How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

[boja23]

First, let me start by saying that prying apart two brand new headlights and cutting/grinding/heating/drilling/etc is not only a bad idea, it is stressful.

There were a couple times I was thinking I ruined these headlights. This is a “How to” for those that may be considering prying their lights open and screwing with them, and hopefully will deter them. There are especially better alternatives now that halos/r8 Eagle Eyes are available.

With that being said, here is a chronological view of my headlights. Ultimately it took 3 months because I ordered some daytime running light bulbs from China that took two months to arrive.

Tools needed:

Dremel and accessories (MUST)
Butane torch
Screwdriver(s)
Soldering iron
Needle nose pliers
Clamps

This is what I started with:

8 Silica Packs:



Nissan black sealant:



DRL Bulbs:





Shelf fixture (an idea a came up with to house the Halos





Blind louver – Clear solid octagon



Opening the headlights;

Step 1: Remove the weather strip around the light, then insert screwdrivers around edge. Insert one, twist, then slide the other one in, twist, etc. until the seal is broken.

Step 2: Cover the clear acrylic housing with plastic wrap and set it aside where it won’t get scratched. The chrome inside will go with it, but it’s really easy to get out if you wanted to paint it – 2 screws.


Step 3: Drill the holes that will provide support for the halos, and holes that will allow your wiring to go through. If you’re not really careful you may end up with something like this:







Ouch! Out with the sanding bit for the dremel. Get ready for the dust:





I initially was just going to attach the tubing from the shelf fixture to the light.

Here it is cut with the dremel without the notch for the wiring. I cut along the tube as well so the lights would slide in easier and the notches could go over the screws:

[boja23]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

The notches were to affix to the screws on the light:









Here is what it looked like when I mounted it, not too bad right?:



Wrong:



What’s that I can see, oh, it’s the wiring and screws…that’s not good:



So I come up with a solution about three days later, lol (no amount of sanding could bring that edge even); to cut chrome door guard in half and screw on:









Now it’s time to do some wiring. The DRL bulbs are 12 volt, so no need to wire in resistors. Here are the bulbs wires right before sliding the tube on them:





Now this is what I have:







Time to make the halos.

Let me add that I accidently got hollow tubes (the guys at home depot went through their open boxes for me and somehow there were two louvers in a bunch of boxes – I don’t know how that happened – seriously) for free, the guys just walked me to the front door with them and told me to bring pictures back of my halos. Well, the hollow tubes sucked and didn’t carry the light.

Regardless, the process is the same for hollow as it is for solid. Heat the oven to 250 deg (to be safe) or 275 deg if you’re keeping a close eye on them. When they start to melt, they’ll bend and droop. Usually about 5 minutes in the oven.

Take them out and bend them around something round and the sizes of the headlights.

I used a protein shake can to mold the large halos:



With the cutting tool on your dremel, put notches along the back of the louver.

Now snip off the excess and bend the ends so the sit nicely in the tubing:





Test the lights and finish the wiring out the back:















I installed 4 silica packs in each light to fight fogging:





Cut the Nissan sealant in half and stuffed into crevice, then put the clear cover on, probably a good idea to test again before clamping seal:





Now clamp it up. I initially tried applying heat with a space heater, but ultimately that wasn’t hot enough so I went with a really hot blow dryer. I will advise anyone still reading…Don’t use the oven. Trust me!







With a ton of pressure and heat, I got the lights to seal only. The tabs would not all go back together. I have no idea why as I did not expose the lights to heat when opening.

That’s it, you have some halo headlights. I could have easily done some r8 led’s but don’t really care for them so much. Although I wish I would have known the eagle eye halos were coming out, I do have some unique halos. There is just too much work into them to discard them.

I wired these to a 12 volt switched source under the dash, over to a dimmer switch by the fog lights, them to the halos. Very simple so I’m not doing any help on those.

Total investment was about $150 - $200.

Here they are being tested one more time and ready to install.

[standfast]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

I tip my toque to you James. That is one marathon I would not do. I think I'd just buy another car! You must be a very patient and evenly disposed person.

[Tapout]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

looks sweet. good job

[08g6]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

That's quite the amount of work for doing that. I'm glad you did it and not me haha. Takes a lot of patience good job.

[DroptopDiamond]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

Yes very impressive the amount of effort put in!

[BORN2SKI]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

WOW...great job!!!

[Lampoon]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

Thats awesome!!!

[CrimsonGTP]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

wow that is a great job. going to the TOP of its section in my how to sticky thread! amazing.

[boja23]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

I tip my toque to you James. That is one marathon I would not do. I think I'd just buy another car! You must be a very patient and evenly disposed person.

By "toque" do you mean toke? I gotcha, thanks! Ha, my friend was with you on just buying another car.

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. The patience needed WAS great. Not only did these fight me all the way, but I made another set of these with 5 volt leds that I would have used, but the lights fogged so bad they turned into fish bowls. I had to take them apart anyway to re-seal them, so I decided to make them better.

I got some pictures of them installed yesterday and everything went pretty well. The CCFL's are so superior to led's though, even though there ar 8 drl's that are 105 lumens each, I'm not sure they'll show during the daytime.

[zlatsky]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

great how to and major props. i know working with headlights isn't fun but you did a good job.

[BORN2SKI]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

By "toque" do you mean toke?

Todays lesson in Canadiana is: Touque...


Wikipedia page

[boja23]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

Todays lesson in Canadiana is: Touque...


Wikipedia page

Haha, halarious! WTF never heard of that...LOL- "The Edge" from U2...remember when they wrapped his head in rope in that MTV video...I can't remember if he was wearing his tuque though.

[Altered6]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

Well done. Nice work.

PS - beauty touque, eh!

[standfast]

Re: How-To for Adding Halos to Angel Eye stock replacement headlights

There are two recognized spellings: "toque" (more common in English-speaking areas) and "tuque" (the French-Canadian way). Either way you should not smoke one. Of course you could set one on fire to keep your head even warmer but just for a very brief time.