I recently bought a xenon set with broken pins.
I figured I have to open up the headlights to replace the "plug unit"
so might as well do a joey mod.

Three questions:
1. How do I remove the plug unit (green dot)
2. I see that many people haven't painted these (red dot). What purpose do they serve? (The ouside, not the inside)
3. How do I remove every bit of innards in the headlight assembly... which probably answers number 1 as well. hah

 

Good luck on the project, you need to post pictures of the finished product!
You may want to try and contact burley (see electronics forum in the mods forum), he had both sets of headlights (reflector and projector) in pieces to retrofit them...

-Chase

 

well I figured it out
the inside is connected to the outside by three ***** that's used for adjusting the lights
I just popped it out but you should really unscrew them instaed

After that you can use either hexangonal screw driver or a star screw to undo the wires

During the whole disassembling
i broke about five clips..lol that i will glue back with plastic superglueg

 

You can paint the exterior of the high beam. It serves no function, and actually reflects off the low beam and is quite annoying.

The reason it is ribbed is to diffuse all reflection, so just paint it. Ohh, and be careful NOT to use any cleaning product on the chrome. Windex eats the chrome, leaving the white plastic underneath :(

 

Hey Burley

I using Krylon for plastic. Should i Windex up the chrome before spraying or just spray over the chrome?

 

Windex!? and these things stand up to the heat generated by the lightbulbs! Blows my mind...

-Chase

 

I would sand and prime before I paint. If you dont want to sand / prime, I'd still skip the windex

Yeah, windex.. I was PISSED> I tried to get a small but of glue off the chroms, and.. well.. I did i guess.

 

Alrite so I managed to take every bit off.
I was thinking about painting the transparent piece another color like orange or something OR add running led lights to them!

 

I am finishing up my headlights tonight.
I would recommend sanding and priming.
It may take a little bit longer having to sand.
It simply creates a better surface to bond to.
I used a self etching primer, kind of liked the flat green color of the primer, I must admit.

So I sanded everything smooth and applied a light primer.
After 20 min. put a bit heavier coat of primer.
Then, after a half hour, I applied the first coat of paint, once dry I lightly sanded and applied the final coat of paint.

The inside parts were easy to sand and prime although the rings seemed to be a chrome treated plastic that I was only able to scuff up.

Last night I sprayed the final coat on my rings and washer caps and added the final clear coat. So tonight I plan to drop the rings back on the headlights and put them back on the car.

Then the fun part will be re-aligning the headlights

I thought of painting the outside of the high beam for a bit.
Ended up leaving so I eager to see how yours turn out.

Good luck with the mod..

 

Pics you two... PICS!!!

Maybe Im not patient enough, but every time I took something apart, I broke a new tab. I'll list them...

- Grey plastic things under the bezels, yup. A couple tabs.
- Multiple tabs on the clear lens.
- A tab from each of the clips that attach to the plastic ***** that aim the headlights... (I broke about 4 total, I from each of the hor/vert)
- The shrouding at the top...
- A tab that holds the bezel to the projector..
- Just about every tab on the chrome rings.


Im sure theres more, I cant remember. Its all been repaired w/ JB Qwik, so its rock solid.

Just be careful, there's no feeling like breaking a part that is damn near irreplaceable. I learned that you dont drink and mod

 

Very true, I made sure that at any point of the project I had TIME to get to the next step. Do not rush this job since there are a lot of tabs to be broke.
Thank god I only snapped one, the small one of the two holding the plastic ring around the Xenon Lens. Gotta love super glue







Finished pics hopefully tonight..

 

Superglue will melt... I would take it off, and use JB Qwik. Its rated up to 400 deg F.

 

..

 

I used a heavy crazy glue to attached the arrowed spot where the clip broke.
You think it will hold, if not I am still able to open the headlight up and make the change. To JB Qwik...

 

Its worth a shot. If you've already sealed the lens, then just test and see. If you haven't, I'd just dab some on top w/out taking off the bezel.

I've never tried it, but I hear that super glue will either melt or cause fumes. Worth a shot though.

 

Hey Burley,

Thanks for the heads up,
I might just open it up and fix so I don't have to do it again, I already re-sealed it but opening it now and fixing will be faster than doing the whole removal process over.

JB Qwik, is that the same as JB weld?

TIA..

 

JB Weld takes 24 hours to cure, is much stronger, and has a temp rating of 800 degrees. JB Qwik cures in 4 minutes, and has a temp rating of 400 degrees.

I use JB Weld on most mounting, but for a bezel, qwik is great. Its still pretty damn rock solid, just not as sturdy as the regular.

 

Thanks Burley, I went to the depot during lunch and picked up a Quik.
Thanks for the info.
Gonna add a bit of that to the bezel when I get home tonight...
Only have to reopen one light thank god.

 

Geeze, all of these threads about the Joey Mod are dangerous! Looks like as soon as I get the $$ for the '05+ projectors I will be tearing them apart! Oh the money that these cars eat!

-Chase

 

I finally got my first headlight open last night, what a pain in the ***! Only took 6hrs over three nights! Should be done by the weekend, pics to follow soon.

 

True... Honestly your going to really like having those lights, big difference.
And once you have them all you need to do is buy paint/primer/sand paper.
So this mod is really on the low end of the spectrum
The car sure eats up a good chunk of change though!


Nice,
I had to re-open one of mine last night again.
Take Burleys que, anything breaks hit it with some JB QUIK
Lookin' forward to checkin out your pics.

 

Since we're on the subject.
I am putting the lights back on tomorrow.
Waiting for the Rings Clearcoat to fully dry.

Once there back on, what is the proper alignment for the beams?

Pics would be great as well...

 

Will do, hoping to have it finished by Sunday. Need to stop by my friend's shop on Saturday to use their paint booth since it's too cold out to paint in my garage. I'm going with a satin black finish, but will leave the rings chrome for now. Might go body color once I change out my stripes next year, but who knows, I change my mind every day when it comes to that. What day are you hitting Helix for the RMW tune? I'll be stopping by Saturday morning to check out the action & meet Jan.

 

Nice.
That's pretty tight you can paint em up in a booth.
I painted in my garage
Only really had trouble with the Rings!
The lights look great.
I will post pictures once they are back on the whip!
I'm at Helix on Thursday, Man I can't wait.
And when I leave there.....I will look like the whole way home...
Haven't been to Illadelphia in a while, Will have to grab a REAL CheeseSteak before the ride home!

 

When I first read about the Joey Mod, Many people said, "Yeah, easy... takes 5 min." I was pretty eager to get started. When I baked my '03 Xenon headlights, it was a different story. It took an hour per light just to pry the lenses off. And afterwards the housings were warped from prying. I baked at high temps, and the damn housing melted before that cement glue they use.

I bough some 05 xenons (for parts), and when I put those in the oven, I started at 2 minutes @ 150 degrees. I pulled those lenses off w/ my bare hands... Cake. When I put them back together, I didn't even use the oven.

They used a different glue in the 03 than in the 05. You can tell by finding some on the tabs of on the underside edge, before removing the lens, and press the glue w/ your fingernail. If its hard, then good luck. The easier glue will sink in like play-dough.