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I just traded my Jeep for a 76 Stingray, so I’m new to the Corvette world. When we made the deal the guy told me the headlights were really slow coming up and going down, but last I couldn’t get the right side light to go down at all. The left one opens and closes slowly, but it does go down. Where do I start?
#2 it has a few small issues and I am going to need some parts. Where are some good places to buy parts?
Last edited by Doordudimus; Dec 7, 2017 at 05:37 AM.
I just traded my Jeep for a 76 Stingray, so I’m new to the Corvette world. When we made the deal the guy told me the headlights were really slow coming up and going down, but last I couldn’t get the right side light to go down at all. The left one opens and closes slowly, but it does go down. Where do I start?
#2 it has a few small issues and I am going to need some parts. Where are some good places to buy parts?
Welcome. You should search the forum there is a lot of valuable information here. Also, there are specific sections where certain questions are best posted. Your car is a third generation, referred to as C3, and that is a section you should frequent and would be a good place to post your question.
You will be harassed if you do not post a picture of your new car so get some ready.
The most common culprit for headlights that stay up or work very slow would be a “headlight vacuum relay”. It’s a fairly easy job to replace and the part cost around $35 to $50.
Search this forum and you will see plenty of details on how to test and diagnose the entire system and specifically the headlight relay.
There are various reasons the head lights open and close slowly or not at all. There are 2 ways to approach fixing this:
You can make a guess at what the problem is and start buying replacement parts until you finally get to the point you buy the part that actually is causing the trouble. (Maybe you're lucky and you buy that part first, are you?)
OR
You can read over the trouble shooting information that's readily available and using a small vacuum pump with a gauge, like a 'mity-vac', test each component of the headlight system and buy the part you need.
In either case good luck!
The parts...
Are these parts ordinary Chevrolet parts that your local parts store might have or are they 76 Corvette only parts?
If they're Corvette parts you might try:
ZIP Products
Corvette Central
Paragon Corvette Reproductions
Willcox
Regards,
Alan
Welcome. You should search the forum there is a lot of valuable information here. Also, there are specific sections where certain questions are best posted. Your car is a third generation, referred to as C3, and that is a section you should frequent and would be a good place to post your question.
You will be harassed if you do not post a picture of your new car so get some ready.
Enjoy the car and remember to save the wave.
Thanks for the info on my car. The Vette world is new to me, so any information on them will be appreciated and absorbed.
Also start with the free repairs. WD40 the moving parts on headlight doors and start trimming back the ends of the vacuum hoses about a half inch so the stretched ends leak less. Some may split open when you reattach, but if so they were done anyway...
Really good tip for these cars: Go to harbor freight and get a cheap hand vacuum pump. Pretty sure mine was like $15 and it came with a ton of different fittings to fit all sizes of vacuum lines.
Seems like everything on these cars run on vacuum (the headlights, the wipers, the air system, etc...). Slow moving headlights probably indicates a vacuum leak. The 3 main spots where it leaks are: a cracked line, holes in the vacuum canister, or (as mentioned above) the vacuum relay.
Hi D,
If you think you be doing some 'other' work on your new 76 you may want to consider purchasing these 2 sources of information:
The '1976 GM Chassis Service Manual'. This was used at the deale'rs service departments by the techs.
The '1976 GM Assembly Instruction Manual" often referred to as the AIM. This was used in the assembly plant in St.Louis.
While these books don't contain the answer to EVERY question many folks find them helpful when working on their car.
They're available from larger Corvette vendors and on line.
Regards,
Alan
Here are the 2 for 71 cars to give you an idea of what to look for.
Headlights
