How-to: Bake open headlights

Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives

Since I have one headlight that I couldn't sell, and based on this thread I thought I would give it a try.

Note: Use this How-to as a guide at your own risk! Your results may vary.

Tools / materials need
1 oven
1 stubby & wide flat head screwdriver
1 thin flat head screwdriver
1 pair mechanics gloves
cookie sheet

Time
45 - 60 minutes per light

Skill level
Intermediate

Directions

Ford stamped headlight:

Try to follow me here. I will explain as best as I can:
Think of where the clear lens and black housing of the headlight assembly as a mating point. The black plastic housing is shaped like a U, and the clear is |. The clear | slides into the black U which contains the adhesive. One part of the U is exposed to you and the other is inside the headlight. Waht you're trying to do is soften the glue and pry the | out of the U.

1. Pre-heat oven to ~250 degrees. I tried 325 and it started to melt the housing.

2. Remove black plastic trim the runs along the top of the headlight. It is "melted" on in four spots. I used a flat screwdriver and pried under either side of the melted spot until it popped off.

Overflow of glue on top:

Overflow of glue on bottom:

3. Remove as many screws as possible - most are torx.

4. Place cookie sheet on rack and place headlight in oven.

5. Leave headlight in oven for ~3 minutes. Check the overflow glue every minute thereafter to see if it has softened. Once it has softened, wearing your mechanics gloves, remove headlight from oven.

6. Scrape the overflow glue off the headlight:

7. Use the thin blade screwdriver to pry under the black plastic:

Repeat this as quickly as possible all around the headlight. If you take too long, you will should put the headlight back in the over for another minute or two to soften the adhesive again. Use the short stubby screwdriver to get good leverage to pry.

8. Repeat the process until:

Once the headlight is apart, you will see that the channel and lens may have a lot of adhesive left on it:

9. If the adhesive has gotten hard, pop it back into the over for a minute or two to soften the adhesive.

10. Use the screwdrivers to scrape and pull the adhesive out of the channel and off of the lens:

Here is a clean channel ready for your adhesive of choice when you are ready to seal them back up:

You can see below how the clear lens fits perfectly into the black housing:

Now I have a passenger light opened and ready to paint and/or projector.

Hope this helps.

Well im glad i waited for someone to do these geather then cutting... thanks alot!!!

I wonder what effect this will have on hazing/yellowing. Maybe it speeds it up? Nice write-up Pete.

nice write up pete!

and now i want to try, yet i'm still scared.

GTOPete that is great. That is how I did my headlights. I took my how to from a Toyota Celica site. This is great for all Contique owners who are willing to do this project. Well worth it if you ask me!

will it work on the pre-98 lights as well. if i had and extra set i might be willing to try.

Pete nice job on the write-up I could not have done a better job

. I would recommend Black High Temp Silicone RTV for sealing the lenses back up. If put on right it will never leak. I've tried other sealants with no success.

As far as heating up the headlights I can't help, but point out I told you so.

People please do not ever doubt me again or try to give me $hit. I know what I'm talking about probably 90% of the time I decide to post something. Why? Because chances are I actually went through what I'm talking about.

So please refrain from posting crap like...

Originally posted by ANONYMOUS GENIUS:
Really? What color was the goo that held the headlights together? What year vehicle was this? Where you the original owner of this car? Do the lenses day "FORD" or "TYE" on them (at the bottom edge)

Unless ford changed suppliers for the headlights, the ones that came with EVERY Contour that I have touched DO NOT WORK WITH HEATING. The lens will melt before the glue will give way.

You aren't seriously questioning me and my skills, are you? Maybe I should just go right to the souce of the "Hightower Headlight Mod"...

Oh snap! That's me!!!

However feel free to comment negatively in a appropriate manner. I like constructive criticism. It tends to resolve things a lot quicker then mud flinging.

Okay... Here's my negative comment:

the whole quote was un-needed. and rude.

The effects of baking them are STILL unknown. period. REGARDLESS if you did it sucessfully or not. there simply isn't enough hard data to be able to swear by it... yet.

If you are right "90%" of the time, then why SHOULDN'T I doubt you? what if this is one of those 10% times? Just because you are running a 9/10 sucess rate on "things you do" doesn't mean that someone can't disagree, or try to disprove you. Just because you've "tried it before" doesn't mean that those people have to like your method, or think that it works as well as you say it will.

Bottom line: you want people to try your method, and not sling mud.... try practicing that which you are preaching. "anonymous genius" quotes aren't helping. this isn't a competition to see who is more right.. its a community, supposed to be a family... to help us ALL out with different ways of doing things that look nice.

Let's try to remember that, huh, everyone?

Additional Tips on this How-To:

Before placing the headlight in the oven remove the plastic inserts which the headlight bulbs lock into. They are held in by 3 torx screws.

Also remove the metal bracket that mounts the headlight to the car. It makes it a bit easier to take the headlight in and out of the oven if you can't pry the cover off in one shot (which is really hard to do).

Use Ultra Black High Temp Silicone RTV to seal the headlights back up. Make sure you use a lot of it where the cover 'snaps' into the assembly. I placed a very heavy bead all along the grooves where the factory sealant was, again making sure there was more then enough in the spots where the cover snaped into place.

It helps to have two cookie sheets one for leaving in the oven and the other to put the headlight on when you take it out of the oven.

When sealing the headlights back up It helps to have two wood clamps with rubber ends on them and a few clean rags. Once you snap the lense cover onto the headlight assembly immediately apply pressure to ensure a water tight seal. Put the clean rags over the lense and place the wood clamps on the headlights. I placed one clamp over where the high beams are and the other on the end of the headlight where the parking light is.

So all the trash talking about this really doesnt apply huh. If it can be done correctly, like pete just did, there is no spidering... cracking... ?

I may just be doing this, this weekend...

Originally posted by RawBurt:
So all the trash talking about this really doesnt apply huh. If it can be done correctly, like pete just did, there is no spidering... cracking... ?

I wouldn't say this is a 100% fine mod. Keep in mind that this is with a headlight that was heavily hazed from a 98 Contour. I would be more hesitant with baking a new or like-new headlight. Hence my comment to use the how-to at your own risk.

I would suggest using old headlights and dehazing the clear parts when they are separated. Then do what I did and spray clear as final layer.

Does anyone know if using clearcoat lacquer is safe on the headlights?

All the headlights I've done this on are older (from 98's). I've also done this successfully on my 94 SHO. The newest model car I've seen this being done on in person was my friends 00 Civic. He bought the car new off of the lot and when he had 8k on the car he did this mod as well. He never had any cracking, spidering, or any melting issues. Take that as you want, but I can't imagine there are two many differences in the lenses covers of your average car headlight. Now from an engineering asspect, yes, they are different plastics out there with different properties, different manufactures, different sealants, etc. and they all play a roll in how heating up the headlights will effect it. But all I am saying is that there have been many applications out there that this has been performed on and I know of no negative side effects if done correctly.

Just out of curiosity, what did you take your 94 SHO headlights apart for? I've got a 93 with some hazing headlights, and would consider doing something different with them if there's a decent option. You can PM me if you'd rather.

Mark

They were leaking. Moisture kept on getting trapped inside and it looked like crap.

Nothing really to cool to do with those cars. I know of one guy that installed projectors and put HID light in his car. Looked a little wierd but definately stylish and different. The only real straight forward and easy mod is the 'fish bowl' mod. Where you remove the inner (pointless) empty headlight pieces and drill holes in the back of them and install running/parking lights. Makes them appear to be more like the Mustang style headlights. Looks pretty cool and doesn't really cost a whole lot either.

SHO's are fast cars, but have many many problems from my experiance. They have all of the little annoying issues just like the Contour's. The major one is the damn EGR system. The down pipes to the rear exhaust manifold is worthless. The often get holes in them and you can't replace it from the dealerships as Ford no longer makes parts for those cars. Good luck finding it in a junkyard as well. Best sources for any parts is www.shotimes.com or www.shoforum.com or me. I still have a lot of spare parts laying around from my 94 ATX.

Just for info puirposes, i did this on my 93 protege 2 years ago, and i did absolutely nohtin to the headlight at all, and the plastic ousing didnt take any damage, and i gurantee u that the protege headlight is alot worse than the contour headlight for yellowing.

I wanted to do it to my contour, but i read abou all this stuff happening and blah i honestly didnt believe it. But nice to see it can be done, cutting it seems like a bit too much work. Cant wait to go out to the pullpart, adn try this out..
Before - when i first got the car

2 years later...:)