6G Celicas Forums

Hi all

Great HowTo!

I did it myself, it's quite eazy if you know how to do it.

Just one addition: the opening (and re-sealing) is MUCH simplier that way:

- put the whole headlight in a backing oven, and heat it at 120 degrees Celsius (250 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 5 minutes (or as long as it needs to get the right temperature.
- wearing gloves, take it out (carefully, it's hot!), and remove the glass gently as mentioned in this how-to. It should come off nicely.

...convert your headlight following the how-to, then, when you're finished:

- do NOT mess around by trying to remove the sealant.
- put the glass and the body back in the oven, heat them again to 120 C (250 F).
- Wearing protection gloves again, remove them after 5 minutes and simply put them carefully back together. The sealant should be nicely soft, so it will be quite eazy.
- Firmly press the glass and the body together, and let the whole headlight cool down... you're done!

The JDM's really look amazing, by the way... I strongly recommend this mod to anyone who can afford it (or loves its celica! )

Cheers
marbot

I don't really understand the point of this mod. Cans omeone explain it to me? What exactly does this "cutoff" do? Howcome the headlights have to be converted from RHD to LHD? Any explanation on this is helpful, cause I'm planning on gettin projectors eventually for my car. Thanks.

I don't really understand the point of this mod. Cans omeone explain it to me? What exactly does this "cutoff" do? Howcome the headlights have to be converted from RHD to LHD? Any explanation on this is helpful, cause I'm planning on gettin projectors eventually for my car. Thanks.

Since Japan drives on the left side of the road, the lights are aimed away from oncoming traffic, so to the left. Since the US drives on the right, this would mean that the lights actually point into oncoming traffic, so they have to be converted to point to the right.

So could you not just re-aim them, the same way you would aim a normal set of headlights?

no, is a different angle

Hi.
About the side marker bulbs.
I cut off the three alignment tabs, but still it won't fit. I looked on your picture, and it looks like you had to trim of inside also addition to the tabs?



This post has been edited by richee3: Oct 7, 2017 - 10:41 PM

I don't remember having to trim anything off the inside of the connector. It's been a long time but had I trimmed anything I'd have mentioned it because I posted this right when I did it.

Addingmore options.



stainless steel fron the cheapo piping braces

also cleaned the old rubber and used this to seal



perfect seal



This post has been edited by njccmd2002: Oct 15, 2011 - 8:49 AM

^ You are a god of custom, small modifications. Awesome.

Who says Nissan parts doesn't work on Toyota's? Lol

unfortunately, they are the only smart ones that sell them, if you google oem butyl rubber, the acura guys, nissan, mazda all recommend this stuff.

OH i forgot, for the first few weeks they recommend silica gel packets for dessicant.

where do you put the packets at? inside?

also, has anyone take the right side apart to see what it looks like? Is it possible to get the angle on that side to shine up so you can see more of the side of the road/shoulder? (maybe swap inner housings?)

packets go inside, and i tought about opening the other side, but too much hassle.. lol..

i only use it during day, only on rare ocassions.

I have to admit that I didn't understand the point of this mod until I installed the projectors. After 3 weeks of use and numerous adjustments, I was still getting flashed daily by school buses and truckers. I live in a small town with two lane highway traffic. So today I decided to tackle this mod today. I'm glad to say that its not hard to do at all. First one took me 2.5 hours and the second one took less than an hour! I actually reversed the angle to the right instead of keeping the cut off straight. The reason is that I noticed its hard to see street signs to the right at night with the jdm cut off. So I basically reversed the cut off. I highly recommend it.

I haven't done this and I'm running 35w 4,500k DDM HID's. I've only been flashed once, and I was on top of a hill where my lights would have been pointed at them anyway. Part of me still wants to do it, then most of me is too lazy now that they're installed.

Eli, how did you reverse the cutoff? Did you completely remove the factory cutoff rather than add your own as this writeup says to do?

Hi Dan, I added the cut off the same way as this write up except instead of keeping the cut off straight across, l made an angle opposite where the JDM one was. I used a dremel and a metal filer to make the angle. My new angle is slighlty less than the JDM one. I figured the purpose of this angle is to illuminate road signs. Thus, in our case the angle need to be on the opposite side of the road for us. I bought that nissan sealant but didn't need/use it. I used the oven method to remove and replace the glass. Time will tell. Next l need to sort out a good HID kit to install.

I thought that would make the cutoff too high and therefore, aim the lights too low. I suppose this can be rectified by aiming the bulbs higher? I'm curious to see nighttime shots of your cutoff line. Even though we've been running ours for a while now without doing this mod, it's always in the back of my mind that we still need to do it and I might be interested in copying your idea. Might as well go the whole 9 yards by the time I take these apart.

As for HID kits, I have a 35w 4,500k DDM Tuning kit. It's bright and as usual, has a fantastic warranty. The price is right too, $35 for the bulbs, ballast, and a lifetime warranty. But they're too blue for my liking. My 4,500k bulbs are more like 5-5,500k. I've had both 9006 and H1's and both are too blue for me. I had a 4,300k kit from Griffgirl that I was much more satisfied with but you can't go wrong with DDM Tuning HID's.

This post has been edited by richee3: Nov 10, 2011 - 6:47 PM

Thread revival

So I understand the whole concept here, but I don't have the HID on my Celica, I have the JDM "el cheapo"version:




My High beams are perfect, but the low beams have somewhat dull reflectors.

Has anyone modified this type of headlight? I'm a bit afraid to take them apart, but maybe I can polish the reflectoror and maybe made the same alignment mod for the headlights?

The only way to modify JDM Halogen housings to work for the US roads is to swap out the glass lenses, as the JDM versions point to the left since they drive on the left side of the road.

If you didn't swap, some light would be refracted into oncoming traffic making it annoying and possibly hazardous.
You would really only need to swap the LOW beams since you generally don't use high beams when there is oncoming traffic.

Or do a full projector retrofit, like I've done

It's really simple, just heat the lenses either by boiling the whole headlight, using an oven, or grab heat gun and some patience.

I chose to use heat gun and it works fine. Then once the JDM glasses are off then apply heat again to the sealant and USDM glass and press firmly, letting the heat continue to make sure its fully sealed. For extra security you can use a clear silicone to further seal.