Clear light and Angel Eye Conversion - The Project and Story

ranski · Post by **ranski** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:48 pm

LED ring on the left

CCFL on the right

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

kab · Post by **kab** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:49 pm

Mowflow wrote:Well despite only having one light at the moment I decided to get started as I was eager to see how difficult or easy this might be.

The light was a real pain to cut open. What blades are people using? I used the 1 inch resin cutting disc supplied with my cheap Dremel type tool. I seem to have gone through about 20 discs for this one light so am wondering if these are the best discs to be using.

Anyway, got the light open eventually but the inner was covered in dust. Not really a problem as the light was a donor but don't know how I'm going to prevent this come crunch time.

Next problem, I couldn't get the boomerangs out. I could see they were fixed so tried to remove the inners. After nearly breaking a finger trying to release the tabs that hold this in I lost the plot and just snapped them out. I figured this would let me have a look at the tabs to see how they can be popped out without using the precision tool (claw hammer). All out and still can't see how it's possible and now I can't figure out how to get the orange bulb cover out of the boomerang to wrap it.

Not going well so far. With the mess of this light there is no way I will be cutting my own light open. Hopefully the next donor goes better although I'm currently feeling a bit put off the whole job.

I used dremel speedclic plastic cutting discs as recommended earlier in the thread but when I ran out of those, I moved on to the metal cutting discs, and then wood (!) cutting discs which were part of the set I'd bought. Guess what? They all work as well/badly as the plastic cutting ones. I had to cut through a 3 lights to complete the job, and did get though less discs as I progressed. It seems to be a question of making sure you keep the disc cutting straight, and don't let it bog down too much (so cut a groove and then come back to it to go deeper). All the same, the discs are delicate so budget for getting through a few. Not sure if it helped but I moved from using my dremel, to a drill. I found the heavier weight helped me control it easier.

The plastic dust does get everywhere, but be diligent in clearing it all out and it should be ok. Mine were caked in the stuff but the lights have been on for a couple of weeks now and no sign of dust appearing on the lens.

The inners are stuck in quite tight as they seem welded in to their housings with rubber. I found that I had to use a small screwdriver to prize them out of the joins where they're held. If a couple of the joins snap, or if you use the dremel on them, it's not so much of a problem as when you put it all back together you could use some silicone to make sure they sit tight.

As for removing the boomerangs from the inners, wish I had pictures to remind myself but they're screwed together, so make sure you've found all the screws, and make sure you remove the bulbs as I think that makes a difference.

Keep going, you'll get there!

kab · Post by **kab** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:59 pm

Sorry, should have added the orange bulb covers are held in with quite strong springs. Take the bulbs out, and pop a long screwdriver in from behind. Push gently whilst pulling the spring to the side, and it should pop out.

Getting them back in is tricky, as your tidy work with the silver wrap will be disturbed by the springs pulling at the wrap as you put the bulb covers back in. Compromise on this as it doesn't have to look perfect as it can't be seen clearly through the hockey stick - just make sure no orange is showing.

Mowflow · Post by **Mowflow** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:23 pm

Thanks for the tips kab.

Well if all the discs are roughly the same i'll just stick with buying several thousand resin discs since they are the cheapest. I noticed that they snap more often on the curved areas of the lights although keeping it straight at some points isn't easy when trying to get a deep enough cut as the Dremel fouls the light. I also had to turn the speed down as at full pelt the plastic would often melt and the discs seemed more likely to turn into lethal shrapnel.

I was a bit lazy with cleaning up as I knew I was binning this light. When it comes to the proper lights I'll need to clean my garage and steal the hoover.

I've not had another look at the inners yet but hope to work out some way of getting them out as don't want to snap the final ones like I did with this one.

I worked the boomerangs out. Getting them off the inners is easy but you need the inners out to do it (which isn't easy). It was only after more inspection that I realised the inner of the boomerang is in 2 parts (metal and plastic). These are held together with clips on one side. When these are separated you can get the orange glass domes out for wrapping.

ranski · Post by **ranski** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:29 pm

As the original poster said. When cutting don't force the dremel, just let the disc feed into the plastic. It will cut much faster and you will need less discs, although I do get through about 2 discs per headlight

For the edges don't worry about following the curvature of the lens as you can use black adhesive to cover any additional cuts you have made

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

cj10jeeper · Post by **cj10jeeper** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:38 pm

I don't know what you guys do with these discs. As Ranski says let the disc do the work. Forcing or twisting it just results in broken discs. I set mine at a decent rpm and let it make its own pace. Can't recall using more than 1 per unit and that's because they wore down.

I also hope you guys wear goggles as a piece of disc in the eye is not going to be funny....

Clean up as if you're in an operating theatre as I can guarantee any speck of dust will in time, with static, appear on a highly visible surface.

Get the job right and 3 years later and they still lookas done, no marks, dust, leaks, etc.

andrewr · Post by **andrewr** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 6:26 pm

I started with ceramic disks and got through at least 10, it's the heat build up which kills them. I then bought a set of discs made from steel, these were perfect for the job and cut through the plastic like it was made out of butter - if I was doing it again I'd definitely use these.

I'm fitting my lights tonight whilst it's dry and the suns out - I can't wait to de-tango!

Andrew

T2FFN · Post by **T2FFN** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:28 pm

cj10jeeper wrote:I also hope you guys wear goggles as a piece of disc in the eye is not going to be funny....

I wore my motorbike helmet, visor down

Sent from my HTC One X

Adamski · Post by **Adamski** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:30 pm

I snapped 3 discs in total doing mine. Glad I wore goggles

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

andrewr · Post by **andrewr** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:50 pm

That's me done fitting the clear headlights. I started at 7pm and finished at 930. It would have been quicker had I not been changing them parked up on the side of a main road outside the house dodging passing cars!

Some of the bolts holding on the bumper and lights were a little corroded so they took a lot of elbow grease to remove, and I fitted one of the lights forgetting to refit the ballast, so that had to come off and be refitted, luckily I realised before refitting the bumper. Other than that it all went to plan and they look fantastic.

I'll get some photos up soon as its now dark outside, I'm pleased to be finally part of the exclusive de-tangoed club! I couldn't have done it without the help of this forum, and some very gernous people along the way who have donated spare parts.

Andrew.

mrlozzer · Post by **mrlozzer** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:02 pm

ranski wrote:LED ring on the left

CCFL on the right

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those LED rings are really bright... they're a bit yellower than the CCFL though, by the look of it....

Mowflow · Post by **Mowflow** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:55 pm

I had a look at the light I cut open tonight to see if I could work out the clips for the inner. I just noticed they were siloconed in. On closer inspection it appears the light has been "entered" before. This may explain why the light was so difficult to cut. It hadn't been siloconed shut but some kind of crazy glue.

The kick in the balls is that the booerang seems to be warped due to heat. I'm thinking maybe someone had some dodgy HIDs fitted in the light. Unfortunatly no chance of getting money back since it's now just a pile of bits

Oh well, back to square 1. I'll get there eventually I suppose.

spr_bimmer · Post by **spr_bimmer** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:17 pm

i think i may have mentioned it before but i used a dremel disc that seems to have sometype of weave through it, i will try to post a pic tonight, only used one disc for two lights!!

Adamski · Post by **Adamski** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:18 pm

Is that the disc that has an additional metal plate to screw on?

Bad_Pritt · Post by **Bad_Pritt** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:02 pm

I had my angel eyes delivered last week! I ordered ccfl rings 80 mm as suggested in this thread. However, I do not have donor lights, is that really necessary?

Has anyone done it without donors? I already have white inidcators... Oh yeah, and non-xenon lights

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com