80 Headlight Repair

[Cruisin94]

My Glass sealed headlight got water in it and it’s beginning to rust inside making the reflection element(paint) not reflect effectively anymore.
My thought is to open it up, sand it down and order the German Revell Chrome spray paint from Ebay and re-do the reflective area for better visibility. Has someone already done this ? Is there a trick to opening up the Glass-plastic seal?
Is there a video on this ?
Any help is appreciated.

 

[60wag]

The glass is glued to the reflector with some sticky caulking. You can separate them by warming the assembly in an oven. Search for a thread on here that describes the details. I thought the reflector was chromed plastic, don't think that would rust. You might be able to clean the surface without painting it. Maybe even wash the thing without pulling the glass off?

 

[ERG80]

I would imagine the process is similar to baking open depos. I posted my process here and there are some helpful links in the thread as well.

Depo retrofit with Morimoto M-Led 2.0’s and Profile Hi-Lens led high beams.

This was my first attempt at a headlight retrofit. I read several other write-ups on ih8mud as a guide/ confidence booster. The other threads are very informative but didn’t cover the extra work of fitting Morimoto mleds. The mleds have a heat sink/fan making them a longer/chunkier projector so...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[TomH]

I did this with a set of fog lights and probably wouldn't waste my time doing it again. The "chrome" paint really doesn't produce a good reflective chrome finish. Maybe different paint would have helped. I looked at getting the chrome redone but it was in the $200 range and I didn't want to spend the money. Disassembly required heating in the oven, just like the Depo process. I resealed with Morimoto RetroRubber.

Some pictures. Doesn't look like I got any pictures after painting.

Initial condition

Prepped

Today

Paint

 

[bicycleagent003]

I would just buy a new lens. @slow95z is always parting 80s. I just bought some parts from him, and he was super responsive and helpful.