J30 angel eye headlight conversion

By: j30t

First off you will need to go here:

US Plastic and order 4 feet of the 3/8″ acrylic rod.

Then look around for LEDs. Try going to radio shack and getting the 1,100 mcd to 5000 mcd leds. Anyway, you will need 8 leds total (2 in each ring). Along with the leds you will need either 330 ohm or 470 ohm resistors so you don’t fry the bulbs when sending power to them. 330ohm resistors will let the lights be brighter than 470 ohm.Can get these at radio shack…$1 for 5 of them…Dont go lower than 330, you could risk burning out the bulb.

Next thing you will need is some clear silicon glue which you will use to glue the rings to the area surrounding the headlight bulbs.Like $3 at walmart.

Now the procedure:
1. Remove headlights.There are 4 10mm bolts/screws you will need to remove.Open up the hood and you will see one on the inside part of the headlight that bolts the top in.Below that you will see another that bolts the headlight down. In order to get to the other two you will need to remove the parking light. Use the user manual in your glove box to find instructions.If you dont have one then heres how: There will be a little screw on the top part of the outside of each headlight that holds the parking light in place.Remove that and then just pry the parking light out a bit and wiggle it around until you can move it out.Then disconnect the bulb in order to get to the 10mm bolts.Remove these bolts and pull out the headlight. Dont forget to take out the high and low beam bulbs before doing this though.

2. Remove the 4 clips on the headlight (2 on top, 2 on bottom). After you get the headlights out put them in the oven at 265 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Id say 10 minutes if you preheat it and if you stick them in when you turn the oven on wait at least 15 minutes…just poke at the glue around the edge and when its soft you can begin to pry the headlights apart. Once you have the glue softened you just need a screw driver or or old butter knife that you can pry it apart very SLOWLY. Once it comes apart at the top you need to push the knife in a bit further and pry it completely apart.You will figure it out when you do it.

3. Once you have that apart you can start making the rings.Cut the 4ft cast acrylic rod into 4 12″ sections.Place a section in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes until it get soft all around so you can shape it around the headlight.Just circle each rod around each headlight.While forming it around the headlight you will need to cut off the excess so you can form a perfect flat fit around the edge.Just experiment…you will get it after a while.You will need that inch or so of space at
the top to drill the holes and fit the leds in.

4. After that you can get a small hand saw (dremel tool if you have one and feel comfortable with using it) and make a bunch of cuts on the BACKSIDE of the ring. Make sure to do it on the back because when you flip it over the small cuts will be enlarged and it will look like it was cut all the way around…you will see when you do it.

5. Now you can drill the holes in the ends of the rings to fit the LEDs into.Just start out small and drill a bit bigger..im not sure of the drillbit used…just try on an excess piece until you get it to fit perfectly.I read that polishing the holes and cuts will make it brighter but I did not do this.

6. Now you can get like 25 feet of 18AWG wire at Radio Shack.Cut it into eight 3 foot sections. Get your LED and solder the pos(longer stem coming out of the LED) to one side and the neg to the other. Then on the bottom of the wire solder the resistor to the POSITIVE part of the wire.Do that for all 8 LEDs. Make sure to test them all before putting them in. Dont forget to get some shrinktubing or use electrical tape and wrap that around the soldered areas of the pos and neg wires.

7. Now just do some trial and error fitting with the LEDs lightly taped into the ends of the rings and try and find the perfect fit (remember you want the wires to run across the top and not bulge up so you can fit the glass part back on.After you get them in a good spot use some electrical tape and wrap it around the LED in the position you want it to fit in.

8. Then take some of the silicon glue and put a little bit around the edge of the headlight bulb you will see what im talking about if you look at this when you have them apart.Then put the ring in where it fits best and hold it down for a minute or so until it will stay on its own…do this for all four rings and then let it dry for a day.

9. Now that you have everything in place you can run you wires up and to the edge of the greyish area and if you wish you can make a couple of small cuts in order to fit the wires in so you can fit the glass cover back on perfectly.If you do this remember to fill them in with the silicon caulking.In fact, its a good idea to seal the whole thing when you finish.

10. Before putting the glass cover back on heat it up in the oven at 265 for about 10 minutes to soften the glue and then push it back on and get some clamps or something (i used two pliers and held one on each side for about two minutes).Make sure to clamp down both sides at once or else it will just push the opposite side up when you clamp down one side.

11. Put the headlights back in place.

12. Now you need to locate the parking light wires which you will be able to trace back from the parking light bulb to find these.Cut the black covering around them and then splice into the middle of each of these wires.The yellow one is 12V+ and the black is ground(neg).Get some wire taps or clips…forgot what they are called to use to tap into the parking light wires.If you want you can just solder (what i did).Now take the 4 resistors you have on each side and wrap them together and then wrap the neg part of the wires together.Attach the resistors to the yellow wire and the neg to the black wire.MAKE SURE
TO HAVE THE CAR OFF AND LIGHTS OFF (I blew a fuse and it messed up the lights…scared me until i got it fixed).

11. After you get everything connected test it out (do this before soldering).If it all works then you should be good to go.

Contributed by: j30t