What is the general GTS covers properties:
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GTS covers - how to prepare them:


Above: how GTS cover is attached with tiny bolts (c). GTS cover is protected by scratches by a thick 3M film (b in blue color). Area above the 3M film (marked "a") is painted in matt black and creates an "eyelid".
 

Whenever working with the covers, tape up as much as possible on both sides. They scratch just by looking at them.

Alt 1)
They are a little to tall to be able to fit into Fords tolarances for headlight. So I decided to cut the top off and glue on a 5.5mm polycarb sheet. It will need 4 stringers, each of them ~2 inches long and ~1/2 inch wide. They are easily made out out 5.5mm polycarb. Then heated up, and shaped by pressing them into their mounting area. This will not make them stick there. You would have to glue them on.
Apply gts cover on stock headlamps. Use black electrical tape to mark off where to cut on the outer vertical edge. Leave desired space (2-3mm). Cut with a dremel. Take your time, gts cover plastics boil early. Cut off the overhang on top of gts cover.
(alt 1 end)

Alt 2)
Not really recommended. I tried using a clothing iron to decrease the high. In theory, the high would be reduced if when applying heat to upper section. Later on, during cooldown, just sitting on the shelf, it cracked because of too much internal forces. This was covered with a thick layer of Plastic Welder on the inside (not visible from outside).

Update:

2 years after end of production this crack has started to move upwards. There must still be forces in the GTS cover.
(alt 2 end)

Mounting gts cover to lower bracket sheet:
From outer edge, between high and low beam bracket, should be 46mm.
Between outer side of mount bracket and cover should be 45 mm.
(See diagram)

Front cover is able to withstand high winds according to OEM development standards, this equivalents to 85kg of pressure. I used 4 screws on top and 3 screws at the bottom. Stainless steel screws, 5mm in diameter.

Start making holes in the bottom of the gts cover. Make shure you don't hit the cover with the drill when the bit goes through - cover up with a cloth or something. Then mark and drill holes in bottom plate. Then make holes in botom plate of bracket. When you are 100% shure that front cover is finished, make holes on the top part.

Sideplates should  not be glued in before the cover has all retaining bolts.

Cosmethical Setback 1 - Lens crack

Headlights have never had a leaking problem, however driver side front lens has one minor crack in one of the two layers. That is partially fixed, the remaining crack is not getting bigger, is not frigile, and is not cosmetically disturbing (in my eyes). The small crack in driver side front lens is still present. The crack is not very visible, nor is it in the beam of any headlamp function. It is about 1/2 inch long now. This will not be fixed before sale. Historically, the crack was going from transparent area upwards into black painted area. Water cannot enter through crack, there is no opening in plastic film which covers entire transparent lens.

The following has been done to fix the crack in the black painted area:

  • From behind, when front lens was off, it has been reinforced by a piece of Lexan glued onto it.
  • From the front, the area around the crack was cut out with a dremel. Then it has been filled with POR-15 putty (~polyurathene), sanded, primed. Then entire black area has been repainted.

    Cosmethical setback 2 - headlight protection film covering 99% of front lens

    Due to the thickness of 3M headlight protection film combined with two radically curved surfaces meeting in a corner, I was forced to leave inner bottom corner uncovered. What does that mean? From a cosmethical point of view, unless standing close to headlight this is not very visible. Area is halfway at an angle downwords, so you would have to lie on ground to see entire area. As you can see in picture below, I had to turn headlight so that bottom was visible to get a good shot. From a impact protection standpoint, this area is about 25 sq mm, so I would not say that it would lower protection.

    Unless you look very hard, you cannot see the crack, nor the small area of uncovered front lens:

    Final Comments

  • Even thou GTS cover and rest of headlamp was maticulously matched to each other, some areas only had as low as 3mm contact patch. Combine this with that silicone caulking did not stick that great to GTS cover and result is that driving more than 120km/h in rain or high pressure water gun directed onto it will make some moisture come in.

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