This is continuation of the Acura NSX headlight conversion with quad projectors, dual S2000’s and dual bi xenon Infiniti FX projectors. The project took an extreme turn over when I placed the stock glass lenses in front of the headlights after I finished mounting the projectors. To my EXTREME disappointment, I got 3 cut off lines due to the texture on the headlight lenses.
In the beginning I didn’t think much of it, because the stock low beam area has a clear glass spot which I figure would work. Like… I could aim it so the cut off line shines right thru that clear spot and I should be fine.. .but no I was wrong, the rest of the texture that’s in front of the projector also messed up the beam and gave me 3 different cut off lines on top of each other when I shined it against the wall. So I had to figure out a way to make this work or scrap the whole project and a waste of time.
Anna, my girlfriend has always told me that I’m one ambitious devil… and I wasn’t about to let this stumble stop me from moving ahead. Thinking positively I was trying to make this problem into a challenge and just look at it as a speed bump on the road where I have to figure out how to ride over it gently while keeping everything smooth and groovy.
So gaining from my experience with thermoplastics as well as learning some more along the way.. I decided to not replace the whole headlight lense in plastic (which I could do) but instead took another route which was to carefully slice off the front glass lense without breaking it, and then replace it with an exact identical shape of polycarbonate UV protected headlight lense.
It didn’t end there, I had to figure out how to bond it to the glass reliability and figure out a way to finish the edge since the headlight lenses can still be seen from the side and from the front with the headlights opened.
Glass had to be etched… professional high performance grade adhesive was obtained to reliability bond the plastic to glass and able to sand and finish the edge
The adhesive I used to bond the glass to plastic is not a typical substance found at the local hardware store or else I would have gotten it.. and here’s why…
Silicone and polyurethane can’t be used because I can’t sand or finish the edge of it from the excess adhesive that is along the edge.
Epoxy also won’t work since it doesn’t bond plastic to a thin glass edge reliable enough and it can’t cope with the thermal expansion differences of the glass and plastic. Since the plastic will split away from the glass due to the two materials expanding at different rates at elevated temperature and this is a problem since epoxy is stiff and it’s not a flexible material like silicone or polyurethane.
The glass lenses were tested for water leakage as well over a few days period. At times I also put weight to sink it down before water came in over the top to simulate a pressured water wash or heavy rain. It was successful and no water leaked in.
And some facts… I never like to sand down any glass or plastic fluted lenses for a few reasons. First off it’s super time consuming especially with glass. Second the end product has never been as clear as I like it from all that I’ve seen people do. From pictures online it may seem perfect enough however in reality it’s just not up to par to my standards.
Perfectly clear polyurethane plastic lenses, the same ones used on oem headlights will already chop off about 10% of the light output. Imagine one that’s pitted.. sanded and polished or yellowing… it will block off much more then 10% of the light output.
Enjoy the pictures
Best Regards,
Larry Wu
LittoDeviL Peformance
[email protected]
In the beginning I didn’t think much of it, because the stock low beam area has a clear glass spot which I figure would work. Like… I could aim it so the cut off line shines right thru that clear spot and I should be fine.. .but no I was wrong, the rest of the texture that’s in front of the projector also messed up the beam and gave me 3 different cut off lines on top of each other when I shined it against the wall. So I had to figure out a way to make this work or scrap the whole project and a waste of time.
Anna, my girlfriend has always told me that I’m one ambitious devil… and I wasn’t about to let this stumble stop me from moving ahead. Thinking positively I was trying to make this problem into a challenge and just look at it as a speed bump on the road where I have to figure out how to ride over it gently while keeping everything smooth and groovy.
So gaining from my experience with thermoplastics as well as learning some more along the way.. I decided to not replace the whole headlight lense in plastic (which I could do) but instead took another route which was to carefully slice off the front glass lense without breaking it, and then replace it with an exact identical shape of polycarbonate UV protected headlight lense.
It didn’t end there, I had to figure out how to bond it to the glass reliability and figure out a way to finish the edge since the headlight lenses can still be seen from the side and from the front with the headlights opened.
Glass had to be etched… professional high performance grade adhesive was obtained to reliability bond the plastic to glass and able to sand and finish the edge
The adhesive I used to bond the glass to plastic is not a typical substance found at the local hardware store or else I would have gotten it.. and here’s why…
Silicone and polyurethane can’t be used because I can’t sand or finish the edge of it from the excess adhesive that is along the edge.
Epoxy also won’t work since it doesn’t bond plastic to a thin glass edge reliable enough and it can’t cope with the thermal expansion differences of the glass and plastic. Since the plastic will split away from the glass due to the two materials expanding at different rates at elevated temperature and this is a problem since epoxy is stiff and it’s not a flexible material like silicone or polyurethane.
The glass lenses were tested for water leakage as well over a few days period. At times I also put weight to sink it down before water came in over the top to simulate a pressured water wash or heavy rain. It was successful and no water leaked in.
And some facts… I never like to sand down any glass or plastic fluted lenses for a few reasons. First off it’s super time consuming especially with glass. Second the end product has never been as clear as I like it from all that I’ve seen people do. From pictures online it may seem perfect enough however in reality it’s just not up to par to my standards.
Perfectly clear polyurethane plastic lenses, the same ones used on oem headlights will already chop off about 10% of the light output. Imagine one that’s pitted.. sanded and polished or yellowing… it will block off much more then 10% of the light output.
Enjoy the pictures
Best Regards,
Larry Wu
LittoDeviL Peformance
[email protected]
