August 10th, 2017 - LHD Glass Headlight Replacement (Part 2)

August 10th, 2017 - LHD Glass Headlight Replacement (Part 2)

As I stated in a previous thread, I would like to rid myself of the RHD headlights in my CR-X. The angle of the beams is incorrect and I'd rather not blind oncoming drivers when driving at night. Not to mention that finding regular JDM H4H is not an easy task. It's not especially difficult, but it's just not a hassle I want to face every time a headlight bulb burns out in my car.

The headlights can be adjusted slightly, but not enough to be fully compliant. After some research into headlight specs, I had found a site by a man named Daniel Stern. ( www.danielsternlighting.com ) His site stated that the it was the pattern baked into the glass/plastic lens (the clear part) itself that really determined the angle of the beams, not the reflectors (the mirror-like part inside). In plastic/glass headlamps that do not have the shapes in the plastic, the lights can be better adjusted as desired.

Note the embedded rectangle markings in the glass -- this is what determines the angles of the beam

Many years ago I acquired a set of brand new, still in the box LHD headlights with auto adjust motors from my old friend Rich but unfortunately, one of the reflectors was slightly chipped. I decided to pick up a used one, and one day swap the chipped reflectors. As with a lot of little things in life, a serious of unfortunate events was set into motion: the eBay seller I ordered the replacement light from sent me the incorrect side. Instead of dealing with the hassle of sending it back to Germany and risking damage, I opted to order the correct side so I would have two sets. It made sense since Calgary uses a lot of gravel on the roads in the winter and even though they clean all the roads in the spring, windshields, non-plastic headlights and foglights really take a beating out here. It's the reason I still have my glasstop from Project 88 as a spare.


The series of unfortunate events continued when I tried to fit the headlights onto my EF8. As stated in my previous post on the matter, I had the bumper off repairing the horn and thought it would be a good time to swap them over. That's when I discovered that the motors on the back of the headlights hit the bulkhead. I mean, who would have thought Honda would change the shape of the headlight pockets on the bulkhead just to accommodate a couple of headlight adjustment motors? Not me, that's for sure.

It was at that point, I started to research the matter further and discovered a few things:

• JDM (plastic lens) and EDM (glass lens) housings - the grey plastic part at the back - are different, so they can't be swapped
• EDM LHD and EDM RHD appear to share the same housing (both have glass lenses)
• The motors on the EDM LHD Electric Adjust headlights can be removed.

Because I'm never one to put all my eggs into one basket, I went ahead and ordered a set of RHD EDM headlights. They're a little dirty and some of the brackets have rust on them, but I figure I can clean them up easily enough. The most important part was that they weren't cracked and all tabs were intact. 

EDM RHD Headlights

With the move to the new house, I was delayed until now in removing the motors to see what might be done in that area, but I suppose better late than never.

Once I removed the motors I had an idea. It would be simpler and cause less marital strife than using our oven to remove both the LHD and RHD lenses from the housings and then clean up the mess and re-assemble them and would only cost a few bucks at the local hardware store.

I'll post the how-to below:

There's three sets of screws on the back of the motors. A set of 2 screws hold the adjuster plate in place, leaving two sets of 4 screws for the electronics cover and the last set to hold the motor to the grey plastic housing. It's not necessary to remove the screws for the electronics - leave them alone.

Remove the 2 screws for the adjuster plate and the 4 screws that hold the motor to the housing. Then unscrew the adjuster rod by backing the adjuster screw out. Once the motor is out, locate the rubber dust shield ring and gently pry it up and set it aside for later use.

Then I made a little trip to the hardware store and picked up about $6 worth of parts:

• 1x Redi-rod
• 2x Flat washers
• 6x Nuts (you'll really only need 4, but 2 are in case threads are damaged during test-fittings)
• 2x Lock washers

And I used some standard garage tools/shop supplies:

• Dremel with cut off wheel and wire brush attachments
• Hacksaw
• JB Weld Quickset
• Popscicle sticks (or something to mix the JB Weld)

I began at the hardware store. I checked both ends of the redi-rod in the store while choosing it. I wanted to make sure the rod's threaded ends were clean and didn't have any burrs or other damage from being handled during shipping or while in inventory at the store. Once I chose the correct piece of redi-rod, I continued on at home by measuring the overall length of the motor and rod I had removed from the LHD headlight, and measured out that much of the redi-rod and a wee bit more to accommodate a nut at the end and began cutting.

I took two of the nuts to use as test-fitters. If I wrecked the threads it wouldn't matter -- I still had enough for the project at hand. Once the redi-rod was cut, I brushed and polished with the wire wheel and Dremel until I was able to easily get one of the 2 test-nuts to attach to the end and rechecked the measurements. They looked good.

Then I mixed up the JB Weld and put a bit on the threads at the cut end of the redi-rod, and screwed the nut in place just to the end. Then I put more on top at the end, and then again on the under-side. Once cured I tested the nut and it was solid in place. This nut will act as the adjustment mechanism while the headlights are installed in the car.

Take the rubber dust seal and place it on the headlamp. Then screw another nut onto the redi-rod from the factory cut end and slip on a lock washer, and finally the flat washer. Hold those pieces while gently screwing the factory-cut end of the redi-rod into the plastic adjustment nut inside the headlamp. Be very gentle as this adjustment nut is plastic - you don't want to strip it. (This is also why such care was taken to ensure the factory-cut ends were in good shape and why the cut-end was not used for this part of the modification.)

Once installed completely, take the flat washer and the dust seal and line them up. Tighten the nut to secure the flat washer to the dust seal and to "lock" the assembly into place.

All that was left was to adjust the headlamp beams in place.


I found some pretty clear instructions on YouTube for adjusting headlamps.

At a church down the street from my house, I found a flat parking lot with a wall good enough to measure the light beams against. As per the instructions I checked the level of the ground and the church wall. Both were good. I measured from the ground to the bottom of the headlights and marked the wall with some tape the same distance and width. Then I measured the distance between the two headlights and the wall to ensure the car was squared to the wall and I backed the CR-X up approximately 25 feet and made sure to keep the steering wheel straight.

This is where it all went wrong. No matter which way I attempted to adjust the headlights, I could not get the beam to move - not even an inch. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the headlamp or an issue with the modification.

Instead I've decided to have the lenses removed and check the operation of the adjusters and just swap the lenses from the LHD housing w/motors onto the RHD housings without motors. It will save me a lot of hassle in the long run I think.

I've gotten some estimates over the phone (mostly so I don't have to use our oven at home to do the swap) and I'll post more info when I actually get around to getting it done.

Click here for Part 3

Remember, this blog was written in chronological order so, you will need to click OLDER POSTS to move forward in time, and click NEWER POSTS to go backwards.