BP90
Member
ok so a few people on the forum have already seen on my build thread that i painted my d22 headlights black. Here is a link to my build thread for those of you who haven’t seen them but would like to (hopefully the link works).
http://www.navara.asia/showthread.php?t=8801
riteeo so i know that lately theres been a few threads about people asking how to get their headlights apart to clean them so i figured i might aswell make a dyi how to thread on painting the headlights for those interested and for those who just want to clean any dust or mud out of the light casing. this is a fairly simple diy job, i have now done this to 4 different cars (2 vy commodores, 1 Ba falcon and my Navara) and will be doing it to a RA rodeo and have never had any issues with moisture in the headlights afterwards.
Equipment,
screwdriver set,
socket or spanner set (i used a socket set but it could be possible to do the job with a spanner set),
an oven (conventional or fan forced, i can get internal dimensions of my oven so people have an idea of the size needed for the headlight),
caulking gun,
selleys all-clear (or any clear silicone)
wet and dry sandpaper,
plastic primer,
undercoat primer,
the paint colour you want,
clear coat,
Removing the headlight.
to start off you need to remove your headlights from the car, i found this easiest by removing the grill which you just use a small flat blade screwdriver to carefully twist the clips so that the top of the gril comes away then use a flat blaade screwdriver to pry the bottom clips out of their holders. (sorry i dont have any pictures of this but its simple enough to work out). then once you have removed your grill and set aside out the road, you can remove you headlights, which are held in by 3 (ithink 10 or 12mm) bolts, theres one on top next to your 1/4 panel and 2 on the side closest to the centrew of the vehicle. once you have unbolted them you can unplug the wiring and remove the headlight.
once you have your headlight out you want to remove the wiring harness thats attached to the headlight, all your bulbs circled in green (thats your indicator,parker light and your high/lowbeam bulb) the big circle seal aroudn the headlight bulb and the 2 screws circled in red. dont touch the 2 bolts circled blue as they are your adjustment bolts.
Baking the headlight.
ok once you have removed that its time to bake your headlights. you need a oven (mines only smallish but was big enough to fit one headlight at a time which really you only want to bake one at a time as you sort of have to take your time splitting them apart and they do tend to cool quite quickly). Now you want to preheat your oven to about 100-110degrees celcius you can use either fanforced or conventional, ive only used conventional but id say fan forced would give a more even heating. the idea of heating the headlight in the oven is to soften the headlight silicone seal enough so you can seperate the clear lense and the black back casing. it does take a lil time to do this as the silicone does cool so i put the first in for about 5-10mins or so (make sure you keep an eye on it) then take it out put the other in while i start to pry the 2 halves apart a flat blade screw driver helps in doing this (although becareful not to slip and shove it into your hand, have had this happen once or twice). also becareful not to break any of the clips that hold them togethor aroudn the outside of the join. once you get the clear an black halves apart you will be left with this. the 2 halves with the chrome bezell inside the chrome casing.
then you need to remove the 2 phillips head screws at the bottom of the chrome bezell that holds it into the clear lense, the carefully remove the bezell from the clear lense.
Cleaning.
now if your only wanting to clean your headlights not paint them then all you have to do now it clean the inside of the black casing, the clear lense and the chrome bezell (a warning proably best off using just fresh water to clean any mud or dirt out of your headlights as i know that such antiseptic wipes such as pine-o-clean wipes etc will actually damage the chrome finish on your bezell.
Painting.
however if you want to paint your headlights (which can be done in any colour, ive only ever done black but i have seen a few cars on the net with colour coded headlight bezells. so colour choice is upto you) now i used heatproof black and clear but used touch up plastic primer and undercoat primer, so im not sure if heatproof is really needed but thats what i use all the time just for a little piece of mind i guess.
you want to sand back as much of the chrome as you can off the bezell using about a 400grit wet and dry you can use a lighter grade but i used 400 and it was fairly smooth so i didnt bother going back over with a light grade. easier said then done im afraid except for where your parker and indicator bulbs go as you still want the chrome there so they reflect still. then tape up your indicator and parker bulb sections ( you will see i put tape over the orange indicator cover although your best to simply tape up the hole like i did with the parker light as its quite difficult to remove that orange cover after painting without damaging your paint.
i put 2 light coats pf plastic primer down first, then 2 coats of undercoat primer, about 4-5 light even coats of the heatproof black and then roughly 3-4 light coats of heatproof clear. as for drying times it was usually about 10-15minutes between coats and then about 4hours to let dry after the final coat.
(will continue this on in next comment as you can only have 4 pics per post)
http://www.navara.asia/showthread.php?t=8801
riteeo so i know that lately theres been a few threads about people asking how to get their headlights apart to clean them so i figured i might aswell make a dyi how to thread on painting the headlights for those interested and for those who just want to clean any dust or mud out of the light casing. this is a fairly simple diy job, i have now done this to 4 different cars (2 vy commodores, 1 Ba falcon and my Navara) and will be doing it to a RA rodeo and have never had any issues with moisture in the headlights afterwards.
Equipment,
screwdriver set,
socket or spanner set (i used a socket set but it could be possible to do the job with a spanner set),
an oven (conventional or fan forced, i can get internal dimensions of my oven so people have an idea of the size needed for the headlight),
caulking gun,
selleys all-clear (or any clear silicone)
wet and dry sandpaper,
plastic primer,
undercoat primer,
the paint colour you want,
clear coat,
Removing the headlight.
to start off you need to remove your headlights from the car, i found this easiest by removing the grill which you just use a small flat blade screwdriver to carefully twist the clips so that the top of the gril comes away then use a flat blaade screwdriver to pry the bottom clips out of their holders. (sorry i dont have any pictures of this but its simple enough to work out). then once you have removed your grill and set aside out the road, you can remove you headlights, which are held in by 3 (ithink 10 or 12mm) bolts, theres one on top next to your 1/4 panel and 2 on the side closest to the centrew of the vehicle. once you have unbolted them you can unplug the wiring and remove the headlight.
once you have your headlight out you want to remove the wiring harness thats attached to the headlight, all your bulbs circled in green (thats your indicator,parker light and your high/lowbeam bulb) the big circle seal aroudn the headlight bulb and the 2 screws circled in red. dont touch the 2 bolts circled blue as they are your adjustment bolts.
Baking the headlight.
ok once you have removed that its time to bake your headlights. you need a oven (mines only smallish but was big enough to fit one headlight at a time which really you only want to bake one at a time as you sort of have to take your time splitting them apart and they do tend to cool quite quickly). Now you want to preheat your oven to about 100-110degrees celcius you can use either fanforced or conventional, ive only used conventional but id say fan forced would give a more even heating. the idea of heating the headlight in the oven is to soften the headlight silicone seal enough so you can seperate the clear lense and the black back casing. it does take a lil time to do this as the silicone does cool so i put the first in for about 5-10mins or so (make sure you keep an eye on it) then take it out put the other in while i start to pry the 2 halves apart a flat blade screw driver helps in doing this (although becareful not to slip and shove it into your hand, have had this happen once or twice). also becareful not to break any of the clips that hold them togethor aroudn the outside of the join. once you get the clear an black halves apart you will be left with this. the 2 halves with the chrome bezell inside the chrome casing.
Cleaning.
now if your only wanting to clean your headlights not paint them then all you have to do now it clean the inside of the black casing, the clear lense and the chrome bezell (a warning proably best off using just fresh water to clean any mud or dirt out of your headlights as i know that such antiseptic wipes such as pine-o-clean wipes etc will actually damage the chrome finish on your bezell.
Painting.
however if you want to paint your headlights (which can be done in any colour, ive only ever done black but i have seen a few cars on the net with colour coded headlight bezells. so colour choice is upto you) now i used heatproof black and clear but used touch up plastic primer and undercoat primer, so im not sure if heatproof is really needed but thats what i use all the time just for a little piece of mind i guess.
you want to sand back as much of the chrome as you can off the bezell using about a 400grit wet and dry you can use a lighter grade but i used 400 and it was fairly smooth so i didnt bother going back over with a light grade. easier said then done im afraid except for where your parker and indicator bulbs go as you still want the chrome there so they reflect still. then tape up your indicator and parker bulb sections ( you will see i put tape over the orange indicator cover although your best to simply tape up the hole like i did with the parker light as its quite difficult to remove that orange cover after painting without damaging your paint.
i put 2 light coats pf plastic primer down first, then 2 coats of undercoat primer, about 4-5 light even coats of the heatproof black and then roughly 3-4 light coats of heatproof clear. as for drying times it was usually about 10-15minutes between coats and then about 4hours to let dry after the final coat.
(will continue this on in next comment as you can only have 4 pics per post)
