Retrofit time

[markmatley]

UPDATE:
Ok so I finally took the dive and completed my retrofit/paintingmy headlights on my asphalt FRS.

I started this project 1-12 at 1700 hrs. Initially I was reading all the tutorials and making sure I had everything ready. In 2 hrs time, I released my headlights from my car. I originally wanted to complete the retrofit without doing any painting. But after seeing my concept in my head come to life as I came closer and closer to baking open the lights, I ran out to my nearest O'Reilly auto parts and picked up VHT nite-shades and managed to find a metallic grey-black that I liked.

The nite shades:


The color that I chose:


By 2000 hrs, I had baked, prepped (I was over zealous with some acetone diluted with DI water...it ended up varnishing some of the low beam reflector), and laid out the paint. The first nite-shade coat was so light I didn't even see black on the silver reflectors. I waited 5 minutes then the second coat was a bit thicker by doubling the pass of the first coat. I started to see the black but it had splotches. Another 5 minutes later, the third coat of nite shades was the same thickness as the second, and man did that thing make the reflectors matte black! The last coats were done about 15 minutes after the nite shades. The first color coat was very light again..I only saw the metallic flakes, but by the second color coat it was puuuurrrrfect!

Not the best photo showing the paint all dry:




Ok so its now 2200 hrs, and I've let the paint dry, assembled and cleaned the lights. Putting the light back in took about the same time to disassemble due to me dropping bolts onto the engine pan (still can't find one...). Completed everything by 0000 hrs.

Too many reflections from work but notice the light is darker:


Another shot:




ISSUES:
1). Besides losing bolts...

2). The harness due to it being different from the tutorial found in the DIY area. I had grounds on the ballasts, rather than a braided set of ground wires. I had to go around with my multimeter to find good ground points. I can post photos where I attached the ballasts if someone needs it.

3). Bugs love to land on wet paint...f*ckin buggers...

other than that it turned out awesome!





ORIGINAL:
So I'm up the baking step...going fine so far besides dropping some parts on the metal engine shield. Should I paint the reflectors or keep me stock? I could drive down to O'Reilly and get some nightshades...my car is just missing the front end.

[Fantum's86]

Originally Posted by markmatley

So I'm up the baking step...going fine so far besides dropping some parts on the metal engine shield. Should I paint the reflectors or keep me stock? I could drive down to O'Reilly and get some nightshades...my car is just missing the front end.

Now you can help me out lol!

[markmatley]

Im still working on it right now...my anal retentive painting skills has held me up! Just buttoning up the lights right now (hot out of the oven!)

Just let me know when you need help with anything.

[Hayashi]

Nice, I've had the retros sitting in my room since June and never had the time to do it lol. Take pics when you're done, would love to see how it looks.

[Gixxersixxerman]

Best thing I did to my car.. I wish I would've adjusted them properly withouth the covers.. I had to aim the lights up that my brights are quite high.. But I'm going to bake them apart and twist my right one just a bit.. It has a couple degree tilt to it, that's just barely noticeable.. You'll love the way it looks.. What color did you go with?? I went with a 6k for my PNP then 5k with the minis.. And decided to stick with 5k.. I noticed a in pace difference in depth, compared to the 6k

[markmatley]

Originally Posted by Hayashi

Nice, I've had the retros sitting in my room since June and never had the time to do it lol. Take pics when you're done, would love to see how it looks.

Seriously? I picked mine up during the Christmas sale, and decided I should do something other than fix the house or work on my phd. I'm going to upload pics here soon. It'll be phone pics but hopefully they'll be visible! :happy0180:

By the way, can you check your wiring harness and tell me how many ground leads you have and how many actual wires are in your loom? I think TRS has changed things around which made following the tutorial in the DIY topics diffficult.

Originally Posted by Gixxersixxerman

Best thing I did to my car.. I wish I would've adjusted them properly withouth the covers.. I had to aim the lights up that my brights are quite high.. But I'm going to bake them apart and twist my right one just a bit.. It has a couple degree tilt to it, that's just barely noticeable.. You'll love the way it looks.. What color did you go with?? I went with a 6k for my PNP then 5k with the minis.. And decided to stick with 5k.. I noticed a in pace difference in depth, compared to the 6k

Truly this is one of the best things I've done so far. High Visibility in this state is needed with our non-glass beaded lane markers, barely visible lane bumpers, and lackadaisical drivers.

I haven't driven the car at night, but seeing as I'm going out for a drive tonight, I'll be sure to adjust the beam height. Is your bulb just misaligned? On my test run I actually installed the bulb correctly, but placed the spring tensioner the wrong way...had a very high tilt when test firing. But as of now, in the garage the lights looked very level and even with each other.

As for the color the pictures will be better. But since I have an asphalt, I blacked everything except the high beam reflectors. You're probably wondering why I did that? Well I have LED DRL's, and I wanted them to actually have a job to do when driving in day time or highbeaming, so I kept the high beam reflector alone. The DRL's actually shine through the HID high beam and throws more light diffusively outwards.

I digress...so after the black out, I layered on top some grey metallic which matches really well with the asphalt color! Once I get home, Ill write a more thorough description and the paint color and pics!

[Gixxersixxerman]

Same here lol.. We obviously have the same taste, I ran angle eyes for my DRL, and painted my plates red so it gives off the demon eye look




And my cutoff


The light that's above the cutoff is from the switchbacks.. They are really bright lol..

And the highs


I run silver star ultras and as you can see its just a bit high

[markmatley]

Originally Posted by Gixxersixxerman

Same here lol.. We obviously have the same taste, I ran angle eyes for my DRL, and painted my plates red so it gives off the demon eye look

Very nice man! I had CCFL's on my literbike and they were wicked. I wouldn't mind doing this again for the FRS...but I'm too tired to bake open the lights again...including all the steps to get the lights out.

Originally Posted by Gixxersixxerman

And my cutoff

The light that's above the cutoff is from the switchbacks.. They are really bright lol..

And the highs

Are you sure that you're not TIG welding in the foreground? AHHH my eyes!!