Headlight Nightmare!

Today I ventured out to the garge to fix my long standing headlight problem on my car. I've always like the clean look of a flip-up headlight car...when the lights are done. Yet when the functionality of the lights heads south, they are a real eye sore. I had one lamp quit on me a few year ago, and since then I've manually put the lamp up and down. Sometimes, more frequent recently, I'd just leave the damn thing up so I wouldn't have to get out, pop the hood, and manually put the thing up as it got dark. Working afternoons, it was a royal pain in my ass. A few months ago, the lone functioning headlight began acting up. This one however didn't appear to be the motor that went out, as this would acted like the gears were going bad, as it would try to go up, then casually fall back into place.

Anticipating my current vacation, I ordered up a used headlight motor (a new one would have set me back $240!), a rebuild kit for the other lamp, and was ready to tackle the project today. After figuring out I needed to remove the front nose tray, for lack of a better term, the project seemed pretty straight forward. With the new motor in place, I hit the light switch. Still nothing...what the fuck? Now it was time to track down this headlight control module I had heard about. Locating in on the firewall, I pulled it off, took it apart, and found at some point along the way it partially cooked itself! A toasted wire, darkened relay cover, and melted solder pointed to new found issues.

I contacted a local dealer, and was told the new controller was still available, for a hefty price of $282! Hell naw, I called my boy down at Hawk's and he asked I send him pictures and info on my car, he headed out to their F-body salvage yard and picked one off an exact year car. For $75, and an additional $20 for 2nd day air, my new controller was on it's way. In the mean time, I figured I'd install the rebuild kit for both motors, as it essentially tightens up the gear mesh. Seemed easy enough, until I saw that the instructions noted that it is not unusual for the bolt heads to snap off during disassembly. Sure as shit, I think I snapped the heads off 5 outta the 10 bolts between the two.

I made my trip to Sears, to purchase more extractor tools. I know I had previously purchased such tools, but also recall breaking a few, misplacing a few, and not being able to find them last time I tried to hunt them down. So I now have all the tools I need (except maybe a tap/die set, couldn't bring myself to fork out the money), and will try and finish the rebuild tomorrow. With the controller on the way, I will try and finish it up in a few days. With a lot of luck, I'll have two functional flip up headlights. I was hoping to Por-15 the underbody while on vacation as well, but I'm not seeing myself having the time. Some how, I gotta get it done before winter, as the salt will eat it alive if it isn't protected.