Beginning to understand the C3 sickness.
It took 40 minutes of real terror taking the dash apart and replacing the headlight switch. Just a little blood on the left hand. Dash lights work perfectly now which is one of the things I so admired about a C3. Love just looking at them glow, plus night driving is a trip!
Just performed this exercise after reviewing many techniques here. Anyone terrified to do this I will tell you egzackly how I did it. Did not break anything!
Plus spliced in the right front directional signal fiberoptic cable for $6.
Everything works! I love this car.

VERYSOON

 

Hi VS,
Only 40 minutes!!!! Pretty quick!
I can still remember the first time I saw the dash at night!!!
Regards,
Alan

 

I will be replacing the headlight switch on my 73 in the next week or two. While I'm not terrified of the job I would appreciate any tips you could share that may make the job easier had you known more about the job ahead of time. The 73 may not be exactly the same but it maybe similar enough that your insight will prove valuable.

Thanks,
Russ

 

I believe the most important thing to do is let the steering column drop about 1/2 inch to keep you from bending the dash at the spot it would otherwise make contact with the column.
Make sure the vacuum hoses stay put when you install the switch. After the switch is secure then plug in the wiring.
Good luck! Totally worth the trouble.
VERYSOON

 

Pull the headlight K *** out (as if to turn the headlights on) then press the BUTTON and pull it the rest of the way out.

 

Zip Corvette has a great set of instructions but I don't believe they recommend the lowering the steering to avoid damage to the speedo or tach dash components. Also they don't detail when to put the electrical connectors on.

Thanks for the reply,

Russ

 

Don't mix up the vacuum connections.

 

I wrote this up after replacing the headlight switch in my 1970 Corvette, perhaps you will find it useful. I have no clue if a 73 is the same. Good luck.

Disconnect the battery.

Removed the A/C duct from under dash. Mine just slide out but I believe there is supposed to be a screw holding it in. I don't know what's under a non A/C cars dash.

Remove the drivers side kick panel (couple of screws).

Drop the steering column by removing the two bolts under the dash pad. This will allow the steering column to lower about 2".

Remove all the dash pad screws, this allows the dash pad to slide out and down to gain access to the headlight switch. You should have a couple of inches of space to work with from the left side. Be careful with the dash pad as it's brittle and will break easy. If you need more room you could remove the steering column bolts at the firewall and gain a little more room, I didn't have to do this.

At this point you should be able to reach in with a set of needle nose pliers and unplug the vacuum hoses.

Next unplug the electrical connection.

Next you remove the headlight switch ****, and there is a trick to it. Pull the headlight **** to the ON position. Reach under the switch and there is a small button. Push the button in and than you can pull the **** the rest of the way out. This is really easy if you have a new switch in your hand to see where the button is located.

After the **** is removed you will see a big retainer nut that can be removed with a large flat blade screw driver. Once the retainer nut is removed the headlight switch will slide out.

I also replaced my vacuum control lines at this time. I broke off a golf tee and plugged the new line to the old line. I than reached under the dash and pulled the new line through using the old line. I took about 10 minutes to replace the vacuum hoses.

I replaced the entire headlight switch and vacuum hoses in about an hour and I'd never done it before.

I bought a quality made in the USA switch as I didn't want to do this again. It cost about twice what the Chinese switch cost.