jdm headlights

[Scanny]

i have a heatgun to remove the lens. what is the easiest way to remove it and replace once the orange filter is out?

[Kryton]

Oven & gradually work it open. I found the heatgun made it difficult to get the entire of it hot enough to peel off without causing stress to the front. Remove all the old crud then put back together with tiger seal or similar

[Scanny]

so i need to replace the glue?

[Kryton]

It should be ok as long as you reheat it but knowing how prone headlights are for misting up, I would personally clear the old stuff off & use new sealant. Will save heating them back up again

[Scanny]

cheers Chris. project on hold then til i get my arse to halfords for some glue. which put my bumper on hold as i dont see the point in fitting lights or bumper when both at the same time makes more sense

[Atik]

When I did mine a few years back, I just reheated the original black glue and it sealed back up. Problem is I didnt let the newly sprayed insert dry which caused the lens to mist up shortly after that. But once it cleared out, I just used some generic kitchenhroom grade clear sealant to seal over.

No problems since then.

[Gingerfish]

i have a heatgun to remove the lens. what is the easiest way to remove it and replace once the orange filter is out?

You could try asking @Ralliart1 (Csaba). I know he's done them a few times before.
He might be able to give you some tips.

[crazydriver81]

Richie, I've done 10 sets of headlights now. Best method is via oven. I use to pre-heat the oven to 110 degree CELSIUS and put the whole headlight in for 7-10 mins. Afterwards I take a bigger flat blade screwdriver and split the lens gently!

After you have removed the orange lens, stick the lens back on, as good as you can. Then repeat the heating procedure and press lens and housind together. Let it cool down and you should be fine. There is a hotmelt glue used on the headlights. So after heating and pressing, the glue should be in the right position.

Additionally you can use black silicone, but normally this is not necessary.

[MarkSanne]

^^what Stefan says^^

I've done the same amount headlights to de-orange and LHD-convert and never had a sealant problem afterwards.

[Scanny]

i will try the oven method first and see how i get on. thanks guys

[swinks]

Good luck with the oven
Fancy a melted plastic?
The downside of the oven is, that glue holding box and perspex lens together has very close melting point to plastic cluster. You gonna be late for few seconds and you will get nice plastic pizza in you oven.
I did many lights and IMO heat gun is much safer method. You just follow with heat gun edges till they get hot (that you can't touch with finger) and follow with big flat screwdriver. Some metal blades used as wedges can help you as well. And splitting headlight should begin from high beam lens side towards indicator end if that make sense.

[Scanny]

the heat gun does seem to offer a lot more control over the job. i have never used one before but im guessing that this is an outdoor job, not to be done in the warmth of my living room. im also assuming that i dont sit with the heat on one bit and should keep it moving along the glue to avoid melting the plastic.

the bumper is now ready for fitting. its only taken since summer from removing it to ready to fit

[swinks]

im also assuming that i dont sit with the heat on one bit and should keep it moving along the glue to avoid melting the plastic.

Correct

[swinks]

im guessing that this is an outdoor job, not to be done in the warmth of my living room.

I use to do disassembly headlights in my kitchen
Also my wife helps me sometimes holding headlights when it comes to splitting them

[Scanny]

good enough for me. with any luck i wont set fire to any cats or my home lol

thanks for the advice and info guys. i want to get this done before the bumper goes on. no point in taking the lights out to fit the bumper then taking them back out to fit the JDM lights back in

[elnevio]

I was going to try the oven trick to de-orange my headlights, but found that they wouldn't fit in!

I resorted to the method of cutting a hole in the bottom of the housing, below the indicator, then using a combination of screwdriver and long-nose pliers through the new hole and the indicator bulb-holder hole to destroy the orange filter, then replacing the cut-out piece of plastic with some sealant.

[Scanny]

i need to go through this whole process again on the drivers side. the passenger side headlight is behaving but the other one had to have water poured out of it after sitting for 9 months. it is fogging up and as i discovered last night, even after drying it with a heat gun, the water has left dirt all over the inside of the lens so it needs to come apart again for cleaning and resealing