So, lastnight I was bored and decided to paint my headlights and smoke my sidemarkers. After Matty P & Miller (Roddims & Anarchistchicken) helped me out by removing my bumper and relieving the car of useless nuts, bolts, screws, etc. They said all I had to do was just unbolt the top bolt holding the assembly in and the assembly would just slide right out. Nooooooooooooope. Ha ha...if it were only that easy....I got so frustrated, that I decided to try my luck w/taking the bumper off by myself. It was not very difficult at all, actually...pretty easy. Once that was off, it was a piece of cake. Unbolted a few things here, unscrewed a few things there and the assembly was ready to be put in the oven. That's the most daunting part....the damn thing melts....QUICK....but no damage done. Painting was a piece of cake....4 coats of High Gloss Black and 2 coats of clear.
Done. This was around 10:30pm.....I started around 9pm...it's a job that requires patience. Putting the bumper on wasn't hard either.....I wish I had a camera (mine broke)....it looks SO MUCH MORE AGGRESIVE!

-Phil
And yes....my my car is dirty damnit...no comments from the peanut gallery.

 

Please post pics when you can.

Also, please provide a little more detail to us in terms of how you re-sealed the lamp after painting, and how well your sealing job holds up against a pressure washer, rainstorm, etc. Sounds like a cool mod... but poorly sealed headlamps are a pain in the ***. I still remember my old Stang's headlamps filling up with water after a rain storm. They looked similar to a fish tank, and ate bulbs like they were Little Debbies.

 

Will do....

As for resealing...I did the same thing on my 96 Eclipse (the 95-96 models came w/the chrome housing), I put the front (lense) assembly and rear (bulb section) back together and squeezed them together as tight as I could. I then stuck the assembly back in the oven (set @ 250* btw) and let it sit for about 90 secs. Took it out, grabbed a putty knife and a regular dinner knife. I basically cut the sticky goo stuff and used the putty knife to get it back between the grooves. the assembly has clips, so as long as you get the clips in...while applying pressure....it'll reseal. If you're really paranoid, you can reseal w/some epoxy or whateverover top, but as long as you get the glue hot enough...you can use just that. If your lights fill w/water, simply drill 2 small holes at the bottom of the assembly. Problem solved, and no fogging. Never had to do that though. As for the side markers...I couldn't get the assembly to seperate...even after sticking it in the oven....I actually started to deform one of them...so I said fawk it. I ended up painting the outside. Looks great...can't complain...even if it's slightly deformed...ha ha.
Also...in the assembly, where the park lights are (the ambers), I painted that lense. In the daytime....it's black...like there's nothing there...night time.....the amber shines through brightly...looks really sweet.
Next thing involving paint...will be my calipers and my tail lights...yes...my tails are getting the same treatment.

I'll do a write up w/pics if Matty let's me do his car this weekend...lol.

-Phil

 

Example:
This is from my old 96 DSM.
On the 2nd to last one ignore the streaks...goo gone got that off...heh heh.
Oh yeah...ignore the painting of the reflectors...rookie mistake....didn't affect my lighting too much though. Thank Goodness.

 

not doing it to my car. I love the look of the silver lights on the blue car....one of my favorite things about the car!

 

Baaaaaaaaah......I guess.

 

I imagine that covering all of the reflective area inside of the headlamp unit with black paint would decrease lighting performance at night, no?

 

Yes...and no...that's the reason I didn't do it on the 5...those pics were from my Eclipse....it wasn't too bad.
As seen below:



-Phil

 

Ooooh, we need pics! I've never seen gloss black on painted lights.

Juddz, this mod has been done by tons and tons of protege owners on msprotege.com, and I've done it twice with two different sets of lights. To reseal it, you just put them back together and put them in the oven for a few minutes. The glue all re-seats itself. Just be sure you get any cleaners or water or anything off the inside of the lens before you put it back. I'm gonna have to re-do mine because the inside of the lenses are all streaky now because I did a halfass cleaning job with windex when I had them apart.

 

Miller...I'm most likely heading up to Matty's on Saturday morning (I have a date Friday night....otherwise I'd be there then)....I actually want to roll up to that U Pick It place and scheme for some parts. Hope you're not heading outta town either....we're going to install my springs and short ram at his place. YAY!

 

hey bro, we can't do the springs at my place.. You forget I don't have a drive way or a lift yet. Think of it this.....it took us 5 hours WITH a lift and the hydraulic spring compressor to do miller's car. Imagine how long it'll take to have to jack and reassemble EACh corner of the car....plus working on your butt or knees. I don't see the springs happening at my place man.

I can come down to the base and do them for you sometime but until I get my lift put in I'm kinda limited as to what I can get done at my place. I had planned on working on the rx7 most of the time. We can get your intake figured out though. no problem.

p.s. I'm going back for a second interview today for a new job as a service manager of a lincoln mercury dealership here.

 

nice, i like, gotta do that for my black car...

 

Shooooot....What about Miller's deal w/the lift for $10??
If not, I'm going to try and do it before I come up there...if not, I'll do it Tuesday (I'm off for that day since I gotta work Friday...boo)
Hell yeah, I hope you get that job man! Good luck!

 

Go for it..it's pretty easy!

 

First step - install CAI - next step - paint my headlights - pretty soon i might actually know something

how long was it put in the oven?