quoted for the truth! It looks great!! Hopefully this will inspire other Halogen MINIs to take part in all the fun as well!

The club is growing Celia!! We seriously got to get a club badge or something

 

It was actually pretty easy, but taping the damn things is what took forever. I ended up just leaving the reflector in the headlight casing when I painted it.

I also didn't paint the bulb shield thing, but now that I think about it I probably could, I just wasn't sure whether the Krylon would hold up on it since its metal.

 

Awesome Vic! I am going to do my halogen lights soon, so better pics and description of the process would be appreciated!

 

Wow that looks amazing...i cant wait for another pic so I can see how that looks on the halogens because i have halogens and that what I really want to do

What method did you use to break the seal? bake or heat gun? how long did it take? Also where there any special tools need to take the chrome piece of the big lens? and also did it look like the reflector portion was held on any special way?


I think I may do mine tomorrow

 

Do it! Its actually a lot easier than you would think. I posted more pics here, but here's one that I took today:


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=1#post2030161

 

LOOKS AMAZING!!

 

Yeah I'm going to today haha

Im thinking about doing it the way Celia did and just leaving the housing attached and using a heat gun to work the sealant...my only question is how did the reflector portion look like it was attched?

Im hoping its not held on some crazy way so I dont have the take the housing out once I've already cracked it open

 

Looks GREAT! I especially like the before and after shots at the same angle. You can really see what a BIG difference it is!

 

I absolutely love your lights! Makes me wish I had xenons.

 

Ok so I did it!!!!!!

OMG it seriously is one of the best and cheapest mods (yes a little scary to crack open the lights, but what fun it was and how great it looks.

I used the heat gun method...thanks Celia












I actually really like the way it cames out on the halogens

Thank you VicSkimmr for showing how it looks on the halogens

 

Looks very nice!! Great Job! Out of curiousity, how did you prep them for paint. I am going to do the mod this week probably and that is really my only question.

 

Great job, checkercoop!!! Now we know what it looks like with the center lamp cap painted. Looks great! Have you run the lights to make sure the center cap paint doesn't have a problem with the heat? What paint did you use there? What paint did you use everywhere else? Did you scuff any of the surfaces?

I would also like to see a shot of these in direct sunlight to show even more detail, if you guys get a chance. Thanks!

 

anybody feel like helping out a newbie fellow NAM'er in the North Jersey Area??? headlights in oven = not a job for a newbie DIY'er!

anybody in norther NJ/NYC?

adam

 

on the halogen lights the entire inside IS the reflector so you can't do this mod with halogens.

 

Not to be rude....but that's not true....scroll up and check out the PW and the Red car that just posted pics. A large majority of it is the reflector...but not all of it. If you've got halogens...walk out to your car and examine the headlights. You will see that there is a good deal of stuff that might be chrome but serves no reflective purpose.

You can see in this pic the flat textured surface. This doesn't act to reflect light...especially since it's pointed sideways. This is what you would paint:

 

ahh ok I see what you mean. I thought they were talking about painting in the back also like you can on the xenons. I shoulda said the back half on the inside.

 

Yah...it's hard to explain it. That would definitely leave you pretty blind at night if you painted that. I have heard stories on other cars where someone painted the entire thing

 

Well i actually never thought about that but I just ran them twice tonight for about 15 minutes each...im not exactly sure how that center cap held up, but i guess I'll see in the morning and I think I'll run my lights in the day when going to school and see how that turns out (like a 30 minute drive)

I used the same paint for every piece...first an automotive primer and then the krylon plastic satin black (figured not to big a deal on the metal because no contact with it...but didnt think about heat)

I scuffed all the pieces (except the center lamp cap) down to the cream plastic (very easy to do) and then primed then painted


^^^ its right in this reply too, but here it is:

Just sanded down the pieces to the cream plastic (use fine sandpaper...normal roughness is too rough...very easy to do the chrome paint is cheap) then I used an automotive primer and then the krylon paint for plastic: Satin black

I say definitely go for it it is such a fun mod to do....just make sure you have a T20 star screw bit...without it you cannot do anything every piece uses this bit...i had a cheapo 1 that stripped so i had to run out and I got a black and decker one

Also if you have halogens there are 3 points on contact that can be a pain unless you find out the best way:
There is only 2 screws (attached to the same piece) that face forward after you take the lens off...I suggest this being the only 2 screws you unscrew for the reflector piece...the 2 other points of contact are best to just pop the ball joints out (their screws are one the back and the top one will still not separate even if you unscrew it...just pop it out of its joint)

 

Woohoo!! looks GREAT everyone!!

Hopefully this will encourage more people do try this mod. Its really a simple mod that costs a few bucks but rewards you much much more!

 

Yeah seriously the only real cost to me was having to buy a new star screw bit because my other one was cheap and stripped ( $6 because I had to buy a whole set)...the paint I already had from the Headlight/tailight/boot handle/tow hitch painting

 

Looks GREAT Checkercoop!!! Good photos too! See how easy it is you guys?! YEA! GO HALOGEN MINIS!

We definitely need a Joey-mod club badge or something!

 

WOW...what a difference...looks awesome

 

My thought is that it is a metal piece for a reason, mainly because it is so close to the actual lamp. The rest is plastic with a chrome coating so it must not be subject to the same temperatures than the metal shroud right next to the lamp. I was planning to use krylon satin black for the plastic parts and a high temp paint for BBQ grills for the metal shroud. I also thought with my black/red color scheme that I might do the shroud in red. Now that would be evil looking.

 

DO IT!!! It would totally flow with your theme.

 

Oooh...I like the sound of that! I think you should do it. I would LOVE to see how that turns out!