MyRed69

Any hard learned tips???

Wish me luck...

Before:


After powdercoating...

Mad Vette

Wow looks good, better than mine after restoring I'd say just follow the AIM. I was able to get all of the nylon bushings from DR Rebuild.

Easy Mike

Be careful with the install. They're a bit bulky and it's easy to bang up paint.

1mollyd

I just did the headlights in my "69. I had them out when I had the car painted.

I found that if you leave the linkage off when installing them, they aren't too bad to get in place. Then reinstall the linkage.

The real PITA was adjusting the headlight door positions after they were installed. Take your time.

Dave

john roth

They make "very pretty" chrome covers for the headlight actuators.
I really like mine anyway.
JR

RobRace10

My before and after

68/70Vette

Rebuild one, before you dissassemble the other. If you take them both apart, by the time you put them together, you can forget how the mechanism goes back together. Luckily I have two C3's so in reassembling my 68 assembly, I could go look at the 70s.

When I take my 70s apart, I plan on getting some epoxy putty and pushing it around the threaded rods used to adjust the brackets in the assembly. I'll grease the threads with silicon grease, and before the epoxy fully hardens it, I'll remove ithe several putty plugs. This is to retain the factory adjustment dimensions. It's a bear to readjust it from scratch. It's a simple mechanism in a way, but reasonably sophisticated. (It's self locking feature when the headlights go up, and unlocking feature when teh vacuum cans give a pull.

MyRed69

I plan on wrapping everything up, and I have plenty of room to put it back together with the body off now so hopefully it'll go smoothly. Just found the seams that attach the fender to the wheel well broken, so now i have that to look forward to fixing.

MyRed69

I learned the "one at a time" trick a long time ago while doing brakes... Good idea with the putty. Thanks for the help.

MyRed69

Got a pic???

GD70

Looks great. I see you have the coveted pot metal bezels with the holes for the headlight squirters. Lucky dog! Mine are gone, replaced with fiberglass bezels.
Glenn

MyRed69

One down one to go...

andycw

would you mind listing the steps involved in doing this? Looks like something I'd like to do. Do u sandblast the individual parts or what?

thanks,

andy

MyRed69

I have the body off right now so access is pretty good. After ordering the rebuild kit, it comes with new springs, bushings, new lamp adjusters, and a few of the small screws. All that was included was the ones to attach the lamp adjusters (not a complete set of all the screws). I collected the screws I removed and went to the hardware store and picked out two sets of stainless steel screws, bolts, and washers (don’t forget new cotter pins).
Then I went to work with the wire wheel on my bench grinder and the sand blaster. Then put my new powder coat gun to work. I used the satin black powder that came with the kit I purchased from Eastwood to hopefully match my frame that is getting the same treatment from Vansteel on a larger scale.
There were a couple of things to look out for: the large cast aluminum bracket that holds everything together had a small crack in the corner but I was able to get that welded (so give all the parts a good going over). The next issue was the size of that bracket, it just barely fit into the oven (the dedicated powder coat oven) so be careful putting it in. The last issue I had with the rebuild (so far) was not being able to powder coat the underside of the ‘lid’ since it was painted like the body and shows on the top. I (and others I talked to) didn’t think the existing paint would take the oven temps. I don’t plan on repainting the entire car anytime soon so I just used rattle can satin black on the underside of that piece. I’m pleased with the results so far and plan on finishing up the other side this week end.
Good luck and make sure you take (and post) lots of pictures, they help loads when reassembling. Also as 68/70Vette recommended, do one at a time so you have the other for reference.

andycw

Thanks so much for the steps. Ill give it a shot.

andy

Maine Vette

I didn't find the process all that bad. I totally agree to do one at a time though, the reassembly process if a lot easier if you have one still assembled as a reference. Also, if you have the AIM handy I belive there are some specs in there for reassembly tolerances, torques, and the like.

Mine before:



And after:



I documented most of the process here: http://www.corvette-restoration.com/...estoration.htm

I'm not sure I like the gray I used around the headlamp rings/tubs, and I may change it later.

Good luck!

twinpack

I just wanted to thank you guys for this post. I am in the process of this step. I just remove the right side last night. I will use this information to refer to.

Thanks.

72LS1Vette

I rebuilt just the actuators over the winter, and if you make a mark and count the number of turns on the rod end as you disassemble the actuator the adjustment should be correct when you put it back together. I'm sure there are many other adjustments necessary when you remove the whole assembly. It's hard to find a hole on a C3 that isn't slotted for adjustment.



Rick B.