Koji Style Headlight Mod, Painted WRX Headlights Look Sweet! Options

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Many of you have seen my Avatar profile pic and wanted a DIY on how to do your own "Koji-Style" headlights. These headlights make your car look so much better and will save you the $500-700 for real Morettes that you could spend on another turbo or suspension mods.

PROPS TO KOJI FOR THIS ONE

Tools Needed:
1. Hacksaw (Can be purchased at hardware store for $10-15) or Dremel Tool
2. 200 grit sandpaper (Just one square should do ya)
3. 10mm Socket Wrench (For removing front WRX fascia)
4. Phillips Head screwdriver (smaller head works well, can't use "stubby" though...)
5. Regular Head screwdriver (same size as above) ~ perhaps 2 might be helpful at some points.
6. File for shaving bottom of PVC piping.

Materials Needed:
1. 1 tube of 60-90 second Quick Drying Epoxy (Make sure its NOT 5 minute or longer Epoxy)
2. (2) 1 1/2" x 1 1/4" PVC Connector (Schedule 40 Bushing)
Home Depot Item SKU 034481062271 (sometimes changes)
3. 1 can High Temp Engine Paint (matte) in Aerosol Spray Can
4. 1 dust mask (For painting)
5. Masking Tape (Go get yourself some nice stuff, no cheap stuff)
6. 1 tube of High Temp & Waterproof Silicone Sealer (try to get black if you are painting your lights black, etc..)
7. Drop Cloths or Towels (to use for lining the baking pan)
8. Baking Sheet/Pan for use in "cooking" you headlights
9. Oven set to 200 F. (Isn't this a "tool"?)

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Step 1: Removing the Headlights

1. Remove the front plastic grill. There are 4 easily viewable "snap-in" connectors on the top of the grill and two connectors on the bottom that are hard to see. Use a flash light here to see the bottom ones. Push the top ones in with your Regular Head screwdriver until they pop out (not too hard, they should come out easily) Use the screwdriver for the bottom ones as well and pull the plastic grill piece off of the car.
(see lower picture)

2. On either side of the front plastic grill, there are (3) plastic tab "snap-in" screw connectors. These are easily removed by using your Regular Head screwdriver to pop them up using the grooves in the top of the plastic tabs. After removing (3) of these on one side, pull out the small plastic fascia piece. Repeat the procedure on the other side.

3. Use the 10mm socket wrench to remove the (3) bolts that hold each headlight in the car. (You MAY need an extension piece for these to reach)

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 upperfastner.gif ( 59.69K ) Number of downloads: 75

 

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Removing the Lower Plastic Grill Fastener...

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 lowerfastner.gif ( 49.19K ) Number of downloads: 49

 

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Step 2: Disassemble Lights

1. Remove the headlight bulbs from the assembly, ensuring that the main projector bulb has been unscrewed from the plastic retainer ring. The bulb should then pull straight out of the assembly.

2. Remove the daytime light bulb and the turn signal bulbs by turning counter clockwise ("Lefty Loosie") and then pulling straight out.

3. Take headlight assemblies inside or to your "painting area" and use your Phillips Head screwdriver to remove the metal wiring harness and wires from the headlight assembly.



Here's what your WRX could look like after "eye surgery":

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 Mean_Lookin_WRX.jpg ( 97.32K ) Number of downloads: 87

 

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Step 3: Baking Bread Time!

1. Make sure you preheat your oven to 200 F. Remove all but (1) oven tray and place this as high as you can in the oven, but leaving space above it to place the headlight on. (Basically, make sure you have just the right amount of space to fit your headlight into the oven. Not touching the top of the oven, but definately NOT on top of the burners)

2. Whip out your Windex or Glass cleaner and clean those headlight assemblies like they have never been cleaned before. (Bugs baked on don't taste quite like Baked Lays)

3. Use your Phillips screwdriver to remove the (2) screws from each headlight assembly.

4. Grab (1) of the headlight assemblies and bring to the oven. Take the baking sheet and cover it with a soft small towel. Place the headlight on the soft towel with the clear plastic "lense" portion facing down. (Regarding "towel burning" incidents: Make sure none of the cloth portion of the towel is touching your oven burning element....that's asking for a fire)

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes (to ensure that we melt all of the silicone sealer) Older lights may take the 25 minutes, newer lights may take less time.

6. Throw on your oven mitts and pull out the headlight assembly.

7. Use the Regular Head screwdriver to help you pry the two halves of the headlight assembly apart. There are 8 plastic latches that hold it on, you need to start working them on one side and then the other side should simply slide out.

8. When separating the halves, make sure NOT to get any silicone in the silver headlight assembly Use your oven mitts to help you hold these things while trying to separate them (another set of hands is "handy") The hot silicone will look like pizza cheese when you pull the light apart, make sure you don't get any "strings" in the shiny part of the headlight assembly!!

9. Once this headlight is apart, set the portion with the clear plastic "lense" to the side in a safe place where it will not get wet or scratched.

10. Remove the silver reflector holder piece from the headlight assembly's other half. (This is NOT the portion that reflects light) Set the other half of the headlight assembly to the side.

11. OPTIONAL STEP: You may choose to try to remove all the silicone in the headlight housing, but for most, this is unnecessary. (IE: Don't really mess with this step unless you know alot about sealing up (2) pieces of plastic together)

12. Remove the clear plastic daytime running light cover as well as the orange turn signal bulb cover.

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This is the silver piece you want to remove from the headlight assembly. Be careful with it as you remove it, can be tricky!

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 Headlight_Assembly_unpainted.jpg ( 91.41K ) Number of downloads: 128

 

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Step 4: PVC Piping Fun, Mario Bros style

1. Hopefully you didn't "chintz" out and buy the wrong PVC connector at the store, we'll assume you got the right one. On the piece you bought, there is a wider octagonal piece on one end that is useless for the purposes of this mod. Use your hacksaw or dremel tool to cut off the bottom portion of the PVC pipe. (Attempt to get this cut straight as you can)

2. Use your file to flatten the bottom of the PVC connector after sawing. This will take some work, but it is worth it in the end.

3. Use your 200 grit sandpaper to "rough up" the surfaces of the PVC pipe that you want to paint. (This will help the painting job to "stick" a bit better) Be soft in your sanding, and just give that plastic a bunch of texture to hold the paint in.

Here's the final product (before removing the sticker and sanding of course):

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 pvc_after.jpg ( 35.45K ) Number of downloads: 108

 

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Step 5: Cleaning and Painting

1. Use your masking tape to mask the inside flat portion of the reflector housing where the Orange turn signal housing USED to be. Make sure you are very neat and careful in masking, this might be the most important step of the whole mod. Give several layers, and even cut your masking tape so that it forms a perfect circle inside the reflector housing.

2. "Don" your painting facemask and carry your pieces outdoors to paint them. Set the pieces on some sort of cardboard or paper and arrange them so you can get to most of the angles you will need to get to.

3. Shake up your paint can and start spraying! Use a back-and-forth motion left to right to get it even. NEVER stay in one spot, or do little "puff, puff, puff" paintings....THEY DRIBBLE!!

4. Paint in layers, use many of them! We used 5-6 layers of paint on both the housings and the PVC piping. Allow a few minutes of "air drying" in between.

5. Move painted housings to a warm, dry room. (We cranked up the heater in our bathroom to like 100 to speed the process up)

6. Allow a very good drying time (at least 45 min - 1 hour) in a warm dry environment before moving. Check to make sure the housings are completely dry.

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 Headlight_Assembly_painting.jpg ( 95.31K ) Number of downloads: 102

 

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Another picture after the reflector housing was finished and dry:

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 Headlight_Assembly_painted.jpg ( 94.74K ) Number of downloads: 100

 

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We of course painted these better than in those pics, here is the result:

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 Headlight_Assembly_painted_2.jpg ( 95.65K ) Number of downloads: 114

 

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Step 6: Reassembly Fun!

1. This part is fun! Take your 60-90 sec Epoxy and liberally paint the bottom of your PVC piping. (You MAY want to rough up the bottom of the PVC with sandpaper to get a good hold) Take the PVC piece and jam it into the reflector housing and hold for 60-90 secs or until the bond is strong.

2. Replace the clear plastic daytime running light cover. (Don't forget this step!)

3. Clean the plastic "lense" piece with Windex on the inside now! (It's the last time it sees daylight for a while, why not?) Dry thoroughly with a clean cloth.

4. Place a 1/8" bead of silicone on top of the factory silicone. Fill the sealings around the housing with the High Temp Silicone sealer you bought. (It's ok to be very messy with this, fill up those sealings very well!) Then carefully place the clear lens onto the housing but do NOT push them together.

4. Get that oven fired up to 200 F again!! Heat up the headlight assembly pieces (1 whole light at a time) for 15 minutes or so to get the silicone warm again.

5. When the pieces come out, simply slip on the oven mitts and press the two halves together tightly for a good 15-30 seconds each.

6. Push the two "halves" back together and allow them to cool after you have made a very tight seal. (For extra protection, put some sillicone sealer around the OUTSIDE of the seals to ensure no water leakage)

7. After silicone is dry, reattach bulb housings and the rear wiring harness with the Phillips Head screwdriver to the housing.

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 Headlight_Assembly_after_adding_PVC_piece.jpg ( 85.1K ) Number of downloads: 107

 

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Here's the whole assembly ready to put back in my WRX!

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 Headlight_Assembly_completed.jpg ( 95.45K ) Number of downloads: 104

 

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Insert the headlights back into your car just as you removed them, adding the plastic fascia pieces and grill.

Plug headlights back into the headlight assembly and test them quick before finally finishing everything.


Your car might look like this!

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 Pict0197.jpg ( 91.32K ) Number of downloads: 123

 

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OR this without the Sylvania CoolBlue bulbs...(I have changed over to SilverStars by the way... much brighter)

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 finished_light1.jpg ( 36.16K ) Number of downloads: 107

 

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Here is a full-car shot of my lights:

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 Pict0198.jpg ( 97.98K ) Number of downloads: 96