KLR

I noticed a few months ago that my headlight beams seem to bounce/vibrate a bit when I hit a bump and can see them reflected by road signs. I don't remember this always being the case, although perhaps I just never noticed before. Is there some adjustment for the "up" position stop for the headlights or a locking mechanism to hold them steady when they are upright? It really seems that the headlights wobble a bit, independent of the car's body motion when going over expansion joints, etc. I know that this is the bain of all aftermarket slopenose conversion 911s that use Rx7 headlight mechanisms, but I thought that all factory cars with pop up headlights were designed not to do this.

judd944

mine does this as well!

IceShark

Well, they shouldn't.

If you look at the lower frame of the headlight buckets there is a stop bolt that is supposed to get shoved tight against the sheet metal of the forward clip when the headlights are raised.

So did your bolts back out or get lost? Next idea would be someone took the headlight motor out and didn't re-install it correctly. There are little splines on the drive shaft/coupling. If you were off a few the motor may not drive the buckets up far enough. Or linkage may be worn out.

Finally there are contacts inside the motor that tell it where to stop. One of the "races" may be dirty and the motor is stopping too early on the up stroke. This can be what will cause the buckets to not go down all the way, also. You have to take the motor out, remove the rubber case, pull the motor apart and clean the contacts off. Make sure you mark the motor to spline joint so you don't wind up with problem #2 above. Clark's Garage has a picture of these contacts in the motor, I think.

So that is the plan of attack.

BTW, be careful of that motor and linkage/headlight buckets. That motor is a powerful little sucker. Get your fingers caught in the works and it will hurt for sure, might even be able to break them in half.

KLR

Thanks, Dan! That's an awesome response.

Dave

I had that problem for years but only on the right side, about a year ago I was bored between run groups and took it apart (that, and Z-man's mention that my headlight was aimed above his roof the night before). My sealed beam unit wasn't seated correctly in the frame and the two adjusters were set all the way out to try to get the light into alignment, the light was barely attached to the car.

Unlikely, but it could be the cause.

83na944

I had a similar problem. One of the pivots on the outboard side was loose. They are attached with bolts through the inner fender, You access the bolt heads through the fender well, just in front of the tire.

Good Luck.

KLR

Dave wins the prize. I just took the headlight surrounds off and, sure enough, my right side light was slightly loose (it had a little play when I grabed both sides and tugged). It was seated properly and all three retaining screws were tight, but one of the adjusters was a bit too loose. I guess that I'll have to readjust them tonight, but its at least tight enough to hold the light firmly now. Thanks guys! PIA averted.