Iloveyourhonda92

So just to start this off, i had some hazey.leaky headlights but i wanted to save them cause their oem so i decided to restore and maybe do a lil DIY project.. so here is it guys hope it turned out somewhat ok

List of crap you need!!:

Baking Sheet or Aluminum

Restoring Lense
1 Bottle of Plastx or any plastic polish 5.24(walmart)
600 grit sand paper 2.99(auto store)
1000 grit sand paper 2.99(auto store)
2000 grit sand paper 2.99(auto store)
Wax(i chose turtle wax) 4.00(walmart)

Housing:
Dupli-color spray paint(i chose charcoal metallic) 3.99(auto store)
Rubbing Alchohol
Clear Silicon(kaukin gun would be helpful for this as well) idk the price it was laying around the house. WEAR GLOVES!!!
I ruffed it up a little bit with the sand paper left over from the lense restoration.

Tools:
Screwdriver
Flathead
10mm
Kauking Gun


Step 1: Remove Headlights from your car, pull bumper off and unbolt 4 10mm bolts(two on the top under the hood and one where the fender meets the headlight and then one where the grill/bumper covers.. dont forget to disconnect lights after taken the bolts off)

Step 2: Your going to want to take out the bulbs and water drains from the headlight

Step 3: Preheat oven to 325 Degrees, place 1 headlight on the baking sheet and once oven is done preheating put the headlight in for 2 Minutes... After 2min take the headlight and baking sheet(or when you place the headlight on the baking sheet it will melt) out with pot holders(lights will be hot), then take the flat head and start undoing the clips that are on the headlight lense. after clips are undone work the light with the flat head. then you'll want to try to pry it with you hands GO SLOWLY will take some time, if the silicon is still hard repeat the heating process





Step 4: One headlight is disassembled take the lense and flip it over. there will be two screws that hold the housing to the lense. should be located to the Right and left edges of the chrome housing take the screws out.



Step 5: remove the amber housing and reflector and as well as the metal reflector. there are two screws and one on the inside of the housing to remove the amber housing.





Step 6: Sand down the chrome housing, and rubb the alchohol on it, then take the chrome housing and place it something you can spray paint and not care. Grab the spray can and shake the can for a bit to mix the paint.. you'll want spray at a side to side motion and about 6-10 inches away from the housing to prevent overspray and dripping.( i only applied two coats on each housing, you will need more than one can to do so)

I forgot to take out that back reflector, just unscrew it and it pops right off look picture right below this one

(one on top is painted one on the bottum is not)


end result should look like this



Let the paint dry.. in the mean time you can.. continue

Step 7: Take the lense to the sink or a place where you can spray or pour a consistant flow of water on the lense. Take the 600 grit sand paper and do a side to side motion unless lense is cloudy and has removed all the yellow/oxidization of the lense.. then move on to 1000 grit but do a up and down motion, then one you have down this... move to 2000 grit and go side to side.. dry the lense after this is achieved



Step 8: Once the lense is fully sanded(should feel really smooth!!) apply the plastic polish on the lense. put a good amount on it and rubb it in really hard.. let it go to a dry haze then wipe it off with a clean towel or rag with pressure, repeat untill lense is at satisfaction.( i only repeated this step twice) wipe the rest of it off and it should look clear


Step 9: Take you wax and spread it on the lense(you use wax to seal the job).. you can hand buff it or if you have a buffer you can buff the lense.. dont put pressure on a buffer though because you can burn the lense!.. once this is done wipe off any excess wax and your set!!



End result after wiping wax off



Step 10: Check your housing that you just painted, if it is not painted equally re spray it and wait for it to dry, once it is fully coated, re assemble the housing to the lense... i left the amber housing/reflector out to give it a CTR look, but if you like them put them back in if you like.

(go at this angle the fatter side first because you might end up scratching the paint off


Step 11: Take you silicon/kaukin gun and spread the silicon in the headlight grooves which you pry;d the lense out earlier so that it seals better, then take the lense and put it back on, preheat the oven to 325 degrees again, and put the headlight back in for two min, then take it out and push the headlight together some more and put the clips back on the lense... and to seal it even more add a line of silcion on the outter edges!! and viola! CTR headlights

ek_jap

looks sick bro thanks for the diy

EJ8freek

Got any more pics of finished product? More on housing.

RMX_EF9

NICE !

*Thinks This Should Be Stickied Under The FAQ / DIY Section*

boxeocampeon

looks really good. have any pics of it on your car?

darkenedsol

Nice job!

Powershift_em1

Word

raidacaipo

good info however I would suggest using a rubbing compound such as 3m's rubbing compound and a rotary buffing tool first. This will fill in the 2000 grit scratches and in most cases can fill up to 1000 grit..

afterwards use a polishing compound to take care of those smaller scratches. And last you can use carnauba wax and hand wax it yourself..

The plastic type of compound doesnt work that well in my opinion..

raidacaipo

Iloveyourhonda92

thanks guy and yeah i shoulda put it in the DIY but seeing how this is a 92-00 thread i thought i'd share some **** ... yeah and i think ima try to rubbing compound or w/e next after this.. i kept getting silicon on the lense after i did all the **** to it, resealing it sucked ***!

98civdx

oh i just thought about it but you could have put tape or somthing on the lense that way you woundnt have to worry about getting silcon on it.

Iloveyourhonda92

yeah i should have put i didnt think that would have been a problem untill it happened.. ha we live and we learn !!!

HAZARDTUNER

Im glad someone made a thread like this...i just did the same thing the other week even though the 2nd time came out better than the first...

nsalts

great diy man

em1_2o9

i have 99-00 ctr headlights for sale. hmu!

delsolo95

you shoulda drilled out the hole on the housing and back of the lights and put city lights. it would look more like the ctr or sir just my .02

MonkeyBoy668

I was thinking that, without the reflectors installed, he could get pulled over by a cop for being in violation of road safety regs. If a cop needed an excuse to pull you over, or (as is often the case) was looking for one after-the-fact, this would qualify. Kind of like kids who put clear corners on their car but then don't use yellow bulbs, any excuse to generate ticket revenue.

I'd put the yellow reflective strips in under the turn signals, even if it doesn't look JDM style (yo).

Iloveyourhonda92

yeah, but couldn't you get amber bulbs? cause i know the 99-00 dont have reflectors i think.. idk haha. But yeah the hole drilled in for city lights would look good too!

TunerN00b

Amber reflectors are required, to be legal.
As are amber side marker lamps.

Front marker lamps and turn signals can be white, but since the same bulb is also used as the side marker on these cars, it must be amber to be legal.

JDM_teh_WIN!!

Thanks for bumping a 2 year old thread. It gave me an idea I never thought of. I have a pair of real CTR headlights that were messed up in an accident (broken tabs and lens). Since the price of JDM headlights has gone up like 100% (these used to be $350 SiR $450 CTR) brand new. I ended up buying a set of JDM "style" clear corner headlights for like $150. I think I'm going to take the gunmetal bezel out of my messed up CTR's and put them in my JDM "style" ones. Then drill the back base out and hook my city lights back up.

SOAD320

Seconded. I use the same compound on mine. Nice DIY, I sprang for some ebay lights with LED's (i'm new to the scene) and I am pretty satisfied with the quality. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time on my hands to do something as extensive as this, great job not breaking anything.