My M5 restoration and other E34 stuff.

[SpecRaceM5]

So on top of the polish break down I thought I would give a break down on smoking the headlights. I know there are already a few out there but here is my take.

First you have to separate the lenses from the housings. On the E34 I found US glass almost comes off with no effort at all. Euro lights on the other hand are a bit trickier. I tried a previous set with a heat gun and while I was able to get the low beams off with a bit more effort than the US counterparts, the high beams are a pain in the ass. I decided to try the oven approach. From reading a few threads I started at 350 deg. I let the light sit in the oven while it warmed up to temperature as not to shock it with sudden heat. I don't know that this makes much of a difference but I figured better safe then sorry. 350 didn't quite do it so I bumped it up to 400. Let it sit for 5 min or so and then minute intervals while I worked the glue with a putty knife and razor.


Once the lens is off it is nice to clean the haze that can occur on the inside. Be careful though as the white lines wipe right off so if you want to keep them work around them. I wanted to keep them but also wanted to clean as much as possible so I carefully used a Q-tip to get in between the lines.

Once the lenses are clean proceed with the "smoked" portion of the project. For this you will need satin black paint (I used SEM trim paint ordered from Amazon), cross hairs (you can make your own but after doing this in the past I found it much nicer to purchase pre cut pieces from Guten Parts) and finally a tube of silicone adhesive. I used clear so any potential excess won't be as noticeable.

For tools you will need a Dremel and drill with a small drill bit. I don't recall the exact size I used but it was probably around 1/16th. I also used blue painters tape and a small ruler. I didn't get pictures of the next part but using the lens as a reference and the blue painters tape to get a surface I could mark on I set up my marks for the cross hairs on the high beams. I recommend starting with the vertical one first. Get that square and drilled. Test fit it and once it is good move on to the horizontal piece. I tried doing all 4 at once and messed up pretty bad the first time around. Use the drill to set up three dots in a row and connect them with the Dremel. I tried initially with the cutting wheel but it was too difficult to get the right angle. Once the holes are made set the cross hairs in.


Glue the lens back on and secure the cross hairs with a bit of silicone and you're done.

Low beams are much easier. Just remove the smiley ring and paint it then re-install.

[CorvallisBMW]

very nice! sub'd :)

[SpecRaceM5]

Lights finished and installed.

[SpecRaceM5]

damn...wish mine were half that nice!

Get out the orbital and some gt glass pads and you can make em that nice. Mine were just run of the mil lights when I started.

[StereoInstaller1]

Headlights are soooo much work! Got one side done and almost finished with the other side. Should have it complete and installed by next weekend. Here is a teaser.

damn...wish mine were half that nice!

[SpecRaceM5]

Absolutely stunning car!:up:

Thanks! Hope to make some major progress this year!

[DER E30]

Absolutely stunning car!:up:

[SpecRaceM5]

Headlights are soooo much work! Got one side done and almost finished with the other side. Should have it complete and installed by next weekend. Here is a teaser.

[SpecRaceM5]

I too love your car, I just wanna know when the audio is gonna happen!

You and your Dad are both slackers, I tell ya, slackers.

Luke

I'm still unsure as to what I want to do. I'm leaning towards putting everything in the 525 and keeping the M5 on the stock side of things for now. Either way I need to finish the damn engine work on the M5 before I can splurge. Considering I need to get a head unit, amp, subs, cross over, wiring... basically everything but the box.... AHHH. Hopefully in time for summer I will have it figured out so I can go boom boom at the beach and pick up the classy ladies.

[StereoInstaller1]

I too love your car, I just wanna know when the audio is gonna happen!

You and your Dad are both slackers, I tell ya, slackers.

Luke

[SpecRaceM5]

if you want to do the 'full euro treatment' for the dash you can swap out the little temp dial rings with metric. I found a guy on ebay.de who had various climate control parts and he sent me them cheap, but i wonder if they're still available new...

It's a little plastic ring that slips in behind the dials (i think from the inside, i did it years ago)...

Love your build / car.

I do plan on getting those at some point. Also need the German cruise control stalk. Long term I would like to pretty much fully option the car minus head light washers and rear pdc as they don't look very clean. Lots of NLA goodies to look for. I'll check real oem for those rings though. They can't be much if they are still available/available seperate.

[mottati]

if you want to do the 'full euro treatment' for the dash you can swap out the little temp dial rings with metric. I found a guy on ebay.de who had various climate control parts and he sent me them cheap, but i wonder if they're still available new...

It's a little plastic ring that slips in behind the dials (i think from the inside, i did it years ago)...

Love your build / car.

[iLof]

[efficient]

Very nice. The color is really nice aswell. Keep up the good attention to detail.

[SpecRaceM5]

I'll start with the boring stuff. Finished off the 525 rear shock mounts this morning. The rear squeak is gone and the car rides great again.

Old



New



Now to the good stuff. This time around the glass polishing was much more rewarding. I didn't complete the set but I will give the break down on one high beam. I used one of each disc compound per head light. That would require 4 of each compound to complete a set. I also used a 2000rpm electric polisher with trigger lock this time as opposed to the 25000rpm pneumatic angle grinder I used on my first attempt.


Also used the same distilled water and spray bottle for cooling and lubrication as last time.



Before


The first disc is labeled "Coarse".


I worked the light until the compound started wearing off and the disc started to become transparent.


It did not remove all the pitting but it did make a huge improvement. I imagine that if I used another coarse pad or two I could remove more of the pitting but again for the time and money invested I am pleased with the result. Here is a pic of the results of the first disc.


Second pad is labeled "Medium Coarse".


I didn't notice much of a difference between the first and second disc but here is a pic of the results. Again I worked the light until the compound on the disc started to wear out.


Next pad was labeled "Medium". Pictured on the pad this time. You can see the pad that GT Glass sells has a foam backing which works well to evenly disperse the load and form to the contour of the headlight lens.


This disc made a slightly noticeable difference to the lens finish.


I forgot to take a pic of the next disc. It is labeled "Fine" and is blue in color. The results were very noticeable. The finish came out clear as opposed to the hazy finish of the previous pads.


The final disc is labeled "Polish". It has a much finer texture then the rest of the pads.


The results were awesome!


As you can see there are a few chips still present but here is the other high beam as a comparison.


I have to finish the other lights and remove the lenses to clean the insides still. While I have them apart I am going to add these.


Courtesy of Guten Parts.


More on that tomorrow.