Rokas

Hey guys, I'm back with something some of you may get offended at so in the interest of peace - please no flame wars just because I'm doing something to my car that is unusual.

So one of the things on my list is custom or customized headlights. Well the other day I came across the perfect halogen headlights. You can buy them at your typical auto stores now - they're universal headlights.



I thought about the round ones but it would have been too much. What I'm doing is replacing the stock headlights with different headlights. The new ones are a perfect square. The space around the light will be filled in with cut metal so it looks like it's part of the body. Why? I like unique things. My dream is a supercharged convertible UCF20.


​​​
Anyway, the plan is to encase the light in a sort of cage and have the holes for installation for all three bolts line up. The idea is to be able to switch the lights out with no hassle. Nothing is being damaged or removed or modified.

As for the assembly, well, I think the way to go is strips of steel with holes for bolts. I would need to cut the pieces of metal precisely in length and likewise I will need to put the bolt holes in the correct positions. I will copy the first assembly for the other side so that it matches perfectly.

The idea is simple.


(Just an example.)

Metal bar at the bottom that reaches both bottom holes. L-shaped bar going up and again doing another L to reach the top bolt. The rest of the assembly is literally a cage to hold the light tight. Basically there will be two bars on each side of the connector and probably one under the electrical connector. Then I need to cut some durable steel or maybe aluminum to cover those spots the stock headlights cover. Might have to just use a strong adhesive for those - I don't really want bolts there.

Anyway, it will definitely change the style of the car! I want to see people's reactions. In the picture where I hold these new ones over the old headlights, well, it looks great. The headlights remind me of a Toyota Crown or an Infiniti Q45.

Next project besides painting the car is probably moving the turn signals. Ugly... Maybe it will look better with just a fog light delete. It would possibly be okay if they were clear.

Anyone here ever did a front end swap or anything?

Superfast1

There's nothing wrong being unique & it's your car so go for it. If you haven't done any body work before then you need to consult w/ some local custom shops for idea. If you take the time & plan it right, it'll come out nice. Let's see if you can pull it off.

Amish

Sheet metal can be used to make a frame around the light and to fill the gaps this shaped light will induce. Sheet metal formed to fit with a bit of bondo to make sure everything lines up properly and then some matching paint.

Kansas

I've actually done a project similar to this one. Back in mid-1980's I bought a new little 1985 Honda CRX Si. It was a super fun go-cart-like car to drive but it had small sealed beam headlights that were close to worthless. By that time I had done many headlight conversions so I researched what I could do for the CRX. It was too much trouble to important the aerodynamic E-code CRX headlights used in Europe so, after lots of measuring, I decided to fabricate whatever it took to install larger European code 200 mm Hella rectangular headlights which had replaceable H4 bulbs and a focused beam with a sharp cutoff instead of the "blob" beam of the original sealed beam units.

Since some Honda Civics sold in the U.S. came with sealed beam 200 mm headlights, I decided the easiest route was to buy headlight buckets (yes, they are really called "buckets") from a Honda Civic and shoehorn the buckets into the CRX. For those who aren't familiar with headlight buckets, they were commonly used before aerodynamic headlights came into fashion. The headlight units attach to them and the buckets provide the up-down / right left beam adjustments. Here is a link to a webpage showing a bucket similar to what I used and what could be used for this LS400 project: https://www.raneystruckparts.com/5-x...dlight-bucket/

The Civic headlight buckets were much larger than the CRX headlight buckets which meant I had to do a bit of cutting of the Civic buckets and the plastic CRX headlight trim surrounds to make the Civic buckets and the Hella headlight units fit. All and all, my CRX headlight project came out perfect. The Hella units totally filled the space in the CRX headlight trim surrounds and stood taller in the openings. The lighting improvement was incredible. The CRX was my "ski car" for about five years and I often drove it on winding Colorado mountain roads late at night returning from skiing.

Back to this Lexus project. I suggest you buy headlight buckets that fit those rectangular headlights and fabricate a frame or backing to attach the buckets to. I wouldn't waste my time trying to fabricate my own buckets and headlight adjustment mechanisms. Buckets that will work are pretty cheap.

After you get your rectangular headlights installed and aligned on your LS400, I assume the final step would be to fabricate some sort of trim surrounds for them - perhaps out of some sort of heavy duty hard plastic - and fabricate brackets for attaching the surrounds to the car.

I took only one photo of my CRX Si during the five years I owned it. It's the blue one in the attached image. The red CRX is a stock photo that shows the smaller standard headlights. It's hard to tell a difference in the headlight sizes between the two photos but the 200 mm Hellas on my blue CRX were much larger than the originals shown on the red one.


Edit: I see you bought Sylvania rectangular headlights for this project. I highly recommend the Hella units like I used. They may not have the DOT approval for use on automobiles but they are approved for use on motorcycles. I see they are still available on the Internet.

213374U

If I were trying to tackle it I'd buy another set of headlights with the full mounting assembly to start with and begin modifying from there. I have no idea how I'd go about it but I'm fairly good at figuring things out once it's in my hands and stripped down. That's the plan if I eventually opt for a projector retrofit as I want to retain the originals as they are.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

+1 to what 213374U mentions. Find the light assembly and modify. This way adjusting the headlight is easier since it has the proper mount and springs. There will still be a fair amount of fabrication involved. If you can weld that will be a