1971 headlight door alignment
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,693
Likes: 883
From: Warminster PA
1971 headlight door alignment
Recently bought my first vett, a 71 BB 4spd coupe. Pretty much unmolested. Bridghampton Blue, one repaint. So far the only thing I have found not matching is the alternator. Anyway, The headlight doors don't align along the sides. It appears that the nose bows up along the short side of the doors. The long sides are flush to the nose. As far as I can tell, the car has never been hit and the guy I had inspect it feels the same. Is it "normal" for the fiberglass to flex up like this? When I have this repainted (the existing paint is about 15 yrs old, laquer, and checking) how is this fixed?
More questions to come.................
More questions to come.................
Racer
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 416
Likes: 11
From: Merrick NY
Best case senario, it's an adjustment. Take a look at the support bar. The rivets holding the support in the fiberglass can cause bowing if they get old and expand, it happened to my friend's 69, and have seen repair pics on this site.
Last edited by Stumpdeisel; Sep 16, 2005 at 11:46 PM.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,693
Likes: 883
From: Warminster PA
Yes, the problem is with the surround. I have crawled under it and the support braces do run along side the inner part of the headlight door opening and they seem to be intact with secure bonding to the surround. I'll try to take some pics today and post them. Todays job is upper control arm bushings............should be fun!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,223
Likes: 124
From: Apple Valley Minnesota
Originally Posted by thoyer
Recently bought my first vett, a 71 BB 4spd coupe. Pretty much unmolested. Bridghampton Blue, one repaint. So far the only thing I have found not matching is the alternator. Anyway, The headlight doors don't align along the sides. It appears that the nose bows up along the short side of the doors. The long sides are flush to the nose. As far as I can tell, the car has never been hit and the guy I had inspect it feels the same. Is it "normal" for the fiberglass to flex up like this? When I have this repainted (the existing paint is about 15 yrs old, laquer, and checking) how is this fixed?
More questions to come.................
More questions to come.................
Last edited by TOM65 L76 96 LT1; Sep 17, 2005 at 05:19 PM.
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Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,693
Likes: 883
From: Warminster PA
Ok, finally got around to taking some pics. As can bee seen, the headlight door doesn't line up with the body lines. It is like this on both sides.
Another question, After a 20 min ride or so, the radiator seems to leak in the lower left corner. I have not removed the fan shroud for a closer look yet, any ideas?
Serial number is 101632 so it is a real early 71. The more I crawl around checking things out, the more I find that is still original to the car. So far only the alternator has been changed. The clock even works!
Replaced upper control arm bushings this weekend and also the upper left ball joint. The bushings were really in bad shape as was the ball joint. The upper right was good though, go figure.
Probably need an alignment now after the bushing replacement, car pulls to the left under braking.
[IMG]
[/IMG]
Another question, After a 20 min ride or so, the radiator seems to leak in the lower left corner. I have not removed the fan shroud for a closer look yet, any ideas?
Serial number is 101632 so it is a real early 71. The more I crawl around checking things out, the more I find that is still original to the car. So far only the alternator has been changed. The clock even works!
Replaced upper control arm bushings this weekend and also the upper left ball joint. The bushings were really in bad shape as was the ball joint. The upper right was good though, go figure.
Probably need an alignment now after the bushing replacement, car pulls to the left under braking.
[IMG]
[/IMG]
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,752
Likes: 4
From: Austin Texas
Your surround problem is typical. Perhaps the reinforcing strip bond has partially separated. Also, the cracks are typical. The headlamp door has also sagged, this can be adjusted to make it flush with the surround. BTW, nice ride!
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 23,360
Likes: 1,059
From: Virginia USA
It doesn't look like a surround problem to me it looks like the buckets need some adjustment. The hinges in the back may need to be "turned" some to increase the height that the front of the bucket is sitting. It is not an easy jobe to get a wrench on the outboard hinge bolts. There are three of them for each bolt. I can't remember if there is a closed stop that can be adjusted on the opening linkage. Open your headlights manually and watch the linkage to get an understanding of how it works and see if there is an adjustable closed stop. You may even want to try increasing the opening actuators rod length a little and see what that does. If not then try and loosen the hinge bolts slightly and rotate them towards the back of the car. I think it can adjusted out.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,426
Likes: 1
From: VetteMOD
St. Jude Donor '05-'07
If you look at the headlight assy from underneath you will see a linkage in the center of the assy. With the headlights down you will see the end of a 5/16 screw at the center pivot in the linkage. It will have a square end on it. This adjusts the down position of the front edge of the covers. I think the rear edge is OK. If you cannot get enough adjustment with the screw, you can raise the front of the frame (the big U shaped piece) by putting washers under the front mounts. Make sure the two front mounts are not broken as this is very common.
