Headlights!!!

[OmahaOpel]

I just recently purchased a 1971 opel gt that has been sitting for a long while and am in the process of getting it back on the road. ( I know a LONG process.) The drivers side headlight was not working and I noticed that when I went to replace it, the wiring was trashed! I repalced all of the old, rotted wiring, but now I can't get them to work. Does anybody out there know of a way to totally bypass the microswitches and relays and have the headlights turn on with a switch from the interior?

[namba209]

The headlight relay also powers the running lights and the instrument panel lights, there is a way to bypass the microswitches in the headlight buckets but it will take a major rewiring effort to do it and take out the relays as well. Best suggestion is to get a schematic, preferably one from DESTEC, that is easy to read and understand. They were made by J.J. Wheatley who frequents this site and available on e-bay from time to time. Without a schematic, any electrical changes or mods could be dangerous. JMTCW.

[opelgtmaster3]

i got mine to work by a swicth with the stock relay, i cut the wires that go in the fuse box(i didnt cut the power). i ran new wires from the relay and wored the, to a swicth, then i splized the power wire and ran the power wire to the swicth. works good

[greensmurf20]

my headlights worked well until me and my father did the body work this winter. the headlights just woudlnt work anymore, after a few hours of tracing wirings with a testlight and diagram, came to the conclusion the microswitch was sticky. i wired a temporary switch for the headlights as i thought after they'd worked a little bit that they'd work on their own eventually, which did happen. the yellow and black wire under the dash in the fuse block powers the headlights, or atleast on my car (manufactured 9-70, but titled as 71). i had a special connector that allows you to plug a wire into the side of another wire. i ran a wire from a hot source, to the switch, from the switch to that yellow and black wire to "force" power through the microswitches and headlights. this allowed them to work, and you couuld shut the switch off and headlights would stay lit, but only until you rolled them back over to the shut position. started working as intended after a couple weeks, maybe this is your problem too........?

[OmahaOpel]

IT seems that I had a stuck microswitch. After opening and closing then a few times, they came on! Thanks for everybodys responses. This is my first post on this site and it seems that this is just the site I was looking for. I have yet to find anybody in Omaha that has an Opel GT to get advice from although I have found a lot of people that has had them in the past. I'm starting to wonder if there are any left in this town! Thanks again.