RedraifExtras's 1987 Pontiac Firebird on CarDomain

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HEADLIGHT CONVERSION
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I decided to do away with the pop-up headlights. For me nothing spoils a bird's lines more than stuck-up headlights. And the older they get...I know the headlight motors will die soon.

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Please note
This conversion was hand done by me. There are no instructions or kit. I did the conversion with some driving lights I liked. I took some pics and explained what I did. This is not a step by step, because most of the conversion depends on the replacement lights you choose. It’s a lot of hand cutting and filing to get thing lined up and pointing the right way. There is no easy way to do the conversion.

And due to legality issues, it’s really not safe for me to try to make any for someone else’s car!
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Really there is not a step by step per say. You have to decide on your replacement lights. Then see if they fit side by side in the housing roughly speaking. Then test the height of the lights to see if it could work at all. Once you are sure things will work, get a spare junk yard set of the plastic headlight cases and headlamp assemblies, just in case, and start cutting till it all fits.

No its not really that simple... here is what I went thru to do mine...

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Choosing the lights
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I wanted a style that would fit with 2 side by side on each side of the car in the existing headlamp area. The would be on the same plane as the front turn signals and be aprox as tall. I started by measuring the flat area that was exposed when the headlight was down. I wanted them side by side to be the same width as the headlamp door. And up and down they had to fit in the area between the bumper cover and the "closed" hamplamp door top lip. Well that narrowed things way down. Most were too tall or to long. So I had to compromise on the widith a smidge...

The headlights I used are basically 2 sets of driving lights. I got mine at Advance Auto for about $40 a set. I later noticed Wal-Mart started to carry them.

Ok info off the box...
now they redesign the box and this is off the old one, but maybe it will still have the same part #...
They were called Cyberwhite Remote series. Navigator was a name on the box. They were made by Pilot. Part #: NV-504W.

***I checked at AutoZone…they carry them now. New box is yellow. It says Pilot on the cover. Part #: PL-961W

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Removing the headlamp plastic casing
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Then when you decide to go for it, you first take off the outer plastic cover… this is the piece that you will be cutting on later for the new headlights to shine thru...

You remove it by first running up the light housing to gain access to the plactic cover around the factory headlamp.
Here is the knob you want to look for.

You twist it to get the headlamp to start to run up as it would if the light was on...

Once the light is at its full upright height you will see the torx screws that look like this... one is at the top and one to the bottom of each side of the plastic cover. Giving you a total of 4 to remove per light.

Find the appropriate torx bit (15 I think) and remove the 4 screws per headlamp...

****************************************************SIDE NOTE************************************************
Once this outer plastic housing it loose, its even a snap to remove the headlight door... Four 10mmbolts and its off...

There are bolts at the outer top courner of the headlamp door. You can see them from the front with the headlamp in the up position.

Then a bit further down on the inner top courner

The rears you have to lower the headlamp and access them from the backside.

Here they are with the headlamp door off

The screw locations are easily visible with the door off.

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Double check you light choice
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Now that the piece is out, try a test fit of the lights side by side in the plastic housing. Are the lights too wide for the housing? How wide it too wide? Remember the turn signal is right next to them on the inside. Too far to the inside and you will be hitting it.

Now remember you can’t go to the outside or that part of the light will be hidden behind the edge of the bumper cover. So if you are satisfied you light choice will work, then on to the next step.

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Cutting the plastic cover face
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Once you are satisfied you lights will work, you get to cut the face out of the plastic case for your new headlights to shine thru. I used a cut off wheel and cut out the front face of the headlight plastic cover. I only cut the flat part that faces perpendicular to the ground when the headlights are down.

***********************From here*****************************************To here**********************

Leave this and

Leave this!

I went slowly and removed material in layers. Remember you can always take away more, not put it back! I finished the edge off with a grinding stone to smooth it out and get the cut edge flush with the body of the housing. When you have fully trimmed the piece, you can test fit the lights again. If they a touch too wide, now is the time to section the inner most side.

Mine were too big and required me to slightly remove some of the plastic cover on inside to get them to fit side by side. I also had to notch my turn signal case just a touch to make mine work.

In these pics you also see how I notched the side for easy access of the screw that is used to adjust the height of the light! This had to be accessable so I could tweak the light's height, once assembled, for proper driving height.

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Removing the old headlight and bucket
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Now once you are done with the plastic, you are back to the car. Now you are looking at the headlight w/o the plastic case. You are going to remove the whole headlamp assembly. First I disconnect the wiring to the headlamp power motor. It’s easier to adjust it manually by turning the top to get it where you want.

Now you have to remove the glass headlamp. To do this you have to take off the chrome rectangular trim ring around the headlamp.

4 screws will release it completely.

Two on the top, 2 on the bottom.

Now make sure you have a hold of the headlamp when you remove the trim ring or it will fall. Now pull out the headlamp slowly. Now disconnect the wiring.

Now you are to the inner bucket. It is held in with screws in a clip & springs.

The screws in the green clips are the adjusters for the height and right to left adjustment of the headlamp. They are on the top middle and the outer center of the headlamp bucket. The spring is located on the inner most bottom corner. If I remember right you loosen them till the light bucket is starting to face to the inside and down. See the screw @ the top pulls the top of the light back to make it shine higher. The outer pulls it toward the outside. As you loosen it the spring pulls it down or to the inside. So when the bucket is facing downwards and to the inside, you might be able to work the clips

out from the screw. If not then keep going till the screw comes out of the green clip. Then it’s a matter of maneuvering the bucket till you can get it free of the spring. It’s been awhile, I don’t remember specifically. Once the bucket is out, the green clips can be accessed on the main headlight bracket. They are held in by legs. These legs can be squeezed inwards and you should be able to push the clip back out of their holes, I think!

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Trimming the Inner structure
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Once the bucket is out…

You are down to the inner bracket. You take it down to the inner structure.
NOTE: In these pics I have already removed material from the structure (I need to take pics of a junk yard car...)

With the headlamps down...

CLOSE UP...
Driver's side

Passenger side

The headlamp door inner plastic cover mounts had to be trimmed up as well...
Driver's side

Passenger side... its so tight he plastic screw retainer slips out of place sometimes now!

Also the headlamp door outer plastic cover mounts had to be trimmed up...
Driver's Side

Passenger side

***NOTE***
Fortunately I never competely compromised the innner structure, but it would be easy to do. You could probably remove it all together and make a new way to mount the headlamp door with a custom bracket, but I was still not sure if I would be allowed legally to keep these new lights, so I keep mine reversable.
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Once you are here it becomes a more personalize modification. You have to decide where you want the new headlights to sit. I held mine up against the top of the headlight door, with the plastic cover to help get an idea where they would sit. I then removed any material that the lights were hitting, any areas that were was stopping them from sitting flat against the back side of the headlamp door.

You have to grind out the inner structure with a carbide cutting tool till things seem to sit in place. I went till I could get them to sit flush and level. Then lower the headlight doors. Its not easy. Go slow and do a little at a time. That is the key! A lot of fit and trim, fit and trim!

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Making a base
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Once everything seems like its fitting decently. Now comes the hardest part...getting it to stay in place. To decide where they need to sit, you need to get them plugged in and on to see about where they are shining. I cut a piece of cardboard and got it to fit in there about how I thought it needed to. I aimed the lights as level as possible. Don’t forget to account for the bracket height. Its not just the light you are fitting. I had to mount things so that I would have some up down adjustment for final tweaking. I folded and fit the cardboard till it was right and marked a line on the inside of the plastic housing so I would know where the top of my wood base needed to be.

I removed the unit and used the cardboard as a template. I cut a piece of wood that was a smidge (the width of 3m double sided tape on each end) too small for the plastic housing. It took some sanding to get it just right w/o being too small. I got some double sided 3m tape to fit in the gap to make it tight. I stuck the tape to both ends of the wood, but left the backing on the side that touched the plastic hosing for now. I retested things to be sure the wood slipped into place correctly.

Then I removed the wood and I simply peeled a corner of the double sided tape up, on the plastic side. I had just enough backing peeled up to give me a tab to grab when the piece was in place and just enough tape exposed that it would lightly stick and hold things in place.

***NOTE***
The idea was to lightly hold things, but allow for any last minute adjustments. Then when I got the placement perfect I could leave things sitting perfect, grab the exposed courner and peel the backing off b/w the plastic and tape, w/o the pieces moving at all.
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Now with the tape backing still in place, but the courner peeled... the wood stayed in place as I predicted. With the wood holding, I again test fit everything to make sure the wood would definately work in that position.

Once I was sure of the physical fit, it was back to the light beam final fitting. I did some last minute side to side and right to left beam adjusting till I was satisfied with the lights position. Then I made sure I could get the height of the beam correct. Once I was sure the wood would allow me to make all adjustments necessary to get the lights spot on, I peeled the backing away and pressed the plastic good and tight to the wood. This would hold it solid till I could get screws in it.

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Mounting the lights to the base
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Now I had to tackle getting the lights mounted to the wood. They already slipped in place and held pretty well with only the wood there. These lights have slim brackets that you mount solidly and then there is play in the bracket for up and down beam adjustments and right to left beam adjustments. I adjusted the placement of the driving lights till I was satisfied. I dropped the housing, holding the lights in place, and traced out the bracket holes and edges of the bracket on the wood plank. I then pulled the whole unit out of the car and used the marks to make sure the light had not slipped. The trick part was in mounting the light bracket to the wood with the light in place. There was not enough clearance to do this in the low profile option I had choosen to mount the light.

(the bracket can be turned in a number of ways to sue you mounting choice)
I had to take the light off the bracket and line that bracket back up with the marks I had drawwn. Then I solidly mounted the bracket, and remounted the lights.

***NOTE***
Be sure to mount you lights with the drain hole down...otherwise you will have moisture issues and potenially a bunch of bulbs blowing. These bulbs are very water sensitive.

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Now with the pieces all solidly in place I could tweak the final adjustments with the lights orientation in the bracket.

Here are some pics of the final placement & orientation of the lights in the plastic cover...

The outer courners came out like this...

Yes the light is a bit in there, but I don't find that is affects light coverage

From the side showing how far forward I placed them...

Here are some good shots from the top showing the alignment with the front.

Again the outer courner, this time from above! You can really see how tight of a fit it was!

Now I finally got ready to screw mount the wood to the housing. I drilled thru both the housing and the wood while they were stuck together and then ran in the screws to keep the wood in place.

I adjusted the up-down adjustment on the lights bracket too. You can see in these pics how I had to make an access hole for the screw that allowed for up and down adjustments...

I tightened that down as much as I could when I was happy with it. Then I rechecked all adjustments to be sure they were all tight as they could go. With the unit a solid piece, I installed it to be sure there had been no last movements.

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Paint
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Once I had all the fitting handled I decided to paint the lip of the headlight case red to match the body's color.

I thoroughly covered the lights in foil to be sure no paint got on them.

Here they are without turn signals for a final fit test. Their dimensions were just close enough.

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WIRING
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As far as wiring...I unplugged the headlight pop up motor. Then I had to wire the lights up. Your factory harness, if like mine, will have a 3 prong female weather pack that will accept a blade terminal type of connector. Your 3 wires are a ground, a high beam power, and a low beam power. Instead of wire tapping my existing system, I decided to go with inserting individual blade terminals.

As for the connectors on the driving lights...If I remember right the driving lights came with the power wire on the lights having a male blade terminal. The ground wire had male bullet connectors...So I got some female bullet connectors and got two small pieces of black wire. I put the bullet ends on one end of each piece of wire. These I connected to the diving lights ground wire. The two other ends I put together into a single male blade terminal connector.

I tested the car with a test light to see which wire was high beam and which was low, by turning on the lights with the weather pack unplugged from the factory headlamp. I simply grounded the clip and of my test light and used the probe on the other end to stick in the female connector to see which lit my test light on high and then low.
Then I picked which driving light, inner or outer, I wanted to be high or low.

Then I simply slid the male driving light connectors directly into the factory female weather pack slots. The ground wires, joined together into a single male blade terminal on the driving lights, I slid in the (black) factory ground female slot.

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REWIRING FOR TWO BEAM BRIGHTS
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With a bird's stock wiring system; one driving light would turn on for the brights, the other for the dims. I did not like this, so I got a kit from Summit that uses a relay to make both light for your brights.

Summit: SUM-G6219 HI-4 Light kit. The kit is only $15, plus shipping.

Note that in the kit wiring, taps, tie raps, fuses, and wire loom is provided in the kit. I'm trying to break the instructions down so you don't have to buy the kit, but it is worth it so you don't have to run to the store and buy everything separate. But if you have a relay, wiring, and experience wiring…you can do it yourself...

Here is how!
Relays wiring…
Standard relays have 4 prongs and are numbered as follows:
87: output to item
86: input (signal wire)
85: ground
30: power

Directions:
1: Mount the relay w/in 24 inches of both the battery and the rear of you headlights.
2: Attach a wire to the relay terminal 85 and ground to a grounded metal surface
3: Unplug the high beam wires from rear of headlight (in our case the 3 wire plug.)
A: Turn on headlights high beam and use a test light to determine which wire has power supplied to it...
B: Turn off headlights
C: Use a wiretap and attach a wire and connect it to the number 86 on the relay.
4: Unplug low beam... (In our case already unplugged)
A: Turn on headlights low beam and use a test light to determine which wire has power supplied to it...
B: turn off headlights
C: Use a wiretap and attach a wire and connect it to the number 87 on the relay.
5: Now attach a wire to number 30 on the relay. Run wire with a fuse (20 amp) to the battery or a suitable power source.
6: Use tie raps and electrical tape to secure the wiring and seal out moisture from connections.

For this application on a 87 firebird like mine…
Low beam (light brown on our cars) goes to 87...
High beam (green on our cars) goes to 86…
Ground (connect wire to chasis) goes to 85…
Power: (from battery or suitable power source). You must have a 20-amp fuse on this power line.

In the pic, I used yellow as my low beam relay output wire and green as my high beam relay input/signal wire.

Finished product

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Side Notes about the conversion :
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With the headlights I wish I had found a way to mount the lights to the headlight door instead of to the plastic case. It would have made adjusting them easier. But by dumb luck, I got these to work. It was a ton of work, but well worth it for me.

Only real problem has been with the heat of the lights... nothing bad, but a bit of melting of the plastic when the headlight got too close...

The time frame on the conversion was considerable. It took me a solid month of filing and grinding after work, with fitting and the like to get it going. The problem was all the cutting of the inner headlight base to clearance the new headlights.

For those wishing to do a similar conversion...In retrospect, I would have not used the coolest looking fogs/driving lights. I would have gone more with the ones that would have fit best. But it’s a show car so I had to give it my all.

I have heard of people using the light assembly from an older Pontiac Grand Prix or Oldsmobile's Cutlass. They had the small headlights and turn signals for a few years. That might be the way to go though. I looked at a set on a Grand Prix in Pull-A-Part and the assembly is too large. Those assemblies would be DOT approved though, since it is a system off another car.

If you do use fog lights/driving lights like I did, I would recommend some that are a bit smaller. That way you will not have to cut as much as I did. The stores are starting to carry smaller and smaller fog and driving lights.

Oh & for those who have to pass inspections, I don't know if these lights would. Where I live there are no inspections. I just have to hope no cop wants to give me a hard time. This set up is by no means dot approved. Mostly it would depend if anyone would even notice.

I know there was a company trying to get corvette and 4th gen headlight conversions DOT approved and it was not possible. I never got the details, but the Gov. is pretty picky about that stuff. They don't want to get sued for backing a product they have not tested.

With my set up, if it ever came down to it, I could swap it back stock. I would just have to replace the whole assembly (headlight, headlight housing, h.l. door, and h.l. bucket). I removed it from a junk yard car in case the cops gave me an ultimatum. I have a passenger and driver complete headlight assembly in the basement for the very reason that I might get in trouble with mine.

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