Clear light and Angel Eye Conversion - The Project and Story

Adamski said:
I fear I will need to do a Hoover inside the lights. Even chopping open the donor set today left lots of black stoor (that's a Scottish word for mess/dust) inside and around the inners :(


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Do you have access to a compressed airline? I took my lights into work and gave them a proper blasting. I reckon this was far more effective than hoovering alone.
 
Ok - finished. A few things:

1. Dont try to mix lenses. Keep the lenses from your existing lights and use those. I tried to use a fresh pair from the donor units, as my existing lense wasn't in the best condition. However, by using a different lense, the fit wasnt the greatest, and sealing the units was tricky.

2. I had various problems, which added a few hours to the job. One of the bolts for fitting the headlight to the car seized, so I had a mission to drill the screw out, as the torque head sheared off :( If you are doing this, be prepared for niggles which will delay your work. Also, do a dry run to ensure you have all the right tools! I did, but that was luck, not judgement :lol:

3. I had an accident with my Angel Eyes :cry: Dropped one of the rings in some water, and despite drying them out, they wouldnt light up :headbang: A costly mistake. I may buy another set in the future, but was happy enough with the clear light conversion.

4. I am not handy with tools. I thought I would make a hash of it. I can say for certain that this job is not difficult, but is time consuming.

Anyway.....

Before:

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After :thumbsup:

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Still keen to do the angel eye conversion ranski, if you have a spare, I'll take it off your hands :)

You'll know yourself it's a long process, so I doubt I'll be up for re-entry soon :lol:


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You both got the angel eye from the same source? as i had a set from a different source and they do differer in coulour, ever so slight but they do.Just wanted to give a heads up.
 
I finished mine sunday evening, Not got the car back together yet but if im not working the weekend ill start on it then. I also managed to break an angel eye somehow when fitting, lucky for me i had a spare but removing the broken angel eye was a pain. I did test if before fitting but must of somehow tugged a wire.
This was my second entry as i ruined my inner chrome lenses due to being an idiot, second attemp went very well. Oh big thankyou to ranksi for selling me the new inners :D
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Looks very good, especially the angels look very neat - do you have any closer shots?



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Very neat,

Are those 85mm on the highbeams?

PS I get the same feedback from my g/f


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I used a glue gun as you suggested which worked well and stuck 80mm rings ontop of 85mm rings and then glued the 85mm ring from the rear with alot of glue so making sure there there was no chance of them ever moving. I wanted both 80mm rings as i didnt want a 5mm difference even though it wouldnt be noticable. Black silicon to seal as looks a bit neater and hides well.
 
"stuck the 80 on the 85"

Arh - genius idea - I think I may do the same





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Read every single post in this thread today. Some great work. Initially I thought no bloody way am I trying this but after 25 pages my confidence has grown.

Can I ask. Are the people who are not using donor lights just cutting along the channel thus cutting the flange from the clear lens off then just glueing the flat surfaces back together with silicone or something?

It seems like finding clears is now the problem with this mod. Looking at about £600 on eBay uk or de. Don't think I need clears THAT bad. Might have to trawl the breakers.
 
Yep, cut along the groove where the black back and lens meet, them use some no more nails type bond to put them back together.
 
Mowflow said:
Read every single post in this thread today. Some great work. Initially I thought no bloody way am I trying this but after 25 pages my confidence has grown.

Can I ask. Are the people who are not using donor lights just cutting along the channel thus cutting the flange from the clear lens off then just glueing the flat surfaces back together with silicone or something?

It seems like finding clears is now the problem with this mod. Looking at about £600 on eBay uk or de. Don't think I need clears THAT bad. Might have to trawl the breakers.
Click to expand...

Indeed most people now cut up and reuse the same lights. You have to remember it was several years back that I fisrt did this and then it was somewhat pioneering work. At the time I could find scrap lights for £10 to £20 on Ebay, so sacrificial sets was the way to go. Now of course every man and his dog is after a set, alongside there being less cars simply getting a light tap and the headligts being swapped out under insurance, so prices shot up.

Anyway great work by some of the recent guys doing this and good luck in your search.

Just as an afterthought - it's 4 years since I did the initial project and to date the lights still perform perfectly, never misted once and the AE, by using high temp silicone to bond, have never loosened :)
 
Nowadays it would probably be cheaper to sell your own car and add the £700 that a set off ebay cost and just buy a whole new facelifted car. :rofl:

I've been watching a few on ebay and it doesn't look like they sell at those prices. Keep getting relisted and the price never shifts. People are even asking hundreds for ginger lights now. It's a shame that guy that was going to get the clears made disappeared because the £160 he was asking looks very attractive now.

Maybe anyone on here that's done it could offer a swap for some gingers and a few hundred quid their way if they are ever trading or selling their car.
(if you don't ask you don't get :P )
 
The cost has increased considerably, even since I joined the forum :(

Total cost for my clear lights was c.£350 once you add dremel and cutting discs


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Who are the numpties that spend £600+ on lights to fit on a car that's maybe only worth £7000. Around £300 is reasonable but I just don't get how anyone finds a buyer at twice that. It's even crazier when you consider that they then have to hack them open. It's a great mod but i'm afraid I'll only do it at the right price.

Something I haven't seen mentioned here but know a guy who did it on his e90 is having the AEs come on when you unlock with the fob. I can't remember the exact details of the wiring but I think he tapped another live feed into the courtesy circuit. I'm sure there was a cable feed through the bulkhead that let him tap into the footwell lights. It looked pretty cool so thought one of you guys might fancy checking it out for that extra unique feature 8) .
 
I sourced brand new european headlights for $200 USD, and the had just a little over $75 in the angel eye install. So, $275 total. Took a long time to find lights, but it is possible.
 
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