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G4 Centennial Headlight Mod.. How To Inside...56k No

79K views 162 replies 67 participants last post by  mikeluscher159 
#1 ·
Hey guys today i spent a good part of the day making my headlights look like centennial edition headlights on the 2000 taurus. i took a lot of pictures and am gunna tell you guys how to do it step by step.. Here it goes


Tools:
Oven at 300 degrees
Oven mitt
Towel
Baking sheet razor knife
Silicone
Flat head screw driver
# 10 torq bit.
5/16 socket
Semi Gloss Black spray paint
Masking tape
Gold Scuff pad


Before


First start by removing the headlight. Pull up on the two tabs on each side of the light and release the headlight along with remove two bolts from one side of both headlights with a 5/16 socket. un clip your harness from each light and remove headlight from vehicle.


Next take each headlight and remove bulbs, harnesses, rubber gaskets from each headlight.


Now go and heat your oven to 300 degrees with a cooking sheet pan in the oven.


while the oven is heating take a razor knife and cut the sealant around the headlight so once its heated its easier to pull apart

Once your oven is up to temp place the headlight in the oven with the bottom of the headlight rest on the pan.. Allow the light to sit in the oven for 5-8 minutes.

Remove the headlight from the oven with a oven mitt and place a towel over you so you dont burn yourself.
begine to pry at the headlight with a flat head screw driver along the edges.. i had to bend the one lip up so i could get the screw driver in the light housing.. pry all along the light to loosen the lens up. Also release the tabs holding the lens in. once you get a side up try to get you fingers in there and pull like all heck and get that lens off of the housing.. its a pain in the butt.


Now that you have the lens off your gunna need to take your # 10 torq bit and unbolt the chrome housing from the lens. You'll notice the headlight bulb chrome housing stays with the backing of the headlight.. Also remove the side marker by pushing them out from the back side


Now scuff them with gold scuff pad and wash them down with light soap and water.. get them nice and clean.

Now mask off the turn signal with masking tape. kinda hard to tell you excetly where to mask but you can see in the pictures.



Heres the fun part.. Grab your semi gloss (low gloss) paint and spray the housings black..Allow them to dry for the time the can says..


Now while they are drying clean off the old glue with a razor knife and test fit the lens to make sure it fits back together nicely



Once dry reassemble the housing to the lens with the torq bits you took out alogn with the side marker



Put silicone in the groove on the black housing and place the lens onto the housing and clip the tabs and lens into place. run a bead of silicone along the out side edge of the headlight and smooth with your finger. i then took masking tape and taped them tight together and had myself and my girlfriend hold them tightly for 20 mins till the silicone got firm..


After and hour i reassabled the headlights by installing the bulbs (h.i.d's in my case), all the harnesses and ruber gaskets just like before when i took them out


next i reconnected everything.. slide the tabs down and bolted the lights back in and i was done. stepped back and took a look at my work. then tested al lthe lights to make sure they all worked again.. done


Finsihed product.. More pics are in my myspace album www.myspace.com/a23dranger









 
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#2 ·
more finshed product pictures











 
#5 ·
Looks good, you really did a good job - however you should've done a clear corner effect on them while you had them apart :)
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i was going to but there would have been a recessed part on the light where the marker lens goes.. i tryed it and didn't like it that much.. to each is to there own.. least people can know how to take that lens out now to get that clear corner effect


and btw i plan to get some daylight pictures tomorrow... i started this at 4 and got done around 9 so all i could get where night pics..
 
#8 ·
How much do you charge? B)

I would totally send you a pair to do :thumb:
 
#9 ·
Interesting approach. They look good :thumb:


Although I must say, when I saw the title, I thought someone ACTUALLY painted over their headlights...I was trying to figure out why.
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haha... i didn't know how else to list it.. but it got your attention ... lol..

How much do you charge? B)

I would totally send you a pair to do :thumb:
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how much you wanna pay.. haha.. haven't thought about production yet.. haha..
thanks guys.. i think they came out great and for $15 you cant beat it..
 
#12 ·
wow i guess we can open any headlight that way

one off mine is giving me a dimmer reflection

maybe dirt or some other thing in my disco ball
 
#13 ·
Since your headlamps were chrome and now black (except for the back reflector)...do you see a difference in lighting? Has it gone down? :dunno:
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?
 
#14 ·
i haven't seen a difference in lighting other then it seems the light beam is in more of a pattern the scattered like before.. i haven't noticed a difference that much but that could be from having h.i.d's to.. maybe if i had regular bulbs i could tell if there was a big difference in lighting or not..i mean i haven't really drove the car yet on roads other then around the block..i'll let you guys know tomorrow when i drive some back roads and such coming back from my parents house tomorrow after dinner..

later Ryan
 
#16 ·
hmm. just wondering if you used the right paint. when i look at my headlights the black is very glossy, almost like the chrome. the pics might be makin it look different but it doesnt look glossy. do the headlights still shine the same? other than that it looks good, now u just need to paint the car black and add centennial rims and badges and nobody will no from the outside.
 
#17 ·
hmm. just wondering if you used the right paint. when i look at my headlights the black is very glossy, almost like the chrome. the pics might be makin it look different but it doesnt look glossy. do the headlights still shine the same? other than that it looks good, now u just need to paint the car black and add centennial rims and badges and nobody will no from the outside.
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they are slightly gloassy.. i got a lower gloss paint.. i knew flat black would be way to dull and i wasn't sure if a gloss black would be too glossy. so i went with a satin-semi gloss black.. so it's not shiny but its no dull ethier..

they seem to shine the same so far.. i have to see tonight when i do some driving.. i really didn't drive the car last night other then round the block so i cant say for sure if they lighting changed.. i'll let you guys know tonight
 
#19 ·
ricey of course but im curious what it would look like if they were painted body colour instead of black.

and as for the question about if light output has gone down, no it shouldnt because he painted the chrome parts that wasnt part of the light reflector parabola. light out put will stay the same.
 
#20 ·
here are some daytime pictures along with my gti
















ricey of course but im curious what it would look like if they were painted body colour instead of black.

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they might not look to bad.. some of the ranger guys over at www.rangerpowersports.com have color macthed their headlights to the trucks color and it dont look to bad but on some it does.. it depends on the color
 
#23 ·
yeah body colored would be cool, especially on a blue one or something. On a silver car, idk if it would be worth it since silver is almost the same as crome.
 
#25 ·
Is this legal for like reflectivity? If it is legal, I may jump in the taurus and head to the junkyard and get a set.

What temperature for baking?

If I can get some sets of headlights and figure out how to do this, I'm going to try for a black and TRed set of headlights.
 
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