I have removed my headlight motors and I'm looking for ideas on how to lift and lower them manually.

Has anyone done this?

 

with or without popping the hood every time??

 

Either way is fine. But I'd rather not use zip ties or tape

 

I dont know for sure about it on the rx7 but i know my brother in law had a ford probe and there was a hand crank under the hood to manual crank them open just in case the motor burned out. I dont have my rx7 yet but it might be true for them as well.

 

Did you take the motors out? because if they are still there you can just pop the cap off and twist the *** by hand. It's how most people get the sleepy eyes look. If the motors are out, you could use a hand lever that locks in with pins.

 

Yes, the motors are removed.

I was hoping for a pictures of how someone fabbed up this "lever" you describe

 

i removed the ball the linkage sits on and installed it on the inner fender near where the headlight motor used to sit.

 

I just made a working model of one in K'NEX if you want pictures of that.

 

680RWHP12A, thanks!

jdjl1987, sure!

 

The base to the arm can rotate as can the slider to the light. You can replace the arm and pins with a little hydraulic cylinder form a robot parts online store or something, run a line to inside the dash so you push down on another piston and they pop up.

 

Billy from RE-SPEED had his car set up without the motors just manual up and down maybe you can find someone who took pics of it at deals gap last year or the for sale ad for the car

 

Or you could just replace what's broken in the stock system. A visit to the junk yard or parts forum will do it.

But that reminds me of a car I once wish I had:

 

I think its for a weight reduction. am I right? So junkyard parts a no go.

If you don't mind getting out and doing it just mount something that you can pop the arm onto when you need them up. Or just leave them up. Looking at your build awhile back make me think your not to hard up for cash, maybe get a flush mount setup. Have you seen Norwegian rotarys build. with the cf widebody and fc bumper on the fb. He has a slick looking flush-mount. I'm looking to rid myself of the extra weight also.

 

I wonder if you could rig it up to operate by cable from within the car. A couple of long choke cables or something?

 

seriously... weight reduction?!!! What a pain in the *** to have to get to get out of the car every time you need the lights up - I have a stock system. If its the sleepy eye look your going for you can just turn them up with the ****.

Weight reduction?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You might want to make sure all the coinage is our of your pockets when you drive the car - Also make sure that you don't put more than 2 gallons of fuel because its 5 pounds for every gallon of fuel! Sorry - ill stop!! Its just funny when people are concerned about a 5 pound part!

 

With only 100 hp, weight reduction is all I've got

 

PM bwaits, he had a setup in his blue/white widebody that did this (he sold it recently).

Not sure if he sells it thru RE-SPEED or not. There some pictures somewhere that shows how it worked.

It was very simple and reliable to operate but you had to open the hood.

 

The wide body was setup with manual headlights. I used a few bits from McMaster Carr. Part numeber 6058K34. You need 2 per light with a threaded rod between them. The ball and socket are 1/2" so I used a 14MM ball end mill to make the socket side fit the stock ball on the headlight side. Used one of the supplied 1/2" ***** on the inner fender to mount the arm when the light was closed and another for when it is open.




A pair of 5 pound parts that hang past front axle centerline, and high up as well.

A bunch of 5 pound parts can add up quick Every pound matters.

-billy

 

I was thinking the same thing, with a lever to raise them. You would want them to lock in the up position , and have release like the park brake button to lower.

 

Thinking about this a bit more.... If you added a spring into the equation, you would only need a cable to raise them (or lower) and then let the spring draw them down when released (or raise them). That would get you down to one cable per light...

 

Toss a parking break lever in backwards somewhere and you have your control system done in a jiffy.

 

Better yet, ditch the cable idea and use a rear hatch release mechanism to control a spring.

 

dont they weigh a little more than 5 pounds also? IDK never removed them. I need to because of gap is all wrong, somthing that bothers me.

 

i think the motor would only weigh 5 pounds or so.. each. but the rest may weigh more

 

I made something similar to what billy has just more complex. Doesnt mean it was better it was just different. I had a springloaded arm that slide forward and backward in the chassis. It slid in an aluminium plate that was mounted to the holes where the motor was mounted stock and had a spring pulling the arm rearward towards the back of the car. And a short handle to pull the assembly up from under the hood. The plate had a groove in it so when you pull forward on the sliding portion the spring fights you. If you slid it all the way forward if would drop down in the notch and the headlight would be in the raised position. when you wanted to lower them you would lift the sliding portion up a bit and let it slide towards the back again. Even in the closed position the spring had enough tension to keep the headlights from flopping up and down. It was OK and didn't weight much but the real weight was the headlight assembly its self so I ditched it and put the factory motors back in. I also did not like having to pull over and raise them on the side of the road because it was getting dark. I drove my FB all the time. I like the idea of flushmounts better as far as weight goes. But I like the pop ups too. I'm not sure what I'm going to go with.