How To: restore door-handle courtesy lights

[GTOger]

Are your door-handle courtesy lights looking cracked and old, but the plastic is in good shape? If so then you may be able to get very good results with a quick restore job. This little project took me about an hour, not including the time spent trying to figure out how to get the disassembly done. By posting here, maybe you will benefit from the results of my frustration.

TOOLS USED:
Flat-head screwdriver
Needle-nose pliers
Testors gloss-black model paint
Small paint brush


Here is a before picture:


Even though the rest of the interior looks great, these light fixtures have not aged well.

IMPORTANT: Please keep in mind that this plastic is pretty old by now, and may be brittle. You always want to use caution and common sense because there is a risk you might damage or destroy something. You don't want to do that, right? Also, I'm posting as a general reference. I'm not a mechanic and don't warrant this how-to to be error-free and can't guarantee it will work as well for you as it did for me. Stupid disclaimers aside, here we go.

The first step is to remove the fixture from the door panel. To do this, gently insert your flat-head screwdriver right above the top of the lens and carefully pry downward to release the snap-catch of the lens from the door panel. Tilt the top down, letting the lens "hinge" from the bottom.



Now rock the lens assembly out of the door pocket by pulling slightly up and out. You should now have the assembly free from the door. Notice how cracked and dirty the assembly has gotten over the years? Remove the festoon bulb from the socket-clips, being careful not to burn yourself because the bulb is going to be hot if it has been lit for any period of time. I use the flat-head screwdriver to pop one end out, and then grab the bulb with my hand and work it out of the other clip.



Now you need to remove the clips from the plastic assembly. Notice the metal clips have little metal tabs cut out on them so that they maintain a positive lock on the plastic. You can simply give the clip a good squeeze with your needle-nose pliers and push them out of the assembly.



Now you still have some wires coming out of the assembly, which is the little LED that lights up orange/red when the headlights are turned on. To remove it, find the small retaining pin that is set vertically through the assembly and push it out either through the top or the bottom. I found it relatively simple to give it a push with the end of the needle-nose pliers so that it stuck out from the top enough to grab with the pliers and pull the rest of the way out.



Did you see the pin in the above shot? That's the one you want to pull.

Once that is done, your assembly is essentially free from the car. You'll have 3 things dangling from the hole in the door panel: white wire, orange wire, and the LED. Make sure that the metal pieces don't contact each other, or else you'll get a short in your 12-volt.



You may want to use a little electrical tape to cover up the metal pieces just to be safe.

Now grab your fixture assemblies, your paint and a brush and head to your workbench!

[GTOger]

Next you will need to remove the inner part that the LED inserts into from the smoked plastic lens.




The 2 pieces are held together simply by way of the clear/white lens from the inner piece snapping into the cutout of the smoked lens. You'll need to apply a significant amount of outward pressure to allow for room for the parts to come free from one another. You may find it helpful here to use a small blade or knife to assist in prying. But this is where you also want to be very careful NOT to break something! It's a careful balance, and takes some wiggling. I used more pressure than I thought would really be safe, and that's just what it took for me. Remember that these parts have been stuck together for 20 years or more and they'll need some patience to come apart.



Now you can finally start painting. Well, first I would recommend giving the white plastic of the inner part a good cleaning with a mild abrasive pad or similar to knock off any loose old paint. Be sure not to scratch up the clear plastic though, since you want that to look good.



It's OK not to do a perfect job on this, because really all you need is for it to be black without cracks. Beyond that is hidden from sight behind the lens. Here is a shot of a before (left) and after (right).



Also take this opportunity to give the smoked plastic lens some attention with a little soap and water. I found that mine had accumulated their fair share of dust over the years and a little work with a bristle brush to get into the nooks & crannies really helped restore their appearance.

Allow adequate time for everything to dry, and then reverse the process to put the pieces back together again and back into the door panel. Once you're all done, you should have a nicely finished assembly without that spiderweb of cracks that was so unsightly.

[Funracer]

Great How-To! Thanks for taking the time to post pics
and write it up.

I am shamelessly trying to encourage others to contribute.

Even small projects like this one are fun to read.

Thanks

[Racinfan83]

Yes that is a great write up!

I wonder if you could tape the clear lens and spray it black with the "Fusion" paint for plastics instead of the model paint??

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Hey, big thanks for this and you have encouraged me to do this too ASAP. I replaced with LED bulbs last month and it looks awesome, except for all those cracks are you restored. Get you some LED bulbs and you will love it even more.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by Funracer

Great How-To! Thanks for taking the time to post pics and write it up.
I am shamelessly trying to encourage others to contribute.
Even small projects like this one are fun to read.
Thanks

Concur

I Referenced this Courtesy Light How To in -Solutions- under the Heading INTERIOR.

"How Tos" which have great photos like yours are shown as TIPS in BOLD RED

And.....I can assure you that "How Tos" exactly like yours are most appreciated by the members on this Forum including the Mods

The Mods may even want to Copy the How To for the ZR1NETRegistry TechNet section within the Heading INFORMATION

ALL Links in Bold Red that are underlined are left clickable Links

[scottfab]

Originally Posted by GTOger

Are your door-handle courtesy lights looking cracked and old, but the plastic is in good shape? If so then you may be able to get very good results with a quick restore job. This little project took me about an hour, not including the time spent trying to figure out how to get the disassembly done. By posting here, maybe you will benefit from the results of my frustration.

TOOLS USED:
Flat-head screwdriver
Needle-nose pliers
Testors gloss-black model paint
Small paint brush
...snip...

Great contribution and well written. I will be doing this one.

[LGAFF]

What about using night shades from VHT nightshades?

I was going to try fixing a top that was cracked with this, first filling the crack in the lexan with glue....then painting. Superglue actually merges lexan

http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/niteshades/

[GTOger]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Sometimes it's the little things that can make a big difference! You know what it's like to show up in a 20+ year old car and someone asks "hey, what year is that?" and they don't believe your answer! Details like this really help with that.

Originally Posted by Racinfan83

I wonder if you could tape the clear lens and spray it black with the "Fusion" paint for plastics instead of the model paint??

I'm sure that you could. Quite honestly, you could use regular spray paint and the end result would probably look just fine. For whatever reason, I felt that brushing the paint on would work out a little better in my case. Using the brush lets you get down deep into some of those cracks without having to spray it on real thick. It's just such a small piece, and my skills are not expert.

Oh, and thanks HAWAIIZR-1 for the tip on the LED's. Yes, I think I will surely need to get some. I'm just a bit confused on which ones to get. Also, the color temperature is important. I wouldn't mind it being a bit brighter-white, but if it gets into the bluish-white look, to me that just doesn't fit in the interior of the car. My leanings tend to be more along the lines of "looks factory" or "looks like it could have been factory". So a neutral white color on the LEDs will be important to me.

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Originally Posted by GTOger

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Sometimes it's the little things that can make a big difference! You know what it's like to show up in a 20+ year old car and someone asks "hey, what year is that?" and they don't believe your answer! Details like this really help with that.



I'm sure that you could. Quite honestly, you could use regular spray paint and the end result would probably look just fine. For whatever reason, I felt that brushing the paint on would work out a little better in my case. Using the brush lets you get down deep into some of those cracks without having to spray it on real thick. It's just such a small piece, and my skills are not expert.

Oh, and thanks HAWAIIZR-1 for the tip on the LED's. Yes, I think I will surely need to get some. I'm just a bit confused on which ones to get. Also, the color temperature is important. I wouldn't mind it being a bit brighter-white, but if it gets into the bluish-white look, to me that just doesn't fit in the interior of the car. My leanings tend to be more along the lines of "looks factory" or "looks like it could have been factory". So a neutral white color on the LEDs will be important to me.

I understand what you mean. I jumped in on the deal that GC set up and I'm sure Yosi will still honor the discount as he did for me long after it closed. http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread....t=led+interior

I will double check if it is bluish-white or not and you might have to just stick with stock bulbs then or see if that style has a regular white bulb in LED. I know I could have saved some money just going on Ebay etc. and searching, but made it easy to just get all the bulbs that fit. I only had to buy the console and glove box separately. It is a world of difference with the LED bulbs, but it won't be "factory" look. Best wishes and thanks again for the tips to restore; that looks and sounds great.