Kelley

I have rebuilt the first of the two headlight motors in my '66 and I have a question. When I put the assembly back together it appears that with both the larger beveled washer and the smaller flat washer reassembled (which is how it came apart) the two halves of the assembly will not fit together. I could pull it down with pressure but I am reluctant to do that for fear of breaking the ears off the case. Without the small flat washer there is a small fraction of an inch of end play in the assembly. Should I pull the assembly down hard using both washers as it was originally assembled or should I not reuse the original smaller flat washer and live with a very small amount of end play?

I know that if you have never rebuilt these assemblies yourself the easy answer is to put it back together with both washers like it came apart but if you have done this project before, did you pull it down with both washers or did you leave the small one out?

Any help would be appreciated.

DZVette

See if this helps. From an earlier contribution to the Forum. Nice article to keep on hand. Thanks to A.J. Boatright.

DZ

67L36Driver

You are correct that with the cupped washer (belville spring) and flat washer you have a lot of preload on the driven gear. That's the way it goes together.

An alternative I came up with is a 1/2" wave lock washer and a thinner flat washer from my local hardware store. With this set up I reduced the starting torque from 25 in-lb to 5 in-lb..

Edit:
The wave lock washer I used is about .525" ID x .785" OD x 5/32" tall. the metal is .019" thick. I found them in the yellow compartment containers at my local Ace hardware. Don't know what they were originally intended for.

The flat washer is .516" ID x .875 OD x .047 thick. Labeled as 'bushings' in the yellow container at Ace. In contrast a standard 1/2" flat washer is .525" ID x 1.065" OD x .097" thick.

Kensmith

That's a nice article on the re-build. Do you have one on the removal and re-install of the headlamp assembly?

SolidAxle

I just rebuilt a pair of '63's and did not have a problem reassembling with both washers.

rponfick

I think a previous post said the flat steel washer is the same size as the shims used to shim up excess slop in your distributor. Just in case you have any of these laying around. I think they are thinner and fit in nicely.

I just sent some new motors that lasted about 10 cycles back to Corvette Specialties of Maryland. Their label was on them when I bought them from Dr. Rebuild. I am curious to see if they stand behind their product.

Ralph.

Dave64

OK, I'll be the slow Bubba today. I rebuilt my motors, but don't have a car to hook them up to, so I used my battery charger by connecting the ground to the motor body and connecting the positive to one of the motor posts. The motors turn, but very, very slowly - to the point that it appears they don't want to run. They ran well when I parked the car a few years ago. All I had to do when rebuilding was to replace the bad gears. Should I use a car battery to test for better results? BTW, I used the outstanding rebuild post.

Dave

67L36Driver

I assume your are using a trickle charger. In that case it may not have enough 'snot' amps wise. Mine is rated at 6 amps and will run the motors on the bench at a good speed. Separate the motor from the gear box and run it without the gear train drag. Running them both directions for 4-5 minutes will polish the commutators and seat the brushs. They will get quite warm after five minutes.

Dave64

THANKS, I'll try that this weekend.

DZVette

Ken

Unfortunately I don't have anything on that. It's something I need to do also on the 65.

DZ

67L36Driver

It's in the Chassis Service Manual.

The only hard part is the "rolling flip" necessary to get them out between the hood and nose. Kind of like Olympic diving in reverse.

You do Not have to remove the freakin hood.

KC66

The blue grease kind of looks like Aqua Lube. Its a marine waterproof grease, very sticky, kind of like getting gum stuck on your shoes sticky. I use it on a lot of stuff. Check a marine store.

KC

BILLY 63 swc

Replacement gears for the headlight motors you purchase now are about .025 thicker than the OEM Delco gears and need to be turned down a bit to use the original washers.

TWINRAY

Thanks all who contributed to this post