Rep Power: 340

As some of you have read and know, I bought some sedan lights off a member and friend. She owns a 2001 civic sedan. I own an 2002. I cleared her lights pretty well and bought new bulbs. I got some Silverstars, and an amber turning signal… oh yeah I picked up some PIAA extreme whites (?) for the parking bulbs and they look childish, they light up blue and are far from hyper white-- which the guy claimed at the shop. Oh, and I silicon-ed the lenses to the housing good. I lined it with silicone, and then sealed up the outside with silicone too.

I took down the bumper with my buddy at his house. It was two day process. The DIY section wasn’t too thorough at all on explaining how to take down the bumper, so between me and my best friend… we ran into trouble. The bumper came off fine… no scratches, no scuffs-- clean and perfect. That black brow that holds the light in place was a bitch to unbolt. As soon as we changed the bulbs in the new lights, we called it a night since the sun was setting and the temperature was lowering. We figured we’d start in the morning. We cleaned up, placed the clips, screws and latches for the little mud/scratch guard away. We placed the bumper in his basement and put some t-shirts under the corners so it could rest without scratching

I don’t have pictures yet, but I’ve taken some and they will be developed as soon as the rolls done. What my concern and complaint is (other than the DIY for clearing the lights was not to helpful) are the gaps that I have noticed. I bolted my purchased lights in place the next morning and I stared to notice gapping. The bumper was off so I figured it would look better once the bumper was placed back on. Then I checked if they work… NICE, they’re white, bright and sexy. After putting the bumper on, we had difficulty remembering which way the hard-flat-plastic piece (the one that covers the under-side of the engine) fit on to the bumper with the clips, so we took a trip a down to the nearest Honda dealership and looked at other 2002-2001 sedans in the lot. We crawled under it, studied it, and drove off like we stole something. Came back to his house and got the bumper assembled smoothly. Finally, it was done! Took a lot of work and a lot of patience… maybe I over read the part where it said it would take patience.

Still with the bumper on I was having trouble seeing past the gaps. On the passenger light, the straight part that lines up with the fender… There’s a minor gap right there. I went BACK to another Honda dealer, this time near my neighborhood for an oil change. Looked at some other 01-02 sedans and coupes and noticed most of them had gaps, but it varied in different areas along the lens, some between the bumper, others between the fender, or even between the hood. What should I do about this gap? Should I ignore it? Do you have gapping? Lastly, is there something I could use to cover up some minor scratches on the lenses? Maybe like glaze formula used for cars, but for plastics? You know so the scratches could be smothened and filled in.

Thanks for all your time, help and your advice. After all this time, you guys have been like family.

Alex

 
Rep Power: 0

My advice..............don't worry about the gap if it's minor!!
You will get used to it eventually. And as far as the lens scratches........
I'm sorry bro, but I have no clue as to what you can use.

 
Rep Power: 340

Ah thanks. Maybe I'll just go back to stock , I'll have shop do it for me though.

 
Rep Power: 0

it took me exactly an hour and a half to take out the headlights, PAINT them, wait for paint to dry with a few coats and completely done.

and i followed the DIY off this site and found it to be very very thorough. and without it, i dont think i would've been able to do it so smoothly. and i did it by myself. to me, before the installation, it seemed a bit intimidating cuz it was my first time working on my car. but when i got to it and finished, i thought it was so easy. the only hard part was pulling apart the outer headlight from the inner housing, because of the gooey stuff holdling it together. had to use a knife to cut through it. otehr then that tho, very easy.

and in the same day, i installed my AEM CAI. and that was even easier that the headlights, i thought. anyway, at least u got it installed!

dont you feel like KING after you installed it? man. i know i did

later days

 
Rep Power: 0

honestly, if it took you two days to do this, please have somone else work on your car. for one, you dont have to take the bumper off for the head lights, you unclip the clips on the top, and unscrew the side screws, forcefully pull off the bumper, i do this in about 2 min time. as for the gaps, they are most likely due to the bolts holding in the headlights being just a little bit off from each other, like how they were tightend, no big deal

 
Rep Power: 340

no no. it was like mid-day LJ when we started and it got cold so we left the car in the garage (i live in chicago so yes it gets cold in may), placed the bumper in his vacant basement and waited for nightfall. in the morning, we got up and finished the job. it woulda been better if we just started earlier though... we're at fault for that.

i did research on taking down the bumper for taking out the lights. most said that they wouldn't try removing the lights without fully dropping the bumper 'cause they didn't wanna scratch, bend, or break anything. i decided to take the path most chosen, figuring it would be less tragic. don't think i did all this without looking meticlously looking into the facts and doing research.

how would you be able to unbolt the screw that's connects to the harness... without fully dropping the bumper? you know, the black brow under the lights... fill me in bro.

 
Rep Power: 0

what i did was...

i didnt have to "fully" remove the bumper from the car. what i did was all the necessary steps, pulled off the bumper on the top, however...i left those little tab things that u push in, thats all along the bottom of the bumper. so basically, i got enough room by pullng off only the top of the bumper while those tabs on the bottom held the bumper up. as far as those hard to reach bolts go. it's easiest to have an extension to your socket wrench. i have a 3" and 6" extension. and if i connect the two, i hav a 9" extension. lol. but i think i only needed the 6" extension to easily reach the bolts. anyway, good luck.