JDM headlights

Sorry Cameron, I dont want to continue jacking your brake upgrade thread lol.

So my JDm lights were missing the light bulb covers, and the harness that is being pointed to in this photo...

I honestly dont remember what plug it was since I kinda ghetto modified it back in the day, so I have to pick n pull some OEM plugs so i can get everything factory clean again... then I can use the harness kits you guys have. Plan on getting any H4 kits anytime soon?

I probably won't build any more harnesses until we sell off the existing stock. I am completely out of H4 and JDM connectors and terminals, although I still have a stockpile of nice crosslinked wire. When I first designed the adapter harnesses, with my 9007-equipped '98 in mind, I didn't realize that '95-'97 Legacies had H4 connectors from the factory. So, we added a few sets at the end of the run. I didn't realize they would be as popular as the 9007 style, so they have been sold out for a year or so.

If your car's factory headlight connectors have been cut off already, you could pretty much wire your JDM lights right into place with the JDM pigtails (if you have them). You would probably reduce the overall resistance by skipping the adapters and making your car essentially JDM all the way, including the headlight connector.

I have never split the housing of a headligh before so i tried the oven first, and it just wasnt very easy doing that method for me, so i ended up using my heat gun and it was much faster and worked perfectly in warming up the sealant!

I had similar results using the oven when I opened mine up as well. Heat gun definitely helped get the job done for me too.

If your car's factory headlight connectors have been cut off already, you could pretty much wire your JDM lights right into place with the JDM pigtails (if you have them). You would probably reduce the overall resistance by skipping the adapters and making your car essentially JDM all the way, including the headlight connector.

So you are talking about the connector on the harness side of the car when referring to the JDM connector right? If so I will have to do some wiring research or maybe you know if it wires directly into the USDM harness?

So if I go that route I would need the JDM connector that comes off the cars bulkhead engine harness?

That would be ideal. You *could* skip the connector and just use insulated quick-disconnects, but you would have to carefully label everything. But since you went through the trouble to get the JDM headlight wires for the fixtures, you should probably have the other part of the connector to mate to it for a nice clean install.

It really depends on the condition and plug type of the car's factory headlight wiring. If you long ago cut out the USDM factory plug, then you should probably crimp/solder the correct 0.25" female terminals on the car's wire to simply install a JDM plug:

Car>JDM Headlight Male Plug>JDM Headlight Female Plug>JDM Light Fixture.

If it turns out that your car's stock USDM headlight plugs are in tact and the wires/terminals are in good condition (no burned contacts or melted wires), then I am of the school of though to keep the wiring stock and add the JDM headlight adapter harness. As much as you are modding your car, that may no apply to you, but this would illustrate a reversible, non-permanent approach:

Car>Stock USDM Headlight Plugs>JDM Headlight Adapter Harness>JDM Headlight Female Plug>JDM Light Fixture

The wires even though they were cut are in good shape, Plus I plan on cutting the mess off and re soldering and shrink tubing some new wire onto it anyways to make it fresh again... Then I suppose I can wire in the Jdm Male connector on the body side of the harness, so it can then plug directly into the female connector on the headlights.

I will just have to find the jdm male side connector.... Also I am not sure if the USDM wiring needs to be modified to wire the male JDM plug in?

The wires even though they were cut are in good shape, Plus I plan on cutting the mess off and re soldering and shrink tubing some new wire onto it anyways to make it fresh again... Then I suppose I can wire in the Jdm Male connector on the body side of the harness, so it can then plug directly into the female connector on the headlights.

 

I will just have to find the jdm male side connector.... Also I am not sure if the USDM wiring needs to be modified to wire the male JDM plug in?

Okay, the car-side JDM plug is just a plastic connector and retainer, and the car's stock wiring will need to have 0.250" uninsulated female terminals crimped/soldered onto the ends, where the stock USDM connector used to be. The correct terminals latch into the plastic JDM connector. The arrangement is important, of course, so that it all works correctly once plugged together. It's really pretty straightforward, as long as your car's stock headlight wires aren't cut so short that stripping the ends and crimping new terminals is a pain. If you are soldering in a few inches of new wire onto the car's headlight wires, you can add terminals to the extra wires more easily before they are soldered into the car.

The USDM car will have only 3 wires to power USDM headlights. The JDM Plug, though, uses four connections. The extra connection is to power the low-wattage "city light". Some people don't care about whether the city light comes on, but I like to have mine tapped into to the wire that powers the Parking/DRL bulb in the turn signal housing. That makes the little city light bulb light up on the first click of the headlight switch.

If you are planning on adding a few inches of wire to the car's stock wiring, you might consider purchasing the 9007-style JDM adapter harness and (*gasp!*) snipping the 9007 connector off and soldering the rest of the JDM harness right into your car. lol. It would save a lot of work building your own JDM connectors. The city light wire and the extra ground wire (keeps the low beam bulb lit when the high beam bulb is on) are already set to go, so it might be the next best thing to Plug-N-Play for your case.

Painting process:

I just wanted to kinda restore the chrome finish of the plastic headlight bezel piece since it was very faded and flaking so I picked up some Duplicolor chrome paint... Granted I know its not gonna be the true chrome look since the piece was originally plated but it will be close enough and still look great.

Here are the results.

I polished the headlight lenses at work using some of the detail departments stuff and they turned out pretty good.

I also used the heat gun and scraped 98 % of the black adhesive/ sealant off the headlight lense, and the back portion of the headlight housing because I want to just use all new stuff.

Projection beam cutoff modification for US roads:

I have seen the way others have modded their projection beam cutoff lines and all are excellent ways of doing so but I figured I would try a different route to see how it worked out, and hopefully help others in the future.

I started by taking the metal strips out of a standard wiper blade... Ok since I work for Ferrari maybe it wasnt so standard since it was a Ferrari wiper blade that was just removed from a car lol... Anyways the metal strips are all pretty much the same. So I got the idea to just form the metal strip into the curve I needed and snip it using my Knipex metal cutters. It was very easy and quick, and provided a solid and precise line plus angle.

All I did from here is clip it to the projector cutoff housing using some of my wifes hair clips, and I used a 2 part epoxy to lay a bead on the back side of the metal strip for adhesion. I feel that sofar this has been the quickest and easiest way of doing this mod I have seen but thats just my opinion.

Open for comentary lol

Some shots of the lens with the painted trim and turn signal bubble in place.

Also you can see that 98 % of the original sealant is gone lol... that was a messy job.

Tonight I will mate the lenses with the housings and this job will be complete with he new rear covers and harness I ordered from japan.