Panama 58

I have rebuilt both headlight motors and am ready to reinstall. Based on the "how to" instructions of resetitng the gear 180 degrees from the original setting, I find that the slot that fits onto the pivot shaft does not align. When I removed them the headlight buckets were shut. Once I got to the gear portion of the rebuild I opened them up and indexed them with a mark so that I could reset them at 180 degrees opposite the mark By doing this though, it doesn't allow the slot to align with the pivot shaft and therefore I can't mount them. In the pics provided you see that I have rotated the gear around to where it will align with the shaft, but now it looks like the gear may once again roll over on the already worn gear threads. Do you guys reinstall yours with the buckets open or closed? What is it that I am not understanding about how to put these back in correctly the first time? Do I just rotate the bucked up or down until the shaft goes in? Will the bucket rotate back to closed so that I can mount the motor to the bracket correctly? The pics are prior to rotating the gear 180 degrees.



Thanks.

Avispa

I install em anywhere along rotation that's not fully open or closed. That way you can rotate the bucket by hand until the pivot lines up with the gear keyway. Then rotate the bucket and or .motor until the motor can move onto the retaining pin.

Frankie the Fink

Not a big fan of "flipping" those main gears - depending on how badly they are galled you could still have problems...the repro gears fit fine now (older repros didn't). You can use the manual thumb wheel for the motors to roll them to a position to allow the motors to go on without all that trial and error fitting..

Railroadman

I'm all in favor of pinching pennies and occasionally will use some items longer than others would say is wise. But I decided that for all the PITA involved with taking the motors out, taking them apart, and putting it all back together again, spending $25 each for a brand new gear was worth it. YMMV.

BTW - my old gears were a bit chewed up, but the one in your pic beats them hands down! )

Panama 58

I tried using the thumb wheel, but it takes forever. I got the passenger side now, but having problems with the drivers side. I have another idea that I am going to try tomorrow that I think will work.
I assume the usual vendors carry these if I decide to just replace them.

Panama 58

Yep, this one is pretty bad. Interestingly though, This spot was right at the "open" position", so with a little nudge of the bucket it would grab and move easily. This is the only bad spot on the entire gear so I thought I would give it a go and see if I can align it where it won't be in play. I don't find the motors to be too bad to work with so I am going to try them both and I have them and if it doesn't work I will go ahead and pop for some new gears. What vendor did you order yours from? I saw an NOS one on ebay for $43 and another guy had a boat load of stuff for sale for a '67 and he had two still in the original packages. Unfortunately you had to buy everything ($750) in order to get these.

Frankie the Fink

Zip has everything you need: https://www.zip-corvette.com/63-67-h...rive-gear.html

Personally I would put the motors back in the car until I replaced those munged up gears.....the new repros will outlast you...

Try to keep the motors as synched as you can and get off that dash switch as soon as both buckets are completely up (or down) and you want booger up the new gears...

Panama 58

Can't blame me for these gears. Last owner had the car for 45 years, so I am totally innocent. Can you believe that when I got the car a year ago the first thing I did was remove the original shocks??? Yea. It was him.

Railroadman

Got mine from CC https://www.corvettecentral.com/c2-6...f%3fcount%3d63

I figure that unless they are TOTAL junk, for my casual driving with proper grease and installation they'll last as long as I have to worry about them.

mlusk427

Guys, there's a lot of great input here on the C2 headlight motor rebuild. I'm finishing mine up and the notes were very helpful. However, I have not seen any input regarding the correct lubricants for the bronze motor bushing or gear train. Sure would appreciate some advise before reassembling. Also, I have read several references to "felts". I see a somewhat rectangular hole in the gearbox adjacent to the main drive gear. Are those supposed to have felt plugs or is that somewhere else? Thanks!

Frankie the Fink

The entire document is too large to upload here but this is the relevant page from the 2011 NCRS Tech Seminar on headlights for the C2; the first paragraph is of particular note:





The entire treatise is here so you can look for the "felt" info for yourself, if there is any:

mlusk427

Thanks Frankie! Very helpful. And BTW, I figured out the reference to felts (on the bucket bearing assembly).