hey guys, im attempting to do a joey mod of my 03 factory xenons.
i know its supposed to be hard,
but after 15 min in @230 in the oven And using a heat gun, the stuff still doesnt melt, the plastic housing (black part) becomes soft-ish and slightly deforms when i try to pry the lens off, and will go back into shape when pressed back, but the lens will not move.

any suggestions? longer in the oven?

 

Sounds like it was too hot, and where to pry is key.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t-halogen.html

Post number 9 - https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t-halogen.html

difficult with preface lift but apparently not impossible. JaMills worked it out.

 

hmm well i got a sliver of the black stuff out from one of the eposed beads, and hit it straight with the heat gun to see how hot i had to get it for it to turn soft or melt and nada. didnt melt under direct heat for 30 sec with the heat gun, didnt even smolder or anything, just got slightly softer, but not tacky or anything.

 

I tried heating them but it did not work, that glue is basically the consistency of plastic. I ended up cutting them open with a dremel tool w/1.5" cutting disk, just below the lip where the plastic lens sits in the light housing. Then slowly chiseled out all that glue I used fiberglass mesh tape with silicone glue to put it back together. It's been a couple of years, but it's held up great, no problems with the lights. The only thing I can offer at this point, is that it's very hard & time consuming, in my case about 2 weeks from start to finish. I wish I could offer more help, but I basically just went at it slowly, feeling my way as I went. But like I said, if you start by cutting at the base of that lip, then it all sort of makes sense as you go along.

 

Holy cow, that was some job !

 

haha, that takes "once you go black there aint no goin back" to a whole new level :P
(talking about the blacking out of the lenses guys..)
i may do that eventually, but for now i dont have the money to spend on a replacement headlamp if i screw these up.

 

btw, what kind of paint should be used to do a joey mod? my car is black ( i thought it was astro, but everyone in the club says its more black than that and think its midnight.)
gloss or flat?
should i wet sand down the faux chrome that i am going to paint first?
plasti-dip?
any priming necessary?

 

NO Plastic DIP !

Gets hot in those housings. I have not heard where it is necessary to prime but I would at least use Adheasion Promoter spray. I found the stuff when painting interior plastic parts, and it works well as a primer.

If you check the pass side front fender after lifiting the bonnet, there should be a black decal with a 3 digit paint code for your car and the color name imprinted with it. If there happens to only be a code, you would have to look it up or call a MINI dealer.

I also was under the impression that Way of Waymotorworks.com was picking up the task of selling OEM MINI paint in spray cans like Pete sold at Minspeed.net These spray cans are great for small parts projects just like this.