Anonymous

a little confused about headlight adjustment

The all purpose forum for any TR7/8 related topics.
Post Reply
cozyheatdave
Rust Hunter
Posts: 192
Joined: 17 Jul 2009 12:24
Location: USA
Contact:

a little confused about headlight adjustment

Postby cozyheatdave » 26 Dec 2011 17:14

I have the headlight assemblies on the bench. I'm reading the book about primary and secondary adjustments. everything seems to be right. But, as I rotate the actuator knob to raise the "light alloy member" it comes to a hard stop against the "metal up-stop". I have to manually release the up-stop to continue rotating the actuator.

Does the electrical motor reverse directions to retract? or is there suppose to be something in place to lift the up-stop?

Dave

**************
I couldn't repair my brakes, so I made my horn louder.
[img=left]http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac78/cozyheatdave/TR7%20Back%20Home/th_Picture1.png?t=1300397027[/img=left]

FI Spyder
TRemendous
Posts: 8917
Joined: 03 Jul 2006 19:54
Location: Canada

Postby FI Spyder » 26 Dec 2011 18:02

First you loosen the two lock nuts on the turnbuckle and turn it to shorten it. Then with the turn knob raise the light to top dead center. Then hand turn the turnbuckle to lengthen it until contact with the up stop is made. Then continue to lengthen it with wrench another 4 1/2 flats of the turn buckle. Lock that position in by tightening the two lock nuts of the turnbuckle (make sure it doesn't turn when locking it into position). This will force the light tight against the up stop so the light assembly won't wobble when driving down the road.

The secondary adjustment is the down stop. Loosen the down stop lock nut and turn the stop in out of the way. With actuating knob turn the mechanism to lowest point (down dead center). Turn the down stop by hand until it contacts the assembly. Turn another 1 1/4 turns out and tighten the lock nut. This assures the assembly is forced into the rubber stop keeping it snug.

The motor only turns one way and the actuating knob should only be turned one way (the same way). Of course disconnect the battery cable before doing any adjustments.

I happened to do this on the car as one headlight wasn't contacting the up stop so I could see the light wiggle as I was driving down the road. I adjusted both headlights because if one was out you never know where the other one was.


- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT
Image

cozyheatdave
Rust Hunter
Posts: 192
Joined: 17 Jul 2009 12:24
Location: USA
Contact:

Postby cozyheatdave » 26 Dec 2011 18:05

Okay... I got that much. But what I don't understand is how the system retracts when that up-stop is in place.

It goes up, the up-stop snaps into place.... then, when it's time to come back down it can't because the up-stop won't let it.

I must be doing something wrong.

Thanks for the input.

**************
I couldn't repair my brakes, so I made my horn louder.
[img=left]http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac78/cozyheatdave/TR7%20Back%20Home/th_Picture1.png?t=1300397027[/img=left]

Beans
TRemendous
Posts: 7795
Joined: 15 Mar 2006 19:29
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Postby Beans » 26 Dec 2011 18:05

If you are referring to these, better to get rid of them ...

Image

They are there to keep the headlamp up in case both the spring and the lever fail.
Strangely enough they are only used on US spec cars and have a tendency not to work .
And I have two US spec cars and on both one of the alloy platforms was damaged as a result of this.

<center>Image
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

cozyheatdave
Rust Hunter
Posts: 192
Joined: 17 Jul 2009 12:24
Location: USA
Contact:

Postby cozyheatdave » 26 Dec 2011 18:17

That's exactly what I'm talking about.... and as you said, I have on spare here with a damaged alloy from that up-stop.

So, I think I'll do as you suggest... but I'm still curious how this system works. That silly bracket stops the assembly from retracting. Obviously the US spec cars must work somewhat.

Consider my brackets gone...

**************
I couldn't repair my brakes, so I made my horn louder.
[img=left]http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac78/cozyheatdave/TR7%20Back%20Home/th_Picture1.png?t=1300397027[/img=left]

FI Spyder
TRemendous
Posts: 8917
Joined: 03 Jul 2006 19:54
Location: Canada

Postby FI Spyder » 26 Dec 2011 18:18

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by cozyheatdave</i>

Okay... I got that much. But what I don't understand is how the system retracts when that up-stop is in place.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

When you switch off the lights the motor continues to turn and the headlights come down. Think of a crankshaft as the motor and the piston as the head light assembly. As the crankshaft turns the piston goes up, reaches top dead center then as the crankshaft continues to turn the piston comes down until it reaches bottom dead center. Same principle. I've not had mine out yet (adjusted in car) so not sure about Beans' pictures and how that comes into play.



- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT
Image

cozyheatdave
Rust Hunter
Posts: 192
Joined: 17 Jul 2009 12:24
Location: USA
Contact:

Postby cozyheatdave » 26 Dec 2011 18:25

Maybe I have the wrong terms. The brackets in Bean's pictures are what I call the up-stop.

If I pull the up-stop away, I can rotate all the way up and down with no resistance. Works perfectly. The example of a crankshaft is exactly right.

But, with those brackets set in place, the assembly goes up and locks in place. Retracting or lowing the assembly is impossible without manually moving the bracket.



**************
I couldn't repair my brakes, so I made my horn louder.
[img=left]http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac78/cozyheatdave/TR7%20Back%20Home/th_Picture1.png?t=1300397027[/img=left]

cozyheatdave
Rust Hunter
Posts: 192
Joined: 17 Jul 2009 12:24
Location: USA
Contact:

Postby cozyheatdave » 26 Dec 2011 19:44

Okay... probably ignorance on my part. I think I have a misunderstanding of terms.

The picture below shows the spring-loaded bracket that Beans says to remove. Is this the "up-stop"?
Image

Or, this little part of the main assembly that bend over; is this the "up-stop"?
Image

There seems to be no way to use this spring-loaded bracket without it stopping the movement.... Am I just crazy?



**************
I couldn't repair my brakes, so I made my horn louder.
[img=left]http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac78/cozyheatdave/TR7%20Back%20Home/th_Picture1.png?t=1300397027[/img=left]

cozyheatdave
Rust Hunter
Posts: 192
Joined: 17 Jul 2009 12:24
Location: USA
Contact:

Postby cozyheatdave » 29 Dec 2011 13:46

Did I confuse my question?

The pictures above show the spring bracket and another picture shows the folded bracket.... which is the up-stop?

Any idea how this works?

**************
I couldn't repair my brakes, so I made my horn louder.
[img=left]http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff504/tikvahmarketing/Forum_pic.jpg?t=1324940124[/img=left]

Reddragon
Rust Hunter
Posts: 172
Joined: 04 May 2008 17:51
Location: USA
Contact:

Postby Reddragon » 30 Dec 2011 15:35

The folded bracket is the up stop. Should have a plastic button that the folded tab rests on.

Dale
1974 TR6
1977 TR7 FHC

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 327 guests