butchering open the headlights

K

klarky

Active member
right after having an old headlight and then seeing ae's for sale on ebay for the z4 i had a quick look over cj's thred. i have managed to break down the old headlight into its component parts, to open it up i had to cut between the black outer and lens, effectively cutting through the lens where it solts into the black body, it looks a bit messy but after sanding it down im hoping it will be ok, sealing it might be tricky.

my plan is it install an ae on this headlight only and see how it goes in the car, im also going to change the colour of the headlight inner, im thinking i may colour code it to the car, or may be a chrome wrap (might try but the heat from the lights might not make it a goer so may stick to paint). im also toying with the idea of changing the colour of the indicator lens by applying a light transmitting film to the back of it, not sure if it will work or not but worth a go whilst i have this unit open.

any suggestions on what i should try? if i do it to the proper headlights ill document it for the site.
 
When looking at the CJ threads, I always thought that he had used two sacrificial lights for make one? Maybe I picked it up wrong.
 
that is the neat way of diong it - havina a spare. You can actually butcher it with a dremmel and then reseal it. Not as surgical but would work... :)
 
You could easily split it by doing just this process as klarky describes and cutting through the lip of the clear lens. My reason was simlly that I was generally getting spares for the clear inner anyway and I prefer to have the flange to mate correclty rather than hoping a simple but seal will hold (which I'm sure it will). I also did a couple of sets for other people and rightly they expect an near OEM finish.

Look forward to seeing the results.

So much easier on other models when they used the mastic that could be melted :thumbsdown:

EDIT
Suggestions that you asked for.
Don't try to wrap the reflector and the heat will no doubt wrinkle it. I sprayed the inners of my X5 from black to silver using Plastikote and it's lasted 3 years now.
Inside the clear lens - not sure what to offer here as the light need to get through. I've used solar mirror film to mask the amber inside. Guess you could apply any sort of tint wrap to it to create a darker shade. Might look good with mat black inners??
 
Still amazed me that in 2002/2003 they sold orange indicators whilst on the other series they were long gone by then ...
 
cheers cj, thats what i was thinking, im leaning towards colour coding the black inners to sterling grey, and tinting the indicators to darken them as you say. should contrast well once the ae's are fitted. ill post some pics up soon, it does look like if i smooth off the edges it will seal fine, but it wont have a nice oem finish like you had by using a 2nd set. once i get this test one done ill decide if ill cut open the ones on the car.
 
klarky, please keep us posted! I always wanted to do the same. I have too much crap going on now, as soon as I have some free time I might actually give it a go... Any ideas hot to glue/seal the lights back together? :) Regarding the amber indicator - I was thinking of spraying it with black tinting spray like this it would be black on the outside but woudl maintain its shining capability. As for the resistance of the tint, a couple of clear coats shoudl top it off nicely... :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom