Some of you may know what this is, but for those who don't here is a pic.
I was wondering if this was possible to do with the headlights off of my 03cs with HIDs...

 

headlight housings on a MINI are sealed and hard to get into

 

Hella makes black housings for sevaral cars in the EU. I contacted them about doing the same for the MINI but they said they have no plans to do and if they did they would probably not bring them to the US anyway. Maybe we can get a pressure compaign going to bring some of the cool EU stuff over here?

 

Yummy! A Rave Green GTI. . . . just like the one I sold to buy my MCS

I never did the joey mod though, but I do remember reading about it on the vortex. . . .

 

Its been tried by many, few of which have suceeded....but there are a few tuner-show cars that have this mod done. no one knows how though

 

I will look more into it. I know that on bimmers you could pop the seal open by putting the housing in the oven and it comes apart then you can paint and seal it back together. I just don't know if I am ready to take that risk yet with these lights...

 

 

I've taken apart the rear lights...and it wasn't too bad....SO

in about two weeks I will have to 02 lights in my hands that are very used...so they are for destroying...I'll report back...heh he..I don t thing the oven is a good Idea...plastic melts...and although it gets over 100 here in AZ I don't think the oven is the same...

but we'll find out if I can't get them apart any other way....LOL

 

hey i used to be on the vortex too!

 

are you willing to disclose information on getting the rears open? I got all the way to the red lenses and then didnt want to break them so i reassembled it and left it waiting.

Good luck on the headlights...i agree that the overn thing isnt a good idea. I forget who did it on here, but he reported that by the time the glue was un-done...things were getting weak, and still couldnt even get the seal to break. I would love to see what you come up with...if you need any help brainstorming, let me know

 

It appears that a lot of us were/are...:smile:

 

What do you mean got to the red lenses...what were you trying to do....if you got the plastc lens cover off thats it...then you tape and spray...then glue back together....the only thing is that you cannot tape the chrome...if you do it will peel off...wierd..but trust me...but it looks better with out it anyway....I have two more tail lights so I may do it again...I'll take pics this time...

I will no doubt...adn this time I'll take pics

 

Ha. Same here, was a longtime Vortex-er...

misfit03 - Not sure about the interior of the headlights... I haven't seen it done on a MINI in person, but from what I've seen online, it looks like it works better with VeeDub and Bimmer lamps... Why not try painting the trim rings?

Tuls/RallyMINI - doomsdaybob had given me some info on a previous thread I started about cracking open and painting the tails. Check it out here.

 

I am trying to spray JUST the red part, not the chrome... I figure i need to spray the side thats pointing outwards away from the car, but i couldn't figure out how to get to that side, i could remove that part away from the chrome and exterior plastic lense, but i couldnt detach the red lense from the other pieces.

 

thanks I think that is the one I read before I did it

 

Tuls,

Any pics of your finished tails? Mine are still sitting behind my desk in pieces, not a lot of time lately but was going to try put couple final coats of paint on today. What did you end up useing to seal the cover back together with?

If anyone trys the oven method let us know how it worked out. Can't be any worse or nerve racking then the scrape and pry method I used.

 

RallyMINI,

The red reflector/lens piece is just snapped into the chrome bezel. If you undid the weld tabs on the back of the black housing and remove the chrome bezel you should be able to gently push on the red lens from behind and pop it out. Start on the side of the bezel that slopes away from the lens. The other sides slopes towards the lens and keeps it from poping out but once the other side is out the whole piece will slide out.

 

Here's what I got for now...it's not my car that I did it for so I can't just run out to the garage and snag a pic....LOL....

 

i like it How hard was it to do? I just want to lightly smoke the lense a little.

 

Tuls/RallyMINI,

I pulled out my long dormant project to do some painting today and I figured I'd better clean the bezels up before I put another coat of paint on the first one. When I went to clean the unpainted one I found out the scrubber sponge I was using took the chrome off!!!! I'm at work so I checked and the scrubber I used at home to clean the first bezel is non-stick safe and the one at work is not! Almost considered installing them w/o paint but they would not match though. I went ahead and scrubbed the paint off the first and continued until most of the chrome was gone too.

by the way, the paint for plastic use sticks pretty darn good even to chromed plastic. Took some elbow grease to get it all off.

I'll be putting a few coats of black on both today and see if I can't get them sealed up and installed before next weekend. I'll take some side by sides on the car and post them when I get a chance.

 

If you have problems getting the paint to stick to the plastic, i have found that it is easiest to scuff it lightly with steel wool...an fine grain if you have it....and then apply some decent primer coatings to it first. It adds a little time, but i have painted other plastic parts of my car like this flawlessly.

I'm gonna guess if i want to do this, i should purchase used lights to test it out on right?

 

it's not hard...it just takes time...and most importnatly the willingness to replace it if you screw up...LOL....but once you except that...then it's easy...and chances are it will be just fine