Clear light and Angel Eye Conversion - The Project and Story

c cunningham said:
love the halo lights , also love the splash of yellow , i would keep the yellow lenzes , after all its a fasion thing
the halo light are classic as is yellow indicator lenzes :driving:
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I wont be adding angel eyes to these. I didn't order them up front so would be waiting weeks for them to arrive.

Would've liked them but alas.
 
T2FFN said:
First coat of white primer is on. Looks strangely cool, very flat white. When its dry enough I'll try a test fit with white inners.

The primer was quite runny though, was a bugger for little runs even with light sprays. The enamel sprays are usually so easy to spray, so not used to such a runny paint.
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Warm the surface to be painted witha fan heater or hairdryer, so the paint dries more quickly on contact. Bit cold this week in garages, etc.
 
Hi Phil,

I'm doing all of this in my open plan living area / kitchen! :rofl: :rofl: The gf is banished except to make me hot drinks :rofl:

I can say with certainty, not using white inners :oops:
 
T2FFN said:
Hi Phil,

I'm doing all of this in my open plan living area / kitchen! :rofl: :rofl: The gf is banished except to make me hot drinks :rofl:

I can say with certainty, not using white inners :oops:
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Respect :thumbsup: MrsCJ keeps me and paint, oil, welding and anything similar, in the garage or banished to my warehouse, regardless of temp.
 
I would love to have a garage, it would keep the flat less cluttered. I recently stripped my GSXR600 for a full black respray and had every body panel in the flat :rofl:
 
After much trial and much error, there is no way to get a good result in tinting the amber hockey sticks.

At this point, I am thinking of leaving them orange.

I even tried tint spray, which was a right mess. AFter removal has left one hockey stick quite flat. I've tried polishing it by hand to get it glossy again but no joy. Think I'll have to clear lacquer it to get a gloss finish on it. :cry:

Not the day I was hoping for. So now I think I will do the inners either silver or black, but can't decide and don't want to do one then have to change it again! It will ens up looking more stock again, just without the chrome inserts.
 
The spray tint is flat? Maybe its the spray you've bought. It should be very glossy as ive used it before. Edit: that might be because your not putting much on, it usually gets glossier the more layers you build up and you obviously dont want much on them. Maybe laquer'ing is the way forward

I think the best option is a mild dark tint on the hockey sticks and a dark grey inner. Less contrast between the two and more medium.
 
No, when I sprayed the hockey stick it looked like s**t. Not sure if the surface was contaminated but it didn't go down smooth and consistent. I used nail polish remover to take it off immediately but the hockey stick was left flat.

I've sprayed the inners silver/grey, but not happy with them. I'm going to concede and speak to a body shop tomorrow to tint the hockey stick and spray the inners glossy and smooth.

I'm thinking to tint the hockey stick first, then match the inner to that, so there isn't a great contrast between the two. I don't want any questions over the legality of the tint so I only want a minimal tint, or, do the inners the same back as the car... cannot decide! :headbang:

ps: Where can I find my paint code to get an exact match?
 
Should be under the bonnet, on the passengers side above the wheel arch or there abouts


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Thanks, passenger strut has 3217L 114 engraved into it, however this yields no match on google.
 
Thanks for all the updates and trial-and-error work T2FFN :thumbsup:

T2FFN said:
No, when I sprayed the hockey stick it looked like s**t. Not sure if the surface was contaminated but it didn't go down smooth and consistent. I used nail polish remover to take it off immediately but the hockey stick was left flat.
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Not good to hear you've not had good results. A quick question - did you apply clear lacquer on top of the tint spray? I've tinted a few sets of rear lights and the finish after the tint spray is usually matt and pretty crap - it's only when a couple of coats of clear gloss lacquer were applied that they looked great.

Your efforts have made me sure that I'm not going to cut open my own lights to experiment. I'd need to know I could successfully tint the hockey sticks/boomerangs before commencing cutting, which means I still want some amber ones to play around with. I might try and dig out my old side repeaters from my van which I replaced with clear ones: the same principle applies...
 
I've spoken to a body shop today and they apply a clear lacquer with a small amount of black in it to tint rear lights. They do it in layers, building up the depth. I explained (on phone) I want it legal, with just a hint of smoke over it to take the orange down a bit but not impede the indicator orange flash. They will also spray the inners no problem.

I applied a single (maybe too thick) coat of the spray tint, but it sort of puddled with voids like bubbles in it. I instantly thought :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: and immediately removed as best I could.

I also cut a template for the tint film. This worked with some success, but one end of the hockey stick has embossed numbers which make it difficult to lay the film perfectly. Also, its fiddly, and any air pockets, no matter how small would annoy me. You only really need to tint the very front face of the hockey stick, as the rest is removed from sight, but if they're being sprayed I will allow a small overlap to the sides just in case.

So I'm still on the bike this week, which needs new front brakes as one of the discs is slightly warped and is constantly scrubbing :thumbsdown: Still, I love it :evil: :evil:
 
Dropped into the body shop this morning.

I'm having the indicators very lightly tinted and the inners done gloss black.

£60 and pick up on Thursday so hope they turn out ok :cry:
 
Latest update:

I went to pick up the inners and indicators today. Wasn't happy with either so they're redoing them.

Inners:
Inners done in sapphire black. One had something stuck in the paint/lacquer, dirt or some such. One had a run and what looked like bubbles in a crevice around the light opening.

Indicators:
A good result for removing the amber, but I thought maybe a little too dark so they're sanding it back with 2000 paper and apply a top clear coat. (Currently had 2 coats of tinted lacquer in it, I specifically asked for 1)

:(
 
T2FFN said:
Latest update:

I went to pick up the inners and indicators today. Wasn't happy with either so they're redoing them.

Inners:
Inners done in sapphire black. One had something stuck in the paint/lacquer, dirt or some such. One had a run and what looked like bubbles in a crevice around the light opening.

Indicators:
A good result for removing the amber, but I thought maybe a little too dark so they're sanding it back with 2000 paper and apply a top clear coat. (Currently had 2 coats of tinted lacquer in it, I specifically asked for 1)

:(
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Sounds like they're going to have to really earn their £60 on this one! :thumbsup: I've just bought a pair of clears to do the conversion to my car but I'm looking forward to seeing your results.
 
Picked up the items on friday, their second attempt was better than their first, and I'd had enough and wanted them back together by this point.

I cleaned everything to remove dust and debris before assembling the lights on saturday. I had been to B&Q for some sealant and could only find no more nails type product, that is a strong grab adhesive and also waterproof sealant, so used this, but it was white in colour :? So after bonding and running a seal around the lights, I left them overnight to cure. I then masked up the lights, leaving only a small area either side of the join exposed. I used plasti-dip rubberised spray in black to cover the seam, covering the white and giving a further layer of waterproof protection.

I have not fitted the lights yet, I'm sat in the airport on my way to Geneva, so will fit them later in the week when I'm back. I'd like to get the M front bumper sprayed this week so its a full transformation by next weekend, so will see if I can get it booked in when I get back on thursday.

Pics to follow, but for anyone wanting an all black front, it IS possible to tint the hockey stick dark, and hopefully keep it legal. (I haven't tried it on the car yet so yet to be seen how bright the indicators will flash through the tint, but some rudimentary testing shows it should be fine.
 
I've recently bought some clears to do this conversion to my orange indicator Xenons. I'd appreciate it if anyone experienced with this mod could answer a couple of questions.

1) I wasn't planning on fitting Angel Eyes but get the feeling I may regret it if I don't?! Is the visual impact worth the hassle?

2) If I do go for them, where is the best place to source them? I tried the link on CJ's original post but can't find them on that company's website anymore. I'd like to buy some from a tried and tested source.

3) When gluing the back shell and lense back together, I assumed I'd just need to run some sealant in the 'groove' of the shell and push the lense in, job done. However, it looks like some of you guys are also running sealant around the outside of the join? Is this necessary? Sounds a tricky thing to do neatly...

4) I may need a stiff drink before attacking my OEM Xenon's with a Dremel but worry it may make my cutting hand unsteady. :D

Thanks in advance
 
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