Do it yourself JDMS : ) - Honda Prelude Forum

neoekai · 04-11-2002, 10:27 PM

For pics go here

Ok, here are the directions part one, which is the headlights. I've been trying to make alittle money on the side by doing this for other people ( preludes, accords) I have gotten many emails expressing interest but it doesn't really seem like anyone is going to follow through. But if anyone still wants me to do this for them, emai me at ekaiekai@hotmail.com

Things you need:

heat gun
primer
high temp paint
clear coat
screwdriver
-guts to take apart you oem headlight..hahahahahah

I am assuming you guys know how to remove the front bumper and take the headlights out.

once you have the headlight assembly you have to remove the corner light and then the headlight. After you do this you need to heat where the glass and plastic parts meet with the heat gun. You must be patience with this. I started at the bottom and slowly heated it, stuck a screwdriver in between the plastic and glass and then slowly sperated the glass and plastic.

Once you have taken the headlight apart, you must mask it very well. Remember to primer and if u wan, lightly sand the surface

neoekai · 04-11-2002, 10:32 PM

i also painted the other part of the headlight too, so i masked this up. Remember to mask anything that you do not want to be painted,

I used the high temp paint and a clear coat, The hight temp paint was really dull but the clear coat made it look alot nicer.

here is a pic of the inside painted, this was my 'test' headlight and it turned out too dull on the inside, i ended up opening it back up again to paint it with a clear coat,

neoekai · 04-11-2002, 10:40 PM

as you can see it's pretty dull in there, I ended up opening the light up again and spraying a clear coat.

When masking i ran into a huge problem:
This is what happened , after spraying a couple of coats and then a clear coat, when i removed the making tape, it left a horrible residue, you know that stuff that stickers and other adhesives leave behind sometimes..... Well that ended up all over the headlight, I was a bit@h getting all that sticky stuff off. I ended up spending an hour srucbbing and not making much of an improvment, I that i had really messed up my headlight at that point untill............. my gf when out and got some "goo gone" This stuff is a citrus based cleaner which removed the tape reside very easily

THis basically saved my @ss. After messing with the stuff i realized that the longer you let the paint sit with the tape, the more residue it will leave

After you let the paint dry, rehead the glue on the headlgihts and then stick it back together.

prelude2005 · 04-11-2002, 10:55 PM

WOW NICE WRITE UP!!!!

FAQ THIS PLEASE!!!

Prelude2War · 04-11-2002, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by prelude2005
WOW NICE WRITE UP!!!!

FAQ THIS PLEASE!!!

no

faq'd

neoekai · 04-12-2002, 08:43 AM

Yea

Faq'd, hhahah anyways let me finish the how-to.

Corner Lights

Things you'll need
2 sets of cornerlights
"goop" or somekind of glue to reseal the light
model paint or suffer from more masking

The cornerlight were really difficult because stanely used a different kind of glue. For those of you who have taken apart your taillights or headlights, you will notices that it is realativly easy, just heat and pull. But for the cornerlights it isn't very obvious what to do. I went through three sets of corner lights to make one pair, the first ones i messed up pretty bad.

Ok taking apart the cornerlight. The reason we need 2 corner lights is because you need 2 peices, the lens and the housing, but in order to get the lens and the housing apart you end up messing up the housing (deforming it with the heat gun)

You will use the head gun again. What you want to do is head around the entire thing, keep on heating until the plastic on the back gets soo hot that its starts to change color. You will have to be very careful not to heat the lens because it will turn white if it gets too hot and when you paint the lens, the white part will still show up. After heating do not start to pry, this is where i messed up, chipping the lens a coulpe of times. Wait for the lens to cool Once it has cooled you can start cafefully
prying. If you exert too much pressure, it will crack. This took me a coulpe of lights and fustration to figure out how to take this apart.

Now if you didn't ruin the housing from the heating, you're more skilled than me.

well if you deformed it you should get the other pair and just break the lens off....

after you have taken apart the lens, you can paint the housing black. I dunno if you really need to do this but i did. For the lens, i used model paint to paint it.

heres a pic of me just messing around, you can see the crack lens,

this isn't the lens i used, it was a test peice, the lens was really foggy for some reason.... it was like that before i took it apart ( it was from my friend who got jdms)

here's a pic with out the diffusor, just so you can see what it looks like

To put it back together, i used this clear glue called 'goop' if you have something better to use,i would use that but i think it works pretty well, I put alot around the edges and stuck the light back together, becarefull because it can get messy, Also i realized that this glue will turn a bit 'whiteish' if you keep on agitatiting it, When i frist stuck it toghter there were some glue spots so i took it apart bad idea Stick it together once, and just let it dry.

I will upload more picstures this sunday for this write up.

Mark94 · 04-12-2002, 08:55 AM

It actually looks good in that last pic. Very nice job!

Nice alternative to those who don't want to spend the money on JDM's.

Mark

redpreludevtec9 · 04-12-2002, 11:23 AM

i took apart one of my corner lites. big accomplishment for me. a part of the chrome part is all dull from the heat gun but that shouldnt matter right? did you paint your whole corner lite black?

neoekai · 04-12-2002, 12:18 PM

Quote:

i took apart one of my corner lites. big accomplishment for me. a part of the chrome part is all dull from the heat gun but that shouldnt matter right? did you paint your whole corner lite black?

Yup, that's what happened to me too, the chrome got dull. Yea, i painted the housing part black with high temp paint

redpreludevtec9 · 04-12-2002, 06:16 PM

i broke both of my lenses and my passenger side is screwed. do you have any extra lenses you dont need and a passenger side backing for the corner lites? im willing to pay for them if you dont need them. just dont charge to much and ill pay for shipping.

neoekai · 04-12-2002, 10:03 PM

Quote:

i broke both of my lenses and my passenger side is screwed. do you have any extra lenses you dont need and a passenger side backing for the corner lites? im willing to pay for them if you dont need them. just dont charge to much and ill pay for shipping.

Sorry man, i don't....i went through 3 sets to make one....the only thing i can think of is ebay....Remember you have to heat it really well, let it cool and then slowly start prying.... if it doesn't give, stop and reheat, cool and then try again, its a slow tedious process

redpreludevtec9 · 04-12-2002, 10:14 PM

aight thanx. i just dont wanna screw up my euro ones i have right now b/c i spent $25 on them. does anyone have extra corner lites they dont need?

prelude2005 · 04-12-2002, 10:20 PM

can you take nite pictures with the lights on? i wanna see how the corners look like at nite...thanks dude

neoekai · 04-12-2002, 10:41 PM

i'll try getting some pics tomorrow night,

I went through 2 stocks and one euro.... If i did it now i might be able to do it in 1, definally 2 sets.....

redpreludevtec9 · 04-12-2002, 10:53 PM

how much would you charge if i send you a set of my euros?

Jape · 04-13-2002, 03:31 AM

I'm still extremely happy with my JDM's .. w00t!

neoekai · 04-13-2002, 09:09 AM

Quote:

how much would you charge if i send you a set of my euros?

If you just wanted me to take them apart, i'll do it for free but you pay for shipping of course.

JDMPower · 04-14-2002, 12:36 PM

Do you have the full combat body kit?? I'm gonna get the same kit that you have but I was wondering if it hangs low?? I'm stuck with my stock 15's for awhile and I dont' want any wheel gap. Are you on stock rims or 16s,17,18s?? How high is it from the ground all around. thanks.

red92s · 04-14-2002, 12:46 PM

Couldnt you just use like a dremel tool to remove the lens of the corner light?

neoekai · 04-14-2002, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Couldnt you just use like a dremel tool to remove the lens of the corner light?

Yea, that is a possibility. I dont have one... but you have to make sure you cut it really clean