headlight removal question

[vintagecorvette]

I am away, so My father is stripping my 1963 roadster for paint. He wants to know if there is an easy way to get all the headlight buckets and motors out. Where should he start. I can not remember if the AIM has s good breakdown.

Any info will be appreciated.

Thanks oWEN

 

[youwish2bme]

Owen, with the front bumpers and hood off it's not to bad... Tell him to open the headlights first just a little to take the tension off the motor.To remove the headlight motor it's held on by two 5/16th bolts it's only necessary to remove the one that connects to the motor. Then remove the clip that holds the motor to the standoff.. Then the motor will pull right off..

To remove the bucket the outboard side is held on by a collar that has an allen set screw in it (the shaft). I think it's a 1/8.. One the inboard side it's held on by the "Y" stop and this has a 7/16 bolt thru it..

Remove all the headlights and then remove the quarter size plastic hole plugs from both sides of the headlights. When you remove these you will be able to rotate the buckets around to get the three 3/8 bolts per side that hold the buckets in.

Make sure to disconnect the headlamp harness from the engine bay harness and the bucket should come right out.. No need to pull the headlamp harness out of the bucket.. Hope this helps if I missed something I'm sure one of our forum brothern will correct me... Dave..

 

[vintagecorvette]

Thanks Dave, I appreciate the info. I will be forwarding the write up to him.


Regards oWEN

 

[IH2LOSE]

I would also suggest taking a photo of how the buckets line up originally, this way when you put them back in you know how well or how poorley they fit when you go to re-assemble them. When the body on my 66 was painted I spent hours trying to re-align them only to find out that the header panel was re-paired improperley and I can never get it better because the gaps were opened up

 

[youwish2bme]

I would also suggest taking a photo of how the buckets line up originally, this way when you put them back in you know how well or how poorley they fit when you go to re-assemble them. When the body on my 66 was painted I spent hours trying to re-align them only to find out that the header panel was re-paired improperley and I can never get it better because the gaps were opened up

GOOD point.. I had my left headlight bucket out a few weeks ago and I too spent some time aligning my bucket.. Only to find out that it wasn't perfect in it the first place..

I don't know if this is common or not.. Maybe some you that have had your buckets out can comment.. The part of the shaft that mounts to the bucket.. At least one of the tangs on each were broken... Most had two broken... Dave..