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(‘68 Convertible)
Still picking my way through my list of to-do’s and have set my sights on the Headlamp actuators, looking to recondition them.
Just crawled under the nose to inspect the actuator boots to judge if they had covered that when they “completely restored” my car and shocker, they are torn looking original to the car. I half expected that so I’m going to order the rebuild kit but I’m seeing broken springs. It looks the housing springs ??? And all 4 of them for both sides are broken. The remains of 3 of them still hand in place so at least there was that to tip me off about what’s wrong and where they go otherwise I might not have picked up on it. The headlamps do work without them. These are the housing springs right? The AIM exploded view is a little confusing. I’m going to look to see if there is an extensive rebuild kit available.
Remember to spray/presoak all nuts/bolts for several days before trying to remove the assemblies...to avoid breaking the heads off the bolts
I’ve restored other cars, trucks and antique tractors so I’m quite familiar with rusted and scary ancient bolts.
My go-to for the really nightmare looking bolts is Kroil . The bolts on these don’t look too bad though.
Half of that top flight kit contains what I’ve already replaced, headlight adjusters and associated springs. The other half is exactly what I’ve got in my “cart” in my Zip Corvette account.
Im kinda glad this car is manual everything and as such pretty basic because I’m am rapidly running out of things to repair I’ll still have the vacuum lines to swap out and the wipers to get working this winter but there is light at the end of the tunnel now.
Appreciate the confirmation on what I’ll need
I agree with you Lt. Mike as a person who has worked on Old American, English, Italian and Japanese motorcycles, Boats both old and new, antique Outboard motors, Antique Airplanes, and of course English, German and French as well as American Cars and many other strange things that KROIL works great. My all time favorite tip is to heat the parts up with a Hot Air Gun and then soak them with KROIL and let them sit and cool down. Doing this two or three cycles before trying to remove the fastener in question. Kroil is one item that I keep several bottles/cans of as I use it often, the hot air gun just makes it work even better as the heat helps draw the oil into the tiny spaces. On this Forum there are a bunch of people that mix ATF and something to make their own formula of rust remover and on a test they actually showed it working better than the Kroil, I still use Kroil as it is a known entity and it has always worked for me.
When you get ready to replace the Vacuum hoses be sure to measure Twice and cut once. I had mine done at a local Corvette mechanic and afterwards the hoses would keep vacuum for months, literally. 20+ years later my headlights still "Pop" out and the windshield wipers cover jumps to attention, I think they applied a silicone grease on the connectors to ensure a great seal of the vacuum system. I have been fortunate that after 32 years of ownership that my headlights still work perfectly and operate properly.
The 1968's vacuum system is moderately complicated compared to other Corvettes. The parts for my rebuild were from a "Dr. Rebuild" who also sold me a nice 18" by 24" representation showing which color striped hose goes to which part. Having that diagram makes following up of vacuum lines much easier. New vacuum hoses look nice but I have been applying silicone oil to the outside of the hoses and they look great considering their age. The local shop I use is called Tony's Corvettes and they are in Gaithersburg, Maryland. They are so good that they are authorized by GM to do new Corvette Warranty Work. The shop has some of the most knowledgeable people regarding Corvettes I have ever had the privilege to know. They use the Hose kits from Dr. Rebuild because of their awesome quality so that was good enough for my Corvette. Tony and his folks are the ones that installed my kit. The last thing they did for me was swap out a spring in the Melling Oil pump I used during a rebuild. They re-sealed the oil pan gasket and neither has leaked a drop in over 20 years since then.
Keep on loving your 1968 Corvette and it will take care of you. I love my 1968 C3!
The vacuum hoses will wait for the winter lay up to get done and I’ll pay up for a good kit.
Had the car to a cruise event at a local diner and it was well received. Other C3 Vettes there and 2 very nice C1’s but mine got a lot of attention. There’s always people that ask if I want to sell it but most that ask expect a number around $20 to be reasonable not knowing what these go for and they gasp when I say I paid $45k for it. Others say I stole it for that.
Last night though there was one persistent fellow who’s a well known collector and after asking a couple times if I would sell it made an offer in the low $60k range ! He’s one of those guys who’ll buy a car, hold it for a few years and flip it. Does well on that.
told him thanks but I wasn’t wanting to sell right now. Made me feel good that my efforts made that much of a difference in the car.
‘68 Headlamp issue
I half expected that so I’m going to order the rebuild kit but I’m seeing broken springs. It looks the housing springs ??? And all 4 of them for both sides are broken. The remains of 3 of them still hand in place so at least there was that to tip me off about what’s wrong and where they go otherwise I might not have picked up on it. The headlamps do work without them. These are the housing springs right? The AIM exploded view is a little confusing. I’m going to look to see if there is an extensive rebuild kit available.
I’ll still have the vacuum lines to swap out and the wipers to get working this winter but there is light at the end of the tunnel now.
