New nose headlight buckets

[metros]

Anybody have them installed yet? Tips and tricks?

[07FIREBLADE]

Waiting for lenses before I install mine.

[Frank818]

Lenses are BOed.

[metros]

I wouldn't bother waiting as those can be installed after everything else.

[07FIREBLADE]

Ya I know that they can be installed afterward but its so pointless for me to install the headlights and not drive the care because of lenses. Im not risking a rock taking out my projectors. I might just install them with screws and save the silicone seal for when the lenses go one for final install after paint.

[metros]

Thoughts on how well paint is going to stick to the plexi lenses? Trying to decide if I get the trim painted professionally or do some vinyl.

[redfogo]

Have people actually gotten this stuff yet? I got my C kit in November and still no glass or lights...

[jcpresto]

I have received everything for my C kit except for rear hatch glass, handle mounts, and lens. But I just got the glass last week.

[07FIREBLADE]

The lenses are held in place with 3m double side paint. I think it will be fine or you could use some buytl glue. I think it will hold up fine just prep the surfaces and make sure everything is clean prior to application.

[metros]

I'm more concerned with paint sticking to the lens, not the lens to car.

[07FIREBLADE]

There are the aluminum trim rings remember so even if you get paint to stick to the lense it would be covered. If the paint is fully cured prior to install I don't think paint transfer is a concern.

[metros]

I didn't anticipate a trim ring to go around the outside of the lense. I thought that was painted on.

[UnhipPopano]

My reading of the instructions is that there is an optional step where you can paint the inside contact area "If desired mask off the top of the lenses so that there is a boarder showing the same with or 1/8 inch more than the flange on the fender and paint the lens boarder. This will cover the adhesive, tape and bucket screws.". IMHO the best way to do this is with epoxy paint and a steady hand. If the paint does not have a strong adhesion to the plastic, it could come loos at the worst possible time and leave its mark on the body.

[07FIREBLADE]

I guess that's paint. My bad thought it was aluminum trim rings didn't read the manual since I don't have lenses yet to finish the install. You could get creative and use vinyl wrap to do this. Just need to be careful.

[UnhipPopano]

Here is a good instructional video on how to install something similar, but most of what is shown applies.

http://boatworkstoday.com/archives/1735

[Mechie3]

I'm not a fan of having to paint the new headlights. Seems very non serviceable and potential for poor cosmetic fit and finish.

[steno]

I used Krylon Fusion paint on another project and it worked out great! That stuff sticks to milk jugs!

[metros]

*Opens amazon app and 1-click purchases vhb tape*

Shut up and take my money.

[07FIREBLADE]

Now if I could get a one click factory five BOP going we would be in business.

[taco20]

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Got my headlamps test fitted. Much easier setup the old lights. I am going to use 1/8" rivets to hold together instead of bolts provided to pull gaps closed.

[metros]

Great pictures!

[07FIREBLADE]

You beat me to it. But I'm switching out the LEDs from ffr for some replacements that I've found also giving my buckets a nicer finish when I'm done with it. I like your rivet idea and might copy it but for now since I don't have lenses I'm going with some #10 screws to hold everything in place.

http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu293/deathpanda949/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-03/C56CC87D-65E6-453D-A353-F322A047A871.jpg (http://s657.photobucket.com/user/deathpanda949/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-03/C56CC87D-65E6-453D-A353-F322A047A871.jpg.html)

[metros]

I bought those same leds. I'd like to see how you're wiring them for a tidy solution, especially given your employer :)

[UnhipPopano]

Is the double sided tape strong enough to hold the buckets to the body? Both rivets and screws would require that the lens be removed in order to replace burned out LEDs. The tape and perhaps additional Silicon would make the task easier, assuming the fenders are made to be removable. The headlight buckets do not look to weigh very much and neither do the small LEDs. Would the "Halo Projector Headlights" weigh too much to make this possible? Is there another way to attach the buckets from the back?

[Frank818]

Fireblade, how did you get rid of the seams on the fenders?

Metros, what LEDs? Fireblade doesn't show pix of them.

[metros]

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-wired-bolts/bolt-beam-12mm-led-light/1494/

Check these out

[07FIREBLADE]

A lot of work... but i started with some masking tape and put that on both sides on the seams. Next I sanded down the seam first with a dremel then blocked out the rest. After I just blocked the remainder of the seam after my initial trim down with no tape on the fenders. Metro you gave my leds out away but its alright. I would rivet or bolt the buckets to the fender that way it is secure I wouldn't trust silicone and tape only. The projector puts a significant amount of stress on the buckets and does weight a decent amount.

[UnhipPopano]

Has any one tried to use a cabinet scraper to take the seams down?

[07FIREBLADE]

Took me about a good weekend to get the fenders to where they are at. It's just very time consuming and boring work. Nothing to difficult to do.

[UnhipPopano]

If you know how to use a cabinet scraper you can save yourself a lot of time and effort over sanding. In addition, you make a lot less of a mess. The cabinet scraper produces thin shavings rather than dust. Also, I hope that if you are sanding fiberglass, that you use a respirator.

[Frank818]

If you rivet the buckets and you need to remove the buckets later you have to drill all the time, more serviceable with bolts but bolts make a bigger hole and it looks like the inner border is not very large, seems to fit anyway.

[UnhipPopano]

If you drill out the rivets, how do you keep from not drilling into the lens? If you remove the lens and then drill out the rivets, how do you clean the silicone and tape off the lens?

[gwarden]

If you drill out the rivets, how do you keep from not drilling into the lens? If you remove the lens and then drill out the rivets, how do you clean the silicone and tape off the lens?

If you use bolts you ill still have to remove the lens

[07FIREBLADE]

No matter what you do you have to remove the lenses unless you want exposed screws. Personally not my taste I'm going to paint and bolt the buckets in place. To remove the silicone and tape residue you could simply rub it off with your hands and use goo gone or some other adhesive remover.

[UnhipPopano]

If you use bolts, what kind of access do you have once the front end is together and should you rivnut the aluminum panels?

[Frank818]

If you use bolts, what kind of access do you have once the front end is together and should you rivnut the aluminum panels?

Welcome to the design factory. :)
You gotta do it the right way and gotta think before you start doing it. I'll be going again through these steps in the next months, for the buckets and lenses.

[jceckard]

Is it possible to use studs in the fender pointing down and slip the bucket on from underneath and attach with some nuts? The glass-in studs may be too big but you may be able to trim them down enough to fit and glue in. Or may the weld in studs are low profile enough to glue in from the top. There's also the PEM studs (press in) but I doubt the fiberglass is thick enough for those to work. I can't remember the name of the glue that I'm thinking of. The stuff that a number of people on here have used to glue hood hinges to roadster hoods as such. The trick of coarse is lining up all the studs so that the bucket can go on easy. If it works, you wouldn't have to remove the cover to get to your fastener. The cover could be put on over top of the stud bases and no one would ever know they're there. Just a thought.

[Mechie3]

I don' think you can press pems into fiberglass, but you could probably get a wide base version and glue it in. I think you're thinking of 3M panel bond.

[Mechie3]

Almost forgot, my new front end is showing up Monday and the Harley/Vman style rear bumper showed up Wednesday.

:D

[Mechie3]

I had a thought this morning.

I have a daytona prototype front end (splitter and bumper/hood) in my garage. They have female threaded receptacles bonded into the fiberglass and then screws going through lense into these receptacles. For all intents and purposes they're like 8-32 rivnuts in fiberglass. The lenses then have a painted stripe around them and they use black scerws. From a distance they're not visible but up close they are. If you're going for a "because racecar" look these would work well. Rivet the bucket to the body and then insert small pems into the fender and bolt on the lense.

For those wanting a more oem look you could make some strips with pem studs pressed into them. These would fit on top of the lip in the fender and be bonded (or riveted) to the fender. The studs stick down into the car so the buckets can be bolted on with nuts and alternatively removed. The headlight lenses would get bonded in place permanently and the outside painted to hide the strips underneath.

[taco20]

529635296452965
Got my lights working this weekend. LEDs are nice and bright. Don't like yellow headlamp light so will be upgrading to better bulb.
High beam is same bulb just something changing inside lamp assembly.

[Frank818]

Looks cool! Those 4 LED bulbs aren't FFR's, right?

Yeah get rid of that yellow headlamp. :) Let us know what you find, I'm looking for blueish tint (zenon color imitation).

[taco20]

Looks cool! Those 4 LED bulbs aren't FFR's, right?

Yeah get rid of that yellow headlamp. :) Let us know what you find, I'm looking for blueish tint (zenon color imitation).

Yes all the bulbs are from FFR. 52995
That is the headlamp bulb that is being used. I am sure a LED or Zenon light can be found to work.

[metros]

Pics of wiring?

[07FIREBLADE]

http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu293/deathpanda949/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-04/56550D0E-AF2A-4F8D-B8E2-360459DBB07C.jpg (http://s657.photobucket.com/user/deathpanda949/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-04/56550D0E-AF2A-4F8D-B8E2-360459DBB07C.jpg.html)
http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu293/deathpanda949/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-04/F29630E0-BDF2-4055-B05D-3F18E18F3AFC.jpg (http://s657.photobucket.com/user/deathpanda949/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-04/F29630E0-BDF2-4055-B05D-3F18E18F3AFC.jpg.html)

Testing my setup this weekend. Finishing up my harness this weekend and installing them. I already have a H9 hid kit ready to go so no nasty yellow light from the main projector.

[Frank818]

Awesome! Can't wait to see the result. Plz let us know once you can.

[metros]

That harness is perfect.

[07FIREBLADE]

Thought about running the headlight connectors through the same plug but decided against it. I also made two different harness setups to test out what I liked. I prefer this one compared to my other headlight essentially the same just routing was different. I wanted to figure out how best to make the connectors if a customer wanted to send in their headlight buckets during the build process. I have a h9 hid kit already waiting to go in this bad boy. Wells its the same kit that was in my old setup just with the correct bulbs. Should be way brighter and match the rest of my lighting

[UnhipPopano]

If one of the LEDs burn out, how do you replace it?

[07FIREBLADE]

Same way unfortunately you would for the ffr setup. Take the headlight lense apart and pull the led. De-pin the connector and re-pin the new led. I've already benched tested my LEDs though any they've all survive a few hours of continual usage to this point. Also they are not the multi faceted ffr ones where individual LEDs could burn out in the assembly.

[UnhipPopano]

Could a base such as a "T1-3/4 Wedge Base Socket - Wired" be used? It would make changing the bulb much easier.

[07FIREBLADE]

If you could get it to fit of course it could be wired. I thought about doing that but a price for a replacement buckets turned me off from the idea. That's why I went this route. A better light to begin with IMO

[Frank818]

For LED replacement I thought I could do it from underneath, remove the bucket and pull the LED out, not touching the lense.


As for H9 projector bulb LED replacement, it's hard to find a proper match, not all sellers tell the lumens, I think for a headlight you need around 3000lumens. Hard to see of a 30W LED would do the job or a 10W, or whatever.

[UnhipPopano]

It looks like there are a number of Bayonet based sockets out there, that are reasonably priced, along with reasonably priced bulbs that would allow the bulbs to be replaced without removing the bucket. I was able to find parts for both Twist lock and push in style on line from a number of sources that would make the conversion around $160 for both headlights. [Example, 1156 Ba 15s base $3.49, Luved 5X 1156 White bulb $11.99, JDM ASTAR AX-2835 1156 Amber $14.99]

[Mechie3]

The PEM studs I ordered came in yesterday and my parents left this morning so I should have some time to actually look at my parts now. Going to see what can be done to make the lens permanent but allow the bucket to drop out from behind.

[6t8dart]

The PEM studs I ordered came in yesterday and my parents left this morning so I should have some time to actually look at my parts now. Going to see what can be done to make the lens permanent but allow the bucket to drop out from behind.

Are you still hiding car parts from your parents? ;)

[Mechie3]

Are you still hiding car parts from your parents? ;)

Yes.... :o


(they actually were home when the new front end was delivered so that worked out well since they needed a signature).

[Frank818]

Fireblade, how did you push the headlamp that far into the bucket? When I test fitted it the top corner of the headlamp assembly hits on the bucket and I can't fit it that far.

[07FIREBLADE]

You have to cutoff one of the ears off the projector. A little nerve raking but manageable if you take your time. It's plastic and metal. I used a deemed with a cutoff wheel and then worked everything by hand once I got the fitment I wanted.

[Frank818]

In other words, the usual plug&play the manual doesn't say about. :)

[07FIREBLADE]

Definitely. It's a coaster for me

[Coolspot]

In other words, the usual plug&play the manual doesn't say about. :)
In fact it does, Page 39 on the revision 1P of the manual:
53367

[Frank818]

I feel bad, looks like I skipped that page when I printed the P version. I printed only the new nose pages but missed this one. :( So many errors I committed with this build.

[taco20]

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I got the lights installed and mounted. I went with double sided tape and long rivets to hold everything together. Had to sand down lenses to fit the fenders.
I recessed the rivets into the lenses for a smooth finish. I cracked both lenses either with tightening the rivets or drilling the lenses. Hoping to cover most of the cracks with the vinyl strip I plan to add to the outside.
The lenses don't fit flat so if you want to use double sided tape I would get real thick foam to make up for not being flat. I used thin body shop 3m tape and and it didn't hit the lenses all the way around.
I also used the double sided tape on the buckets to seal it against the fender instead of silicone.

[Mechie3]

Man...I'm liking this front end more and more (look wise).

[Hindsight]

Man...I'm liking this front end more and more (look wise).

Get that thing on the road first ;)

[Mechie3]

I have the new front end. It's upstairs in a spare bedroom still wrapped up. I was going to work on the car yesterday. Ended up couch surfing all day after throwing up in the early morning. :/

[metros]

Taco, I like the idea of using tape to seal the bucket instead of silicone. Riveting the lens in place looks good, too bad about the cracking.

[taco20]

Taco, I like the idea of using tape to seal the bucket instead of silicone. Riveting the lens in place looks good, too bad about the cracking.

If the lens fit flat cracking wouldn't be an issue. Using a hand riveter helped. Making the hole in the lens wasn't bad but recessing the rivet was fun since lens melted while drilling.
I had to find real long rivets to reach through all three parts. The vinyl should cover most of the cracks.

[07FIREBLADE]

Using a heat gun on low setting and being careful you can tweak the fitment of the lense. Tape is also recommended to hold the lenses down to the fender. Talked to tony at the show about them.

[Frank818]

Those are HIDs?