It has long been a comment of fun that the 5th gen has large headlights. The unfortunate truth is that 5th gen owners dont have a leg to stand on.
I decided to see if I could do something about this.
I took inspiration for this project from Ratty's project thread
In this he separates the light and paints the inner spacer black.
It looks much better.
I wanted to go a step further. I also wanted to work with new and interesting materials and I'm a sucker for carbon.
I decided to use 3M's new 1080 CF12 vinyl wrap.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50x150cm-3M-S ... 35b10beffa
It states a lot of tech and positives and I have to say it really delivers. There are cheaper options out there but for amature use? Spend the cash on this and save on wastage.
This vid sold me on it:
http://youtu.be/dTpsq7ivMD0
I went this route as I have a carbon bonnet and I wanted to continue the theme. You could just as easily go with black or even body colour to blend it.
The idea is to cover the surround on the outside of the clear facia. This will reduce the perceived size of the headlight. We will also wrap the spacer inside to bring out the depth of field within the fitting itself. These modifications bring the eye away from the lights rather than to them imho. No bad thing some might say...
So here is my idea on modifying the headlights of the 5th gen Prelude.
I have capitalised the headings of each part so you can skip anything you already know.
If I have missed any small step in the process of removal I'm sorry. Call it quantum uncertanty principal at work.
You will need to remove Both the headlights and the indicator/fog light combination.
I have not found a good/convenient way to do this with the bumper on the car so that has to come off first.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
3m 1080 CF12 carbon fiber vinyl wrap (50cmx100cm should do it with some left over. I bought the one in the link).
3M Clear vinyl protective film. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Paint-Pro ... 1c221f9b87
Felt edged squeegy.
Good craft knives or a scalpel set, stanly blade at a push.
Heat gun (hair drier is just not going to do it).
Metal ruler
Sharp scissors
Strong torch/LED inspection light
Lots of clean micro fiber towels and plenty of really clean teatowels. Grease is your enemy here. Anything you can do to keep it all clean? Do it. Wash your hands often. You need to feel whats going on but you need to keep those fingers grease free.
You could use degreaser but I only had fairy liquid. Either way you need to thoroughly clean all surfaces you are going to wrap.
Stable surface (big table) and a workmate might help.
Someone to hold bits while you manhandle them might also help but I didnt have this available.
REMOVING THE BUMPER
1, Remove the screw up under the wheel arch. One each side.
2, Remove the spacer bolts from underneath where the bumper meets the weather shield. There are 3 across the front and a couple each side.
3, Remove the two bolts holding the grill on and the two plastic pop style rivets.
4, Remove the 5 pop rivets from the crash plate.
5, Pop out each side of the bumper and then take the weight off from the front.
6, Give it a tug. The sides will pop out and the front will slide away from the radiator.
7, Before you drop the weight you must reach inside the cavity to unplug the foglights and indicators. its a pain reaching inside while the weather shield is in place and the cables will not reach to the floor.
The removal is easier with two people but available to one.
REMOVING THE HEADLIGHTS
1, Unplug all the cables and connectors behind the lights.
2, There are three bolts holding the headlight on. One on the top, one on the outside, under the edge of the bumper and one inside, infront of the radiator. The inside one on the drivers side is a real pain as the aircon gubbins means there is hardly any angle on it. You will need a short spanner or a short wratchet spanner for this one.
2, try to waggle the light out of its socket.
3, If its tight you can undo the bolts holding the crash panel in place for a bit of room.
FOG LIGHTS AND INDICATORS
1 The indicator screw access is via the front of the bumper. There is an angled sleeve visable as you look down on it. The indicator will lever out from this side once the screw is loosened off. Dont worry about taking it all the way out, its probably not going to come out anyway.
2, There are two screws holding the fog light in place. these are easy to see once the indicator is removed.
I would advise running a polisher over all the lights at this point to bring them up to a nice shine. Sand off any peeling lacquer etc and get it all in tiptop condition. The better your surface the longer your wrap will last.
SPLITTING THE HEADLIGHTS
There are different ways to do this but I found just popping it in a low oven for a few minutes softened the glue nicely.
With a large flat screwdrver you can gently lever apart the pop clips and part the clear face from the body of the light. The glue is nasty sticky jobby so dont let it get on the inside of the clear part or the reflectors. It should set back to hard quite fast once they are split.
Put the housing with reflector into a plastic bag, tie it up and put it somewhere safe.
Dont touch the reflector!
Dont touch the inside of the clear part at any time!
Once touched you will only make any mark worse and worse.
Dont put the clear facia under twisting force, even gentle. They crack easily!
Remove the two screws holding the spacer and the clear part together. Separate.
WRAPPING THE SPACER
I decided to wrap this in two parts rather than struggle with the angled ridge either side.
Maybe a pro could make it look right but I thought I might waste material finding out how best to do it.
If you look on the underside you will see some bracing to the part where wrap will be. I have sanded one flat all around the edge, also snapped off some bracing to give a fully flat area. I left the other entire and as it was cast. Time will tell which offers the best key.
You will need to measure the widest part of the fitting and add a few mm for each cut.
Dont worry about wrapping the entire surround area as this is covered by the top layer on the plastic when reassembled. You can see where you NEED to wrap to by placing the spacer back into the clear part.
1, Place the wrap into the lower cavity and ensure you have covered the whole of the flat area.
2, Trim the edges to about 5-6mm on all sides.
3, Cold form the wrap into the curves. Use the squeegy to push out any air bubbles. (dont press hard yet)
4, If you are happy with your placement, heat the flat areas up and press into place with the squeegy and thumbs. Pay close attention to the sharp line of the split as this is where you will be joining wrap.
5, Cut some relief lines into the wrap around the corners but not all the way to the edge. The wrap will fold and bend over when heated.
6, Heat the edge and fold over with your thumb as you go. Go all the way around pressing gently.
7, You need to cut along the leading edge of the ridge and follow at down the front of the part. Make it a steady cut because this is the join and will be on show.... Not easy but be patient. You need to cut through the vinyl but not into the spacer.
8, If you are happy with the way everything looks give it all a good blast of heat and press all the edges in hard. You will feel the glue liquify and the vinyl takes on the form of the substrate beneath. This heating is important as it tells the wrap what its new shape is. You may toast your fingers on this bit but you need to press it in while its hot. Its a case of work it out as to whats too hot. If you get it too hot it will melt... be careful.
9, Do the same for the top part. The cut along the ridge is made easier if you apply a little heat to the join and press it home. The wrap underneath will clearly show you where to cut. Again, take your time with this cut as the results are on show.
10, For added security I cut up pieces of waste wrap and stuck this around the inside edge. Once heated and bonded this will help stabalise the wrap in the heated environment of the headlight.
It should look something like this:
Notice I have not gone all the way to the edge at the top. Dont waste material if its not needed.
WRAPPING THE CLEAR COVER
If you look at the headlight there is a clear edge marked around the light path.
I wanted to wrap this area but leave the light path clear. It ranges from 5mm at the bottom to 15mm at the top and has a couple of interesting dips to show full beam from main.
After some thought I decided the best way to do this would be the following:
1, Place the clear vinyl over the whole of the clear part. Use the squeegy to get it nice and flat. You can overlap bits if you need to get it to fit but as flat as possible is best.
2, Using the torch, light up the clear part from the side. This will clearly show up the edge line you are to cut around.
3, Cut all the way around the edge and remove the surrounding vinyl.
You now have a raised template.
I didnt get pics of the next bit as I was pretty much flying blind. You will just have to use your imagination.
4, Cut a piece of wrap the size of the cover and gently place it over the cover. Starting from a corner gently press only around the raised line offered by your template. It will not want to conform easily to the shape toward the end as it bends in two directions but you need to do this with as little heat as possible. Patience will see it done.
5, Run a little pressure around the edge once you have it flat all the way around. Dont press wrap on the template too hard. You can use the middle and the edges to take up the slack; its only the face we are worried about right now.
6, Run a knife around the line presented by your template and very gently lift the inside layer off. Try to take off the clear layer at the same time as the wrap will help save the wrap. These can then be seperated and the middle used to cover the door handles (its just long enough).
7, Gently press home the new edges and make sure its seated nicely around the line you have created.
8, Now with a little heat fold the wrap around the edges and get it seated flush. Cut and overlap where you need to.
9, Heat the whole area as before to set the vinyl and liquify the glue. Get your thumbs on it. Press rather than rub around the edge you have cut.
It should look something like this:
Put both bits back together to look like this!
REASSEMBLEY
1, Have a look around the edge of the clear section and take off any large lumps of glue. This should snap off when cold with some small needle nose pliers.
2, Take the housing out of the plastic bag and pop it in the oven. You want the glue to go a little softer than before.
3, Ratty used some rather expensive bitumous headlight sealer. Im a cheap bastardo so I went for Bitumous roof sealer. £8 off ebay.
Run a little around the groove in the housing. Not much mind.
Press home the clear part and make sure all the clips are set before it cools down.
They should look something like this:
And this is the difference over stock:
WRAPPING THE FOG/INDICATORS
There is again a natural line around the edge of these that you can cover. The wrap will bend around the corner of the fogs quite happily and it will help bring the bottom of the bumper into line with the top. If you were doing this with body coloured wrap you might not do this bit.
FINISHED PROJECT
Without carbon bonnet.
Sorry but a wider frame shot is not available for this thread
. I will be doing one on the project as a whole when Iv had chance for a photograther to do some proper shots.So that is my idea and exocution. I had a good time. You need lots of patience. Lots and lots.
Cheers for getting this far
Quite a long 'How to' but maybe worth it. 
