Separating NA front park light lenses?

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:23 pm

Howdy,
I'd like to open up the front park lights to fit a DRL inside.
How do I remove the front lense (oven!)?
How do I seal it back up?
Ta
Bruce

M1474 · Postby **M1474** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:59 pm

Yeah mate, bake it in the oven to open then seal it with butyl rubber.

Search on hidplanet.com there is a database of how long and what temp for just about every car in America.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:05 am

Thanks for that info.
I guess u can get butyl rubber in white to match the original?

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 5:20 pm

not all sure what you are planning to do. A front park lamp has a parker in it or turn sig- replacing it with anytype of a so called drl is going to make the car not roadworthy. The lenses is glued with a engineering hot melt glue which is not available for normal diy. You can certainly put them in an oven to soften the glue and remove the lenses and you would want to be careful about making sure it is vented or cleaned as you don't want contamination. I have never tried re gluing a lense into a headlamp or a front turn sig or rear combo lamp but I guess there is a product that will seal and retain as well. You can buy standalone drl's which will perform exactly as they should and properly engineered- e.g. Philips brand - not expensive and top quality leds.

Rolley · Postby **Rolley** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 6:56 pm

Keep us posted with your progress Bruce.

Morlock why are you here? If everything should be sent to a workshop or replaced only with genuine parts why do you even read the tech forums?

M1474 · Postby **M1474** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 7:36 pm

I haven't seen white butyl but I'm sure you will find something.

I want to remove the orange lens from inside mine and add chromed orange bulbs but its way down the list of things to do.

It would be sweet if the DRL turns off when you are indicating (assuming you are going to upgrade to LED turn signals).

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:12 pm

I will tell you why Rolley- because it did not make sense to me- why would you try and fit a DRL in a front turn signal and for that matter how do you make it work i.e. it has to have a electronic module? Maybe the guy had something else in mind. A tech forum might even actually address tech issues- but often there is little interest in the technical aspects at all nor knowledge of products and and processes. I doubt many know what product is used in sealing lenses to housings and the link to the US site hardly inspires any confidence. Its not exactly hard to soften hot melts in housings but its still something to be careful of - i.e. how hot and how long- the right way is to check it regularly and not have the glue becoming molten. Insofar as re assembling it may just push back in after reheating. Gluing or regluing is often problematic because different mating components can have plastics that are very hard to glue anything to and there is no one product that will do all things.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:21 pm

Mr Morlock exists on the forum for entertainment purposes. Or actually he is one of the troglodytes from HG wells novel incarnate.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:30 pm

Considering the NAs r now 26 yes old, why hasn't some Chinese factory made a light with the DRL built in.

Red Dragon · Postby **Red Dragon** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:48 pm

There may not be one glue to do everything MM
But this one goes pretty close, It was demonstrated at the Melbourne Motor Show
Costs $24 dollars lasts for ages unlike super glue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnxnPS6s580

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 5:50 pm

That stuff is amazing.

NASilverStone · Postby **NASilverStone** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:26 pm

If the aim is brighter lighting for safety reasons without having the large wind brakes up, this might be the way to go:

http://www.mx5mart.co.nz/db.cgi?db=mart ... records2=1

Cheers NAS

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 7:33 pm

The link is totally wrong ie not legal for Aust but it's useful to understand what is required here. I even doubt it's legal for NZ. You must have Amber turn sigs and the mx5 has been fitted with ADR approved lamps from day one. US rules don't apply here and they were always behind in lighting. This (uS) was the country that used sealed beams when the rest of the world discovered better lights. A drl is only legal if it meets local requirements and that means amongst other things a formatted switch and switch off method.

The talk about lamp life also means pretty much nothing. I bet almost no one knows the lamp life of any bulb and if you drive an hour a night every night what does it mean. Modern drls are all LEDs and even the older filament bulbs were cheap to replace anyway. Most people replace bulbs infrequently and at low cost ie it's not a factor in the running cost of cars.

droo · Postby **droo** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 4:48 pm

morlock - maybe Bruce wants to fit some actual DRLs into the OEM casing of the front park light. Theres plenty of space. I know, i've measured it. Adding generic DRLs ontop of body work usually looks very aftermarket and out of place. Mounting them inside the PL assembly is visually much neater.

Perhaps with you cataracts you can't see such detail, and maybe with your cardigan you don't care about how things look these days.

For fucks sake morlock - people here do work on their cars, build their own stuff because even after a 20 year exposure to the world there are still great fresh ideas to be had. So what if it takes 50 hours to build something and have some extra electronic module to do something, that person who's done that will have done something unique and for a lot of us on these forums, thats what we want, and why the ƒü¢k should it bother you?

Often asking a question on a forum has arm chair lazy arse responses from people the likes of you to shoot down the original poster's question. Who gives a flying ƒü¢k what you think or why you feel the need to understand what someone elses project is.
You demean this forum. I've had heaps of things i've wanted to post and share about my electronic endeavours the past 12 months and pretty much walked away. I check back periodically to see you haven't changed (not really a surprise) and once again putting questioning the need to have others mod their cars.

please put your head back up your arse and go away - perhaps to a toyota prius or hyundai i20 forum.

Really don't care if i'm blocked on the forum from this..

droo · Postby **droo** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 4:52 pm

oh hai Bruce,
heating in the oven would be really tricky, the plastics on the assembly have a tendancy to sag from the heat loosing the original shape.

A heat gun directed on the glue join and a lot of patience will help to separate it, however once the glue sets when cooled, you'd need to scrape a lot off.

It would be very handy to have a spare set of light assemblies incase something goes wrong. It is possible however tricky for a first time.

For my LED conversion i physically removed the entire back end of the plastics with a grinder, and water proofed and sealed the circuitry with silicon. I'd kept the screw hole mount corners so the fitment would be OEM from the front - the rear of it wasn't neat but after 3 years, no one has yet seen what that looks like, and will remain that way.. God forbid someone complains about your workmanship..