Electric Headlights Cheap!
#21
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Dec 2008
Location: N.Richland Hills Texas
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I hang around a friends shop that mostly builds tools for buiding sheet metal planes,RV series, BUT a side job he has had for years is building the actuators for Firebirds headlights... He uses motors from Graingers and makes the rest...
#24
Team Owner
You guys know that you tagged onto a 3 year-old thread, don't you?
#26
Team Owner
It's no problem....but thought you might not expect the OP to respond.
Just giving you a 'head's up'....
Just giving you a 'head's up'....
#28
Team Owner
Member Since: Oct 2004
Location: Springfield MO
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St. Jude Donor '07
There are plenty of threads and articles out there about the now-unavailable McSpeed kit. I've got almost everything I need to do it myself, with the exception of the left-hand Firebird motor.
#29
Melting Slicks
Been wanting to can the vacuum headlights for electric for a while now. Being the cheap b*stard that I am, I didn't want to pay big bucks for one og those kits. I know the vacuum actuators have about 4" of travel, and saw 4" linear actuator on ebay for about $150 a pair. Then I ran across a pair of Linak 4" linear actuators for $60 a pair, $75 with shipping, except that they were 24 volt instead of 12 volt. I figured what the heck. I tested them with a 12 volt battery and they moved about an inch every 3 seconds, or about 12 seconds for 4" of travel. I removed my buckets and replaced the vacuum actuators with the new electric ones. I made 2 "L" bracket housings out of steel for each one, and I replaced the original pins with 3/8" bolts. I had to modify the aluminum housing for clearance, bought a double pole, single throw toggle switch, which I mounted under the dash in the headlight overide position. The acuators sit in front of the radiator with no clearance issues, except, I had to modify the hood prop rod, shortening it about an inch, so now the hood does not open quite as far, but is still plenty accessible. They work like a charm, but take about 12 seconds to fully open or close, not bad for under $100. I should be able to sell by vacuum switches and actuators for much more than that on ebay. Then maybe, I'll buy some 12 volt actuators, which should make them open and close twice as fast. I'm sorry I did not take any pictures while the hood was still off, because they're very difficult to see with the hood on.
Thanks!
Adam
#30
Drifting
Did your dad try the $35 bronze gear replacements? Throwing money at the stock nylon gears is silly. There is nothing at all wrong with the motors themselves.
There are plenty of threads and articles out there about the now-unavailable McSpeed kit. I've got almost everything I need to do it myself, with the exception of the left-hand Firebird motor.
There are plenty of threads and articles out there about the now-unavailable McSpeed kit. I've got almost everything I need to do it myself, with the exception of the left-hand Firebird motor.
#31
Drifting
http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/0408vet...t/viewall.html
Going to see if we can make a kit... who would be interested?
Going to see if we can make a kit... who would be interested?
#32
Melting Slicks
Follow this thread towards the end where he uses ford probe motors. That seems to be the easiest way to make them work & simplest to wire.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...c-new-way.html
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...c-new-way.html
#34
The ORIGINAL and bestest
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Toronto Events Coordinator
Follow this thread towards the end where he uses ford probe motors. That seems to be the easiest way to make them work & simplest to wire.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...c-new-way.html
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...c-new-way.html
Much easier than using the Firebird motors that require a seperate controller.