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I started something that I wish I hadn't done on my 69. My headlight assembly is aligned in the opening, but the leading edge was sitting a little low. I figured out the bolt to turn and have raised the front lip a little. It has been this way for years, but I just started messing with it now. It's so much fun lying on the floor at my age trying to get this working and getting up and down 50 times to get different tools.
Now comes the bigger issue. In the full open position the assembly does not open high enough to get the bezel off without damaging the paint. It is at least an 1/8" below the lip of the nose. I have removed the grill so that I have more room to see what is happening and I have disconnected the vacuum canister and I do not see any way to open the assembly any higher. I looked at two different AIM's (69 and 74) and what they show for the adjustment does not agree with my assembly. I have gone to the Service Manual, but I don't see anything in their routine to get the assembly to open wider. I also found a mistake in that document. It's not very often that this car has an issue that I can't fix. Looking for someone that has worked on these things before.
While I am in there I am cleaning and lubricating anything that moves.
Hello r,
If the door opened 1/8" more would that allow you to get the bezel off?
I believe the door can be adjusted for both open and closed alignments separatley.
Regards.....
Supposedly the door can be opened wider, but I do not see any way to do it. I have already adjusted the closed height. All I had to do was adjust the height of the bolt that the assembly sits on when in the closed position. I do not find any adjustment for the open position. I tried watching a couple of videos online and they were adjusting the closed position incorrectly. I have images supposedly for 68, 69 and 74 showing a difference for 74, but I have looked at my assembly and do not see either one of these setups. When I look at the up and locked position, I do not see any way to increase the height. I will double check tomorrow when it is daylight to see if I missed something, but I don't think I did.
According to the 68/69 AIM's on left image and 74 AIM on right image!
Hello rt,
My understanding, (maybe faulty), is that the clevis on the end of the vacuum activator rod is adjusted to open the door slightly beyond where it should be.
Then the adjustable stop on the arm you've yellowed in is used to stop the door just where it should be.
????
Regards....
I have looked at both headlight assemblies this morning and do not see any stop bracket or either of them. Now that I see what yours look like I will check again, but I have removed both support rods to clean and repaint them and didn't see any bracket near them. The question becomes, if there is no stop bracket attached, what is stopping the assembly from opening further? The driver's side is almost where it needs to be, but the passenger side is noticeably lower that the front edge of the fiberglass.
I have the vacuum actuator disconnected, so that isn't part of the restriction. It should be something simple, but I don't see anything.
PS: Those are great pictures. I wish that my headlight assemblies looked that good. I am not ready to remove the assemblies to make them look that way. Too easy to damage to paint.
Now that I have seen Alan's headlight assemblies, I have reexamined mine. I found the holes where the brackets are supposed to attach assembly, but there is nothing on either headlight assembly. I can't see any threads or markings on the castings, so I don't know if the brackets were removed or were never there. I have had the car 52 years, and I know I never removed them. So, the question remains, why won't they open any wider?
The only quick and easy solution that I can see is to add a washer or two by the front mountings to raise the entire assembly higher on the front. I don't like that solution, but without knowing why it won't open wider I don't see any other "fix".
Hello rt,
I'm always very cautious when dealing with the paint on the edges of the doors and the surround. Makes me very nervous.
Now I'm curious when the 'arm' changed from being straight to the one with the elbow.
And...WHY.
When my car was brand new the headlights really banged when opening.
I took a look and realized the rubber pads were missing from both sides adjusting bolts!!!
Regards.....
C3 Headlight Assembly alignment issue
