Diy: Painting M35 Headlight

[Footo]

Hi guys

thought id do a write up on painting the headlights black.

I spent a bit of time actually looking for a DIY for our lights and there was no actual write up that i could find.

you can either put it in the oven but again couldnt find a temperature or time so went for the heat gun that few other guys had used.

So the things you will need:

A heat gun (or oven)

small screw driver

small phillips head

stanley knife

black or any colour paint you want to use

a primer

masking tape

sand paper-- i used 600 grit

So you will need to remove the headlights, but to do this you will need to remove the bumper so clips off the top grill and then peel back the inner guard and undo the small bolt(has phillips on the head too) and if you have your tray remove that also. Once the front grill is off its now time to remove the headlights.

There is one bolt on the top, one on the side and two below the lights as you can see on the pic.

once the is light out undo the main plug and remove.

The next step i wish id got photos for because i forgot how some of it went back together so took me a little longer.. basically you have to remove the ballast, lights and wiring.

once thats done remove the little black screws around the light and now it's ready to heat.

This is the part you want to sit down and take your time.. i sat down with a towel with the heat gun and small flat head. Slowly heat around the area you start on, there are plastic clips which you can either slightly heat them and bend back or try and bend back without heat. Once you think you've given an area enough heat wedge the small screw driver in between the lens and plastic and pull out the excess silicon that sticks to the screw driver.. Continue around the whole light removing as much silicon as possible to help break the seal.

Once you've gone around the first time you do the same process except trying to break the seal between the lens and plastic by wedging the screw driver in-between carefully prying and applying heat. With enough heat around an area you should see the lens moving out slowly. Keep going and you will eventually break the seal right the way round and have the lens off.

keep in mind this took me 5 hours to do the whole job, please do not rush this as you will be very sad and poor.

you will have the rear black housing and the front lens and reflector together held by two screws

Undo the two small screws holding the reflector in and will end up like this

once that is done remove the small indicator lens and driving light by popping off the tabs.

and now mask up the areas you dont want black, do a light sand and do a coat of primer.

once the primer is dry paint with your chosen colour i used satin black.

when its dry remove the tape and start putting it all back in reverse order.

I took the chance to also clean inside of the light also. I resealed it using a windscreen silicon i got from repco just to replace the oem silicon i took out..

but trust me there will be heaps left in seal . So push it together and reheat, molding it back into place. This was easier with two people to help guide it back into place we also put the screws back in when the silicon was soft to help guide it.

From here starting putting all the lights ballast and wiring back in, and fit back into the car all done in reverse order.

once back in check the lights and fit the bumper

the finished result

if ive missed anything or any questions dont hesitate to ask.

enjoy

[Gunza]

Looks sic!!!

[Daleo]

Great job on the "How to" Chris; cue tonnes of NM35's with black light surrounds!

[conan7772]

Picked up a pair of spare lights to restore .

Gonna oven bake them at 100C for 7 mins to break them open.

Then spray the insides in a large flake heavy metallic  black.

What is the OEM sealant and what's the best way to reseal  ?

Tube silicone, butyl or butyl tape ?

cheers

[TukeH]

I scraper old seals off and put new butyl

heating and a flathead screwdriver got the old seal off

[conan7772]

butyl tape or out of a tube ?

[TukeH]

3 hours ago, conan7772 said:

butyl tape or out of a tube ?

tube

[LieutenantJiggles]

Not sure if i should blacken my casing, after painting the wheels and grille, the amount of chrome seems nice and balanced.

Edited September 26, 2020 by LieutenantJiggles