Gen 2 HID Vs Halogen Headlight housing differences. (I took em both to pieces.) /Custom Headlights

Disclaimer. I'm a Redneck and have no formal mechanical training. I'm trying to figure out things on a car because I couldn't find the answers I needed online. My "technical terms" may very well not be the correct terms. It doesn't mean I don't understand how something works or is supposed to work, I'm just not as concerned with terminology as much as other people may be.


Before I start, a special thank you to Member Jean C. Reyes. I was looking for an HID housing to take to pieces, and he sent me a decent one to have as a spare in case I couldn't make this all work. Thank you Jean.

I couldn't find any aftermarket replacement headlights for my HID lights on my Touring model.
I also wanted something with a little less chrome. I don't like the way the factory lights look.
I ended up ordering these from CarId.com.


I'll be honest, I was expecting headlights that were absolute garbage. Not only did these seem to be decent, but the casing and lenses look identical to my factory units at first glance. Now, these are for Halogen only, and when you buy them they point that out...several times.

(I taped up all the new lenses to keep from scratching anything.)

What are the differences?
The cases are identical. Toyota just made one headlight housing. The places where any hardware for the HID would go is there, but you would have to drill/cut out the slots. Screws that Toyota used seem to mostly be 'self-tapping' on the plastic stuff. So you just drill a smaller hole than the screw, and then screw the screw in.
There is one location next to the large headlight housing where you would have to mark and cut out the hole for the plug going to the other side of the HID.
And there is a place on the bottom where the controller goes that you would have to cut out for it to go in place. I may take my spare controller off to see how big the hole actually is, I suspect it's a quarter of the size of the box. This is also where I'd place a controller if I was doing any aftermarket conversion.
The second-largest problem is that the housings that hold the bulb are different. There aren't just different holes, the back is shaped differently. The HID has a completely different housing
The #1 difference is also in the housing. The "flap" for the high/low beam on the HID is built into the cover for the light.


The bulb covers are different. The HID one has the flap for the high/low beam built-in, and the Halogen is riveted solidly in place.

So I decided the only logical step was to take them to pieces and see if I could make a single headlight from two, or if the differences were too great.

The inside is identical as well.

To take the headlights apart (And put them back together.)
​

This part really isn't hard. DO NOT LISTEN TO PEOPLE THAT TELL YOU YOU CAN USE A HEAT GUN TO DO THIS!!! YOU DON'T NEED THOSE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE. GET BETTER FRIENDS.

You need to gather tools and parts before you do this. ​

You will need:

• An Electric Oven. (We only had Gas, so I called Mom and asked if I could use hers to bake something and told her nothing else. Her excitement wore away very quickly as I walked in with car parts.
• A Phillips screwdriver. I didn't want to use electric and chance hurting hot plastic.
• A flathead screwdriver, You want it for prying, and for smoothing the butyl rubber.
• Butyl Rubber "rope". I found mine at Auto Zone. It's also used for putting in windshields.
• Leather gloves.
• Cheap metal clamps.

Step 1. Set the temperature on the oven to 240 degrees. Take out the top rack and put the bottom rack at the very bottom. Let the oven preheat before you put a light in.

Step 2. Remove the 3 screws on the back of the housing, and the three screws holding the clip for the bumper. I put everything in a pile on the table so I'd be confused later on what goes where. I'd suggest taking the ice tray out of Mom's freezer, dumping the ice, and using the slots to separate the screws. Don't bother telling her, she'll understand.

(One screw is missing on this one, it's been taken apart before.)


Step 3. Place headlight (with bulbs in place) inside the oven with the lense up. I don't think direction matters, but we can never be too careful.

Step 4. set a timer for 10 minutes.

Step 5. Make a cup of coffee and ask Mom if she wants any.

Step 6. put on gloves, and pull headlight out of the oven. Pry apart somewhere along one of the sides with the flathead screwdriver, and once you can grab something with your fingers (gloved) start pulling apart. The 'top' of the headlight is fragile and will bend, breaking the screw fasteners holding the housing inside. Both of my old ones broke, and neither of my new ones broke. This means I can blame the error on brittle old plastic, and not a 200lb gorilla pulling the housing apart.
Make sure to pull the tabs back from the edges, they will slow you down if you don't. they are on all three sides. You have a few minutes but work quickly.

Step 7. On the housing you are keeping, take the flathead screwdriver and run it along the channel where the lense sat to smooth out the butyl rubber. This helps later on.

Repeat steps 1- 6 on the second, third, and fourth housing. Add in a bathroom break, after all that coffee.

Step 8. If you are changing the inner lense cover as I did, take out the three screws holding the cover in place and remove them.

You will want to swap the top blinker housing as well since it has a different reflector on it. (two screws, unbroken if you were careful.

Make sure to touch everything with your dirty finger to leave as many fingerprints as possible. swap in the parts you want and 'dry fit' everything to make sure it all works.

I also swapped the fake Light strip on the inside. The black one seemed really cheap, and I think made it all look cheap. It just unclipped and rotated out. If you look at the back, you can see the direction to turn it, as one of the clips is cut that way.

Step 8. Take a pair of Mom's sewing scissors, and cut a piece of the butyl about half the length of the housing channel. Be quiet about using the scissors, Moms get weird about scissors for some reason. You can rip it with your fingers, but this is more efficient.

Step 9. Wipe down all the fingerprints you just noticed on the inside. For a truly "custom" look, miss one somehow and don't notice it until you are putting the lights back on the car.

Step 10. Place butyl rubber into the groove, stretching it out as you go to make it smaller in diameter. I like to have too much as opposed to not enough. You can never have enough of this stuff! (It'll ooze out in the next few steps. (The Bigger the gob, the better the job!)

Step 11. Put the lens in place, and press into the groove as best you can. It's not going to go far until the rubber warms up. I found that putting it on bottom first was easiest to get it on.

Step 12. Place in the oven for another 10 minutes.

I would use this time to get the second one ready. I didn't as I was waiting to see what I messed up, but trust me. It'll be fine. Use your time wisely (Move fast before she notices the scissors.)

Step 13. Pull the headlight out and press the lens into the housing as best you can. There are "tabs" on two sides on the housing and lens that seem to be made for both prying help and placing clamps. Get the thing as pressed in as you can, and then put the clamps on as many places as you can. Make sure the clips "clip" back over the lens. You can reheat for another 5-10 minutes if you need to. I had to on one.

Step 14. Replace the three screws on the back. I just hand tightened. This is probably a good time to put those bumper clips back on too. I would not recommend waiting until the next day and driving back over to Mom's to get them while she asks accusatory questions about her scissors and some mystery black goo on them that you've never seen before.

Then put it all back in the car.

I used the 303 Aircraft sealant to protect the lenses for at least a few years. I'm also going to order some clear headlight covers from
Headlight Protection Film - LampGard Lens Protector | WeatherTech
(I believe they are a sponsor of the page. to put on in a month or so.

Ignore the dirty car, DOT decided that after years of this being a paved road, instead of patching it, they would just dump gravel over the holes and let nature take back over. So now it's a dustbowl and any washing of the car while I'm home is a lost cause.



While I had it apart, I painted the chrome grill to match the wheels (Subaru, for that AWD goodness), and it ended up being close to the fake LED strip in the headlight too.

I'm in the market for a replacement bumper if anyone has one in black for sale.

If you made it this far. Good luck and thanks for putting up with my oddities.

Brad

 

Great idea. I was thinking about getting rid of them altogether and running smaller bulbs down along the LED strip. Getting a few chrome ones would look nice.
Thanks.

 

I'm thinking, now that I know how it all goes together. I can get something similar to this.

And take it apart to use behind the fake LED strip. (That strip bugs me, I have no idea what they were thinking.)

I'm not sure what I'd do with the current blinker area after that, it may just be blanked. I'm trying to decide. Life's hard.