[draphty]

Bottom line...wanted some clear headlights on my '95 ZJ. Didn't want to, and wasn't going to spend the money for aftermarket clears. So...Here's what I did. If someone else has already did this and posted, sorry for being redundant.

The ZJ headlights have a perfectly flat surface where the plastic lens cover attatches to the black plastic bucket that holds the bulb. After very little prying, the old headlight lens came off. I then used a razor blade to remove and clean up some of the old glue that was left behind. When I removed most of the old glue, I followed up with some 80 grit sandpaper to flatten and roughen the surface. A little internal cleaning and painting of the housing (painted the floors white and touched up some of the chrome plating with silver paint). These headlights where not in the best shape, so I figured I had nothing to lose. Anyway, I work for a company that builds windows and I found a scrap piece of 3/16" thick, clear impact resistant acrylic. I traced the headlight housing onto the acrylic and had one of the guys in the shop cut it out and round the edges. No trick to this, anyone at home can do the same with basic tools. I took my new clear lens' home and used a product called Power Bond to secure them to the housing. The Power Bond is used to glue windshields into cars, so it makes a good water tight seal, but you better have the lens where you want it when it first makes contact to the housing/glue, because there's no moving it afterwards.

Needless to say, I'm very impressed with my "no money clears". I haven't installed them back into the ZJ yet. I'll try to tonight and get some more pics of the finished results.

I'm passing this on to my fellow ZJ'ers that have helped me with problems. If you mess up your lights, I assume no responsiblility.

[aaron7]

Yah so... you made something custom and didn't post pics?

Fail.

[draphty]

Yep..sorry. I tried to post pics, but I couldn't figure it out. I guess I'm stupid...LOL.

I guess you can go here...and see the same post...With Pictures!

http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?t=498863

[Greeeeenberg]

You cant post pics yet so just do the smae thing you did with jeepsunlimited and one of us that can post pics will quote you.

[newfieZJ]

Cool , get some pics installed too !

[ZtotheJ]

damn iwant to see pics...

[draphty]

Peter...Thanks for posting the pics. I'll get'em installed with some pictures. My ZJ is white, so I thought the floor would look good white also. I guess now I'm not sure if that was the right idea. May look better to me when I get them on the Jeep.

[ZJcrawler45]

nice! i think i might do this now.

[Mickey_D]

Ditto. You can get clear Lexan at Home Depot by the way...

Guess where I'm going?

[draphty]

I don't want to mess anyone up...as I have not tried these on the Jeep yet. Before anyone does this mod read this from Jeeps Unlimited Forum. There seems to be some thought that this will create an ugly beam pattern.

http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?t=498863

[BLACKzj52]

dang those look sweet!
i wanna see them installed and see the beam pattern

[Mickey_D]

I used clear silicon to attach the new lens. I bought 1/8" plexiglass from Ace Hardware and used my Dremel to sand the edges to shape.

The bolts are there to hold the lens up until the silicon dries otherwise it would slide down to the turn signal.

5 minute drive to Ace, 5 minutes for them to cut me off a couple of $.49 scraps, $5 for the tube of clear silicon, 45 minutes for both to trim with the Dremel. I took a little extra time and painted the bottom "shelf" of the reflector gloss black with a coat of clear over the top.

It's not the most professional looking and would have gone a lot better had I taken the baskets out of the Jeep, but unless you've got nose to plexiglass, you really can't tell it's not supposed to be there. I just hope I got enough silicon on there to make it waterproof.

[draphty]

Mickey D...Looks good! Can't wait to see the pattern. I hope yours and mine work out ok.

[nashmd454]

I too am interested in the beam pattern. I am sure it wouldn't work with HID's...can I say once again that I wish they mae projectors for the zj. I really don't want to part with $695 to have a set made.

[Mickey_D]

I'm looking for a used set of projectors from a WJ. I figure some creative work with a Dremel to adapt the rear half of the two together. All you need to keep is the mounting hardware for the ZJ intact. The reflector doesn't really matter with projectors.