Headlight mechanism removal ?

[namba209 (R.I.P.)]

O. K. Folks, I'm kinda stumped and need some expertise. I've got the passenger side headlight assembly totally removed from my 72 GT. But the driver's side is giving me a fit. One bolt is holding the rotating mechanism from coming out. it is the one that attaches the mechanism and the plates on the inside. My problem is the micro-switch harness is either between the bolt and the mechanism or jammed up in side the mechanism. I can see the bolt head with a mirror, but I cannot get a wrench on the bolt, it is up and behind the mechanism at a bad angle. My Huskey 10 mm is too long to get near it and my old Honda 10 mm is too fat to get on the head. The harness is wedged in next to the head and will not move. We're getting desperate here, need some help. If the SO hadn't taken the camera to Phoenix this a.m. I'd have a pic here.

Ron

[nobody]

You have two sets of bolts for the upper mechanism. A pair of 10 mm bolt and nuts and 3 with I believe 6 mm heads in a triange in the center. I always remove the center 3 first, otherwise you spend forever trying to get the nut and bolt out. With the 3 out you can slide the bracket down enough to get to the 10 mm ones. The bolts I mean are around the headlight wire.

[namba209 (R.I.P.)]

All of those bolts are out, the ones I'm talking about is above the two bolts that hold a bracket or brace to the mechanism and they are bolts that go into nutplates on a piece of sheetmetal coming down from behind the mechanism. I found the problem, but not the cure. The clip that holds the micro-switch wires is right in front of the bolt I'm trying to get out. I tried to remove the clip but it broke and is still hiding the bolt head. So right now there is no joy in Mudville, I've got about an hour of sun light left, so I'll keep trying to get the clip out of the way. Micro curved jaw forceps and needle jaw vice grips aren't working. I may try to snake some .032 nichrome wire up and down and see if that will work. More to come.

Well I got the clip out, I screwed a small sheetmetal screw into the clip and got lucky, it pulled right out. Now I've got to get a cheapy 10 mm wrench and modify it to fit up into and behind the mechanism, then hopefully I can get that last bolt out. And find the circlip that holds the push-pull rod to the rotating mechanism. I took it off hoping to get some clearance, but that didn't work either. Tomorrow is another day here inSANe DIEGO. At least the weather is nice.

Ron

[GTJIM]

A good tip when removing the headlight buckets:

Tape the edges of the headlight holes with masking tape so that the inevitable jam-ups while getting the buckets out do not damage the paint work. A couple of layers of masking tape right around the edge of the hole in the body can save a lot of grief.
If the lights will be out for a longer time then remove the tape and replace it before reinstallation as the tape can "freeze" to the paint if left for too long.

[namba209 (R.I.P.)]

A very good point, I've dinged up the paint on my first GT around the buckets when I tried to fix the headlights. The PO had them screwed hard in the up position. Took it all apart and replaced the spring plates that had broken and they worked fine. On this one the car will be repainted so the tape won't be a necessity until the headlights are ready to go back in.

"Some times you feel like a nut, some times you are" I just checked the area again in the bright sunny daylight, and I didn't take out the bottom bolt on the mechanism, the one accessible from the wheel well. DUMB. Oh well, now I've got both buckets empty and I can clean, treat and paint everything for that area.

Ron

[jordan]

If this is the same fastner in that region I have a thin nut on the headlight rotator mechanism (passenger side) that I can't get off, it is about the thickness of a jam-nut and the inner-most nut at the bottom right of the mechanism; but it won't come off and easily stripped completely with a slip of the wrench. Any painless removal ideas?

[jordan]

never mind about that one, I found that it was on a bracket that didnt need to come off.