So, maybe others with some more electrical experience can chime in.

I am making a fiberglass headlight cover that has a "scoop?" to let colder air flow towards the cone, which sits right behind my headlight.

Looking at the metal for the headlight cover, it is very simply attached. And I was considering a modification where the headlight cover is attached to a hinge of some type in the back, and then a rod / servo on the front. Switched activated, the servo would lift the headlight cover x inches to allow for better flow. The headlight itself would stay down, but the cover would come up. Think this would work?

My main reason for having something like this would be, when it rains, I can flip the switch and have the headlight cover down, so I don't suck water. Flip it up when I want to drive spirited.

I know the circuitry would probably be a little involving, mostly for convenience. Like, if you try and put the headlights up while the servo is extended, it would put servo down before allowing headlights to go up. If this function is removed, people would just have to remember to flip switch down before turning headlights up.

I think an angle which allows for the headlight cover to go "sleepy eye mod" type height, just no headlights, would be good.

Any ideas? This will be a much later project for me, seeing as how the circuitry is still pretty new to me, in terms of controlling servos. I think i could rig up a switch at the desired angle so that when the headlight hits it, it says it's up high enough. But I would like to have a servo instead.

This would also allow for a stockish look while not racing / needing the cold air. I do see needed to flip a switch as a hassle.

 

waste of time/money IMO.

 

Agreed. It seems possible but the gain/effort trade off isn't in your favor.

 

I think it's good that people have the enthusiasm to do things like this. To me it's what makes working on older cars fun.

 

i think this would be a good idea, and like the OP, i would try my self if there was a little guidance behind this. ... were you celebrating today when you came up with this idea? haha

 

I like the originality of the idea, i wanna do something kinda like this but a little differnt if i get my hands on a scanner ill post you some possibly helpful pics. goodluck

small things like this are what makes the cars yours.

 

It would be pretty simple actually.

You would need to change the mounts in the back to hinges somehow. This is going to require welding, so if you have no cheap access to that then forget it.

Either way, you would need to fab up some hinges. Tack them into place and make sure it opens and closes easily.

You may have to dremel the plastic surrounds on the light edges to make sure you have the clearance. Do not remove the plastic cover. It is tacky as hell and looks stupid when people do that.

Now you need a some thin brackets the make a bit of a support truss behind the headlight under the cover, and you will have to do it in a way that it clears the light in the down position.

You will also need to weld some sort of connector for a rod under the cover, similar to the connector on the headlight to the motor.

Mount the servo, connect the rod and it should work.

Will all of this fit behind the headlight in the down position, I do not know.

 

Here is a much better idea though, now that I have fully thought this through, and MUCH more doable.

Go to advance, and order a headlight for a mid 90's gran prix. They are wide but not very tall.

Remove the plastic surrounds and pull out the headlamp. You will need to find a way to mount the smaller headlamp as low as possible in the structure for the stock headlight.

Then with some cheap ABS plastic, sheetmetal or fiberglass, fab up small scoop in place of where the remaining headlight would be.

Dont make it too big or it wont clear when you go to retract the light.

Cut a hole in the rad support panel to let airflow through. Have filter right behind it.

Put plastic surrounds back on the headlight unit. Wire it to where you can control how high that particular light goes.

This way when you are driving you have have that light specifically half way up and have an active scoop.

When you want to have headlights just activate the rest of the switch and you will have mismatched headlights, but it will work.

 

I noticed after i pulled my headlight cover off, the supports / braces take a lot of room. Seems like a good idea, but not sure if I will be doing it real soon yet. Still going to try and figure out other ways.