3rd Gen BHLM + Retrofit Projector

That's the plan!

 

Can you please expand on this?

 

He's painting the turn signal reflector bucket(normally chrome) BLACK. This will look badass, but will diminish the overall light output now the light has nothing to reflect off. It's a balancing act of FORM VS FUNTION.

 

what mesojdm said.
Not too please with how well the tint adhered to the chrome. I had done a big test piece a week ago on some plastic chrome I had laying around and it was perfect!! Perfect adhesion and very reflective. Some spots on the buckets didn't take the spray at all, BUT thankfully in spots you can't see.
Again, the tint allows for the reflective nature of the chrome to show through. Guess I'll se how much light it cuts when I'm done. Will update here tonight.

I'm about to put these back together, 10min @ 230 with the retro rubber in the channels? Did you just put the black housing in the over or the lens too, slightly snugged together?
Also, I've collected a few silica packs to throw in the housing aswell, did you put one or two in each headlight? Still in there?
Thanks!!

 

^ yup, 10min is fine for the soft buytl. Put sealant in channel, lightly fit lens onto housing and sticj the entire thing in the oven. That way lens,housing,and retrorubber will get heat up consistently. I just put a large silica pack in each one, the bottom hole with the twist cap is perfect access and there in ample room inside.

Curious to see how this tint reflects light. Now you got me thinking of doing one with "black chrome" paint. No..more..projects....

 

Did exactly that! Felt it could've used more butyl tho, didn't quite ooze out as much as I'd like it have. Hope it's sealed!! Added a bead of sealant around the edges. It's raining right now, nervous!! Lol

The tint looks amazing!! Gives it a black chrome look. And is quite reflective. Still don't know how well the brights will be, hasn't left the driveway in days. I also left the clear plastic bit that goes in front of the signal clear, looks real good against the black with the yellow bulb.

MOAR PROJECTS!!
Next is a set of SR8's in the new brushed bronze SCS says is coming.

 

Pics or it didn't happen brah

 

^what he said

 

Here they are!
I won't bore you with pics while I was doing the work.

 

What butyl/black tint did you use? I have retrorubber & Duplicolor Shadow I'm planning on using. Good tip to leave the clear plastic part for the signal unpainted, I'll be posting pics sometime this weekend!

 

That'll do perfect.
DISCLAIMER: tinting the buckets did not work as well as anticipated.. I tried a large test piece on some scrap plastic chrome I had and it worked perfect. The tint did not lay down well in the buckets and didn't even stick to some spots. thankfully you can't even see it and looks perfect. IF i were to do it again (thinking of doing my Lexus next) Id black out the signal with the same paint I used to do main housing and leave the chrome alone on the bright bucket.

the clear ribs in front of the signal collect the light from the flashing bulbs and add a neat effect. Plenty bright!

 

Awesome, thank you! I plan on running my morimoto 2-stroke LED's in the low-beam, because I'm happy with them and don't want to fork out the $$ for the RX350. I do have the Diode Dynamics switchback ready to install, which makes me a bit more confident in blacking out the signal bucket/amber side reflector. Now I just need to decide how much I want to give up my high-beams, or rather how soon before I give into the bi-xenon.

 

The brights are still very bright, using the tint allowed the chrome to show through still.
As for the butyl, I followed a you-tube video and he stretched it out. DONT do that, leave it thick so it goops out, I barely got any gooping and it's got me worried how well its sealed.

 

^ yup. If the headlight bucket channel was cleaned properly and all old sealant removed... the retrorubber should lay perfect in the channel without any stretching. If it oozes out, that's fine.. you know its a good seal.

 

I spent a good deal of time cleaning out the channel. Probably the most time consuming part. I didn't stretch it out either, seems like it wasn't necessary..

Little tip for those who attempt. Be as patient as possible trying to get this stuff out, use some finesse and think of it like peeling a sticker off. Slow and steady instead of it ripping into little pieces that leave residue behind..

i tried ALL sorts of tools and the best I found was a good ole' flathead screwdriver. Also, a dremel tool with a bit like this worked perfect to get the scraps cleared out. IMO do not use a heat gun on this stuff, I found if its room temp it comes out easier (well, I could keep it in longer single pieces without it ripping)

 

I actually used a drill bit attached to a drill to clean the old sealant. Sounds crazy, but as it spun around in the channel... it heated up the permaseal and stuck to the bit. Stoppped and cleaned it once in a while, but the process went pretty quick. Just make sure you don't drill a hole through the channel

 

Update: 90% done with the BLHM + Diode Dynamics Switchback install. Everything is painted, sealed, installed back on the truck and working as intended. Last thing I'm waiting on are posi-taps to come in the mail before I wire in the turn signal for the amber effect.

FYI that permaseal is brutal. Popping the headlights apart without breaking anything wasn't that difficult, as long as you let them get up to temp. What was insanely time consuming was removing the old permaseal to a point where I was happy with it. The method that I found that works best for the amount of time spent was to use a razor blade to cut the sides of the seal back, heat the housing for about 3-5 min at 200F, and come back at it with a flat head. After the bulk removal, I used a dremel to clean the rest.

Also, I think if you are going thru the pain of all of this, do yourself a favor and do the RX350 projector swap. I'll likely go back in the next few months and do it, seeing as I'll no longer have to fight permaseal.

Pics to come

 

Same warning was going through my head with the dremel tool.
When separating the two halves I cracked the channel in 2 spots, possible leak points..

 

Can you show a picture of exactly what you painted in the projector? I dig the look a lot!

 

Sorry, didn't take any pics.
But you will have to disassemble the projector.(remove lens, bi-xenon solenoid, etc)
Once apart, you can paint the cutoff shield and surrounding metal the color you want.(not the reflector bowl!) Then, when you look through the lens it gives it a nice color. It's not dramatic like adding LEDS but subtle and adds to the look.