[Subanoob]

Last spring Bambi's mom ran out in front of my car late at night and I hit her in the rump after slowing down to about 25 mph (from 40). No idea what happened to her, she kept running so I didn't come to a complete stop after hitting her (was pretty freaked out). After pulling over down the road I inspected the damage and found that it was a lot more mild than I was expecting. There was a small dent in the hood, but the driver side headlight had a large crack in the lens with one chunk missing. More disturbingly I noticed that there was deer fur lodged in the crack and some of it was inside the light housing.
I didn't bother making an insurance claim since none of it hurt drivability or compromised safety. After removing the headlight I saw that much of the rear was cracked as well with a few pieces missing, the tabs had also been broken off. Since replacement LED headlights are not exactly cheap I decided to try to put it back together myself.
Lots of plastic welding and JB weld later I repaired the back and created new tabs. Most of the broken pieces ended up inside the headlight so after opening it up I was able to shake them out (along with more deer fur). I plastic welded the crack on the front and found the missing piece then added some clear gorilla glue.
My Frankenlight was completely functional and perfectly aligned. Eventually I started to tire with resealing the lens every so often to keep moisture out, but I still didn't want to have to drop the money on an entire headlight since the rest of it was fine. I got lucky and found a used one on eBay that was all busted on the rear with broken tabs, but had an intact lens.
The following pictures were during the removal of that lens to swap onto my headlight. Since it was sacrificial I decided to tear the entire thing apart out of curiosity.

 

[Subanoob]

A few more pictures.
After seeing how standard the projector is I decided I was going to upgrade and modify both lights. I have the Morimoto M-LED projectors on the way along with some profile pivot switchback LED strips. I will definitely be sharing that project on here.

Bi-LED: Morimoto M LED 2.0 Bi-LED Projectors | TRS PR352

Morimoto's new M Bi-LED 2.0 Projectors will BLOW YOU AWAY with their unreal performance. Don't be one of those who regrets buying cheap worthless LEDS.

www.theretrofitsource.com

Strips: Profile Pivot (Switchback) LED Strips | TRS LED170

Cheap LED Strips will have you replacing them in no time. Get the Profile Pivot Switchback LED Strips and do the job right the first time. The Retrofit Source

www.theretrofitsource.com

 

[MagikAram]

Will you be doing an OEM design with the upgraded components? Or something more custom?

 

[Subanoob]

Will you be doing an OEM design with the upgraded components? Or something more custom?

Since I'm upgrading headlights that have projectors already I'll be using the same mounting points for them and the daytime running lights. I'll be painting the Chrome accent pieces black as well. I'm going for sort of a stealthy/OEM plus look. I don't want it to look cheap by adding RGB lights or painting different areas with my exterior paint color. Definitely won't be installing LED halos either since they've been done to death and I'm honestly not that into the look anymore.
I just received most of the parts and will hopefully be starting the project this weekend.

 

[NEWSUBIBOI]

How hard was it to get the light apart? How did you do it? As I was looking at blacking out my headlights well

 

[AlfredaBerta]

It is a pity that you got into this accident. I hope Bambi’s mom is okay. I am quite an experienced driver and have been driving regularly since 2006. However, I accidentally knocked down a young moose two months ago.