| gatr09 |
My Black '03 MO
Tinted front windows, cleared out and blacked out headlight assembly and a blacked out front grill.
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| Eclipse1825 |
| That looks Awesome! |
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| Mr3Putt |
Looks great! Welcome to the club.
(From another Pennsylvanian with a black MO.) |
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| njjoe |
:29: Looks good! I especially like the headlight treatment.
-njjoe |
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| H cheese |
| How did you do the blacked out grill? It still looks stock except for the color. I like it as well. |
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| gatr09 |
I took off the grille, removed the Nissan emblem (two simple phillips screws), sanded it down (by hand) to remove as much chrome as possible, then I applied like five or six coats of some closely matched black car paint (spray of course) found at Autozone or Pep Boys. After that I laid down a couple coats of clear coat spray.
That picture was taken back in October and the grille still looks like that today, even in this nasty Philly climate. There are little or no nicks or chips thanks to the amount of paint on there.
The color is not exactly the same as the body, but I kind of like it that way.
Hell, my wife wanted to know where I bought the grille, so I guess that’s a good sign if even she didn’t know it was a DIY job. |
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| biggun |
That appears to be in great shape for an 03. How many miles do you have on it?
I love the mods - subtle enough to pass for stock.
-biggun |
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| gatr09 |
92K
Bought her used with 49K on it back in early '05. |
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| Lightninrod |
| Excellent! What a black beauty!!! |
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| mrriceguyrj |
| I love the headlights... where can I pick up a pair of these? or did you do these yourself, too? please share... |
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| charliedigital |
| Mind if I ask what kind of tires are on the car, they look good too! |
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| gnotti211 |
| Nice looking black MO! I too live in the philadelphia area with a black MO, black grill....but i must say, your blacked out headlights look awesome...was it simple to do that?? |
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| cya442 |
| That MO is beautiful!! I do think the grille and headlight mods set it off. Very nicely done. :eek: |
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| gatr09 |
quote:
Originally posted by gnotti211
Nice looking black MO! I too live in the philadelphia area with a black MO, black grill....but i must say, your blacked out headlights look awesome...was it simple to do that??
It’s a pain. Time-consuming mainly.
However, I knew what I was getting into having done it back in college to my boy’s ’01 Acura CL Type S and my old 98 Civic a couple years back |
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| gatr09 |
quote:
I love the headlights... where can I pick up a pair of these?
It's a DIY job... I'll try to give you as much as a step-by-step as possible over a couple posts since I am over the character limit. Here goes
Removing the headlight assembly
1- Unplug all bulb connections to the headlight assembly
2- Remove upper grille by popping out the plastic pushpins
3- After removing the grille, you will need to at least remove a couple of the plastic pushpins on the upper portion of the bumper assembly (10-11 of them), including those that attach the bumper to the quarter panel and the wheel well. (Note – You don’t have to remove the entire bumper assembly to do this. You just want the bumper to be loose enough to where you can reach behind the headlight assembly to take off the bolts and remove the headlight.)
4- Remove the three (possibly four) bolts that hold the headlight to the body of the car. Hopefully, you now have the headlight free. |
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| gatr09 |
Continued...
Separating the headlight assembly.
5- Using an exact-o knife, run the knife along the perimeter of the assembly where the black housing meets the clear plastic front cover.
6- Remove any (3 or so) screws that connect the clear cover to the rest of the housing.
7- Take a heat gun, or hair dryer, and carefully heat the perimeter of the assembly where the black housing meets the clear plastic front cover. This will soften the sealant and allow you to pry apart the headlight assembly from the front clear cover. An old flat head screwdriver works best to pry it apart and for removing the old sealant.
8- Pry the clear plastic headlight cover apart from the rest of the headlight housing. The plastic cover should come off with the mirror-like/chrome portion still attached.
see next post... |
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| gatr09 |
Continued...
Separating the headlight assembly.....continued
9- Separate the clear plastic cover from the mirror-like/chrome portion by removing the screws.
„X At this point you have the option of taking off the yellow reflective piece or not. I removed mine.
10- Once separated, lightly sand off as much of the chrome as possible with a fine-grit sandpaper.
11- Use a flat black paint and apply even, thin coats until it is completely covered. Let dry.
12- Meanwhile, back on the main headlight housing, remove as much of the old sealant as possible with the help of a heat gun and an old flat head screwdriver. The more you take off the better.
13- Once the mirror-like/chrome portion is painted and dry, re-attach it to the clear cover.
See next post.... |
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| gatr09 |
Continued...
Re-attach the headlight assembly
14- Take BLACK Silicone II caulk and apply a very generous bead of caulk along the entire perimeter of the headlight housing (Not the clear cover and freshly painted black section) WARNING –YOU MUST USE SILICONE II CAULK ONLY !!!! ANYTHING ELSE WILL NOT HARDEN AND PROVIDE A TIGHT SEAL WHICH WILL CAUSE YOUR HEADLIGHTS TO FOG UP!!!!!!
15- Reconnect the screws and allow to dry overnight to be safe. The caulk should be dry and tacky to the touch.
16- Put the headlights back on the MO
17- Reconnect all of the lighting connections, bolts, bumper, grille and push pins on the MO and you are good to go!
Hope that helps. |
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| gatr09 |
quote:
Originally posted by charliedigital
Mind if I ask what kind of tires are on the car, they look good too!
Cooper CS4 Touring tires (235/65R18)
I like how they look, don't like how they ride. Kinda loud and I have to go get them balanced after only 3K miles on them after I noticed a repetative vibrating-like sound at 35 MPH and up.
They're are typically about $40-60 cheaper per tire than the stock Good Years
Thought it might have been a CVT issue but after talking to peeps on this forum, all signs point to a ballance issue.
I was told MO's tires/rims have to get ballanced by a specific system.
We'll see |
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