Headlight/aux light experts, help!

[zithlord]

I am restoring a set of Cibie hood lights.

On the backside of the reflectors there are some kind of brown lacquer/enamel? or is it heat paint? Is it possible to buy? There is some corrosion and I want to fix it.

Bye the way is the reflectors metal based underneath the alu plating and the stuff on the backside?

How do I remove the lens from the reflector?

John

[RoninLB]

I like Cibies. Make sure they are not stamped DOT on the lens or you're wasting your time imo.

I only clean the lens by dumping some alcohol down the bulb hole and using lint free cloth on the end of a screwdriver to wipe the film away.

On the backside of the lens rust? I never paid it much attention. If I found some I guess Id clean the area up and dab some Por15 on it.
Por15 is good for over 400F.

[zithlord]

Hi, John. Parts for the Porsche hood lights are no longeravailable -- been N/A for years. The reflectors can be refurbished, but it is very difficult to find someone equipped to do the work properly. The reflectors must first be disassembled (removing all non-steel parts such as bulb seats, bulb shields, etc.), then stripped to bare metal by some non-violent means such as chemical dip or glass beading. Sandblasting is out of the question, as the heat generated tends to warp (ruin) the reflectors. Then, the reflectors must be copper plated and polished to a high shine. Then, nickel plated and polished to a high shine. You need a copper plate heavy enough to get rid of any pitting, a high polish, then a nickel plate with a high polish. Then, the prepared reflectors are sent to UVIRA in Oregon for aluminum vaporcoating and silica glass overcoat.

The plating shop is probably going to ask you why you're having the first two steps of a chrome plating job (copper, nickel) done but not the chrome. Chrome is *never* an acceptable reflector material; its reflectivity of 67% (at best) is far too poor for lighting/optical purposes. The vapor-coat aluminum material with glass overcoat, as done by UVIRA, is over 99% reflective as required for optical and lighting devices.

The red/brown paint was the base coat used in the original reflector aluminization process. Unfortunately, it cannot be re-used and I have been completely unable to find anything like it.

[RoninLB]

thanks for posting that info.

Dan Stern is great in this dept imo.