986 Headlight Assembly

[Jinster]

In terms of re-assembly, what is the best approach to prevent internal condensation?

Is it:

1. Heat up the individual parts in the oven and then assemble in the oven when hot

or

2. Assemble in room temperature, try to seal it with, say, sticky tape first, then put the whole thing in the oven to get the glue working and then remove the sticky tape?

Or

any other tips?

[niebyl2002]

Clean the old glue and put a new seal (glue). You can buy a lot of different glues, seals at AutoZone.

[Jinster]

Clean the old glue and put a new seal (glue). You can buy a lot of different glues, seals at AutoZone.

Thanks. Although what type of glue is actually used? I guess I don't want to end up with something like Superglue coz that would never allow me to open up the assembly again.

[pjslowik]

Long time, Danny.

Come on over some day and we can bake car parts, but it will not fit in my microwave oven. :rolleyes:

Dude, time for a new microwave!

[djomlas]

once the headlight is apart, is ther a way to get rid of the orange on the inside of them?

[Tool Pants]

Not that I know of. The amber is not a coating. The plastic is solid amber.

[986Jim]

Not that I know of. The amber is not a coating. The plastic is solid amber.

Wonder if I could make a piece to replace that? I have access to automotive style plastic and I think I may be able to pull something off on my mill that would resemble that with out too much difficulty. Hmmm... that gives me an idea...

[jsmithdmd]

Anybody else try this yet?

[911-996]

Howd you guys burn out your casings?

I was thinking of putting some phillips crystal visions in (4300k), would they burn it?

[zdr2k]

Howd you guys burn out your casings?

I was thinking of putting some phillips crystal visions in (4300k), would they burn it?

Did you guys see this thread?

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=10247

I also installed these on mine..........

No cutting and re-wiring required for entire installation.

35W. Xenon Gas Filled HID bulbs. No Filament

5000K ~ 10000K color temperature. More light output

~$200......and looks good.

jorge

[zdr2k]

Howd you guys burn out your casings?

I was thinking of putting some phillips crystal visions in (4300k), would they burn it?

i wouldn't chance it! I have been through that! It cost me a new set of headlamp assmblys ($$$$). So go with something that provides bright light with low wattage.

jorge

[FrayAdjacent986]

I used the oven method to remove the clear cover on the headlights of my previous car. Very commonly done to remove the amber turn signal lense (luckily on THAT car, it was not part of the clear lense.

About 120 degrees for 10-15 minutes should get it open. Much hotter might start melting the plastic.

[jsmithdmd]

What about if the white suport piece behind the reflector is broken? Is there any way to fix that?

[986Jim]

Howd you guys burn out your casings?

I was thinking of putting some phillips crystal visions in (4300k), would they burn it?

Did you guys see this thread?

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=10247

Yeah I saw that thread. :P

[humara]

finally got around to swapping my ambers for clears.

you can see i bought some messed up burnt headlights on ebay for $82

the inner lenses were toast (literally) but the outer pieces were fine. so long story short, put them all in the oven and swapped the clear pieces on to my headlight assemblies. used permatex black silicon (16b i think) to reseal after scraping out the old sealant. it's not reusable.

orignally posted this on 986forums, but i think the boxster forum community is already too splintered so i'm going to only post here i thinks.

1. baked the 03+ clears with the burnt lenses and remove the clear outer cover piece from them.

2. baked my headlights, removed the clear outer cover piece w/amber, scraped all of the old silicon seal out, placed a new bead of silicon seal, installed new clear piece.

a side benefit of this is that the clear headlights from porsche have an amber insert that some people have used a soldering iron to remove. these pieces are already clear from the old amber style. so now i have clear lights with clear turn signals. also installed a chromed amber bulb, so they still blink amber. i am very happy to be amber free. also installed my 550 edition tails on the same day.

also washed car a few hours after install. no fogging. let silicon cure for 24 hours before installing back on car. the sealing process seemed the same on these lights in general. the only annoying thing was removing the old silicon bead. it was dry and rubbery unlike the seals i've seen on subaru and vw.

here's the before pic.

here's the lights as purchased

you can see the inner lenses are burnt pretty bad.

after:

and the tails

[Tool Pants]

That is smart. For $82 you end up with clear headlights and do not have to do an amberectomy because your Boxster amber headlights have a clear lense for the turn signal bulb. And with the silver bulb that flashes amber you still have amber flashing turn signals.

If you still have the covers for the amber headlights you might take some pictures so people can see that the amber portion of the headlight is solid amber plastic and not an amber coating.

[CJ_Boxster]

Currently Im talking to a Custom plastic mold injection company about taking my current amber headlight lens cover and creating a completely clear mold of it... Ill update you on the talks I have with them, Currently im waiting for a call back by the Automotive department of the company, and should be able to get a sample made by them. They normally shy away from clear plastics because they dont always come out 100% clear but I mentioned that I could buff and polish the surface, I just cannot have bubbles or creases inpregnated into the plastic... Ok keep you posted. FYI minimum order might have to be 1000 units to make an order :-0