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separate headlight glass lens from reflector (H4 8")?
They are glued in place with some serious adhesive from factory. What can be used to get the lenses separated? And what should be used to glue the new lenses in place?
You have 2 choices; if your wife works get home before she does or if she doesn't give her enough $$ to keep her shopping at the mall.
Either way you need to pre-heat the kitchen oven to 125 degrees and then leave each one for about 10 to 15 mins. Do them separately.
It is a Butyl glue that softens with heat, Try it cold and you will chip the glass. Don't ask me how I know.
I also used a thin kitchen knife (that bends a bit) to pry out the lens. Once the glue was warm it was easy-peasy.
You need grey Morimoto butyl. It's a silly-putty-like rope substance that gets soft at high temp. FWIW, I heated mine up to 300*F for about 10 minutes to get it soft enough to remove/replace the putty seal.
You need grey Morimoto butyl. It's a silly-putty-like rope substance that gets soft at high temp. FWIW, I heated mine up to 300*F for about 10 minutes to get it soft enough to remove/replace the putty seal.
Thanks for the tip. Just ordered a roll of that Does it need heat to cure after applied?
I'm having a hard time separating the lens from the reflector. I tried to heat the assembly to 125 in the oven, the glue got softer, but no way near to get to the glue soft enough that I can try to pry it of, it seems very stuck still. I even tried it up to 200F, but the reflector has a lip around the lens and it is very tight between lip and lens, not enough room to get to the surface under the glass lens with a razor blade. Any good advice?
Look at some of the instructions at TheRetrofitSource.com, where they give some clues on temperatures needed. 125-200º isn't hot enough to get the glue to soften. Plan on leaving the assembly in the oven for a while at your target temp, so the pieces can heat up and enough heat transfers to soften the glue.
Rob Edwards shared some guidance on the fog light lens replacement, where the same glue is used. A little searching will find that thread.
Great, thanks found it. That should solve the issue. I was reluctant to try more heat as I was afraid the plastic parts wouldn't like it but that doesn't seem to be an issue
Here's a link to the thread, if anyone would need it. Thanks for the experiment Rob.
Because of the risk of melting or deforming the plastic, I would still consider using a heat gun. I would devise some way to protect the plastic from the hot air out of the heat gun and direct the heat only to the glass to soften the glue.
All done. Converted the RHD headlight to LHD by replacing the glass lens. Once heated to 150C the lens came off easily without a fight. The Morimoto glue was very nice to work with and everything was very easy once I got things to the correct temperature. For the new sealing I heated the assembly with the new Morimoto glue to 130C for 7 minutes as per Rob's instructions, then took it out and pressed it easily together.
Thanks for help and guidance, this was an easy job with the correct glue and instructions.
By the way, if anyone is in need of a set of 57000km RHD H4 8" glass lenses, pop me a PM. Flawless condition, could have been new for all I can see.
Do anyone sell the round center part of the reflector on a 8" H4's-
I have some corrosion due to moisture-
can the round center part be removed and replaced, or is this a fixed part of the entire reflector?
Last edited by PC-85-928S; 11-23-2020 at 09:20 AM.
Do anyone sell the round center part of the reflector on a 8" H4's-
I have some corrosion due to moisture-
can the round center part be removed and replaced, or is this a fixed part of the entire reflector?
10-01-2018, 08:23 AM
separate headlight glass lens from reflector (H4 8")?
Does it need heat to cure after applied?
