A local Z guy and friend of mine, Han (Nah-Z) were talking about his plans for his car. He just got a Veilside v1 lip he needed painted, and we talked about the side skirts he wanted to order up to soinish the look. He sent a pic of the car w a look he liked and i mentioned it had the blacked out lights.. gave reference to my DIY thread, and ended up offering to do them myself on the cheap fast n proper.
I was free this weekend, he was able to pull his lights out just hours later Thursday , and i had his light sin hand up here in North Scottsdale today around 10am.
I worked form home, so i spent the entire day busting out these lights.. and they turned out great.
Since i had done my own lights before, I kn ew id be able to condense the labor down considerably, with drying time my only real set back... thought id try some of the time saver tricks i had though up after the fact... it worked GREAT.. so i thought id share.

I cut small 2 inch piecs of hanger ( the crappy thin kind they give u from the dry cleaners) by bending them and holding a side w channel locks.. made for q tip sized pieces.. these were used on reassembly.. i used them as skewers to make sure the screw holes lined up on the halves.. its much easier to get the light lined up correctly this way, theres no searching thru the goo for the screw holes.. and it lends itself to a FAR FASTER reassembly and a better final product.

here's ur standard "before" pics:





(Btw he has since added some Tein S Techs for a drop... inb4someonementionsthewheelgap)
AAM angled plen spacer, Greddy TiC single, bumper tuck, 19" PIAAs, Nismo CAI, and a Cobb AP tune.
Not a bad car at all.

ANyways, this isnt a tutorial, we have 8 million of those already, this is just a " look.. its easy and CAN be done, so dont be afraid" thread.

Aside from doing several proper coats of adhesion promoter (clear primer) over the chrome, I used a good high temp engine primer and also a high temp engine paint.. i didnt want him to have issues w the bubbling people appear to have sometimes.. i never did on my own.. but i wasnt going to get into lights id have to warranty becuase of bad paint either.





So heres the lights off the car, into the kitchen, and into pieces they went, fully disassembled, each piece prepped and painted separately. To cut down tiem , i baked the paint in an oven after it was done w its full final tack at 150 degrees off and on for 10 minutes at a time... i wasnt sure exactly what the best idea for this was, so i just tried to give it a few cycles of hot n cooling to get the gasses out. It certainly didnt smell as much after the last pass, so Id say we were good.













As you can see, the semi gloss is great, the finish came out great, ( the little light flecks on the closeup are just lint pieces i didnt see form my tack cloth, and were brushed off before assembly.) ...and they look sweet. No weird mods, just blacked out, but I did also give him a spare set of clear STi lenses for free that I already had.

One thing that wasnt as noticeable before was how bad the lenses actually were.

Here's what they look like from inside up to a light:





I was able to use some simple meguiars polish on the outsides, a light cleaning on the inside and a wipedown, and then some of this UV sealant oil on the outsides to really soak in and minimize the haze.
Its not a fix, but it sure does cut down the visible issues by about 70-80% immediately. I dont know if id reccomend using it inside the lens tho.. i just used it outside.



Anyways, i think they turned out pretty great, and for one solid days down time, not a bad turn around either. I literally spent the entire day w proper tack times and coat coverages.. theres 6 million wrong ways to paint, and usually only one or two correct wawys.. i made sure not to rush the paint and the results speak for themselves.. their longevity will continue to speak for it too.






Ill come back and edit the post when he gets them installed and sends me an "after" shot.

 

great post. in 4 installed pics

 

Well done.

 

Looks great!
As with everything you do,its all about the detail and covering all the
bases/using the best materials for the project to be perfect.
Can't wait to see the finished lights.

 

Great job!

 

I love you! No homo.....

 

nice work!

 

Nice

 

Goodstuff can't wait to see them installed

 

well done

 

I really really really want to do this w/some '06 lights for my '03

 

ha!
I THOUGHT I felt a linger during that handshake. now i know why! haha


Han's going to get the roof wrapped flat black, and also ahve the center section of his VS lip done as well.. so I gave him a chunk of flat black vinyl i still had to cover his reflectors while the bumper is off.. should look simple and clean, minimizing colors and textures to give it a clean look.

##Han, just clean the reflectors good and lay it down, push it onto the reflector w your thumb and make sure to chase away air bubbles as you go.. you can wrap extra across the back of it, messy even, just to give it a good hold.. and maybe hit em w a hair dryer to seal it up.. you got enuff to practice with there. ##

 

here's the finished product:













Aaaand after a car wash :



i think they transform the car.. i love it. One day of work and bam. Blacked out refelctors too.

Mind you, he has a V1 lip and spacers waiting to go on, and spraying the grill center and the corresponding center of the lip too... all the same black in the center section.. should look dope.


I thinki his car would look great w the Nismo RS hood vents mod.. id actually like to do the same w an OEM type hood on mine too in fact.

 

did another set last week for member mike_eeeee







same deal, sti r lens and hi temp black paint... these shots are just before the final oven process.. so theres another half inch of gap on them that did of course disappear, but you get the idea.. pretty simple job.