I have been brain-storming with a couple of buddies and after reviewing Laosifu's DIY, we came up with an alternative that I wanted to run by this forum for input.

Rather then baking it, what do you guys think about using a heat gun?

We are going to try that route. As a matter of fact I am having some other work done by my body shop sometime early next week. I am just waiting for a part to come in that might come as early as today or Monday.

I purchased the CLEAR headlight reflector with the LED from Ares. Now I know that it isn't suppose to arrive until the end of February. I am going to be installing a grill and clear side reflectors, as well as some other things involving removing the bumper and headlights. So it is the perfect opportunity to try this headlight reflector removal. As far as I see it I can't just remove the orange reflector, because I will just have a hole there.

So I need some suggestions as to what I can put in its, or how to cover it; basically what can I put there.

Big Al what did you do?
Blue Batmobile, you might have some sort of material I can use?
Ares, is there something you are aware of that I can put in front of one of your LED's? Or would one of your double LED's be ok just exposed like that?

Unless I can come up with a cleaner way, I am looking to do something temperary until that thing I ordered from Ares comes in because it sounds like that would be cleaner.

Help me out guys with some input, because I definately going to put together a detailed DIY guide with lots of pics.

Also I haven't had a chance to order silver or ultra white bulbs for the headlight and would appreciate any suggestions for that as well. Preferrably something local (near Los Angeles), so I could get that by Monday or Tuesday.

My end goal is to have the ultra white bulb and the relector strip light up which should look awesome. IMO between those lights, having LED's in the side reflector om my bumper would just be overkill?

Help me out, all suggestions would be greatly appreciated?

 

the LEDs can be exposed, of course not really exposed, they would still be in the housing, just visible. however the way the bulb is oriented, without a lens to sort of refract the light, you wont get much light from there.

you could try a dremel and prismatic lens, that was my first thought, but kept getting stuck at the how do you lay a curved thing flat. you could spend hours cutting 20peices out till you get one that fits right. and it is a different texture material.

as for the heat gun, others have tried it, not sure about on the Z, but in general. it works but the risk of warping the light in some way is greater. from what I understand the best setup is baking, and then heat gun to keep it loose.

if your only opening the headlight to do the amber strip, Id reccomend waiting till the parts come back in. itd be a pain to have to do it twice. Ill know a more exact date next week, but shouldnt be more than 3weeks.

 

This might sound like a stupid question but Ares, Can you list all of the places we can use the LED's you offer? And in your opinion the best place toget white or silver bulbs for the headlights.

Thanks for your time.

 

I agree with Ares... Using the heating will take 10x longer. Also wait til you get everything from Ares and then do it. It will be a pain to do it twice.. Also make sure you reseal it correctly or else you will get condensation in the headlights and it will look terrible and it will make your bulbs blow faster. Especially the HIDs...

If you are scaried about the headlights fogging up you can mail them to me and I can do it for you and insert the clear lens from Ares... I guarantee that they will not fog up or else I will do redo them for free.. So far no one has complained about condensation...

 

the 168/194 fit parking lights, corner light, liscense plate lights, and trunk light.

what isnt 168 is 7440 and thatd be tail light, turn signals, and back up light.

interior dome light is the festoon bulbs.

all thats left for me to make is the 7440 bulbs, though Im still waiting on the parts before I can sell the festoon bulbs.

I have not ever purchased super white bulbs, I have heard bad things about the silverstars I think theyre called... even though they are from a high end manufacturer.

if it were me... Id hit up webiteks. he has housings and HID for sale. problem is the housings are fogged. but since your opening them anyway, you can reseal them properly, or have zipps do it for you.

 

thanks for the input, I am going to give it some thought but I am going to wait for the stuff form Ares because the one thing I am certain of, I definately don't want to do this twice.

Ares also I am going to order some more LED's so I have to decide how many and the best thing would be to do it all in one shippment when this part is ready in a few weeks.

Thanks again.

By the way Mr. Zippo, where are you located?

 

Im located in NJ but you can mail me the headlights. It can take as short as 3 days if you have it overnighted both way... The day I receive the headlights I do them and ship them out the next day. Its very quick process...

Thanks
Dan

 

Hey zipps, where in NJ are u located? i ordered the strips and think I can get them done, but I'm still having second thoughts on someone else doing them...

 

Sm069 -- Im in Kearny 07032 its about 10 to 15 mins from NYC...

 

o thats pretty close to me, im in Wayne which is right next to Paterson if u dont know where wayne is. when i get my strips ill let u know if i think i can do em or not

 

Heat gun will take more time and be harder to do, trust me, i've done them both ways, using a heat gun, blow dryer (heatgun overheated, go figure) and on my third set of lights we used the oven method, it was so much easier, especially when it comes to resealing the headlight.

 

Yeah I know exactly where that is. Its like a 30 min ride... K let me know and we can set up a time and date...

 

What temperature and for how long do you recommend as far as removal?

 

i believe it was around 200 degrees, for about 10-12 minutes. Just make sure you put it on a cookie sheet or flat pan lined with tin foil. And make sure the headlight doesn't touch any part of oven or it will melt.

 

Thanks but I am really on the fence about doing it my or just sending them to Mr. Zipps.

By the way, Mr. Zipps, what is the zip we will be sending the lights, so I can figure out what overnight postagbe will cost?

 

also from what I read on another forum, lay the headlight on a wet towel.

 

My zipcode is 07032..

 

heres some info with using the heat gun method:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=61841

 

Hi Dan,
Do we just unscrew the four screws to remove the headlight unit from the fender, and disconnect the wiring harness from wheelwell area, then send you the unit?
Or should we also undo the wires within the headlight assemblies prior to sending it out?

I am reading the DIY procedure:
headlights.doc found in the middle of the URL
I am not sure how much of headlight unit should be stripped prior to sending it to you?
Thanks,
Mickey

 

Excellent question Mickey... Once you disconnect the harness that connects the headlights to the car. You can leave all the bulbs in and the harness if you would like but they ONLY THING YOU SHOULD REMOVE IS THE HID BULB. The HID bulbs are fragile and expenisive and it can break in the delivery process and I don't want to be responsible for it. If you take the bulbs, harness and ballastic out it will be cheaper on delivery. It is not difficult to take the harness off just start with the HID balastic (metal box) and it should be fairly easy from there...

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask...

Thanks
Dan