Headlight Mod

[G_Bo32]

I need to get a passenger glass headlight so i can finish mine

[dhrubio]

looks good 2extreme, i dont know if you ever saw 'disrupter's sig on 3si but ur headlight mod definitely looks like its on its way to it, im really close to taking off that green plastic cover inside like you did, and then leaving a strip of green paint on the outside like disrupter has on his sig, i noticed u dont have ur outsides painted tho, or even if u like what im talking about lol anyways it came out really good!

[Atomicornpuffs]

Hi. This is my first post so bear with me. I have a 98' 3000GT SL and I've been looking at that beautiful job you did on your headlights on your 94'. I have a few questions about my driver's side headlight, that it looks to have either a clearcoat mishap when being created, or otherwise the seal was not very good when the "Lexan" piece was sealed onto the main body of the headlight assembly. I was wondering first off, what this could have possibly been to create this "bubble of air" or whatever it was to discolor my headlight, as well as to how hard it would be and what would need to be done to get roughly the look of X2Xtreme360's headlights. I wanted to do something like this before I even bought the car, so I was just wondering how you'd have approach this for a 98' GT. Thanks for any help in this process. Here's some pictures of the problem I was talking about as well as a pic of my GT. Hope someone can help.

[AutostradaVR4]

thats weird. is it rough to the touch? looks like it was sanded or something.

anyways, yea, like stealthee said, try and get your hands on some 94 headlights.

[Atomicornpuffs]

I don't believe it's been sanded. I went out there today to go look at it really close and was just wondering about it. So apparent if I don't have the 94' headlights, it's not created with the glass seal as opposed to the 95' and newer which have the "Lexan Plastic" I presume. And from what I know of the 95' and newer, the paint is right on the inner part of the plastic seal, unless I'm mistaken. If so, could it have been that the layer of paint was not put on right for it's first coat? As well as my other question is, not more of whether or not it'd be easier to do the headlight mod if I had the 94' lights, but my question is, is it possible to do it with a 98' 3000GT's lights, and if so, does anyone know the steps to doing this. Thank you to anyone who can give me advice on this question of mine.

-Atomicornpuffs

[Stealthee]

Thats a common happening on all the lexan headlights. Its a clearcoat on the outside.

http://jagvr4.8m.com/hrestore.htm

Follow that link to clean that up. As for the robo mod, its not going to be anywhere near easy with the lexans. As stated the paint is directly on the inside of the lexan. If you remove the lexan cover you will see where its painted. It would tons and tons and tons of work to get it perfect to be able to pull off the robo mod. Get ahold of some 94 lights.... Like BUY MINE.

[Atomicornpuffs]

thanks for the input on Lexan lights. So if you were to do it for the lexan headlights, you take off the sealed plastic piece and inside you find the paint. So if you were to actually want to pull off the "robo" look you'd need to sand down the paint on there? could there be some sort of solvent that would just destroy the paint yet leave the plastic Lexan fine? I'm just wondering if there's a different way to approaching the situation. I'm an aspiring *hopeful* Mechanical Engineer in college and I love looking at shedding new light on a situation. haha, light, headlights...all right it was bad, but you get my point of whether or not you could use a solvent rather then spending hours sanding the inside of the plastic. I'll see if I can do anything with the 98' lights before I go and spend money on 94' lights. but we'll see what happens. ;-)

[Stealthee]

No way any kind of solvent isnt going to destroy the lexan. This is what you do. Buy a set of 94s to pull off the robo look. As soon as they are done, pop the lexans out, pop the glass ones in, and sell the lexans. BAM its done.

[Zeiss]

I did this long ago, and still love how it looks.

[AutostradaVR4]

ugh...:drool:

robo lights and victory hood...so nice...

[jeff983000gt]

hey..i have a quick question..first off let me say that is an excellent step by step write up on how to do this.but one question...when you are going to put the glass back on for re assembly..do you have to apply a new sealant or do you use what was there and it will melt itself back together while in the oven??? thanks

[Linebckr49]

no, you do NOT have to apply new sealant. you can re-use what is there. just heat it back in the oven to get the sealant soft, then put the glass back on, and put those metal clips back on too!

[Stealthee]

I used the old sealant again.

[X2Xtreme360]

I used a combo of old sealant and a tiny bit of new sealant to seal off the areas that looked open. Other than that, old sealant.

[Atomicornpuffs]

thanks for the link stealthee for getting the apparently clearcoat problem addressed. That link though I have a question about if anyone knows. The guy is saying to wet sand using 1000 grit sandpaper and continuing up to 2000 grit sandpaper, by any chance could you use a product like Nu Finish Scratch Remover to take car of this problem of stripping away the clear coat? I'm just wondering because with sandpaper this fine, it I would think would act just the same way as the microscopic ways of Nu Finish, so just if anyone has any input on that. also, does anyone have any experience with using Nu Finish car polish? is it actually as good as people say? thanks.

-Atomicornpuffs
98' Mitsubishi 3000GT SL