Reproduction JDM headlight covers with trim

[BlueZee]

Me too! I would buy one set for sure.

Les

[MikeW]

Wow, it looks like you've got a lot of interest here. I'd certainly buy a set for that.

How do you anticipate being able to do it for that price? It seems like it would take an awful lot of work just to get up to speed on the manufacturing process.

[26th-Z]

I agree with you, Mike. How ya gonna do tha-et? No matter, I'm interested.

[BillD]

I would definitely be in for that price.

[mrcheeze36]

I would be interested as well!

[hls30.com]

MikeW,

I am going to the trouble of making a couple of sets anyway for me(I have made plexiglass molds before), so adding some effort, machinery, and using higher wear materials for the molds will make the endeavor much more expensive, but I have already sprung for a NOS set to model from(not cheep by any means), and if I can sell 50 sets, at around $200(CZC club members only) I should break even. I will use eBay like you did to sell to non-members for what the market will spend. I expect to sell more than 50 sets, and even sell upgrade/replacement parts.

Will

If those of you that have lived with these a while have any suggestions for a better design without changing the appearance, I welcome them.

Will

[MikeW]

I understand the plexiglass mold part. What about the stainless steel trim rings? That seems like the more difficult part of the process.

[mdbrandy]

If you can pull it off as you are envisioning, I'm interested.

[ChrisA]

Hey Will, put me down for a set also.

Chris

[v12horse]

I think Alan was planning to make some replica sets as well, but I am not for certain.

-Ben

[HS30-H]

Hi Ben,

I'm having new plastic parts made for the three used sets that I have, but I'm not planning on making any of the surrounds. I don't think its as easy as it looks.

Additionally, I have lent a pair of NOS covers to a Z resto specialist company here in England. This was in order for them to investigate the possibilities of tooling up for the manufacture of exact replicas, but its taking some time........

What I can say is that its not as easy as it might at first seem. These are complicated shapes to bend a u-shaped channel into without puckering and stretching the corners. Nissan's original supplier didn't do such a great job themselves ( although I love them ) and stress fractures are not uncommon. The earliest of these covers were a Chrome finish, but later covers were made from Stainless. Sometimes its necessary to 'tweak' them a little when fitting for the first time, and this can sometimes cause cracks in the butt weld that joins the two ends of the channel together - especially on the stainless versions.

The plastic tends to crack from the fixing holes to the outside edge as it gets older and more brittle, especially in extremes of heat and cold ( and when you go very very very fast ).

The original fixings are hilariously crap too. That can be rectified with better mounting hardware that will not be seen once they are fitted ( 'Rivnuts' for example ), but I have no idea how any 'improvement' to the misting / dirt build-up problems can be made without changing the look of the things.

Alan T.

[hls30.com]

I don't expect this to be easy, if it were, others would have done it before the OEM parts got in the $750 stratophere.

For the trim rings, I have press formed thin stainless with good results, the OEM pieces were made in two parts and then welded-I think that is the easiest way to do it in stainless. I have TIG. Mig, and oxy/acet, so I don't think putting them together will be a huge problem. They could also be made with one stamping of 1001 aluminum and then chrome plated so noone could tell the difference between them and the early covers(mine are chrome plated) once they were installed. I would prefer the stainless to aluminum and aluminum to the original steel. But when I get this going, what I will probably do is send a set to a several of the interested long term active members who have the original parts to compare them to for a month long, all weather, evaluation (and purchase if they measure up) and critque before I offer them for sale, that way I will know (and so will eveyone else) just how they rate. I don't expect to sell thousands of these, but I do expext a couple hundred or so through time. Once the molds and dies are made, even a limited "garage" run would be possable to enable quick fixes before a show. I will put seals and pads on every surface and attatchment point, and anneal the covers after the holes are drilled to keep the internal stresses to a minimum, and the quality of seal (and fit)to a maximum. I want it right if I am going to put the time, effort, and money into this.

Any more thoughts on what to improve are welcome, I want to do this once, and do it right!

Will