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R34 Headlight Restoration

SABBAi

By SABBAi,
in Exterior & Interior Styling

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SABBAi Grand Master

SABBAi

Posted
Posted

Hi guys,

I thought I'd post up some pics of a pair of headlights I repaired and restored. They arrived to me in average condition with damaged rear housings, some severe yellowing and previous internal lens coating work.

The damage on the rear housing was tidied up and the sharp broken edges were cut away. Some new plastic of a suitable shape was found and cut out to suit. Once I was happy with the shaping, I plastic welded the replacement plastic into place.

(The green is a ball of tape to stop any cut off plastic falling into the housing)

IMG_4372_zpsd6fdc8fd.jpg

IMG_4373_zpscfe5ef49.jpg

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The outside of both lenses were wet sanded, starting off at 1500grit and working up to 2500grit (In the future I would go up to 3000grit).

IMG_4379_zps66cc4331.jpg

This revealed the coating on the inside of the lens which meant the headlight had to come apart. It's hard to see, but there is an odd shape on the surface. That is where I've started wetsanding. Once done I then polished the inside of the lens.

IMG_4413_zps0aca7d95.jpg

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The reflectors and internals were given a tidy up and the loose indicator lenses were fixed into place. Here they are back together ready for external polishing.

IMG_4415_zps2e2373d9.jpg

I used Scratch-X to begin with and worked my way up from using Menzerna 1000, 2500, 5000.

IMG_4417_zpsb5e34040.jpg

IMG_4418_zpscda2c9a8.jpg

From this they were then hit with Menzerna UF, followed by 4 layers of AMMO Skin and AMMO Creme.

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IMG_4439_zpsa6bbc0b9.jpg

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Enjoy!! :D

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SABBAi Grand Master

SABBAi

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the kind words guys. As has already been explained, the headlights can be removed with either a hot air gun or a putting them in the oven. I prefer to use a hot air gun.

excellent! i'd love to carry out these restorations, as buying good condition headlights are so expensive, and all it takes is a little time to fix up a damaged set. great work mate

Thanks mate. A little time and effort gives the best results ;)

we need ppl like you in sydney :(

Cheers. Shoot me a PM ;)

Great work on the 34 head lights btw

Thanks mate.

  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...
ARTZ Grand Master

ARTZ

Posted
Posted

Hows the protectabt holdng up...i fond the heat from.the lights just tends to burn it off very quickly...

Really need to let some proper UV protectabt on there because once you strip off the coating it will cause them to yellow from.the inside out...

Have also heard about clearcoating them, haven't tried it tho...but a clear heatpeoof paint should work well in theory..

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
MikeR34GTT Collaborator

MikeR34GTT

Posted
Posted

Rubbing the lenses back and clear coating them is the best option.

Digging up an old thread here, getting desperate.

Mine are pretty bad, followed a lot of advice via SAU and my mechanic who reccomended to buy a headlight restoration kit, but much of the discolouration is on the interior, not exterior.

I've just tee'd up a cut and polish for mine (black, looking very dull at the moment) and was wondering who might be able to do this work for me as I'm not that comfortable whacking parts of my car in the oven :P

Burger Grand Master

Burger

Posted
Posted

Digging up an old thread here, getting desperate.

Mine are pretty bad, followed a lot of advice via SAU and my mechanic who reccomended to buy a headlight restoration kit, but much of the discolouration is on the interior, not exterior.

I've just tee'd up a cut and polish for mine (black, looking very dull at the moment) and was wondering who might be able to do this work for me as I'm not that comfortable whacking parts of my car in the oven :P

I've never seen them fade on the inside. If they're that stuffed, find a replacement set.

SABBAi Grand Master

SABBAi

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Digging up an old thread here, getting desperate.

Mine are pretty bad, followed a lot of advice via SAU and my mechanic who reccomended to buy a headlight restoration kit, but much of the discolouration is on the interior, not exterior.

I've just tee'd up a cut and polish for mine (black, looking very dull at the moment) and was wondering who might be able to do this work for me as I'm not that comfortable whacking parts of my car in the oven :P

Where are you located mate?

  • Like 1
MikeR34GTT Collaborator

MikeR34GTT

Posted
Posted

Where are you located mate?

Latrobe Valley, Victoria - had a recent cut and polish done, cherry glaze etc (came up a million bucks) and spike of the lights, was quoted 100 per light. Sound about right? Not sure if that's interior or exterior.

I know some of these guys are just gonna be like "get new ones" but id rather have a crack at another solution before I dish out bulk coin because they are quite expensive

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