[fdriller9]

Hey guys I'm designing a custom angel eye set for my car and got some oem euro headlight housings.

I opened one up today but I didn't use heat. I just dremeled the edge where the lens sits in and then cut the adhesive on the inside. Took like 20 minutes to do.

Anyway is it ok to seal them back up like this? Or should I use heat and pry the lip up and melt the glue to remove the lens?

I mean I know I can seal them, but I'm concerned with them shifting when I'm driving. The groove for the lens provides a "seat" for the lip of the lens to sit in. I cut that off on one of the euro housings. There's still a small lip that keeps it in place but some places are a bit loose.

I'm wondering if I should do the same for my oem euro spec headlights? Anyone have any advice?

It was a really quick hack job. I really just wanted to get to the angel eye assemblies. I'm wrapping the amber covers on my car with real CF.....not vinyl. So I won't be using these euro housings at all, they're strictly for testing purposes. And for those wondering, the housings were damaged. I didn't just hack up perfectly good housings.

Also if any one has experience with fiber optic lighting please PM me. I'll be using fiber optics to run light to the rings. I need help with focusing the light source (which will be a 2000-5000 lumen LED).

Here's some pictures of how the housing looks now:

[IMG]http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/*********/100_2374.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/*********/100_2373.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i714.photobucket.com/albums/ww146/*********/100_2371.jpg[/IMG]

[qclik]

i opened mine from e92 while install AE led ring, you have to get the glue soft by heat, so they could be seal back perfectly. if you just push them back together i don't think would cause much shifting while driving, but water might get in and damage the housing. i seal back mine by throw them back to oven, let glue soft and push and tighten them together with some tape and heat up some glue that leftover and top them to area that has less glue. let them sit at least 12hr before install back to car.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by qclik

i opened mine from e92 while install AE led ring, you have to get the glue soft by heat, so they could be seal back perfectly. if you just push them back together i don't think would cause much shifting while driving, but water might get in and damage the housing. i seal back mine by throw them back to oven, let glue soft and push and tighten them together with some tape and heat up some glue that leftover and top them to area that has less glue. let them sit at least 12hr before install back to car.

Well I'm not worried about them sealing....I'm more concerned with the lens coming off.

I guess that would be an issue with sealing though. But you baked your headlights? Noone has been able to do that on here....at least I don't think they have.

I've only seen people use a heat gun and they basically melted the housing where the lens sits in and then reformed it with heat as close as possible back to its original shape.

[fdriller9]

Btw, what temp did you use and for how long did you bake them?

[yakev724]

Yeah, I would be patient and do it the right way.

Takes about 1-1.5 hours to carefully heat the 'lip' and bend it back and pry the lens off. Use a heat gun and do it a small section at a time, as neatly as possible, keeping tabs intact. Then about 2-3 hours to clean all glue out of inside of lip and off lens. Then seal them up with GE silicone and tape them up for 24hrs. This was my process. Times are per lens, so x2 for the full deal.

Once the lens is out, you can heat and reform the lip to nearly identical shape as it was originally. The material becomes very pliable at a certain temperature, then hard again once cooled.

I'll be doing this again in about a month...have something pretty cool planned for pre-LCI AHLs.

Edit: use a heat gun.

[qclik]

200f 15min, the reason i use oven is that it would keep a constant 200f tempt, that can't be achieve with heatgun, cause you don't know whether the glue is soft or not, and the heat is keep adding up on one spot, that might damage the electric part and many heat gun could easily go over 500f. another thing is oven would soften all the glue, so i just use prying tool cut off the glue (even they are soften but still have to be cut thru) and took me 3-4 min to open 2 headlights.

and i was told by the vendor of the AE kit that the component of headlight could take heat up to around 300-500f i forgot.

[qclik]

Originally Posted by yakev724

Yeah, I would be patient and do it the right way.

Takes about 1-1.5 hours to carefully heat the 'lip' and bend it back and pry the lens off. Use a heat gun and do it a small section at a time, as neatly as possible, keeping tabs intact. Then about 2-3 hours to clean all glue out of inside of lip and off lens. Then seal them up with GE silicone and tape them up for 24hrs. This was my process. Times are per lens, so x2 for the full deal.

Once the lens is out, you can heat and reform the lip to nearly identical shape as it was originally. The material becomes very pliable at a certain temperature, then hard again once cooled.

I'll be doing this again in about a month...have something pretty cool planned for pre-LCI AHLs.

Edit: use a heat gun.

i have to agree heatgun way is doable, but would take more time. i was kind of rush thru the process, i open the headlight to install the OSS kit. i even just peel the plastic wrap of the angel eye wire and just tap the electric wire together with the led kit and wrap them with some electric tape. shaddy setup but been running 6 month without issue

patient is the key.

[qclik]

check this video

back to your main question, heat is needed if you want to use the same glue, or you could add some new glue and clean the old one. just don't seal them back when the glue is cold off, it might coming off and water damage, but who knows lol

[fdriller9]

Thanks guys. I'll try to pry the lip with a heat gun on the other housing I have.

Still kinda 50/50 on baking the headlight.

[qclik]

basically any heat source is doable, i heard someone was using solder gun to cut the glue, but if you are comfortable with heat gun, then use it, just be patient and don't break the tab, good luck

[LuxAngelEyes]

baking the headlight will do nothing. the glue that the E90 headlights uses is not affected by heat at all.