simply remove the plug/fastener. Don’t forget the small plugs on either end of the grill. Take all of them off and remove the cover.
Now take off the 4 bolts and more of those plugs around the bottom.
I labeled the approximate locations of the plugs and bolts. Red arrows are the plugs and blue arrows are the bolts. (please note, there may be some plugs on the sides which I forgot to point out with an arrow, I'm going about this from memory...please cut me some slack.. thanks for your understanding) You will see them; the plugs simply hold the bumper cover to the black plastic undercarriage cover. Keep the plugs for the radiator support cover and lower body clips separate, they are different. Those of you with the body kit may have to remove the 2 screws (on each side) located in the fender well just forward of the wheels. It all depends if the 2 screws were properly screwed through both the bumper and fender well shroud.
Go back up and remove the 2 bolts which hold the grill to the radiator support.

TUFF GONG

Now lay down a towel or cardboard on the ground to rest the bumper on. Start by prying on each side where the bumper meets the fender, pull slightly down to clear the notch that sticks out of the fender side for the bolthole. Pull off the rest of the bumper by pulling it out along the bottom of the headlight. It is simply clipped in to a metal bracket, which are mounted right below the headlights. Do both sides.

Now you should basically have the bumper falling off onto your foot.

TUFF GONG

Oops the image didb't upload. The red arrows simply show where the bumper is snapped in place. The blue shows the bolt mentioned before.

TUFF GONG

Removing the headlights:

Unclip the harnesses off the light bulbs and begin removing the three bolts located on the bottom. Remove the metal bracket; actually it will just fall off. While you’re under there, take a gander at the ballast’s mounted on the bottom of the lights. You will need to unclip the ballast harnesses located on the grill side.

TUFF GONG

Now loosen the 2 bolts mounting the headlight on to the radiator support, remember to hold onto the headlight when taking these bolts out! Also, remember to make sure all of the harnesses are off before you yank it. The ballast harness in particular is a bit short.

Now that you have your headlight housings in your hands, remove all the bulbs and the HID ballast’s. When you unscrew the ballast, there will be another harness to unplug. Remove the "ballast to D2R bulb" harness from the D2R end of the opening. Just stick your fingers in the rudimentary wire clip molded inside the housing.
Also remove the metal clip on the end of the light (grill side).

TUFF GONG

Now take the lights into your kitchen…

Now there is two ways to remove the lens. The heat gun method or the oven method. Both will work but I think the oven method is better for someone who is not used to using a heat gun. Some heat guns can produce heat up to 1000 degrees. For those of you familiar with using heat guns, you know how quickly you can accidentally burn the surface if you keep it in one spot too long. Also, you need to heat up all around the seal to pry the lights apart. Getting it heated up all around evenly with a gun maybe risky for some. Besides, not everyone has a heatgun.

With the oven method you simply heat it up evenly without a chance of melting it…unless you fall asleep while waiting for it to heat up, about 8 minutes or so.

In the oven, I simply place a piece of wet cardboard and place the headlights inside without having any part of the oven wall or grill in contact with the light housing. Close the door and turn the oven to about 200 degrees. Keep track with a timer, but whatever you do don’t forget about them! As for the time, I simply played it safe and took them out in less then 8 minutes. Realized it needs to be hotter so I kept putting it back in. (When I was finshed heating up a light, I kept the oven off until the next light needed to be heated up. Starting from a non-heated oven offers a suremeasure way that your not putting it in a oven that is too hot.) Having a oven thermometer inside helps too.


When the lights heated up to a temperature that was “uncomfortable” to hold with my bare hands (but not burning), I was able to pry them apart. The hotter the light housing gets, the softer the sealant becomes but I wanted to play it safe. It doesn’t need to be very hot, nor I wouldn’t want them to be.
The plastic tabs that are all around the lights are a bit tricky. They are snapped in place effectively enough to prevent you from taking them apart, so use a flathead and lift up the tab but be very careful as you can easily break them.
The housing is apart:

Be very careful with the sealant, it is very very sticky stuff. On the lense, remove the 2 screws and remove the plated outer reflector being careful not to get the sealant on the chrome. Stick your pinky in the bulb opening and pop out the amber reflector.



All that to remove that little piece….hmmmmm…..now we need to put it all back together.

TUFF GONG

When you have the housing back together, you will notice you cannot get it to completely join with no gap in the seam. Now the lights go back in the oven so that we can soften the sealant and reseal the housing. After heating it up, take it out from the oven and compress the lense on to the housing as much as you can and get all the clips snapped in. Including the metal clip removed earlier. The lights will cool down and you will notice its “set” closed, the sealant hardened up.


Now, I would think it may be sealed back satisfactorily, but I still added some silicone on the top and side seams to be certain. The bottom seal is very visible to see if sealed good so I didn’t bother. The top may have been just as good but since it isn’t very visible to examine, I took precaution and added some extra stuff to help keep the water out.

As I write this, one day of some rain have passed, not a trace of moisture in the housing. Now were expecting allot of rain during the next day or so. I will let you know how it goes.

Now all you need to do is to put it all back together. I am going to sleep now so I will explain later if anyone needs it. Just take the steps you used to disassemble and go about it backwards. Easy as 123.

End result

Mr Hyde

Wow Great instructions Chris. Thanx for all the time and effort you put into that for us. Unfortuntaley it is raining outside; so maybe I'll hold off on attempting to do em today.

BlueXTC

hehe nice to see that eveyone's baking now...faster and safer i think.


key to good seal is to re use the original sealant... make sure line the contact point with silicone all the way around b4 baking also...

and then use dry tacky sealant around the case for 110% guarenteed seal like my headlights... which has been rained on everyday since it's been cleared, and fog free!

vojm

WOW that is some detailed information. I think I can start on this mod now. Your time and effort is greatly appreciated.

TUFF GONG

Well, after two days of driving in the rain (pretty heavy at times), there is no sign of moisture in the housings. Yepeee!. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope the instructions can be of help to some of you guys. Like I said before, give your self time and never lose your cool and it will be all good.

Chris.

uz_a_ho

Thanx for the tips/detailed instructions Gong.. I mite try it if I get bored

axleback

You guys are so lucky having this much time to work on this. Btw, how long did it take you to finish this little project? I wish I can spare those times during the weekends to do things like this but my gf would kill me! She even gets pissed off at me for washing the car as often as I do. Women: Can't live with them, can't kill'em. j/k

axleback

dimsumo

this oven way sounds more easy. The heat gun method took to long 1 1/2 hours just to pry one headlight open...

Your car looks nice Tuff Gong

fiddlyD

would you guys still do this if you had a lease????
this is my problem!!!
can the reflectors be put back on??


FiddlyD

TUFF GONG

I don't know man, that is entirely up to you. Yes, the reflector can be put back in but you have to ask yourself if it is worth doing.......and doing again when you return the car.

By the time your ready to return the car, you may not want to do this all over again.

BlueXTC

I would do it again If I had to!

I think it's all worth it...the experience and the confidence u get from doing itm makes it all worth it. = )

also it's so much easier and faster baking...and second times faster anyways.....

eazy_d23

so since this new Oven method seems to be the way to go... will this set of instructions be replacing the old ones in the FAQ section of this site?

Really nice write up Tuff

BlueXTC

haha, baking process ain't really all that new...

it's been used for awhile by many honda freaks and s2000 freaks use it a lot too... since S2000 clear JDM headlights are $1000 pair...

instruction sux compared to Tuff Gongs

skmtrk

i just cleared my headlights last night using the oven method. the whole process took me about 1 1/2 hours. the outcome of this little project was most satisfying. i'm still using stock bulbs though which makes it look a little ugly. i just need to get new bulbs now and it will look better.

TUFF GONG

Cool, congrats on doing the mod yourself. Not only satisfying but ya save about $100 beans when you do it yourself

I know what you mean by using the stock bulbs. Since there is nothing really available (that I like) I decided to keep the corner bulbs amber. I purchased amber wedge bulbs for the lower parking lamps to keep them both amber, but now the only thing I need to do is to use a high heat silver paint and give the bulbs a light coat... too much amber reflecting off at the moment.

I figure I'm not going with white bulbs because I'm never in a mood to be pulled over for something that the police may feel is "unusual" to them...(you never know, you may drive by a cop who's very bored)..although I hear the fronts are ok to be a white light. I'm content with amber lights during the evening hours.

Besides, I don't think no super this and hyper that "white" bulbs match HID's anyway.....probably even more so with 6000K's.

But I never know....if I see one using a nice set of white light bulbs, I may like them.

Question to those of you with cleared lights; What bulbs are you using for the 1157 amd the lower 168? Thanks.

songoku

Great job, great post, Chris!!!

Looks really better, huh??
I hope you don't have to take it apart anymore. When I was doing mine, I took it apart 3 times because one side keep fogged up.

DAY Type S

Tuff Gong

Your car is one of the sweetest I have seen- I have an 03 Types Silver and if I did anything such as modsI would go for your taste-

DAY

TUFF GONG

Thanks for your kind words Paul, DAY and everybody else.

I appreciate it

TLsType

Hey tuff gong i have three questions for u ....
1. 2. Where can i get silcon sealent and what kind of silcon sealent do i buy?
3. when you put the lights back into the oven to put back together, do u leave them as two parts and connect them after the sealent softens or do you put them in the oven together and after compress them to a secure seal? thanks

TUFF GONG

Well, since the original sealant ("Saltwater Taffy") is still used to seal it back up. I didn't really get anything fancy in regards to the silicone, nor I don't think we need to. Since I used the silicone on the outside of the seam, I thought a clear silicone would be the best bet. You can find it at Home Depot or even a Auto parts store. The typical type of silicone that dries clear and flexible. Just make sure you don't buy any "super" this and that exotic adhesive or something like that, which may not be suitable for plastic.

As for the 3rd question, yes, you put them in the oven together. When you place the lens and housing together, you won't get them easily apart again but you won't be able to completely join the two together also because the Taffy is cool and firm. Place them in the oven joined together, heat em up and squeeze them completely together. While you keep squeezing and checking the seal all around for a few minutes, the lights will begin to cool and the taffy would harden up again. To make sure it doesn't set not being completely joined together, stay with it for several minutes till it cools down and sets(depending on how hot you heated them up to).

Be very afraid of the "Taffy"....better yet be very carefull with it as it is very sticky stuff which is hard to remove. And don't use any solvents to clean the chromed plastice pieces(reflector).

Good luck.

TLsType

THank you TUff GOng

sqamar95

i defintely say cleared corners are MUCH better...if u want to see pics jus go to

http://www.bitlandhosting.com/%7Esqamar95/myride.html

Inspire

This is hell of a great post!!! Thanks a bunch, are the procedure the same for the 00's? thanks.

WiLz

gonna clear my headlights, but have some small ques.
1. after heating the headlight, wut do you pry it open with? your hands? or a screwdriver?
2. do you pry it open while in the oven? or do you take it out (will the sealant cool off if you don't do it quick)?
any other tips or problems i should know about?

TUFF GONG

Oops, I almost missed your question, my bad:p.

1. I pryed them with my hands with a pair of gloves on. It wasn't too hot but they were not "comfortable" to hold for too long with my bare hands....esp. while trying to pry them apart. I remember using a pretty wide screwdriver on the grill side of the lights but I wasn't liking how it was going. I wound up prying them on the fender side....I think

2. I don't think you want to do this while you put yourself partly into the oven Wilz...you'll see, if it's really hard to pry them apart, heat em up some more(in small increments if your worried & want to just be safe). If you get them hot enough, you will have enough time to pry them apart.

Good luck.

BigPimping

clear

Sagara Sousuke

raising a old thread!! Cool instructions TUFF GONG! I just might clear my lights today. I saw WiLz headlights, and they look good. And there isn't like gops of silicone on the top of the headlight either. So I think the oven technique sounds better than the heatgun. I'll let you know how it goes!