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Newell Gurus
Headlight Upgrade - Printable Version

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Headlight Upgrade - Richard - 06-17-2014

I wanted to upgrade the headlights on 512 like I had done on 390. However, the ECE code headlights to replace the Ford pickup truck lights were no longer available. So, I had a wild dream and decided to remodel the front cap to look more like the later models.

Newell uses a 90 mm Hella sealed unit. You can source those from Rallylights.com. I decided to go whole hog and install the bixenon. Translated into English this means I used HID lighting for the low and high beam.

Step one was to cut out the out headlights and the recessed fiberglass that surrounded the lights. That is picture one.     Pictures two is a shot of prefabbing some flexible fiberglass sheeting to give me something to start filling the hole.     I simply put wax paper down on a smooth surface, wet some fiberglass cloth with resin, and waited for it to cure.

I needed some round tubes to act as the recesses for the round units. So I found appropriate sized pipe or tubing, waxed the outside of the pipe, and wrapped it with resin saturated cloth. When that cured I had fiberglass tubing to make the recesses for the lights and new round blinkers.    

I have added a few pics that show building the layers of fiberglas in place to fill in the hole. By the way the fiberglass on the front cap is 3/4 inch thick in this section. That's a lot of fiberglass. Two days worth :-).    

After the glass was almost flush with the rest of the surface, I used bondo to bring it up to the right surface height. Then primer and paint. I used a single stage PPG paint instead of clear. I didn't know how blending a clear would look with the Imron paint which is not clear coated. I took a piece of the fiberglass I cut out to the paint store and they used their computer system to match the color.            

The final picture is of the finished product.     If you remember, I said I installed the single unit low high HID. I didn't think a single unit would look right, so I found a pair of used 90 mm low beam Hellas on Fleabay for 50 bucks. They are installed for aesthetics right now. I may get energetic and wire them just to flash as courtesy for the truckers.

And the finish is a laugh at my expense. It's a lot of work to mask the entire front of the coach to prepare for painting. And it's a lot of trouble to paint. After I painted it, I could see a ripple in the fiberglass on both sides where the old met the new. I could see it or feel it until the surface was glossy. So, I sanded it all down, fixed the ripple, primered and painted again. It's the Entrekin way. Do it twice, or three times till you get it right.

RE: Headlight Upgrade - Dmatz - 06-17-2014

Richard

This looks awsome, great step by steps.

RE: Headlight Upgrade - Fulltiming - 06-17-2014

Amazing work Richard. I wonder if there is anything you CAN'T do!!

RE: Headlight Upgrade - folivier - 06-17-2014

Wow, looks really great! So you basically filled in the space where the old lights were then cut out below that for the new lights?
But I gotta ask. What campground allowed you to do all of that work for that long of a time?

RE: Headlight Upgrade - encantotom - 06-17-2014

where richards keeps his coach is a campground kinda.

tom

RE: Headlight Upgrade - hagcam - 06-17-2014

Very nice, thanks for posting it. It gives me some ideas.

RE: Headlight Upgrade - Richard - 06-17-2014

It's a low key kind of place and I have fixed a few things for the owner. Yeah, I know painting without a booth is not the right way. You just have to wet sand a bit to get the dust out.

If I had it to do over again, I would have used the existing contour of the cap to make a mold. Then I would have fabbed the replacement plugs in the shop instead of making them in place. It was a steep learning curve.

Sharp eyes will notice that the molding recess on the from cap is wider on the later model coaches than those with the ford lights. The 90 mm lights are slightly bigger than the existing recess which is what necessitated the addition of the tubes for the lights.

RE: Headlight Upgrade - encantotom - 06-17-2014

but..will you ever drive at night again?

tom

RE: Headlight Upgrade - smagown - 06-17-2014

Does it light up the night?
Looks awesome.

RE: Headlight Upgrade - rheavn - 06-17-2014

Very nice job! You've already made some nice improvements to your coach.