Headlight modification.

Keithb

Keithb

Member
Headlight modification (FINISHED!).

Hello,

For a while I have thought that the A2 headlights could do with a little updating. There is a new Q7 that parks at my place of work and it has inspired me:

01_Inspiration.jpg

So having purchasing a good second hand set of Headlights off Ebay (for not too many dollars), I've started work on making my own A2/Q7 headlights. The theory is that I can get away with spraying all of the chrome inner parts/grey casing a darker colour (except the main headlight dishes ;)) without reducing light output or causing glare to other road users.

Now if you can find them pre 01 headlights have detachable lenses, whereas the newer type lights are superglued to the cases. So after quite a few hours of heating in a bath and cutting with various knives I managed to break the headlights up. If you intend to replicate this task I'd probably advise you to try and find a set of pre-01 lights as taking apart the newer type lights is a nightmare and definitely not for the feint hearted (you have to cut off part of the securing lip on the cases and the task pretty much destroys your hands!!;):eek:)

02_Seperated.jpg


So I'm off to Halfrauds this afternoon to buy some gloss black paint. :)
 
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Cheers Sarge, I used Plastic Primer on a thoroughly keyed surface, so I'll have to see how they age. I haven't yet had paint peel off any kind of plastics, however I have seen paint flake off certain metal surfaces and now the lights are stuck together with Silicon sealant they'll be much easier to take apart in the future (HID conversion???, re-paint! ;)). :)
 
Keithb said:
Cheers Sarge, I used Plastic Primer on a thoroughly keyed surface, so I'll have to see how they age. I haven't yet had paint peel off any kind of plastics, however I have seen paint flake off certain metal surfaces and now the lights are stuck together with Silicon sealant they'll be much easier to take apart in the future (HID conversion???, re-paint! ;)). :)
Click to expand...


I would have done it that way too, I was just thinking it would get very hot and very cold at times in there and if it would effect the paint.

SARGE
 
Nice job, Keith !
I must admit I had also thought about doing the same... Mainly because I already did that on my old MGF a long time ago (in 2001). On that car it looked very good (in fact it looked exactly like the MGF Trophy 160), and so does yours, esp. on black car. I love it :)
The next step I would consider is a row of LED daylights at the bottom, in place of the "little cylinder".
You could also go for a simple HID conversion (just the bulbs and ballasts). I did it on my MGTF, and it has improved night vision, although it's still far from a proper OEM HID setup like we have on our Freelander2.
 
Hey there Keith

Seriously looking foward to doing this project but have a couple of questions that need answering,
first of all which brand/type silicon sealant did you use and does this modification reduce headlight beam intensiity?:eek:

Cheers,

A2sport
 
Cheers y'all :)

It took about a week of evenings and weekends doing the re-work. The longest job was separating the lenses from the cases, they took about 5-6 hours (lots of patience needed...or pre-01 headlights :))! I reckon you could knock them out in two days if you really set your mind to it, but I took my time and did each stage after work.

I used an industrial strength Sealant (MAPESIL AC) that i got off my Landlord (he's a builder chap). Any decent off the shelf sealant will do the trick, just use lots of it (One application to stick the lights back together and another few applications to tidy/fill any potential gaps).

The beam strength doesn't seem to have been affected at all. The chrome part I sprayed Satin black doesn't seem to do much with the light projection, all it appears to do is fill the light unit with illuminated light. The headlights now have a more spotlight appearance, but the beam pattern appears the same. I will in the future upgrade to HID's though as the stock A2 lights aren't great anyway.

I like the idea of LED strips for sidelights and I might do mk2 version lights later in the year (I have my originals as spare now :)), but I'm keen to see how LED strip sidelights play out. I used to think Beemers halo sidelights looked cool, but I'm not so sure now and I have a feeling Audi style LED strip sidelights 'might' go the way of the Lexus rear light ;).
 
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There are two different versions of the headlight. You need the old one, wich can be opened (two parts). The new version ist completely sealed.
 
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