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'93 headlight reflector peeling fix

turbowop

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2001
Messages
11,971
Location
Yakima, WA
So I picked up these '93 lights awhile back, but they were in pretty sorry shape. They had broken adjusters, rusty bolts/screws and housings, sand pitted lenses and one had the normal peeling on the upper part of the reflector that some of them seem to get.

I used them on 503 for awhile, but after installing the nice clean ones I got from Jepherz onto 1051, I decided to try and figure out a way to make these ones at least somewhat "refurbished".

First thing I did was remove the old rusty housings and screws and adjusters and chuck them in the trash. I had an extra set of '91 lights I used parts from. I baked the lights in the oven to remove the glass and then sanded the upper part of the reflector on them to remove the flaky/peeling parts. Then I masked them off and painted that part black. Anybody with peeling upper reflectors should try this. I was worried about the painter's masking tape peeling off the other chrome areas, but the rest of it was really tough and held up fine. It actually turned out pretty nice looking, and I don't think it will hurt light output at all. I also repainted the black around the outside of the glass as well as the housings and cleaned everything else up.

While they still have sand pitted glass, they actually look pretty decent now:










From a distance the pitting isn't as noticeable:

 

curtis

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
11,892
Location
Clarksville TN
You got lucky the first time I tried masking a set for this purpose the chrome peeled up but I used pinstripe and not just painters tape. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif
 

Yeah I never really liked 93 that much until I got my car back with a pristine set of them and I prefer them to my jdm headlights. They look good cleaned up.
 

Quoting jepherz:
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif



944a90561d279d4.jpg


From the members rides
 

turbowop

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2001
Messages
11,971
Location
Yakima, WA
Jay, those are my '91 headlights reflecting in the sun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowrofl.gif

The car actually has '93 headlights, projector fogs, and single bulb JDM corners now.

And for the record, the '93 lights on my car now are nice clean ones I got from Jepherz, not the ones that I cleaned up in this thread.
 

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
What's that old, crappy looking car on the side of your driveway? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 

Quoting turbowop:
Jay, those are my '91 headlights reflecting in the sun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowrofl.gif



LOL well they looked like the had the reflector in there all 1993 stylee. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 

4Grim

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
2,514
Location
Orlando FL
Looks great!

Fortunately I found a pretty mint pair of 93 headlights from a salvage yard last year and snagged them real quick. No pitting and no peeling of the reflective areas.
 

atc250r

Staff member
Joined
Sep 11, 2003
Messages
13,235
Location
Orange County, NY
Let us know how it works out when you try them. I'm curious if it will effect the light output or not. I'm thinking that since the rear of the light is the reflector the black won't hurt the light output at all.

John
 

Quoting turbowop:
This is the only pic I've taken so far of the car with the '93 lights, projector fogs, and JDM corners:



I used to have the same front lighting as you with the amber jdm fogs and everything and now after getting my car back we have the same look to the front with the 93s and the projectors. It really grows on you and the light output of both the projector fogs and 93s is 10x better than stock.
 

turbowop

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2001
Messages
11,971
Location
Yakima, WA
I used to have projectors, but one got broke and all I could find to replace was blinker fogs. This time I needed something to fill the holes in the JDM bumper in 503 and couldn't find regular blinker fogs, so I picked these projectors up. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif But yeah, it worked out. I definitely like this look better. I don't have parking lights in the front anymore, but that's a pretty small tradeoff.
 

Hertz

Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2002
Messages
13,501
Location
Chicago, IL
I used the low (projector) as parking lights. With yellow ion Hella bulbs it works out okay.
 
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