mayonaise

i just finished them... took me a pretty damn long time. the bumper had at some point been removed before, and when they put it on they didn't do it very well. there was a screw missing for the grille, and the screws that attach the bumper to the fender (at the wheel well) were either both wrong, or mis-matched.

the two plastic screws inside the bumper signal holes were completely fuct up. one of them popped out with no problem, but the other one wouldn't budge. had to dremel it into little pieces before it would come out. good thing these aren't critical connections

taking apart the headlights was a little harder than i was led to believe. i had to keep putting them back in the oven to heat them up a little more before they would finally come apart.

the masking tape i was using must have sucked, so the edges where i painted aren't really clean.

other than that, the corners don't fit in very well. i got them off ebay. they're the same corners that come with the imitation 'depo' black housing headlight set. i had to cut the headlight housing (the unit that attaches the actual headlight to the car) so the corners would fit, and they still don't fit in very well. they are set in a little on the top, and flare out a little on the bottom. and i can't see a way to correct it. not an easy one, anyway..

i wanted the lights in the corners to be the blinker, not the position lights, so i had to modify the little light bracket so that it would fit into the socket that the corner was made with.

so after one night of no sleep, a lot of sweat and sore muscles... was it worth it? or i should say... would it have been more worthwhile to just get the ~$300 imitations?

it does feel good to have done the whole thing myself... but me being a pretty big perfectionist, i'm thinking now that the imitations would have been better... all the trouble i went through, and the amount of effort i put into it.. hardly seems worth it. if anyone can tell me about correcting the corners, tho, that would make my opinion much higher.

mayonaise

buying the car and also the rest of the costs that come with it (buying lots of **** for it ) has left me without enough money for a digital camera... i will get some film developed this week some time and scan/post them asap

i think i can custom machine some plastic pieces so the corners can fit in better... but i'm not sure if i want to do this. it might irreparably alter the headlight housing

now that i can look at the headlights in full daylight and with a good night's sleep, it looks pretty fcuking sweet... but when you get close you can tell the corners are messed. when you get closer you can tell the paint inside is shiitty

vtec_master

I have a 97 Accord and i am doing the same thing. I was wondering what kind of paint did you use (or should have used)?
And how many coats should I put on it?

Have you notice any major decrease in light?

Thanx.

VRGNCD5

Use hi temp paint, flat black. Put enough coats on to ocmpletely cover the chrome from shining through. Im thinking 3-4 light coats would be plenty. Shouldn't be any decrease in light output since you shouldn't be painting any of the light aiming surfaces.