headlight conversion highly recommended!

Hey eveyone! Just finished my own headlight conversion following the tips on the forum and I'm really pleased with the result! Any one thinking about having a go should go for it - looks brilliant!! Takes a bit of time though with drying etc so be patient.

Before/After/closeup...

The darker lights suit the car more, but wether that's just the shade I don't know, but I do like the look.

Yeah it definitely suits the black paint! Major improvement over standard.

looks top mate! so much meaner, how long did it take

The single most time consuming part was seperating the front and back of the headlight and then cleaning off all the sealant - prob around 2 hours. Painting is quick apart of the drying time between coats. Dropping the bumper to remove the lights prob only an hour or so (providing you know where the bolts are!).

Car was off the road for the entire weekend but I dont think you can really avoid that unless you have a spare set of lights. Worth the effort though.

i would've done mine ages ago but i just cant be arsed to take the bumper off..... did you have to take the wheels and arch lining out aswell

Wheels came off but didnt have to completely remove the arch lining. I got away with removing the screw closest to the bumper and then pulling it back.

i love the black light conversion. i've been meaning to do it for ages.

good man! looks great!!!

looks great mate

I'm doing mine at the moment. Been doing an hour a night every day this week between getting home and going to the girlfriend's for tea. Its a pain in the ass, but I'm glad I'm doing it, the cars in bits anyway so it makes sense.

Originally Posted by jug

i love the black light conversion. i've been meaning to do it for ages.

get it done, looks awesome on silver too.

is there a link, or what do you do to make them darker?

operation alfa sells converted lights, or you can take the outer lens off carefully, remove the light surround, paint black, replace and silicone seal outer lens, change indicator bulbs and done.

I would have a go yourself as its not a particularly difficult job. Minimise time off the road and buy a spare pair of lights from eBay. The only tricky part is seperating the lens from the rest of the unit as the sealant is strong stuff!

i'm surprised we dont have any 147's with this mod yet, they'd really suit it.

what kind of sealant did you use? and spray?

there is no rule but silicone sealant would be fine, so would any adhesive sealant like tigerbond or sikiflex. as long as its suitable for exterior use.

for paint imo its best to use a high temperature spray paint as the inside of the light can get bloody hot and you dont want blistering. then again, a can of cheapy wilko spray paint will probs last a few years anyway.

in theory you should rub the chrome down to get a good surface for painting on. this is called keying the surface, its good if you want the paint to stay on for years.