[Bricklin] Headlights

[isensee at aol.com]

 No, the actuator applies force in both directions. In the absence of vacuum,
however, pressure from the spring is often sufficient to raise a headlight.
That's why you sometimes see one or both pop up after a Bricklin has been
sitting for a while. Terry said, if this is a problem, you can attach a strong
rubber band to the headlight mechanism to hold it closed. When you go to raise
the headlights, the actuator will have no problem overcoming the force of the
rubber band.

Here is a headlight troubleshooting article for Corvettes that is applicable
to Bricklins as well.
http://www.corvette-101.com/vacuum.htm




 Scott



-----Original Message-----
From: D Walker <treefrogno9 at webtv.net>
To: isensee at aol.com; bricklin at autox.team.net
Sent: Thu, Jun 2, 2011 4:43 am
Subject: Re: [Bricklin] Headlights


I thought that equal atmospheric pressure was used to open the lights. And
negative atmospheric pressure was used to close them.


-----Original Message-----
From: isensee at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 5:00 PM
To: bricklin at autox.team.net
Subject: [Bricklin] Headlights

 I talked to Terry Tanner about some problems I am having with my headlights
and he had some observations I thought I should pass along. He said that
Bricklin adopted the Corvette pneumatic headlight system assuming that GM
would have done a good job engineering it, but it turned out to be a poor
design. The actuators exert as much as 400 pounds of force. Only about 14
pounds are needed to open the headlights so all that extra pressure just
serves to bend the headlight covers and be hard on everything else. There are
lots of points in the system where leaks can occur and they often aren't easy
to track down. He recommends testing each component of the system one at a
time. A hand operated vacuum pump is helpful to create vacuum without having
to run the car while troubleshooting. He also recommend using a vacuum gauge
to see if there is a drop in pressure at any point. A vacuum leak will not
only make the headlights misbehave, but can also cause the engine to run
poorly.

Scott
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