Does anyone have the specs to properly aim the headlights for my '86? Specifically, how far away from a flat wall to begin with and how far off the ground the light spots should be at? If anyone could enlighten me, I'd sure appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

 

i'd like this answer as well since i updated to silver stars.....

 

Twenty-five feet from the surface of the lamp to the vertical surface.

The floor must be level, and if you are meticulous and you can't find a true level surface, you can level the car. The bottom of the wall should be at the same level as the surface the car is sitting on, for measuring accuracy.

The book suggests finding your wall, measuring back 25 feet, and taping a line on the ground, then get a buddy to watch you line up and square up your car with the line.

The book says to use tape to place centerline markers on the front glass and back glass to provide a front and rear 'sight' that you line up with a vertical line on your wall. Line up your 'sights' with the line on the wall, making sure you're square to the wall and on the 25' line (Whew, this will take time for a perfectionist!)

Measure the height from the ground to the center of the lamp lens.

Measure the distance between centers of the lamp lenses.

Go back to your wall and tape a line on the wall horizontally at the centerline height of the lenses. Tape two more lines vertically left and right of your wall centerline and across your horizontal line equidistant left and right, so that the distance between the two new vertical lines is the same as the distance between your lens centers.

You now have a center line and a left and right 'crosshair' on the wall.

Turn on your LOW beams.

Adjust the lamp until the left edge of the high-intensity zone is aligned +/- 4 inches with the vertical line of the crosshair. Adjust the lamp until the top edge of the high intensity zone is aligned +/- 4 inches with the horizontal line of the crosshair

Do this for both lamps.

Note that this aims BOTH headlamps to the right of centerline, towards the shoulder of the road. Apparently this is on purpose, and is done to keep your lights out and away from oncoming traffic.

So, on each crosshair, the brightest spot of light should be in the lower right quadrant of the crosshair at 25 feet.

 

Wow, talk about overly complicated, lol. I just parked the car about 25 feet away from a wall and adjusted them so the were even. Then I back the car up until the lights are hitting the bottom of the wall and see if that distance is far enough out to light the road for a good ways. Our cars are so low, that they would have to be seriously mis-aligned to blind on-coming traffic.

Good luck.

J

 

What I put up is straight from the service manual, sans the dealership's 'aiming screen' which has movable strips instead of tape.

It is a procedure for the perfectionist. Aren't we all perfectionists? :)

 

Oh I understood where the info was coming from, I just think it's a little much, at least for me :D That is what happens when engineers are allowed to write things :lol:

 

That is exactly why I needed to make sure my alignment is good! :thumbs: Extra thanks to Matt Black and JCAIRE2 for the inputs! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: