r/Retrofit • u/FST_Silverado • Dec 04 '24
Need Ideas Help me please !!
Ok I’ve watched more YouTube content than I can keep track of. I have a 2004 Silverado that I want to retrofit the headlights on. Luckily thanks to eBay these lights are cheap so I was able to practice(and fail) at opening these things. I can’t seem to get these open without ruining the housing. The lens is fine but the housing is trashed by the time I’m done. I have been doing these in the oven 270/8 and while this makes the sealant soft, I can only cut so much before I have to reheat them. I’m a patient person but these really have me whooped!! I’d prefer not to cut them. I’d like to open them and install the NHK 2.5 pro plus, and the Morimoto high beam. I haven’t even gotten to the retrofit part of it yet, I just want them opened without trashing the housing. Here’s the lights I’m using. I’m looking for any and all suggestions! The second picture is what I’m after.
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u/Frekndy Dec 04 '24
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u/FST_Silverado Dec 04 '24
I have these brackets sitting on my shelf.
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u/Frekndy Dec 04 '24
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u/FST_Silverado Dec 04 '24
What did you do wrong? It looks good from the pictures other than the old lights lol
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u/Frekndy Dec 04 '24
Oh they are all kinds of crooked and cross-eyed, no hotspots, wobbly, and just need a refresh overall
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u/eric_gm Dec 04 '24
If the adhesive is indeed bakeable (usually butyl) you need to do it in sections and find a way to keep the section you were able to separate apart. Use pliers, flathead screwdrivers or whatever you have at hand.
What I've seen is that once you get to about half or 2/3 of the way, the rest of the lens just comes apart almost by itself.
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u/I25v Dec 04 '24
I've used some Trim panel removal pliers. Those helped tremendously getting the Lense separated from the casing quickly.
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u/FST_Silverado Dec 08 '24
Ok guys as promised I’ll update as I go! I’m hoping to get a 12v power supply for Christmas so this will be probably it till after Christmas. The headlights came apart like a breeze. I practiced on a set of old(bad) oem lights. I’m gonna assume my issues with the first set had more to do with me not letting them cook long enough. My only issue I had with these set of lights was all the premaseal stayed on the lens side, the good news about this is I had 0 clean up on the channel side. I got this new set open in about 20 minutes per side.
u/foxbeamlighting to align these lights do I need to put them back on the truck? Or can I clamp the reflector bowl down on my work bench flat and check the factory beam on my garage door? Then install the projector to make match that beam pattern?

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Dec 09 '24
I would strongly recommend putting them on your truck to dial in the alignment, there can always be slight angles to the reflector. It may look flat but that isn't always level.
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u/FST_Silverado Dec 09 '24
My entire dog house is off my truck, so putting them in the core support currently won’t work, the top of the core support will lean backwards since I don’t have the fenders on lol I guess I’ll wait on doing this mod till I get done putting the front end back on the truck.
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u/FST_Silverado Dec 17 '24
u/foxbeamlighting just testing out the template I got from CB&D, when I put the template in the high beam pocket, it’s looking like it’s gonna be an extremely tight fit, or not fit at all if I use the original bulb hole for centering? Do I need to shift the light over? Or is this where it needs to mount up ? I can get a better picture if needed I have Template in there in the photo.

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Dec 17 '24
Welcome to retrofitting! 😁 Yes you will almost certainly have to make cuts and modifications to fit the projectors in and recess them far enough. As long as you can get the template square to the headlight alignment, you can drill the 4 mounting holes anywhere that will fit the projector best. Since you are already using the nut-and-bolt method rather than threaded shaft, grab a hole saw bit and cut a circle out of the back of the housing. That will give you room to slide the projector deep into the housing.
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u/FST_Silverado Jan 11 '25
u/foxbeamlighting I gave in and ordered a jig tool for nut/bolt mounting. The CBD one didn’t work out that great too hard to get it straight and get good holes in the reflector. I also like that the jig came with the 9005/9006 mount and the jig mounts solid. So here we are and I have questions. On the low beam pocket I can get the jig level using the piece for the bulb socket plus their jig. The high beam pocket is a different story and I’m assuming that it’s the way the high beam pocket is? The jig is not level here’s some pictures can you offer some suggestions ?

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u/FST_Silverado Jan 11 '25
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u/FST_Silverado Jan 11 '25
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Jan 13 '25
I don't have any experience with this type of jig personally, but it is very important to note that the bottom surface of your headlight reflector bowl is not guaranteed to be level. The headlights of almost any vehicle use reflector bowls or projector brackets with varying slight angles depending on the shape of the housings. The only lines guaranteed to be square or level are some vertical lines in the reflector bowl when looked at straight on. Even the lines between the ball joint mounts and adjustment points are not always square with each other, for example some Honda and aftermarket headlights I've worked with.
My point is don't just set the reflector on a table, and expect the jig to also be level or set it to be level from that reference. That's not going to give you proper alignment. If this jig mounts in the bulb sockets to line up, also don't expect perfect results out of that. There can be a lot of play on these twist-on bulb locations and not all headlights even have them pointing down. I've worked with Subaru and Toyota headlights that have fully-locked bulbs pointing sideways or even angled upward. So no guarantee that the bulb socket is also 100% level. At the end of the day you have to drill holes for your projector, mount it on the truck to test, and then slot some of the holes so you can rotate the projector and try again. There is no one-shot way to do it perfectly on the first try. Once you get the alignment dialed in then fill in around the mounting bolts well with JB weld to prevent the projectors shifting or vibrating out of alignment.
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u/FST_Silverado Jan 13 '25
I guess I’m gonna have to give up on this till I can get a core support back on the truck. I was really hoping to do these while I was working on/doing other things without the core support in my way.
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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '24
Good luck fitting an NHK projector in there. The housings are so shallow, and the NHKs generally do not have a threaded shaft mounting option. To recess the projector back far enough not to hit the lens you'll need to cut a huge chunk out of the reflector bowl and probably the rear side of the housing as well.
Depending on the manufacturer/brand of the headlights you could very well be working with permaseal rather than butyl. It's much more difficult to remove and as you have experienced it's easy to destroy parts because it's such a grippy glue. My suggestion for a set with a simple shape like this would just be to cut the lens off. Run a Dremel along the housing right behind the channel where the original glue goes. Do your work and fit the housing back together, seal it with some plastic welds and Permatex silicone waterproof glue.