Headlight adjusting spring [Archive] - Chevelle Tech

: Headlight adjusting spring


69chevelle69
Oct 20th, 05, 9:01 PM
hello all just tried to move projects having a little frustration with the steering column so i moved to the headlights and am having trouble figuring out where the headlight adjusting springs attach; the springs are small and have a straight end going across the coils on one side and a hook on the other little trouble figuring out what they attach to any one done this recently that can help is appreciated its a 69 by the way thanks in advance

DUKE 69
Oct 20th, 05, 9:29 PM
Do you have an assembly manual? If not, try to get one. It will make your job SO much easier, no matter what you are doing. I can't remember exactly how/what those springs attach to, but hopefully someone will chime in. I THINK they hook into the core support somewhere around the headlight "holes"-probably with the straighter of the two ends of the spring. The more "hooked" end would go into the headlight bucket. Good luck!!

69chevelle69
Oct 20th, 05, 10:29 PM
thanks man i have the haynes manual but yeah not too much help i tried to look at the rad support and find a common hole and the only one there is the little one at thebottom of the hole for the headlight assembly so yeah hopefully someone else has installed them give me a little more info just need to make the the light more secure in the rad support.....

von
Oct 21st, 05, 6:43 AM
Duke is mostly right. The "straighter" end goes into a small hole in the rad support at the bottom left of each larger triangular shaped hole. The hooked end goes into a hole in the stainless outer headlight retaining ring. Tip: when making the final hook into the ring, connect the wiring first so the headlight/bucket assy can't fall onto the floor (and put cushions on the floor anyway, just in case), then use vise-grips to grip the spring while pulling into the ring hole. All this is done before the headlight bezels go on. Also a good idea to tape some paper to the bumper for protection.

69chevelle69
Oct 21st, 05, 9:15 PM
hey guys thanks for the replies do you think i maybe have the wrong springs the parts guy did give me the wrong adjuster screws a while back so i am kinda confused right now because i have probably 3 or 4 coils in the springs and i just dont see how these headlights are going to stay in the rad support i mean the small hole at the bottom of the tear drop shaped hole is where it hooks but havent figured out where the spring attaches on the headlight thinking maybe the spring is too short so i cant hook onto the right spot on the light thanks for your patience

PaulR
Oct 22nd, 05, 7:29 AM
I just did them on my '70 a few weeks ago, so the old memory is a little fuzzy. As I recall there was a small hole in the core support adjacent to the lower part of the hole in the core support the headlight bucket sits in. That's one end. The other end went into the back of the headlight bucket. It seems the provision for the spring on the headlight bucket was pretty obvious. You hook the spring up first by positioning the headlight bucket close enough to the core support to be able to hook the spring up in a relaxed state. Then you position the bucket into the big hole in the core support and get the screws caught, which should stretch the spring. They screw into those plastic push-in gizmos in the core support. Near the head of the screw is grooved. The groove is used to 'capture' the headlight bucket's provisions for the screws. I hope this makes sense/helps. Sometimes just seeing something get done once is worth a thousand words.

68Elkie
Oct 23rd, 05, 9:03 AM
Here's a picture of my '68 - hope it helps.
http://www.ednsu.com/HeadlightSpring.jpg