69Myway

I saw an old post here where somebody created and was trying to sell a kit to convert to electric actuators for the C3.

That is really ironic, because I have been working on this for a while. Mine is a go at the moment with some final details that need working out, and then plenty of time on the road to make sure it works.

For the moment, this is just my deal, however, it looks like there is a real market for this. I have two designs and I am trying to figure out which one is best.

I have already converted my wiper door electric. It is sweet because the electric motor takes up less space on the firewall and can be operated any time regardless of engine vacuum.

The problem is, I think a kit would have to sell for about $500 to do the front lights, and would require the complete removal of the lights and brackets to convert. I am not sure the average do it yourselfer out there would want to spend that much money or time.

What do you guys think? Do you want to know more about it after I get sufficient R&D time?

Since my car is a long time from being on the road, I really need somebody with a C3 that lives close to me and uses their car regularly to get together with me and set up a pair for some long term testing.

spikezz4

We have been mulling over taking out the vacuum headlights and fabricating electric lights. Saves lots of weight, and eliminates all the vacuum hoses running throughout the engine box.

As for cost, remember that a complete, new headlight assembly (1) is nearly $700. And, the new ones are not nearly the construction quality as the old originals. If you can make it work for $500, you may find a nitch market.

Spike

1RED1

I don't know if this will help but the Fiat x-19 used ele. motors to open the
headlite doors. I don't remember if it was a web site or a vet mag. were I saw it but some guy in Europe, but I'm not sure had his C2 set up this way

daniel77350

I am not 100% sure, but from looking at the headlight assembly breifly, I don't see how it would be very difficult. To my it'd be like the power windows except it would life up the lights, not a window. You'd still need the motor to stop when the lights where all the way and all the way down(so you don't mess anything up, or get a really weird looking setup), but that wouldn't be all that hard. Get and R/C car servo, they make 1/4th scale ones for about $60, but the gears are metal, and it seems to me it would be enough power and torque to lift the headlights, and the travel could be geared so it would lift them up far enough. The biggest problem would be figuring out which wire from the servo, would connect to what(positive, ground, signal). Well maybe not with a signal wire. I myself am looking into doing this conversion myself. Im a big electricity fan myself, as it makes more since to me then mechanical stuff. THe vacuum stuff I still don't even begin to understand, its beyond me. (I know enough mechanical stuff to do everything I need to my vette), but I am more comfortable working on electric things(maybe all those years of taking apart dads drill and other electric things, is paying off)...I'll put my thinking cap on when I get to the front of the cars restoration, and I'll see what I can come up with.

Daniel
PS. the R/C survo's have a regular electric motor in them, so if you rip out the circut board you could hard wire the motor and the switch would go cut off the power to the motor. The gear box in the servo is there so the motor doesn't turn the arm at 100 RPM, it also limits the travel of the servo. Now Im thinking........ :eek:

bhays

I was involved in the other deal for electric headlight motors. I am very interested in this. I am wondering if jimduchek, who was working on the other system does not plan on completing it, might consider sharing information with you to speed the process along. You might check with him.

I know that quite a few of us sent money to jimduchek for that system and I would imagine that an equal number would be interested in this system. Chime in on this thread if you would be interested, we might get this done yet. :cool:


[Modified by bhays, 6:06 AM 8/15/2001]

mrvette

Myway, hey there, I"m in Orange Park Fl. too.....I drive that burgundy 72 ragtop with the shark on the hood....rectangular tail lights...
I"m curious about that headlight project and could maybe help/test...

try mrvette@mediaone.net

GENE

69Myway

Okay guys, I just ordered all the parts.

Sorry if this reply is rather long.

The neat thing about my creation is it uses all stock G.M. parts from a variety of G.M. vehicles from a couple of different year models. The bad part is, the current cost plus 10% is nearly $600 for everything. That puts the kit plus my brackets in the price of the stock vacuum system. However, it could be built from used parts and several trips to the junk yard. Maybe at a total cost of $100 to $150.

However, my G.M. supply source said we can cut into that cost price if we make a high volume order.

I finished the rough brackets and installed the passenger headlight. It runs up and down super smooth, there is plenty of room between the hood and motor and if it fails, it can be manually raised or lowered like any stock pop up headlight system. I am still working on making the brackes more simple, and as strong as possible. However, there is no doubt this system works.

Because it uses stock style electric actuators, they have a built in shut off circuit. Plus, I can wire them into a stock style control module to do the rest. This is very exciting. I woke my wife up to come out to the shop and watch the light go up and down, then up and down, then up and down. She thinks I am nuts.

The wiper door is much easier to install and uses a "linear" electric actuator(not a stock automotive part). It was a no brainer. In fact, I just ordered a better style linear actuator than the one I have been using that is a little more compact. Looks like about 2" of the actuator will show on the firewall, and the rest will be up under the assembly. These actuators are about $170 a piece and you won't find one in the junk yard.

So, if there is enough interest to make it worth my while, I will either work on a package discount from the parts suppliers and pass that on as a total kit savings, or make the part numbers and templates of the brackets available for a small fee. However, I won't make anything available until I am sure it is a high quality, durable, and reliable replacement for the stock system.

Gene,

I was wondering where you went. Didn't you come over my house several months ago and see my bare frame? Anyway, if you are the same fellow, I tried calling your number and could not reach you.

I thought you had removed your headlight actuators in favor of the recessed lights.

Anyway, I would love to do some testing since I know you drive that car almost everyday. The problem is the initial parts cost, and coming up with some stock headlight assemblies for your car.

Give me a call

(904) 298-3017

69Myway

I just realized, you might wonder why I am "just now" ordering parts. I was able to construct this using some old actuators and other parts around the garage. Now that I am moving forward, no sense putting older parts on. One of my current headlight motors is one off another car that I rebuilt with a bushing kit. Also, I ordered G.M. replacement wire harness ends for that neat clean factory connection vs. my curring rough wiring.

Also, I ditched my first design that was using linear actuators on the headlights. This is a much more cost effective design as Warner Electric has some new plastic housing actuators for about $115 per. The problem comes with a reliable SIMPLE up and down shut off and polarity reversing mode. Otherwise, they are very impressive.

I am using the S12-17A8-02 (75 lb thrust) linear on the wiper door. It is over kill, but good for at least 80,000 strokes at the rated load limit. It will won't wear out as a wiper door actuator in my lifetime.

You can check them out at :

http://www.danahermcg.com

More to come.

I will keep you posted.

69Myway

Here is a better URL to look at the different Linear products.

With these 12v gadgets, you can motorize your hood, doors, convertible deck lid, even make your automatic transmission into a push button application. You can use these anywhere you would normally use a hydraulic actuator.

http://www.globallinear.com

bartrek

I too,was involved in the other deal for electric headlight motors. I am very interested in this type of conversion. I emailed jimduchek, who was working on the other system, asked him to check out this post in hopes that he might consider sharing information with you to speed the process along. You might check with him.
I know that quite a few of us sent money to jimduchek for that system and the response was pretty good. More than a few are interested in a system like this. Please keep us posted on your progress.
:yesnod: :cool:

ddn

69Myway,
Those linear actuators are bad foot! I wish I would have had some of THOSE back when I was doing Odyssey of the Mind tournaments. I have recently been thinking about why NOT to use an electric system on the headlights, but I had never even thought about it for the wiper door. A linear actuator is absolutely ideal for the wiper door, and it should eliminate the infamous wiper door problems.

All I have left of the headlight assemblies on my '68 are the hoods/tops/whatever and 2 vacuum actuators that I bought on eBay. I would be VERY interested in an electric headlight system seeing as how I'm starting from scratch anyway.

Keep us posted please!

dash8

To bad i was'nt closer, i'd be your victim!!!!! your idea has me waiting with baited breath :yesnod: [IMG][/IMG] I know it's gonna be an exellent convertion...

dsagers

Yeah, I sent jimduchek my $$ and when it became clear he wasn't going anywhere with the project I asked for my $$ back, even sent him a bunch of Paypal requests, becuase thats how I originally paid jimduchek.

Never saw my refund, got a message saying he was real busy and wanted to make everyone happy. Except I never got my $$ back and now jimduchek refuses to respond to any of my requests. Looks like I lost my $$ to a fellow Corvetteforum member.

Hell, my luck has been better on eBay, than with jimduchek... :mad

69Myway

I hear what you are saying about that other deal. I really don't know anything about it and it was before my time on this forum.

All I can say is I am going to make sure they work and don't give me any problems before I consider sharing my design with anybody-much less offering anything for sell. If this is a viable product, I won't collect a dime from anybody until I know I can ship the parts out ASAP and stand behind them. There are a lot of hoops to jump through before taking that step.

I think the best thing to do is finish the entire project and give it some good road time. When Gene gets back with me I will see if we can work something out to get a set up on his car. If this is the Gene I am thinking about, he drives the car pretty regular and could get some good hours on it to see how reliable they are. After that, I will take it one step at a time.

What makes the most sense is just selling the mounting brackets, rotating arms and levers with detailed instructions and part numbers for everthing else.

Same for the wiper door. I already gave the linear part number above. However, that one is a gimmie anyway after you compare the electric linear actuator to the vacuum actuator. A nine year old could figure out what kind of brackets to make to mount that.

I think the best comparison of what I am doing is much like the C4 conversion sold by Mid America and others to convert the early model C4 to the newer design. If you have seen that before, it should give a really good idea of what I am combining together.