I dont think the painting should affect it, the surface was gray before.

Yeah I cooked it in the oven then took the lens off the housing

 

how long and what did you cook it on? directly on rack?

 

I got a set of the euro/clear headlights for my 1994 F150 and I absolutely hate them!! the light is no where near as focused as the factory headlights are, plus the aftermarket lights seem to go to crap faster as well.

My opinion is that we should just keep out factory headlights cleaned up with some of the products that are on the market for them--I love FLITZ polish, it works the best for me, I do mine bu hand, but I guess you could use a FLITZ ball.....

 

Yeah, as I said, the light was not focused AT ALL when i sanded off the ribs, which is why I just sanded the outside imperfections out with 400 grit on a drill, 600 and 1200 by hand(pitting, yellowing, rock chips), then polished it up real good with some Turtle Wax polishing compound to get rid of the sanding marks, then finished them off with some Meguieres PLASTX for a good sealant and shine.

To get the glue to separate very nicely, put it on the second to the most bottom rack, bake it at 220 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. Then take something like a chisel that has a very small tip, but can still be twisted and start at the corners. Put the chisel between the lens and the housing and twist gently (this is plastic). Go around and do all the corners first, then walk the chisel from one corner to another, twisting as you go and breaking the seal.

After all this you have to get in there with a sharp object (i used a small pick) to get in the groove of the lens (it is a tongue and groove seal between the lens and housing) and get out all the old glue. Do the same on the housing, or at least get most of it. When you're done doing your modifications, any type of Contact Adhesive Sealant will work greatly to re-glue the lens to the housing. I used AMAZING GOOP AUTOMOTIVE E-6000, and it has sealed great. Put pressure on the lens and housing (set something heavy on the bottom of the housing with the lens facing down onto something soft) for about 2 hours while the sealant cures, and you're good to go!

I'll have some pictures of the finished product on here later today.

 

Hey let Us know if painting the lights effects the light output and pattern

 

You must have been terribly bored to even think of going through all this!! Ha! Ha!! Ha!!!

 

You have no idea.....

Anyways, I'll let you know if it affects the light output and pattern after tonight, so I'll be able to tell. And here is the finished product picture after it was all put back together, I am VERY happy with how it turned out.

 

I got lucky on my truck as my lens FELL off!!! Good tip on the oven trick Nighthawk!
I have been kicking around a idea of getting rid of the plastic lens and use the older style glass lamps in place of the bulb. Just have to figure out how to mount the older style lamp into the housing and make it look good. Any thoughs on that?

 

Hmmmmm. If you're good with aluminum or thin sheet metal forming, you could get the biggest glass lamp you could find to fit in the housing, then make the metal fit the housing as well and cut out a hole for the lamp. Some imagination, paint, and a little know-how and that could be done up to look pretty nice.

 

yeah i saw this whole baking headlight fixtures in a toyota camry forum last year when i was reading on my wifes car. Thats why i was asking. my driver headlight is seperated at the top. I was thinking of trying a small butane torch i have just to heat up the housing enough to seperate the rest. I would like to try the smoked look also. Especially since we have no options other than maybe covers and that affects the light output to much.

 

how would you give then a smoke look? i am almost done with all my interior mods and i am wanting to start on the exterior (bodywork and paint) this summer. i would love to do this to my 93 f150

 

Only problem I could see with the torch is that it would probably melt the plastic before softening the adhesive.

As for the light intensity and output, it has actually really increased over the stock headlight lenses before this whole ordeal. I think two major factors contributed to this....one being that I sanded and polished the imperfections out of the outside of the lenses, and two, black is more reflective than gray, so it throws more light that normally would have been absorbed.

Here are some night pics.

 

that looks really great man. makes me really wanna do this to my truck this summer. i would like the smoke look on my truck so if anyone knows what i need to do this my self please let me know

 

awesome! what did you reseal with ?

 

AMAZING GOOP AUTOMOTIVE E-6000.....you can get it at most NAPA/Autozone/Carquest, etc.

Kenny I'd imagine it'd be the same way kinda with yours......take the lens off, paint some inside parts black, and reseal, just takes some experimentation to find out what looks good