John Shiels

ideas duh on me!

I pulled the headlight assemblies in my C5. Now I have just ACP covers and need to mount them. I was thinking of fabricating aluminum brackets, making fiberglass triangular pieces which all seem like a PITA. Any other easy ideas are welcome. Thanks!

two vettes in the garage and I haven't driven either in probably near three years One at the GS reunion in 2006 and the other at Lime Rock when I pulled my hand off the clutch while on the trailer in a rush where it launched into the steel channel uprights and left a 4 stretch of rubber on the trailer. Stupid stupid me!

Time to roll again! I hope

Aardwolf

I have not worked on C5 lights so what I did on my C4 may not be relevant. Here's pictures anyways:

A piece of sheet aluminum:



Aluminum flat stock:



Total cost was low, $10 maybe. Use something to make the radius a nice circle when bending. I put in HID fog lights and use those for driving to the track if lights are needed, they work awesome!

They are a little to over built I think but just case some models want to lay on my car..

davidfarmer

Not worth the weight savings to remove them in my past experience unless you bond them to the hood, or buy with hood with them built n

Bink

John - why don't you bond them to the ACP hood? I'm going to pull mine soon and was going to buy the ACP covers ( I have the same ACP hood) - I thought I would bond them?

Jason

I just pulled the headlights themselves and the control module out. Left all the motors and little linkage/bracket pieces to manually raise and lower the lid. Anything I fabbed would be just as heavy or worse.

spazegun2213

WHAT?! there is a hood like that? WHERE?!!? I've not seen a single hood like that.

As for my setup, I mounted some bent Alu, where the lights used to mount. That holds up the rear part of the cover, and the front part I bolted to the bumper. Works like a charm, I just need to make them level, lol.

Picture

John Shiels

I had that idea later last night figuring if ACP does the one piece there must be room for it to all work.

John Shiels

I bought some aluminum to do that and was going to slot te brackets so i could tweak the finale adjustment on them to line up with the hood, nose, and fender. Then I could always drop the headlights back in fairly easy for inspection if need be. I was going to bond the aluminum cover to the fake lid. I think it would all still be very light. Nose is off the car so I was going to bolt to the fenderwell & side where headlight brackets mount.;

John Shiels

i was also thinking of making some fiberglass brackets but it all is a PITA! I would have to layup some glass on a right angle and then cut to fit my needs.

Kubs

I just got some 3M rigid parts repair and used it to bond a piece of fiberglass to my hood. It was real simple and looks like an aftermarket hood.





Since the hood has more than one plane of curvature I had to make a simple bracket to hold the fiberglass in place while the epoxy dried.





Didnt come out too bad for a rattle can job.



I know yours is a C5 but the bonding process wasnt that hard, just needed a little paint. On a C5 the light is surrounded by body lines so you wont have to do much (if any) blending of paint.

John Shiels

Thanks all for the help. Blend paint on my rag Place by me will mix paint to match and then put it in a spray can for me which is nice and only 10 bucks each.

On a c5 I would just be bonding to about 40% of the headlight perimeter. If I had a C4 I might use silicone to remove it easy I I wanted at a later date as you have 4 sides to hold it.

ZR1 MK

I used my original covers and supported them with 3/16"? x 1" anodized aluminum flat strap bent as needed. A bit tricky as I used all existing mounting connections that required the flat bar to be bet at a 45 degree angle. Its flush with all gaps perfect and plenty strong. It is a 16 lb savings for the C4.

Its interesting to see how others tackle to the same job. I like the glue method, but I want mine reversible.

0Randy@DRM

We used to glue them on to the hood, or buy them already bonded. Then basically make a few tabs to hold them up off the front bumper.

My C5 now is a bit different
Randy

Wasserott

John - Your fiberglass idea has been done...









Alternately...





Yikes

Olitho

Hi John:

Do you want to sell you old C5 headlight mechanisms and covers?

Us T1 guys need to run stock light set-ups, but we periodically crunch them and they need to be replaced.


Oli

John Shiels

Sorry but I will pile them with the rest of the crap I removed over the last ten+ years. Brakes, interior, rear hatch .......

Han Solo

duct tape

John Shiels

Your right it would be done it 10 minutes

Falcon

Oli, pm me your address and I'll send you the pieces of mine that I still have in the garage after removing. I had to use the covers, but there are still usable pieces among the pile.

Heck, for free it's hard to turn down.

MySR71

You might want to ask Robert at Performance AFX Motorsports (aka Vector Vette). I'm pretty sure the hood below is either from his car one one of the cars he helps run.