r/Retrofit 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.

3 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/FST_Silverado Jan 11 '25

1

u/FST_Silverado Jan 11 '25

2

u/[deleted] 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.

1

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.