Lexan headlight cover how-to
 

I made some Lexan headlight covers and am going to tell how to do it. These will help FE for us with the older style "bucket" headlights, with a lower cost than replacement composite headlights.

You will first have to make a template of your surround. I used poster board and made the template by laying it over the surround and cutting to the outside edge of surround.

Once you have the template take to a plastic company in your area. A sign/graphics place is a good place to start, or glass shop's normally carry it also.

The lexan I used is roughly 1/16 inch thick you don't want any thicker or it will not bend to form.

You will need to heat the lexan with a heatgun (not a hair-dryer) to give it a bowl shape first.(This enables the lexan to curve away from headlight not suck in towards it) Do this by heating the front outside face in the center, while holding by one edge. You will see it deform into a bowl shape. Do this very slowly while moving heatgun in large circles. Do not sit in one area move fast, or it WILL warp the material. You don't need alot of curve only a little. Like a foam Dixie plate. Only takes a few seconds to accomplish this. The curve will go away when cool, but remains in the plastics "memory" so make sure you make the outside somehow like using a piece of masking tape.

Some more steps are explained in pictures.

Here are some pics enjoy. :thumbup: :)
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...LexanStep1.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...Lexanstep2.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...LexanStep3.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...LexanStep4.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...Lexanstep5.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...Lexanstep6.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...Lexanstep7.jpg

Is that trim tape 2-sided?

Yeah. Same thing they use to apply factory side trim and emblems.

AAAA YES, 3M double sided tape....The Best stuff since....Durabond large panel adhesive (which is 3m now) and 3M masking tape and 3M..........:D Nice job on the covers:thumbup:

That is a sweet how-to! I'm sure the other metro drivers will jump on this real quick.

I used screws to hold mine together.
I like your idea better
See if I can get some more buckets and re-do them with your technique.
S.

:D:thumbup:

bbjsw10 -

Thank you. I know it takes a lot of work composing a really good DIY.

CarloSW2

Yeah especially when I suck at Photoshop. I am still playing with it right now.

This will work on any bucket if done correctly.

I see you love 3M stuff too, they make the best of the sticky stuff.

I will be doing mine soon.

NICE DIY. Thanks for posting - I bet this one will get read a lot.

Silly question time: will this hamper changing a burned out headlight?

Not on my metro I have to remove bucket to get 1 screw anyways, tested before I did it. It does hamper aiming of the light though, but how often do you need to aim your lights.

You damn Ohio people with your un-aimed headlights :rolleyes:

You can aim them with the bucket removed...............
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...tf/camp009.jpg

I need something to hunt with...... ;):D Deer, racoons, groundhogs, old people,,, can't hit em if you can't see them.

How much was the cost of the lexan? I'm curious if perhaps the same could be done with a poster frame cover. Probably not as scratch resistant though, but there are sratch fillers to get.

I have about $10 in the lexan, you don't need thick stuff only about 1/16 inch. Alot of sign/glass places will have that much laying around in scrap bins, and sell it by pound pretty cheap. I would just use the lexan and not have to redo it that way. The tape is no fun to get back off.

1 thing is to make sure your lexan is UV coated.
you dont want it to get cloudy in the sun.
with lexan only 1 side is uv protection coated, make sure that side is outside.

why did these metro's have these silly straight lamps to begin with in the us, Clearly the car was not designed to have them, so i can only assume some old regulation or cost considderations could be at the heart of this.

however the cover makes it really look outstanding! if you wanted to add some custom look to it perhaps you could install two small round lights per side. this could give it a certain retro-modern, alfa-bmw-lexus look... this look just fine of course, but it proves the "looks" of a car don't have to stand in the way of good aero, like it does to often these days

lunarhighway -

I think cost is the main issue for a Geo Metro, but recessed lights are also a normal design choice :

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...px-Camaro1.jpg

And, wouldn't vertically oriented headlights have less light refraction issues?

CarloSW2

I think to differentiate themselves from the original suzuki product, or the pontiac Firefly (canadian version). If you're lucky, you might score some of the non-recessed "original" parts and convert it back to what it _should_ be.

Or, maybe it was to make them look cheap and chintzy so the metro sales wouldn't totally humiliate the more expensive/larger GM cars. GM has never had much love for the small efficient automobile.

Finest regards,

troy

I vote for the regulation. Until sometime in the early 1990s US FMVSS code 108 restricted manufacturers to 7" round lamps as standard-beam from 1940 until the 1970s when it also allowed two sizes of rectangular lamps. The aerodynamic "Euro" headlamps were not legal until the 1984 model year, but this meant that they were not practical on vehicle designs that were undertaken until sometime after 1984. Still the replaceable-bulb lamps we all have today weren't common in the US as many companies continued using the old-spec sealed beam lamps (I have the larger rectangular style on my 1988 Dodge truck (not in EM garage). GM kept using the old sealed beams and may have insisted on keeping them on the Metro as par of their original "design language."

Headlight covers tested?
 

Has anyone done before and after testing to see what effect these headlight covers have? I'm tempted to make a pair, but I'd like to know how effective they are.

stant01 -

Welcome to EM!

When you are driving, can you "see" where the top edge of your headlight meets the front of your hood? If yes, then maybe you could do a tuft test. Cover one headlight with masking tape, tight so it won't "wobble" in the wind. Then tape yarn tufts right behind the headlights and maybe for a few "rows" of tufts back. With one headlight covered, you should be able to watch the tufts and compare the benefit.

Does that make sense?

CarloSW2

Actually that won't work for me, because I am considering trying it on the fog lights on my Subaru, which are inset low into the front bumper. They are at the far outside edge of the bumper so I suspect they disturb airflow around the sides of the car.

In any case, if it won't make a measurable difference in FE, I am not interested. There is a FE gauge built into the car, so I may try an a-b-a test on a stretch of highway, using cardboard covers taped into place. The hangup may be that the smallest FE increment the meter will show is 0.3 mpg, or about 1%. I don't know if the covers will make that big a difference. Their total surface area is about 0.5 sq feet, and the Subie's effective frontal area (Cd X area) is about 7.5 sq ft.

Nobody here has tested this mod. The difference is probably minimal - small enough that it's not detectable at the gas pump or on the MPG gauge.

That's not to say it's not worth doing - many effective but individually unmeasurable mods will add up.

Anyone have experience with using the adhesion promoter on a painted surface? If the paint is really clean (alcohol, etc.) can I get away with not using it?

Alcohol would be fine on painted surfaces, only need promoter for plastics(has a mold release agent in it)

Nice write-up. Have you determined if it has made any difference yet?

Can this mod be done with out preheating the lexan? This will be my first mod but I'm short a heat gun.

Hey guys, I did this last year and did the grill block at the same time. I used wood screws at 4 places to hold mine on. The grill block was made by trimming a piece of plastic that used to be located on the inside of thwe rear hatch and it too is held on with wood screws. I have not been able to test the FE benefits yet but the top speed with these mods went from 81 up to a nice 87 mph! The main benefit is a LOT less buffeting on the hiway, almost likie I am drafting. Here are a couple of pics:

Even the 3 cylinder Geo gets action
UMTR Nationals at Edgewater - 9/26/09 - Hyper-Performance Motorsports Inc. Photography
The White Gnat strikes again
UMTR Nationals at Edgewater - 9/26/09 - Hyper-Performance Motorsports Inc. Photography

I forgot to mention that I did these mods in under 1/2 hour on a 95-97 degree day and immediately drove the car 400+ miles round trip with no temp troubles. I kept the screw driver with me just in case.

I did this mod on my recessed fog lights. The MPG benefit is very small (read: unmeasurable) but I did it to protect my lights from dust, small stones, snow and mud fill-up.

Thanks a lot!

Does anyone have suggestions on how to protect the plastic from UV rays? This is something I would like to do because snow builds up on my LED headlights.

Hmm...spray filtr UV, SONAX Profiline Headlight Protection....

Wrap them in paint protection film.