Going to clear the headlights this weekend.
BBQ!!!
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Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Seattle
I just did mine about a month ago.
I was able to do it about 2.5 hours from removal of the headlights, to sealing them. I let them seal over night and it takes about 30-40 minutes to put them back in.
Best advice, have an extra pair of hands help you out with this. I also did not remove the ballast, and my lights are fine (as are others who have done it).
More Tips:
I needed to bake the lights twice. After the first bake, do your best to sepearte one end, by the time you get this done, the lights are cool, and you need a second bake to reheat and pry apart the rest of the housing. Once you get one end apart (make sure you dont break any tabs) it is pretty easy. I had one person hold the housing w/ oven mitts, while I grabbed the housing while wearing Mechanix gloves and pulled like crazy.
Make sure to clean the diffusers per the instructions, they do have a greasy film on them.
You do not need to boil the diffusers like the instructions tell you. Just leave them under hot tap water until it gets soft. Then dry it off quickly, and place it in the clear part of the housing to "mold" them into place. Make sure you dont leave any moisture in the housing before you are ready to seal.
Make sure to get the diffuser and the black plastic trim line up nicely before you seal them back up.
Buy extra RTV silicon sealant, you dont want to run out (you will use almost 1 tube for a pair of lights). Be generous with it, but there will be a ton of the original stuff left over.
I let it seal overnight. I didnt do the "binding" with string. The tabs snap back nicely, and I was afraid of getting string lint in the housing, and it would be a PITA to get that out. My lights sealed up nice and tight.
I bought orange 7447 bulbs, then took a silver paint pen, and colored the upper half (like I dipped the top half of the bulb in a can of paint). That way it hides the orange from the front, but the back of the bulb still blinks orange against the reflector. I bought 194 LED's for the running lights, they are clear, but light up amber.
Before reinstalling the lights, attach the bulds into the housing and make sure they blink and turn on.
When reinstalling the lights, put the bolts in loosely, then line it up and tighten down. I actually had to put a little pressure on the lights to make sure it lined up perfectly while torquing down the bolts.
There may be some excess RTV on the outside of the lights, and some clay bar will remove it.
Thats all I can remember for now.
When's that BBQ?
I was able to do it about 2.5 hours from removal of the headlights, to sealing them. I let them seal over night and it takes about 30-40 minutes to put them back in.
Best advice, have an extra pair of hands help you out with this. I also did not remove the ballast, and my lights are fine (as are others who have done it).
More Tips:
I needed to bake the lights twice. After the first bake, do your best to sepearte one end, by the time you get this done, the lights are cool, and you need a second bake to reheat and pry apart the rest of the housing. Once you get one end apart (make sure you dont break any tabs) it is pretty easy. I had one person hold the housing w/ oven mitts, while I grabbed the housing while wearing Mechanix gloves and pulled like crazy.
Make sure to clean the diffusers per the instructions, they do have a greasy film on them.
You do not need to boil the diffusers like the instructions tell you. Just leave them under hot tap water until it gets soft. Then dry it off quickly, and place it in the clear part of the housing to "mold" them into place. Make sure you dont leave any moisture in the housing before you are ready to seal.
Make sure to get the diffuser and the black plastic trim line up nicely before you seal them back up.
Buy extra RTV silicon sealant, you dont want to run out (you will use almost 1 tube for a pair of lights). Be generous with it, but there will be a ton of the original stuff left over.
I let it seal overnight. I didnt do the "binding" with string. The tabs snap back nicely, and I was afraid of getting string lint in the housing, and it would be a PITA to get that out. My lights sealed up nice and tight.
I bought orange 7447 bulbs, then took a silver paint pen, and colored the upper half (like I dipped the top half of the bulb in a can of paint). That way it hides the orange from the front, but the back of the bulb still blinks orange against the reflector. I bought 194 LED's for the running lights, they are clear, but light up amber.
Before reinstalling the lights, attach the bulds into the housing and make sure they blink and turn on.
When reinstalling the lights, put the bolts in loosely, then line it up and tighten down. I actually had to put a little pressure on the lights to make sure it lined up perfectly while torquing down the bolts.
There may be some excess RTV on the outside of the lights, and some clay bar will remove it.
Thats all I can remember for now.
When's that BBQ?
