Fog Light Housing

[Dr._8t9LX]

Well, I just can't stand having fog lights in those big holes in my front end. It just looks too cheap for me. OK, not cheap but kinda unfinished. So I decided to make some housing out of fiberglass to hold the lights. It isn't done yet, and I wanted to make it a pop up but that didn't work( Give me time!! :thumbup: ).

I want it to follow the curve of the Stock pop-out but bulge out bout 1/2 centimeter. I used the stock pop-out slit as a guide for the opening and made molds from the stock pop-outs to start with.

Won't be done for a few days but here's what i got so far. I will make a how too when totally done.

Mold
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/p4d3b6db5f7e5710e1ff7dd5785816e11/f6317c74.jpg

Both
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/pcd759d4c1b987a97c000617ce2d7ef9e/f6317c6e.jpg

Front
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/p6bd66d1258613d8d33d44db3f441b4c1/f6317c6a.jpg

Side view
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/p43f51eddd0bddd7a7dfe8754f5456d5f/f6317c75.jpg

Now i need to sand it down to fit clean, bondo up the defects, maybe add some more walls and a back to mount light on, primer and paint.

Mounting is gona be fun!

Any suggestions or related links would be helpful. Thanks.

:cool:

[88accordalltheway]

Looks like a really fun project. cant wait to see it finished. Are you going to do the same for the 86-87 guys bumpers? As you know, they have different bumpers than us 88-89 dudes. Just lookin out for everyone....

[Dr._8t9LX]

Does it have a pop-out panel?

[carotman]

Yes it does but it would be really hard to do the same job on the 86-87. The problem is that the angle is almost horizontal on the 86-87..

What kind of foglights will fit in that hole? I do agree that the look is really unfinished when you pop the plastif and put those foglights in it. That fiberglass mold would inprove the look by 100% I think. I wish Honda made flush foglight for our cars (or another aftermarket company) just like the 4th gen Accord fogs.

[Dr._8t9LX]

Extreme XT855 Blazer series. It is one of those long oval lights with a hard black body.
It wont really be in the hole but hang from the top and be flush with the bottom. The lip on the bottom is only gona be about 1 centimeter deep. I have to remove alot of that material today to make it fit right.

I might also add a clear plexi glass layer in the front but not at first.

[carotman]

Hmmmm this gives me an idea.

I could use the reflector part of existing foglights, remove the glass in front of them and use the same type of fiberglass mold you did to fabric a custom foglight specially made for our 3G accords. That foglight would be flush with the body and look really nice.

I just need to learn how to do fiberglass (or if someone skilled enough is willing to make those)

[Dr._8t9LX]

Well, I will post my fiberglass "how too" pretty soon. But it ain't easy.

I like your idea. If I have enough intrest and if mine looks good enough when done, I could start makeing these things and selling them. Most of the labour goes into making a quality mold, If the mold is good, there is little clean up and so it is easier to make more. But making the first prototype can be a Bitc#! I see why Carbon fiber hoods and trunks always want group order!

What would they be worth to people? From what I am making I could make several variations.

Here's what I got done today. still needs more clean up and now I can fit the back side to the bumber so it sit's cleaner.

side view
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/p7c3df4e6acb7ef30351506135e1eada8/f62f2598.jpg

front
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/pbe0644dfd410e4ec9f98243842578db2/f62f2595.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/p5a222b0f6664e887d21ff3d9faef766d/f62f2588.jpg

with light
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/p2815735c73fbd4d76431c710b0967f4c/f62f258f.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/pad298e32a2d4812f5271a69eb6042808/f62f2583.jpg

I am gona try to make it so it connects to that bolt in there for the bumper skirt and maybe a few clips.

more later

[88accordalltheway]

not too bad man, i would have personally made it fit to the light though

[jonrichert]

i think the housings look awesome... but i really don't like those lights

[TheSummoner101]

that looks grate yo, but im happy wid cutting the bumper up and putting them next to the licence plate :) lol

make these things and sell them 10$ a pop :D

[carotman]

Dr._8t9LX, keep us updated on this one. I would definetly buy a foglight that sits fluch with the rest of the body. It would look alot mode modern and OEM.

[Dr._8t9LX]

OK, So I have been working on this and I will have a blank housing for sale :thumbup: . These that you see had alot of fit problems. I could bondo them in place myself but nothing I could reproduce. And I put way too much glass in and had to sand it all off, what a pain in the a$$!

I am going to make a new mold so I can make thing fit right without alot of sanding. I also hope to have it easy to make several variations. Basically a rectangle cavity. Both would be with back and four sides so you then cut it to fit your own light or fill in extra space with bondo if light is smaller. Does that make sence? See my ruff scetch. Everything tapers so it comes out of mold easy. :)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid148/p11ae45b8890123bbad6540d0bcfd70e8/f611d016.jpg

Yes, I don't like the lights a whole lot either but they were on sale and I do plan to modify the housing to fit the light exactly (which I hope makes them look alittle better). The tight fit areas won't work in a reproducable mold, so that will be added on.
:cool:

[Cheeseburger]

cool, good job

[$40089'accordproject]

I like those alot

[carotman]

Something like this would be nice

http://www.beckenbach.de/english/html/body_sonstiges.html

I would still prever a fully squarish molded foglight but it's custom made and hard to do.

That round fog housing really makes me wonder how it would look like tough.

[Wood9669]

sweet, i like it! :thumbup:

[Dr._8t9LX]

I like that housing on the link. I could work on specific housing to fit specifc foglights later. I am making a mold that will be a face the matches the countor of bumper skirt, and then i can make different backings for the cavity area. I need to find a good source for clear plastic for a front lens too. so far i am looking at these high dollar baseball card cases. Good size and pretty solid, and cheap!

I really like the idea of taking the light apart and reconstructing it inside the housing. i also am trying to figure out how to make a motor for a pop up effect. I gotta make the face mold first though.

I think the other link about fog lights in the apperance section mentions an OEM light so I need to track one of those down and see what i can do with it.

I should have something to show on this project by next monday so stay toned!

and thanks for the support:) :thumbup:

[carotman]

It's been 2 weeks now.

Any updates?

[Dr._8t9LX]

I have tried twice to make a better mold and both didn't work right! But I am getting closer to perfection :) Plus I haven't had much free time. Tommorow I have the afternoon off so I am gona put some effort in.

I have been looking around at alot of other cars and the real nice ones have the light mounted behind glass. Any ideas where I can buy strong, UV proof plexi or Glass? I have been reading on here about making clear tails and corners and was wondering about silver paints for mirror like finish, any advice?

[Dr._8t9LX]

I think I have something that may work. I bought some 30 mesh Sand and made a mold the true old-fashion way. I used a shoebox to hold sand and shaped it alot panel for the first plaster pour. I should have used a wooden box as the cardboard got ruined and it will make second casting harder. I put finger holes in sand to act as giudes for next half. I cleaned it up and have now but some bondo on the back side (no pic) so when i pour plaster the panel will be thicker then stock in some places.

Today i am going to try to get this poured and dryed and maybe try an actually fiberglass casting.

heres some pics

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/pdc41a28f9b09b7543ffa408fe7daf82b/f5e2d27b.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/p6cc54e7693e61143f74a292ac8449261/f5e2d257.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/p8cf70dc02aefd9169cb2a6c770792775/f5e2d275.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/pffb0d9c70ec203643fa0082143091467/f5e2d263.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/p783fd28d939eff4e8415c38d37b42422/f5e2d26a.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/pfda9f53a19404225182d95f5669c5d74/f5e2d270.jpg

Basically the sand takes place of the other half of mold. then you remove bottom of box and wash out sand and pour other half. You gota use a no stick spray in between ofcaorse. Then you pull apart and drill in some guide hole for resin to flow in and air to escape out. Since my box disentagrated i gota make another one.

more later

:cool:

[Dr._8t9LX]

Here's what I got done

The first couple are some ruff towers I built on bottoms with duct tape to hold sand. This is to leave a cavity to clean up to leave room for the shaft that will hold the fog light. You can also see the pink bondo I put on to thicken up the panel. i could have used sand for this!!

Then one with poured plaster.

the last two are the mold halves.

Now I got to clean up the cavity. It needs to be carved out to be much wider. Also I need to patch the sharp edges inside the mold that chipped. Then i will build a plaster "tower" coming off the mold bottom up threw the cavity for the shaft to mold to.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/pce3392cffb133b788c15c8755d8aec7d/f5e1701e.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/paf5901a28c9a063b69e586b9da66c5aa/f5e17017.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/pf74417efcd2ff1904f496c4823176b9c/f5e17010.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/ped6c6eadcd8aa5b9f47b4bac14a04f64/f5e1700d.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid150/p71472946547daa4fe3fe3374ccb2b8e3/f5e17006.jpg

I will be working and out with family tell christmas so i won't have time for the project tell then.

:cool:

[carotman]

Niiiiiiiiiice!

The molds look pretty accurate too!

If everything goes as planned, I'm sure you'll be able to sell foglights in no time... al least I would buy those :D

[HondaBoy]

wow, that looks like its comming along very nice. interesting stuff man, keep us updated on it whenever you can.

[Dr._8t9LX]

OK, I carved out the cavity and poured on a tower. I made the tower mold for the plaster out of wood paneling and used it on both so they would be really close in size but they ended up with different angles so i had to do alot of carving!!

So heres the finished molds, one side

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/p2a028d8b4e5b8294d7dd857955c007cb/f5908484.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/pe08941427261d216ee80182bb2c274ef/f5908466.jpg

I put down the glass and then resined it in, put on the top molding that shapes the inside edge, and then puored in some resin to fill it up

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/p46eac9ec92ebf38c58d4b29be26a0bca/f590849f.jpg

Then, once it hardened, with the top mold off, I added some more glass to the tower

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/pafd1b85f2a1d3889b243337d512b67ec/f59084b9.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/pfd9e0674dc612d2fd8eec01b78b77959/f59084c5.jpg

I then had to add a few thin coats to surface to clean up some bubbles and glass cloth that didn't get enough resin. Here is the ruff product. It needs a minor fileing but I hope it is much closer to the curve I need than my first try.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/pb9f2e934e3d50ab5a226515272773c15/f590847c.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/p99d7947e093d888c65e114dcacac65e6/f59084ad.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/pb79181c2a41eae947b0e5f05832d055f/f5908496.jpg

Tommorrow I need to clean it up and see if it fits!!! Then I will sand and primer it a few times, cut some of the tower down to hold the light, and work on mounting hardwarre.

If you notice I even cast the clips that hold on the panel on the OEM pop out. I am gona try to file them into the correct shape and see if they work. I hope so and then I will add only one screw and clip to clamp it tight.

:cool:

[Dr._8t9LX]

I cleaned them and they ALMOST fit real good :) I have to sand down alittle more off the bottom edge.

Also I need to smooth up the finish and fill one lip that had a big bubble. The backing and clips did not work at all so I have to sand it all down. No built in clips this time.

In these photos one of them is on a scap of fiberglass to hold it up so ignore that.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/p8cb7004bbe6fb7b0e807dcee5bdf1f78/f58ab873.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/pd77871e277be73d6d3a3252be3c34eec/f58ab884.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid153/paf351aa0e46fe4aaf85c9c307638746c/f58ab87a.jpg

[HondaBoy]

man, that's the shit! looks like you know what your doing there. i'd like to get into making things out of fiberglass. looks good from what you have pictured. thats just cool.

[88accordalltheway]

holy jesus that looks nice!! cant wait to see it painted...

[carotman]

Hmmmm nice housings!

I really want to see more of this stuff!

[Dr._8t9LX]

So, heres a quick update. I have them shaped to fit real nice. Alittle gap along the top edge and some ruff areas inside that i am trying to fix with primer and sanding. I am gonna paint them black and then make a final mold from them before I cut to fit my fog lights.

These photos are not the best because its real cloudy here and my camera got low batterys, and I got some black finger prints on there on accident :)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid154/p48c50531a971e77006da8c6534c52376/f56f60c8.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid154/pbc1bf0bf3abe49f79a4d85d29d5cb026/f56f60cc.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid154/p29264e2a5ec6728f329b75af011a48cc/f56f60da.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid154/p5f9cb61e5f6d72fef077f38cef67be74/f56f60de.jpg

so you can see in the last one that the bumper line above is curved so I need to maybe add some material to the housing to fill that in.

also, the light is not gonna be that deep, it will be about 1 centimeter in from the bottom. I put that deep of a cavity for working room for other uses like intake vent or constructing lights from scratch.

more later.

:cool:

[Mattphi]

i say leave it like that...it looks sweet as hell

[BlueBead]

Damn! you have a wicked marketable project there man! You should do up a fiberglass How-To section for all of us who are stuck dreaming about our personalized custom body mods.
Crazycool... I can't wait to see more pics!

[Dr._8t9LX]

Leave it? Even with the finger prints....HeHeHe :)

I filled in that top gap, it was pretty big, and it fits so smooth now!! I also filled alot of little dimples and tappered the side walls in a tiny bit to make it come out of a mold easier.

Bondos drying now for one last sanding to sharpen up the edges and corners.....and then it is done!!! Well the main plug is. Then I make a mold of it and cut it to fit my fog light. and wire the damb thing......and I gota find the thread on here about making a foglight switch out of the three switches for lights on the dash...anyone know it off hand before i search?

I will do a how too for sure, I keep learning new stuff and I found some good links i will post. I should have it this weekend.

[Dr._8t9LX]

It is sooo nice!!!! I finally have painted them Black. They still have a few minor dimples but good enough to make a final mold. I put the paint on cause in the mold I have to spray them with no stick first, and it is hard to wash off and then paint. So I gotta make some molds of these and then i can work on installing them.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid155/pdb981f3a62989d3950d716ad289a97d8/f55badbd.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid155/p57dc5e5f9d867f16c439972a316a42c8/f55badc5.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid155/pf036a842a7e44b1b26c28d00ea697182/f55badb7.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid155/p38ecd063b5faf6596c7fcd0ddeedab1a/f55ba30b.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid155/pb635d135b61f58d1a4dc44ff259d5ae4/f55ba2f9.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid155/pb692f587d384cf7cb2675dbb93281197/f55ba300.jpg

you can see the edge isnt perfect but it looks pretty good to me. For mounting I am gona make a drilled hole on each side, then attach something to the inside of bumper. Then I can screw a dry wall screw threw the drilled hole into the attached material. Maybe a small wood block.

The light itself will be mounted to the black insert first ofcoarse.

And I found the switch link at

http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=11637&page=2&pp=20&highlight=fog+light+switch

[BlueBead]

Damn! those look so good painted! I can't wait to see the totally finished product with the lights installed...
Have you figured out what you'd want if you were to sell some? you could even sell those bad boys on ebay for those who haven't joined up on here.
I'm thinking now that for the work involved we'd probably be better off buying them from you, but post that how-to anyways and maybe we can use it to start some other small projects.
Great Work man!

[Dr._8t9LX]

I don't really want to price them untell I see how they come out of the final mold and how much clean up that will take and then I gotta figure out materials cost. I think maybe between $30 and $60. Something around there. Hows that sound?

[Dr._8t9LX]

Made molds of these nice plugs and one cracked!! But I think I can make it work. Here's an Image of them on front in daylight, still with no lights.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid156/p60b4f104c1605a362959efcae6b3d841/f55122cf.jpg

I am getting ahead of myself but next will be a lip to match these, then side rails and rear skirt!!! :)

[carotman]

ah! looks soooo nice!

[Andrew]

They look pretty good. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[BDaccordguy]

yeah like you said earlier, that could very well be used to get direct air to an intake. I had always thought about doing something like that, but didnt have the know how. Heck, if i still had my 3g id have bought those off u for the intake reason cuz i think they look great even without the foglights. Kinda finishes off the bumper without having the ugly (IMO) stock covers in there instead of having it look like somethings missing. Good job!

[Dr._8t9LX]

Update....

I got different foglights that look more like 1989 and fit nicer. I also cleared my bumper lens while I am at it. I am still working out a solid mounting hardware issue. I have epoxyed nuts to inside bumper and then drilled holes in housing for large screw. works nice but the epoxy will not stick to foam bumber bottom in roof of area where housing goes. I need to make a bracket to mount nut on.

but here is what it looks like, just set in place, and I still need to wire it to the switch...

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/pafba09fabf53aaf08eff57c86e03a2e3/f51852ce.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/p11f737a888396a0cef6d045e3e37d261/f51852dc.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/p870a9f4347562c7d5a5e9e7c840b0032/f51852d5.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/p718ea68db1a07e02c5e8b0921417eb1e/f51852d2.jpg

not the best pics because housing is black so it don't show up :)
and the foglights are just hanging in there so they ain't straight...

[HostileJava]

Looks much better with those foglights, it's coming along beautifully.

[Dr._8t9LX]

Mounted, wired, and running....but still a few things to fix.

The lights don't have room to tilt up high enough so they only light up about 10 feet in front of me!! I can fix that easy.... I glued a nut inside and bolt goes threw hole I drilled in housing. Works great. I had a problem I thought was epoxy but it turned out the bolt tip was pushing off the nut when it hit the inside wall or the epoxy would get into thread...so i was real careful and got it in nice. And I can take it on and off when ever I want! :)

heres some night pics
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/pf592d3878157eaf37b3432e6d25e2292/f5134a95.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/p88541684d469be660cba8749d2d21825/f5134a91.jpg

So my last problem is with wireing and the switch.... I do not want to splice but instead run power off the fuse box, but I can't figure out how....A post in audio talks about ports labeled 1, 2, and 3 but I can't find those in the manuel or on the fuse block. I got a modified switch and a relay ready to fit in but right now it is wired off the battery directly and looks cheesy. Anyone got a photo of this part of fuse box or a link to a thread?

[frankie89]

nice work looks great..