alexandervdr

It's one of the last scary parts of the reassembly of my 64 body off : mounting and aligning the headlight/motor assembly. Reading what I read it seems it's good not to rush on this one.
All parts are ready, replaced or/and restored.
My question is: is it a good idea to mount the empty headlight housing first and only put all the internals later with housings/bearings on the car? Advantage is better accessibility and more room to 'wiggle'.

Frankie the Fink

Never good to rush any task on an old Corvette; not just headlight bucket installs.

This is part #1 - there is a part #2 on YouTube as well:

alexandervdr

Yes, I've seen those. In video#1 they mount everything on the housing, while in video #2 it looks as if they took it off again. Hence my question in the thread. I guess there is no harm mounting the housings empty...

By the way, somewhere in video#2 (starting 8:15) they show how they drill the ball bearing support and mount the contact breaker the other side. Why is that? Did they use the wrong support (there is a left and a right one)

66jack

Its doesn't matter which way you do it...but its lighter and easier to adjust the rotation, especially the lateral...that little collar on the outside it a bear to get to...

Frankie the Fink

Haven't looked again at that part of the video - at one point they upgrade the headlight bucket warning switch (which activates the blinking dash warning light) to make it a true "limit switch"; which mechanically shuts down the headlight motors when the buckets are full extended/retracted -- this saves 'galling' the main motor gears. The #1 problem in these systems; this mod won't apply in your case

alexandervdr

now I learn something! Have not studied the electrics yet, thought it was a true limit switch (although I thought it was one ended only, which in turn I could not figure out why). Still confused...

Frankie the Fink

GM just never put in a 'true' limit switch - just the headlight warning. So, when those buckets come up unevenly; the operator is forced to 'hang' on the dash button until both are closed (or opened). This means the faster bucket's motor is gnarling away at the main motor gear while jammed against the "Y" stop while waiting for his slower partner to catch up -hence the galling - hence the 'true' proposed limit switch upgrade. This is why you need to get the buckets to synch as closely as possible..

alexandervdr

next problem: those switches don't fit, well they do but there is a 1/16-3/32" gap between the bottom and the housing that causes problems when mounting and tightening the switch. Strange...and not a unique experience with (expensive) after market parts
I cut a shim from some fibreglass PCB type board I had lying around.

GUSTO14

Alexander, if the car has already been painted, one thing I would recommend while you are assembling the buckets in the front end is to tape the edges (using painters tape) of the body openings and the buckets. Do this anywhere they may come in contact with each other during the assembly process.


Sorry I couldn't find a picture of a mid-year, but hopefully you get the idea.

This should help to keep you from scratching/chipping the paint on the edges of the opening and the buckets. Because of the close tolerances and the adjustment tolerances built in, there will be plenty of opportunities to have them contact each other before you get them adjusted just right.

Good luck... GUSTO

alexandervdr

Thanks Gusto, already done for all the reasons you point out

Gary D. Jaynes

Before installing them in the car I would put the headlight extension wiring harness in.

alexandervdr

It's actually not very difficult to convert these to real limit switch system, given two more switches and some relay and rewiring . If I find time I may do this. Anyone ever tried?

Frankie the Fink

That is exactly what they are doing in the Part 2 of the next video in the series that I gave you the link to above

alexandervdr

Should have watched till the end (what I was planning to do along the progress of my install work...). And I fast forwarded some parts...
Answers my question too why they were drilling holes in the bearing house

alexandervdr

took the time to watch the full video, and the conversion to real end stops is a no brainer. The benefits are a much sounder technical solution and much higher reliability. The idea of pumping current in a bottomed out motor till the slower motor aligns is scary. Will do it!

alexandervdr

I did the conversion towards two end switches and relay as described in this video starting 10:57.
It works great and the feeling of NOT short circuiting the faster electric motor while the slower one is catching up is reassuring. I used one relay per motor. The current set-up has the relay attached to the motor, which will be a neat set-up once all wiring is nicely routed and tie wrapped. However it means that if I have a problem with the relay I need to take off the front grille to replace it. So I may reroute it to the radiator support. Not sure I have enough room there, I will have relays for the lights themselves too....

Any suggestion of where to put the ones for the headlight motors?

PS: in the pictures the original top switch is missing.

65VetteVert

After seeing this thread and the video last week, I thought I would start installing my headlights. I can tell you the video looks easier than my experience. I bench asembled the parts, then slid the assembly under there. Now, try to rotate the bearing housing to get the bolts in. You've got to be a contortionist!

Take it back out to mark which hole goes to the front, then back in. Rotate the headlight housing to get to the other holes. Just try to get an allen wrench back on that collar...

I've got a new forward lamp harness, but I'm trying to figure how to get these plugs thru a hole thats too small. Check the book, Ohhh, a headlight extension harness, i see...

So I placed an order along with a few other parts I need, and when they come in I'll be back on it, if my stiff neck gets to feeling better from trying to stand on my head and look under there during this assembly.

I can't wait to adjust that Y shaped thing to limit the stops... More fun! This would have been a little easier if I had been the one to take this car apart!

buns

I was venturing into this project but got sidetracked, so not finished yet. In case you were considering the possibility of keeping the function of the original "tell-tale" switch/flashing light, I found one that fits the bill perfectly. It is a DPDT switch with the identical mounting points as the original. About $5.00 from Allied Electronics. Cherry # E19.


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alexandervdr

I put some small piece of thin tissue over the allen screw and then pushed the allen wrench in. This way the wrench holds tight in the screw and you can slip the collar over the axle wrench attached.

The Y limiting stops were a no brainer in my case, but that I have a small lift to raise the car, and that radiator and radiator mount are not installed made it all much more accessible. Once the car is fully assembled and ready for final set-up of the headlight light beams I may have a different experience

buns

I don't think the guy in the video knew what he was doing. He kept removing the Y stop and turning it and putting it back on. The Y stop only goes on in one position, as indicated in the photo below.


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