Forget them gunmetal paint and them gay black housing headlights. black housing headlights are made for ITR, Accords, and Preludes. not for civics. Although nice but not really. here is my how too. I will be leaving out the part of where i painted the housing. here are the steps and pictures. (i didnt plan on doing a DIY write up)

1. This will only work on euro clear headlights or stock OEM headlights. I ended with this headlights because the ebay seller put up a false advertisement. the picture showed of holes for the city lights as they are like in jdm civics. Unfortunately not. Well this is is what i have, if i didnt know that, i woulda bought a stock USDM oem Stanley headlights 96-98. Notice this headlight has reflectors and headlight/turnsignal bulb cover.


2. no holes for the city lights, the red circle is to show where the city lights will be drilled.


3. I have no pictures of me taking the housings a part because at that time i didnt think of doing a DIY document. Other people put their headlights in the oven under 325degrees F. i said F that! it will result in melting the whole housing. I would strongly have PATIENCE and use a heatgun. Set it on high. and go around the headlights where the silicon were placed. Go around with the heatgun until it is hot enough that the silicon is melted and gooey. It doesnt take a damn oven to melt silicon. Use a screw driver to pry the housing a part. becareful not to brake or crack or else u be SOL! haha

4. Once both head lights are a part. i first took everything a part,first unscrew the chrome housing from the clear plastic then unscrew the reflectors and turnsignal bulb cover. oh and also, theres 2 pieces of the chrome housing, that second piece is a small piece thats placed where the turn signal is, unscrew and take that a part. u will not be painting this piece. So then, i used a dremel metal cutter to cut off the Headlight bulb reflector (u can unscrew this also but i didnt wanna take everything a part) NOTE: (JDM Civic Type R headlights do not have headlight bulb reflector, but the SiR does.) after that is cut off, turn the headlights around and u are ready to make a hole to mount the 194 light socket. i went and got a couple of 194 light sockets from junkyard, stanley they are. The sockets has 3 supporters. If you want, u can order a harness from Passwordjdm.com. A 9/16" drill bit was used, make sure it is center otherwised u are forced to make a bigger hole and it will result in, a non fitting light. now, drill a small hole throught to make a mark on the front of headlights. turn the lights towards u, wher the marking u made will be drilled to another 9/16" hole. test ur socket and see how it looks. this is how it should look like


5. I went and bought a can of Clear Smoke anadized spray paint. or u can get a tint spray by VHT. u can find them everywhere. Spray the chrome housing. i did 2 coats. its hard to tell when u paint in the garage, this color will result similar to the jdm CTR headlights, under the shade, the tint will appear, under the sunlight, the tint color dissappears. its like a black chrome look. Paint them to ur desire darkness. once dry, put the whole headlight back together. Except the reflector and turn signal bulb cover. Use the heatgun to melt it back together, I would preferr gettin more silicon from home depot or other places for a more tight seal to prevent moisture from gettin in. this is what my headlights turned out once its done.



6. Heres the most easy part. Uninstalling your old headlights and in with the New. the City lights will be hooked up to your parking lights. IT will not be hooked up to ur turn signal, if you dont know how to hook it, red goes to red, black goes to black. the sockets u get from other hondas/acuras will have green and black, the green is the live wire. install ur headlights and make sure the lights are working properly. put everything back together. and ADJUST your headlights. not adjusting will look stupid. this is how it should turn out.





here are day shots. under the shade and under the last picture is under the sunlight, notice how the housing reflects the to light and darkness





Please feel free to ask questions if you guys like to do it like this, since i did not provide enough pictures.

Good stuff.

PS: using the oven to warm the silicone is actually pretty safe and way less time consuming. The lens practically falls right off of the housing because all the silicone melts evenly...and no need for prying and possibly breaking something.

This post was last modified: 10-15-2006 09:09 AM by gabebauman.

yeah but i did mine carefully, i didnt want my parents to think im crazy and look at me all weird for puttin a headlight in the oven. hahaha. all worked well for me tho.

mostly my point of doin this headlight is to have city lights. also taking off the headlight bulb reflector since the ctr doesnt have one makes it brighter. i switched wires so when i turn on my headlights, theyre on highbeam but i adjust them to sit lower so i dont blind no body.

thanks gabe

looks nice!

without that bulb reflector isnt there a lot of glare??

nice DIY btw

not to me, if it was, then japan woulda kept it on their 96-00 ctr. i should take a pic of it one night.

very true

i have to disagree on one thing on your forum. they DO make black housing headlights for CTRs. they are 400 bucks usually on sights that sell jdm used parts. i have a pair on my civic. i do like the city light idea tho. its looks hot.

nice DIY...

i have to ask, if you cut off the orange light covoers why did you still use orange light bulbs...lol j/c

good write up . i like my anthracite headlights though . i guess whatever floats your boat