Headlight clearing (w/pics)

this is a mod that i think is a must on the new LGTs. so i've made a little write-up. first, here's a few before shots.

the whole front. (someone PM me on how to put multiple pics in the same post, PLEASE)

1.okay, first you remove the front grille. this is done by taking off the 2 pop-its, pushing on the little tabs, and finangling the grill until the lower clips come off. (no pics of this)

 

2. remove the bumper by taking off all the popits under the car connected to the bumper, and the 1 in each wheel well that you can find by pulling back the fender liner. i was pleased that these pop-its were MUCH easier to remove than my WRX's. (no pics of this either.)

 

3. here's the front of the car with the grill off.

and, with the entire bumper off. looks scary, but it isn't 8)

4. okay, now we take out teh light itself. there's 2 bolts on the top of the light housing (one black, one silver, the silver is the one closest to the one you had to remove to get the grille off) there's also 5 gold colored bolts that are holding the light's bracket in. here i am pointing to one of them on the side. there's also 2 under the light.

5. and 2 more gold ones that are on the inside of the light bracket.

6. remove the 4 torx bolts that hold the housing together. you can try a 2.5mm allen key, but i found it better to use a needlenose vicegrip

here they are closeup

7. once you have the torx bolts out, MAKE SURE you take the turn signal out, i forgot to do this on the 2nd light, and broke the bulb in the housing. anyways, you can either put the lights in the oven for (i think) 250F for 20 mins or so, or you can use a heatgun, which is the method i prefer. much safer and easier i think.

8. if using a heatgun, you just heat the biatch up until you can gently pry the light housing apart with a screwdriver and your strength. here's the lights once they are apart.

9. you can see in that last pic there are 3 more torx bolts holding the housing to the lens. again, i used a needlenose vicegrip to undo them.

10. once you get the housing from the lens, you can remove the orange part by unclipping it from the rear. (no pics)

 

*it is at this point that one could paint the housing black. i did it on my WRX and it looked AWESOME. this time i elected not to do it.*

 

11. put the lens part of the housing back together with the 3 torx bolts.

 

12. put some waterproof silicone in the housing crack, and heat the goo with the heat gun again for a few minutes. this will make a better seal when you put the housing back together.

13.then you slap the housing together again, make sure all the clips are in their respective places, and SQUEEZE it back together with all your might!

 

the result? PROPER.

 

here's the modded light next to the stocker.

and with a flash.

at this point, you can either replace the stock turn signal bulb with the stock, or an aftermarket one. i originally wanted one that looks clear but blinks amber, but i'd have to wait for them to come in. i'm not patient and wanted to get this done today, so i used this one. Autozone, $2 each. clear bulb that blinks clear. hope i don't get pulled over for this one.

if you re-use the stock bulb, i feel it kinda defeats the purpose of clearing the headlight, as it will still look orange inside.

here's the housing mounted in the car. looks so SEKSY...

then you go about putting the bumper back on, pop in all the pop-its, screw down your lights, put the grille in, and you're good to go!

all in all, this took about 3 hours, taking my time and snapping shots. hope this helps out some people, i like to contribute.

now you need to replace your bumper with a JDM one, and your car will look perfect.

thanks man. how much are those running for anyway?

Rexmobbin- in this pic, it looks like you have those silver turn signal bulbs- can you post a link to where you got them? I've been searching, but all the sites seems to not have 2005 info yet.

 

thanks man. how much are those running for anyway?

 

iirc, it costs about US$1K shipped to the U.S. from Japan...

Rexmobbin- in this pic, it looks like you have those silver turn signal bulbs- can you post a link to where you got them? I've been searching, but all the sites seems to not have 2005 info yet.

 

 

no. if you read the entire post, you'll see that i was going for the silver bulbs, but didn't wanna wait for them to come in (my buddy who works at a stereo shop would have ordered them). so i went with some plain white bulbs. i picked them up at Autozone. not as bright as i would have liked, but oh well...

oh, and GT Ltd, i really cannot afford 1k right now on a bumper. although i wouldn't really mind...got a link to some clean pics of it?

got a link to some clean pics of it?

 

http://www.legacygt.com/viewtopic.php?t=3853

 

there are so many on the Internet just google it.

nice shots. thanks.