[Kongzi80]

After working on the headlight assembly for 2+ hours, I just gave up. I went the heat gun route but just couldn't get the assembly to come apart. Just ended up making a mess. Anyone successfully install halos on the 3rd gen using the heat gun method? Any tips on that part of the process?

 

[Hawk94]

After working on the headlight assembly for 2+ hours, I just gave up. I went the heat gun route but just couldn't get the assembly to come apart. Just ended up making a mess. Anyone successfully install halos on the 3rd gen using the heat gun method? Any tips on that part of the process?

Yeah I did it 4 times. Plus there’s a thread on the process somewhere. It’s old as the 3rd gen.

It takes time a lot of time. So you want to try to heat everything up. Using the heat gun try to go around the entire rim of the headlight where the glue is until it is quite warm all around. You want to wear gloves and and try to pull it apart.

Or you can heat one corner up and jam a screw driver in there and lift it up. But this will leave mars and deform the plastic channel.

I’d try the first one but get another set of hands or vice grips to hold down the headlamp.

 

[DMshadow]

I've seen someone use an old box with a heatgun like this https://vleds.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/easy-bake1.png basically making an oven. Do you have a small oven or something? 225 @15 minutes will do it perfect. Remember to take all of the screws, rubber, wiring harnesses off.

 

[Kongzi80]

Yeah, i tried going the corner route. Actually had one end almost out, but was messing up the plastic of the housing itself. Once you had yours heated, how long did it take to actually pull the assembly apart?

 

[DMshadow]

If it's fully saturated you have less than 5 minutes before it becomes a real pain. It should take some force but be relatively easy, if you are causing more damage than progress it's nowhere near hot enough all around.

 

[Kongzi80]

Did you guys use the original adhesive to re-seal along with something extra, like silicone? Looks like the original adhesive/seal is butyl, so wondering if it'd be a better bet to use that instead.

 

[DMshadow]

You can re-use butyl if you didn't end up taking a bunch off. Add more if there are some thin spots, I took apart my 18 GT headlights and have not had any moisture issues re-using the OEM stuff.

 

[Kongzi80]

Yeah, unfortunately, I added some silicone sealant to multiple areas on one of the assemblies. That sealant is good up to 600 degrees, i think.

 

[Kongzi80]

Partial success!

I decided to try again and was able to get one of the headlight covers off. Took me a little while to figure out how I wanted to set it up and to get the wiring correct, but it looks awesome. It was pretty late when I finished the first one, so i'm running with one halo at the moment. Will finish the other later tonight. I'm sure glad I ended up giving it another go because the results are sure worth it!

 

[chutoyy]

I used an oven. 12min at 225F. If you can, invest in some rubber butyl sealant now or else you may be opening the lights again due to condensation.

 

[DMshadow]

I used an oven. 12min at 225F. If you can, invest in some rubber butyl sealant now or else you may be opening the lights again due to condensation.

What did you do to your gt lights? I just painted the chrome

 

[chutoyy]

Painted the chrome, clear lens mod, and sequentials w/ custom wiring. I can't remember if I made a thread or not; my 3 gets neglected and is my garage queen. :[

Stock LED lens on bottom, clear lens w/ custom spacing on top.

Sequentials...
https://imgur.com/yGGE1Cl