Hey all,

I am doing an RX-7 FB GSL-SE rebuild. However, the popup headlights on the left side are not flush with the hood/fender trim and it's really bugging me. I am not sure if it's supposed to be that way. Is there any way to fix this issue or potentially rebuild the headlights so that they are flush? Both of them pop up - They are mechanically and electrically intact. The left one defaults to that position after popping them up and down.


Above: Right headlight, looking flush and beautiful against the body


Above: Left headlight, pushed too far into the body. Not quite flush.

 

When you open the hood you can see the headlight motors….. there is a **** on top of the motor that you can twist and adjust them to get them flush….

 

The **** is under a black rubber cap on the top of the motor.

 

Hello,

Just tried adjusting the motor ***** - The lights seem to move to the same place after adjusting or popping headlights up and down. Do they have a sensor I need to replace? Is there something else electrically that I may have to look at?

Thank you for the help.

 

Look at the nylon bushings on the arms. They can deteriorate. You might also need to rekey the very short arm at the motor drive shaft.

 

The round ***** are to mechanically raise and lower the headlight bucket in case of a blown fuse or electronic failure. A worn bushing in an arm can affect the position, but mostly just creates slop in the mechanism. The hard stop is rubber stopper with a threaded shaft that goes through the core support / bulkhead. It has a jam nut and is accessible through the engine bay on each side. Here is a pic of the LH one up in front of the battery. This provides for large adjustments of the at rest / closed position of the bucket.



You can also get some fine adjustments from the headlight lids themselves. They are attached at each corner with small screws (under the plastic trim covers) and come in handy to fine tune each corner height of the lid separately, to match more closely with the hood, front fender and header panels. These screws however, are often corroded and the phillips heads easily strip. A good screwdriver made to metric JIS standards is a good tool to have here.

 

Just tried to turn that screw. This happened:



Is there any way to fix it, or do I have to get a whole new headlight assembly? I'm not sure how the headlight assembly works.

 

Just looked at the FSM.... Feeling especially stupid. Looks like I'll have to take the whole thing apart.

 

Hard way to learn a valuable lesson, when trying to restore a forty year old car, assume it hasn't been loosened, tightened, or adjusted in decades using a penetrating oil such as PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench is a must. If you know ahead of time that you are going to be tackling a project that requires removing screw, nuts, or bolts spray them a day or two prior to starting the project. This will hopefully prevent the situation you find yourself in, good luck on this project of yours.

 

First off, welcome board. Secondly, tell us a little more about this SE, how you acquired it, what your automotive knowledge might be, and lets go from there. These cars are all over 40yrs old at this point in time, and there are some tips and tricks that can save you a lot of headaches if you've never worked on a car from this era. Post back, maybe include some pics, and let's hear your story,

 

It broke when you were just breaking the jam nut loose?

I'd bet we've all been there when a simple task turns into something bigger. Just part of the nature of old cars.

If you disconnect the short arm where it attaches to the headlight bucket, the whole assembly should just flip up and out of the way. Maybe enough to get your hand in there on the stopper bolt. The arm just snaps off, might need a screwdriver to pry with. Might need to remove the black plastic cover around the bucket too.

From here, If you still can't access it, I see two choices, you can unplug and remove the headlight, remove the 4 screws that hold the lid on and then undo the right and left hinges. This will allow the bucket to be removed. Or, (might be the better option) remove the 2 attachment bolts on top and 3rd one down by the adjustment screw and the whole bucket plus hinge should come out. Might need to disconnect the harness for this too.

 

The motor assembly is attached to the inner fender wall by 2 bolts and 1 nut, and to the front cross member by a bolt. with the headlights in the down position, and the battery removed, you should loosen those bolts/nuts. this will allow you to slide the motor assembly forward or aft. In doing so, it will allow you to make the headlight covers flush with the nose piece. You may have to do some enlarging of the holes on the motor assembly to gain some extra adjustment space. This may require you to take the motor assembly out of the car. That is what I had to do to get the headlights flush after a rebuilt of my son's 85 GSL following a front ent accident and rebuild.

 

Sorry about the late reply, work got a bit busy. This was my dad's friend's car, which my dad got for free. There's a thread on my profile that was started by my dad, which I eventually took over.

The car sat for about 20 years, and spent the last decade or so in my dad's garage. Since I just graduated high school and am taking a break from university, I decided I could keep myself busy by fixing it. My dad gave me the go-ahead, since he was thinking about selling it.

My automotive knowledge is limited to 4runners. I did some suspension work with my dad on one, and did some regular maintenance on it before it got totaled.

I'm close to starting the car, just waiting on some parts to be shipped. Thanks all for the interest in my car.

And regarding the headlight, I was able to find the bolt from a parts catalog. I searched the part number, and a Mazda dealer in Alabama had the exact part I needed. Hopefully, I will be able to put the headlight back together from the instructions given in this thread.

 

Thank you. I will be working on the car this weekend and will report back when I remove the headlights!