DIY: CTR Headlight for EK (without oven)

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!

after searching i couldn't really find a proper DIY CTR headlight IN Ozhonda, just links redirecting to other websites so i thought why not do one just for Ozhonda :D first write up, we see how it goes or and exuse the camera phone photo quality :)

AIM: Create a copy look-a-like Civic Type R style headlight and save you 300 odd bucks

TOOLS:
-/ Colour spray of the choice you want
-/ alcohol hole and towel
-/ Heater, blowdryer
-/ Oven if you wish (i didnt use it cos the first time i did, it melted my light)
-/ Screwdriver flathead and philip head
-/ Selleys all clear water resistant silicon seal
-/ someone yo assist you would be great too (my 10yo bro)
-/ Patience y0~!

STEPS:

1/ Remove front bumper by remove the 5 plastic clips on top of bumper, 1 on each side of bumer in the fenders and 2 below the bumper. NOTE: dotted lines mean its UNDER the car and CANT BE SEEN!

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/1446/12xw3.jpg

2/ remove headlight. i did left one first. there are 2 screws on top. 1 on side (can be seen easily after removing bumper), and 1 on right just inside the grill area. NOTE: dotted circle mean its UNDER the car and CANT BE SEEN!

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/4281/23tq1.jpg

3/ seperating the headlight. Place headlight seal towards the heater for approx 10mins (depending on tempereture of heater) and see if it melted the silicon. TIP: its good to use your flathead screwdriver to make alittle gap first to allow heat to get in.

NOTE:i decided to use a heater instead of an oven because last time i tried oven it almost melt my headlight. Also the heat from the heater was only hot enough to soft my silicon and not melt the plastic. Ofcos you may want to try it at your own risk. (150-220 degrees preheat and check it every 2 mins)

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6643/39zn.jpg

because i used an heater i can not heat the whole headlight at the same time, i had to open the headlight bit by bit. Initial opening is the hardest process but it gets easier and easier as more gap is opened. here is some tricks i used.

use a 10cents piece and put it in between to gap so the silicon wont stick back into place. then put it back infront the heater to soften the next part.
you could also use the screwdriver to open up small gaps at your own risk.

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/4294/46gy1.jpg
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5347/55ak.jpg
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2153/63ne.jpg

here is what it looks like when its all seperated.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/2107/74al.jpg

4/ remove the chrome housing. unscrew the two philip screws from the plastic housing and remove it. (its obvious where they are, so no photo here. make sure they are TWO!)

heres what it looks like when its seperated.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6522/89sg.jpg

5/ remove chrome. use alcohol and rag to rub all areas you wish to paint. rub it for awhile till chrome starts to fall off. they are alternative methods here also. up to you. if your lazy just paint it straight away ;)

1st up a light coat, then wait till its dry then reapply a heavier coat. do 3-5 times or until you reach the desire colour you want. i just did black for maximum contrast between my white car. however dark gun metal grey is a nice choice also. you may wish to apply clear coat here also if you want the glossier look, but i prefer matt finish so i left it.

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7526/96cf.jpg

6/ put it all back together with a good silicon. i used Selleys water resistant to also keep the water out. let it dry and put it back onto your car. :cool: NOTE: before sealing it might want to check both headlight for dirty inside the lense and whether if both colour paint is the same shade.

BEFORE:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/790/128kn2.jpg
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/3796/135fk.jpg

AFTER:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6280/107yz.jpg
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/6273/114kb.jpg

~THE END~

nicee... i gotta see in real life now .

nice man ... 1+ rep pt

for reference, the screwdriver you're talking about with 4 bits is called a "Phillips Screwdriver".

nice work dude

looks good as well.


awsome

ah yea thx for clearing that up.

at the time of DIY i didnt have digital camera only had gf's mobile so yea. thought it was better than nothing. one photo speaks a thousand words...or something like that :)

haha i was wondering if adam was ever going to do that to the car
since he never got around to it im glad you did
good job mate
ill definately be doing this to my car :)

did u also spray the reflector for the signal?
from what i can see u did, and also what i did.
now it doesnt light up as much as it use to when indicating. hahaha

actually its fine. i did mine but wat i did was add a few coat of clear coat in that area and it lights up fine. make sure your bulb is clean and bright if not you could always buy LED amber bulbs for 20 odd bux that will do the trick also

good write up moite rep +1

yea when i did mine i use maskin tape to take up the indicator reflector... so it stiils reflects and bright now...
but takes ages to mask it up as the angle/arc is hetick..

haha cute little asian boy.

man this write-up deserves a PQ point.

good work

Quote:

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Originally Posted by |N|

yea when i did mine i use maskin tape to take up the indicator reflector... so it stiils reflects and bright now...
but takes ages to mask it up as the angle/arc is hetick..

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the preface lift dont have the seperate piece of orange/clear reflectors you facelift boys have, its just one piece with the chrome housing with a few concave edges and grooves. so i really couldn't be bothered doing that. but you could stick it over like what N has done. :thumbsup:

but yea still lights up enough to be recognised so im not fussed.

cool - not using the oven seems a lot safer +rep for you

when putting the head light together did you clean out all the old silicon before applying the sellys?

defntly thumbsUP........!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Surrufus

when putting the head light together did you clean out all the old silicon before applying the sellys?

---

i tried to. used a hot knife and its easier to cut away the silicon, however its also easy to cut off the plastic if you not careful. so go slow.

if you dont have a hot knife, i guess you could burn a blade on fire for a while and try that and repeat the process :)

if doesnt really matter much, as long as the seal has enuff gap to stick together again. make sure nothing is in the way. you could reheat the old silicon and use it or apply a new one or do both like i did. shouldnt be too much problem. just make sure water doesnt get it.

if it does well you could drill a hole at the buttom of your headlight to drain the water out . and it also stops it from fogging up :thumbsup:

hahaha i love it how you blurr out the plates in every SECOND shot =P
hahaha

finally some1 noticed it...:)

nice job mate, it looks really cool.....

so does the type r civic lights look exactyle the same as urs? what black spray paint did u use?

its the same, the only difference is that, CTR didnt paint their blinker housing black. i did. so if you wanna skip that section thats fine.

i used cheapo paint and it works. you might want to use high temp paint for better coverage and longer lasting due to heat from headlight. but mine still looks new.

hmmm..ive always wanted to do this but never had the time to..hopefulli ill do it soon and let u guys know how it turned out.

Great diy man. I recently did this to my headlights. I started doing it your way without the oven. But god damn. So much effort. It is so much easier to just use the oven.

To make sure you don't melt anything though. I used a piece of cardboard underneath that I wet every time I took out the lights to check. So the lights aren't sitting on the grill. Oven on just 110 deg. Also just keep the oven door ajar. Makes sure the heat dosn't get too intense. Then just check them every few minutes gradually prising them apart.

nice write up its very tempting.

which part is the blinker housing?
eclipsor...can i see pics of ur car with the lights? thanks..planning on doing them this weekend....

the housing which the blinker sits in......
i wanted to paint that to make it look all black.
but it wont light up as much if you do. but still visible

is it safe to heat up your headlights if theres cable attach to it? coz my HL uses H3 and H1 and i dont think i can seperate the cable attach from the back of the housing...

im sure you can remove it. otherwise how they put it together in the first place?
ask around maybesome someone can help.

or try it without oven ....

:thumbsup: +1 pq m8

whats pq? and thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sugz

is it safe to heat up your headlights if theres cable attach to it? coz my HL uses H3 and H1 and i dont think i can seperate the cable attach from the back of the housing...

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yeh same.. my headlight have been attach to the cable..
i want to do that to my angel lights
gota lose the chrome ! :thumbsup:

if anyone found that doing this was easy..would they like to swap headlights with me and i will put $20 on top..(must be genuine honda headlights though)

you can have mine if you want, but mine aint perfect :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EK4R

you can have mine if you want, but mine aint perfect :P

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what do u mean by not perfect?
hehe how bad issit?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by honda_ek4

if anyone found that doing this was easy..would they like to swap headlights with me and i will put $20 on top..(must be genuine honda headlights though)

---

no mean to be rude.. lol, but $20 ain't really worth the time and effort.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by destrukshn

no mean to be rude.. lol, but $20 ain't really worth the time and effort.

---

well for some people it is mate..
rephrase your sentence to..
"no mean to be rude.. lol, but $20 isn't really worth MY the time and effort":p

20 cant even get you the paint and silicon :P + labour + oven electricity fee = alot of money :P

what ek4r said.
lol.

lol im not after something perfect and expecting to give them 20 bux..
im looking for someone who has done the job and it is satisfactory but they feel that it needs more improvement..
im not picky with these things so yea..
i am willing to swap my headlights with 20 bux on top to someone who feels this way so that they are able to start the job all over agen with another original set and can do it perfectly this time..
and you should still have some paint and silicon leftover from the last time you did it, if not then to bad i guess..hehe hopefulli u will

should give it a go man. nothing to be afraid of if your not using an oven =)

i used a hair dryer to melt the glue, we found that it doesnt need much heat before the glue starts to melt... then we just used a flat head screw driver and went all around the outside casing to losen it up and then just rip the thing off. its pretty strong stuff, only thing you might worry about is breaking plastic clips but they dont do much anywaiz just use silicon glue to re-seal the thing up so its water tight.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Surrufus

haha i was wondering if adam was ever going to do that to the car
since he never got around to it im glad you did
good job mate
ill definately be doing this to my car :)

---

I did try twice tho !

Looking good George :thumbsup:

you might just want to run over the edges with some extra silicon after joining the headlight back together, just in case the original silicon doesn't seal back up properly, and in terms of heating up the silicon, hairdryer works a treat or even a mini heater. and if you have a good mate with you that helps a great deal as well as they can hold the headlight apart at one edge as you work you way down. another tip is once you get it open just get the hairdryer and knife and work you way down. worked for me

i did mine today
turned out great!

put up pix man :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EK4R

put up pix man :)

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he wont
lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phantom_civic

he wont
lol

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yes i will:)
here they are:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/9548/1bt8.jpg

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2893/2ak2.jpg

hey all just wondering if there was a specific paint can you all used??? what would you recommend.....?? ( i after blk btw)

export brand ftw!

duplicolor for not black ahahah

oh ok dats cool i thought u needed a spcial one for heat or sumthin....
Cheers peepz...

yo whr u man? help me do one...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daniel b16a

yo whr u man? help me do one...

---

???

just do it urself easy done. im actually selling my set to get some ek9 headlights. u want mine? pm me if u wish

how much for urs posted to perth? is urs 98 or 99 spec? im lookin for 98 spec type r lights too....

woohoo.. did mine today
thanks for the d.i.y write up

the 10cents didnt work for me.. screwdriver ftw! took me like 5hrs to complete all up :(

edited : this time i didnt black out the reflector for the signal..

did it in about 45min, just letting it dry too do another few more coats of black.. i want mine too be like jet black.

guys if youre using the oven, dont sit it on anything like the tray or bottom, put 2 timbers or something because the surface bottom of oven gets very hot and started too melt the plastic of my spare headlight way quicker than it did of the silicon. either that or just keep prying it every 30 seconds, and 2 minutes is almost too much ... try every 30seconds if your oven is preheated

i used that export quality for $3 at super cheap, works great.. a primer is also a good idea

did you guys rip off the old silicon? or just add more?>

haha i guess my 5hrs job was tired.. got home from work at 7am.. and start DIY straight away.. :p

i use my old silicon and add more

my bad buddy, 45min was too crack the bitch open, rub chrome off and spray it =] i needed at least 2 hours for a proper re-seal ! smelt really bad lol

Looking at doing this preety soon, it wont affect the brightness of my headlights at night or the brightness off the indicator????

^ nut its fine =P

did this the other day looks awsome !! good guide !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deano_EK

Looking at doing this preety soon, it wont affect the brightness of my headlights at night or the brightness off the indicator????

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theres a backing of hte indicator you shouldnt spray or else it makes your indicator not as bright

replica
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6280/107yz.jpg

vs oem
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3...ture002fz3.jpg

oem is just a tint of grey man nothing special

OEM 99-00 CTR headlights are the shit. 96-98 headlights are overrated

yea but oem still owns replicas/DIY no matter what
even tho there isnt much difference between oem ek1/4 and oem ctr (prefacelift)
its would be like saying
"hey my fake headlights are better then your REAL ones" lol

yea ofcos. oem would be the best choice for anything. but just isnt my prefered coloured choice when it comes to these headlights. prefer the darker tint.

sames goes for ek9 taillights. i prefer both lights lit up when brake is pressed not just the top one.

thats what im trying to point out anyways. not saying oem is shit :)

yea i totally agree with you on that
i wasnt implying that you said oem is shit
just though i would state that no matter what a fake is still a fake :)

For the price of the two, replica vs oem, ill take the replicas. Just my opinion though.

^ im with him lolol. if ur in an accident oh man tha pain lol

yeah oem is of course the best choice but sometimes just silly.

ie. following ek4r's guide vs buying oem ctr headlights.
the money spent on the headlights can be used on spray paint as well as other mods!!

haha i cant imagine myself if i do buy the OEM ctr headlights and DIY to make the headlights darker .. *ouch*! :p

Doing this next weekend finally will post some pics when complete, also should have some white dials and a type R cluster surround arriving this week which im going to right up a DIY for the dials. :thumbsup:

Guys dont know if u know CTR headlights dont have the reflector housing oppose to the ek civic one which does, but I your talking about the tint more

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)
sweeet

i just loved the satisfaction after you get from doing it on your own, ek4's got good DIY guides, try the rear tail lights also its pretty easy

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1...0117sd2mr9.jpg

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/1513/p1180123sdlg2.jpg

ur car looks good
but the bottom part of ur bumper grill should be black... looks abit too plastic/white

yea i know...i stuffed up when i asked them to paint it

i said colour code all the plastic moulds that can come off

>.< i'm seeing whether if it bothers me enuf to get it repainted lol

hahaha love the turtle sticker :p

wat sorta paint did u use? n e thing specific or doesnt matter?

oh ok i jus read th whole thread! lol . . . dw

doing my gf's car 2dai. will post up pics. . . :)