Assembly of H4 lenses with those wire retainer thingys?!

[Geneman]

THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS!!.. anyone know how to put those little crooked wire retainers in, WHILE HOLDING the lense (with gasket) , the ring and the backing plate together and lined up... wtf. just seems impossible. cannot seem to clamp it together as there is no purchase on the ring itself. no threads on this. that guy john audette must have a the patience of a saint, or some good custom jig to hold it..

any help welcome.

[autojack]

Well this is weird: when I needed to do this, I found a great thread about it with pictures, and I bookmarked it. But now it's gone: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/589270-h4-lens-removal.html

I can tell you that I did it without any clamps or other tools, just with the pieces sitting in my lap. It is a pain, but I got it done in an hour or two. My recollection is that there are two sizes of clips, and sort of an order of overlapping them etc. You will want a picture of an assembled one to help. I know you said there are no threads on this, but when I search for "h4 lens" I get 10-15 results. Surely some of them have some photos that would help?

[Geneman]

thanks auto. i went thru every thread that came up....... might try again tomorrow, and pass on the 5 cups of coffee beforehand..... my lap does not work...

[donporfi]

It is really very easy. I have done it several times.
Here some pictures how you should do it.
See how this wire is placed.


That end of the wire goes in this lip.



Slide this part of the wire



and finally the tip od the wire goes under this lip.




Hope this helps.

[donporfi]

And here one more, it takes seconds to do it.

[Geneman]

fantastic. thanks. so you must be somehow holding the rest of unit together while getting a few of the wire things in place. thats whats difficult. but i now see how the wire can clamp.... only the german designers would do this...

[donporfi]

Place the headlight on a table, if you need to hold the parts together, use some masking tape to hold the lens and the ring. Count how many wires you have and try to space those equally around the ring.First install at 12, 6, 3 and 9. The others overlap.

[Koizumi]

My friendly advice:

WEAR EYE PROTECTION! Those f***ers can pop out like a fake peanut brittle can spring!

[YankeeFlyGuy]

Originally Posted by donporfi

Place the headlight on a table, if you need to hold the parts together, use some masking tape to hold the lens and the ring. Count how many wires you have and try to space those equally around the ring.First install at 12, 6, 3 and 9. The others overlap.

I did this, but it's much easier with 4 hands. Hold it down on a table, use both hands to hold pressure on it, then have someone else place the clips.

I used this video as my first help/inspiration to try it myself.

https://youtu.be/K4723xZzzxw

[YankeeFlyGuy]

Here was the outcome!!!