Gt(ish) Headlights project.

What I did, not neccessary what you should do

Not wanting to hack up the back of the headlight bucket, I set about designing a new setup.

Remove all wiring/motors/lifting stuff.

In three parts

((((1))))
Starting with the Gas Springs.
http://www.spdhardware.com/gs2.htm
SPD-GS-5000-20 = 20lbs

NAPA Parts cross ref:
http://www.spdhardware.com/gs2a.htm

You may have to file down some of the top plastic fitting to get the headlight to sit flush with the hood.
(OK its real picky but a little filing gets it perfect.)

I used the 20 lbs so far. It may need higher ratings.
Placement is fat end DOWN so the rod end goes into the headlight housing.
(Yes, this is exactly how the manufacturer does not want the rod mounted as it will shorten its lifespan)


QTY 2 each.
10mm balls m8x1.25 thread.
http://www.spdhardware.com/gs8.htm
BS-1002
This goes into the hold inside the headlight housing where the old lifter Mechanism used to mount.

QTY 4 M8 nuts (two for each end)
QTY 2 6mm nuts for the end threaded side of each gas lifter.


Qty 2 each
http://www.thomasregister.com/olc/SmartCat...om/spdecomm.htm
Drill out one hole and mount it with one screw/nut to the hole in the back cover. (See PIC)
The force of the gas spring will force it against the body.
It should be mounted as shown UNDER the lip for the best fit.





((((2))))
Onto the cable realease
Its a nice unit with lots of adjustments at the headlight ends.
I have not opened the other end up yet but it would be nice to shorten one side.

http://www.spdhardware.com/gs13.htm

Length and mounting in the cabin is your choice/problem.
Mounting behind the headlight is on the drilled out hold that used to hold the motor.
1/2 inch bit?






((((3))))
Release
Whats missing to make this work is a few pieces of metal that will ride on the Gas Spring and latch back where the cable release is.
So,
its one 1/2 inch galvanized coupler
(yes, the water type, and NO dont weld it till you file past the galvanized layer because its toxic)
There are lots of weldable 1/2 threaded couplers out there if you dont want the irrigation look.

Grind the coupler so a ramp is made from the back edge to the forward tip.
Optionally weld on the latch included with the kit.

SEE Diagram


Inside the coupler I found that a certain brown 1/2 riser (UPC 0 46878 37128 6)
(yes, for sprinklers) will just clear the Gas Spring and act like a teflon liner.
I cut off the rest of the riser and sanded the edges clean.

On the threaded tip I placed a nut and cut a lenght of square weldable rod.
Align the rod on the bottom and the ground ramp toward the latch.
CAREFULLY align the rod inline with agas spring jig with a small gap between them, and tack to the nut and the coupler.
DO NOT WELD NEAR THE GAS SPRING!!!
I used a failed Gas Spring as a jig so it would not explode.
(NOTE, do not push gas springs all the way in at any time! It will ruin them

Remove it from the spring jig and screw it onto the spring.
The rod should be on the bottom and the latch slope towared the outside of the car.


Testing still needs to be done to see if it rattles too much when closed.


COSTS
Gas Springs $60
Dual Release $50
Misc Hardware $15
--------------------
$125


I have not checked on the NAPA prices yet.



-Rich Hilgersom

Overall

Back

diag

diag2

top

Mount1

Riser

Open

Closed

Pull mount, This has to be drilled and is the only change to the body.

Very Cool. Nice Work.

Ed

You have to admit, this is pretty friggen cool.

Hey Rich, pretty damn ingenious....

do you have what the weight savings are??

"do you have what the weight savings are?? "

Nope, I guess I could scrounge the parts back from the scrap pile though..


-Rich Hilgersom

Nice to see ya post again!
Way cool setup, but it looks like Andy helped ya by taking the pictures.....



Geoff

Rich,

Very impressive! There is a lot of talent in this club!

how about a picture of the whole crapola, like you stepping 3 feet back ...

Andy

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!!!

I think porsche had an intern design the original system. IMHO, it's very rube goldberg-ish with all of the wiring and levers. Asking for something to go wrong.

This setup looks clean and do-able. No more winky-winky.

Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

-bryan

That is way cool. I'm going to do this!!!!!

smart! smart! smart! smart! smart!
that's a very cool cable release

Thanks for the kind words,

I try to take some better pics when I get the new camera

-Rich Hilgersom

Looks like a good design. I too would like to see an overall pic if you can. Good job!

QUOTE

how about a picture of the whole crapola, like you stepping 3 feet back ...

Andy's giving photography advice...

Nice work Rich.

Let's all pitch in and send a set to Z

Reviving this thread, since it's being discussed again, and I'm in the middle of trying to simplify the wiring in the front trunk.

This method is great, but one gripe lots of people have is having to hand-close the lights later. I wonder instead about devising a setup where you pull the lights UP with the cable against is (fairly light) spring, and release the cable to let them come back down. A lever under the dash with a latch would do the trick, and you could have the lever also hit a switch to turn on the lights when it's pulled back. There are also twist-lock knobs I've seen on some older cars used for hand-throttles.

Alternatively, sticking with the hand-closed lights setup, one could use a pair of small solenoid pins rather than a split cable. Still a good weight savings, and still less complicated. You'd need to add a small momentary pushbutton to activate the solenoids. You could even get away with one bigger solenoid, and have it operate one light directly, and the other via a cable or rod running across the front of the trunk.

The last idea is to rod operate both lights. Have the rod run across the front of the trunk, with levers on the rod that operate the lights. The rod is turned by a third lever on the driver's side that is pushed and pulled by one push/pull control cable, so you can raise and lower the lights from the seat.

QUOTE (lapuwali @ Oct 28 2005, 03:37 PM)

<SNIP> The last idea is to rod operate both lights. Have the rod run across the front of the trunk, with levers on the rod that operate the lights. The rod is turned by a third lever on the driver's side that is pushed and pulled by one push/pull control cable, so you can raise and lower the lights from the seat.

Sounds like Opel GT headlights... I miss my Opel.

Mike D.

On the cable only method.. the "throw" (distance the light must travel from closed to open) is about two and a half inches. I could not find a cable lever setup that would make the distance. I have seen some aircraft setups do this but the cost was prohibitive.

There are gas springs that go up AND down. They are really really pricy though. Most heavy machinery catalogs have um.

The solenoids needed for the setup doubled the price. But you would no longer have to drill out the hole for the cable release so if you changed your mind you could put it back to stock.

The rods will need to be spring loaded somehow to prevent the hand lever from snapping off its base. There is also the issue of "bounce" if you cant lock the rods down.

-Rich Hilgersom

One could shorten the throw of the cable with a simple lever arrangment. The tradeoff is more force is required on the cable to pull the lights up. You could get a nearly infinite range of force v. distance. Whether you could get the pull short enough with a reasonable force required I don't know. I have a couple of simple drawings, but I can't post them from here.

The solenoids I'm thinking of are about $12-15 ea new, and can be scavenged used out of lots of things for far less. The cables aren't all that cheap, and running them would be a bigger problem than running a pair of wires and installing a pushbutton, IMHO. You don't need much force from the solenoids, as all you're using them for is releasing the "spring" to allow the lights to come up. The gas springs are probably the best bet, as they'll be reasonably damped in allowing the lights to rise, and the lights won't go CLUNK against the stops.

I'm thinking the pull cable idea isn't so great, only because I'm shying away from cables entirely. Hand-closing the lights isn't so bad, really. Everything I can think of to make that work would either be complicated, or would eliminate the weight break from getting rid of the motors. Big solenoids, for example, could be used to push the lights open, but they'd weigh nearly as much as the motors. They'd be simpler electrically, though.

How about servo motors from RC stuff? I'm sure there are some hefty servo motors out there. But I really think this idea of the solenoid release is a good one. Simple, no cables, etc. Would be nice to do that for the trunk releases as well.

-Tony

I still like the idea of an air cylinder.....I have a couple of these just laying around in different throws....aluminum and stainless....an accumilator (from a CIS equipped car???) could be used to "store" vac???