I have a 67 OTS and 'am in the process of fixing a number of issues for winter. When I originally restored the car, I was ignorant to the issue of spacers in the headlamp scoops. Thus, a large gap is visible beneath the glass. It isn’t horrible so I never addressed it.
I’ve heard some anecdotal horror stories on fixing this and am wondering what people think.
Is it all that bad to address after everything is on the car. Or is it a matter of getting in thru the indicator lamps to adjust. Where does one start. Is there a “How To” guide somewhere?
Mark, it is fiddly, but not really that hard. As it’s pretty much the last thing to be attached before the glass covers go on, nothing else has to be removed. It’s just one more job that makes you realize that these cars were close to hand-built.
Do you have the rubber trim strip around the edge of the scoop? That adds about 1/16" to the part and sort of blends it all together. If you want to add spacers I’d be surprised if you could finagle your hand far enough in the turn signal hole to place the bottom one. The upper inboard screw could maybe be reached from the front. The upper outboard one I doubt even a child could manage.
Do your scoop screws go from the outside in or the inside out secured with nuts? The latter is the easiest, especially if you slot the screw end for a small flat blade screwdriver so you can back the screw out once it’s in place. That would also allow you to place spacers onto the screws before you push it back into place. So you’d need to make a guess at how thick they’d need to be.
You do need to have the side light off when assembling the scoop because you need to be able to push up on it to get it over the front catch lip and into place so the screws line up.
Rather than reaching in through the side light opening, I have been able to support the scoop from above with a welding magnet (protected with tape) held with one hand while inserting the screws from rear of diaphragm with the other. Scoop may need some gentle adjustment to radius/spread in order to align all three holes. I haven’t fussed over perfect alignment with bonnet cutout, but screw secured in scoop first with nut installed at rear of diaphragm would likely allow shimming with washers.
Thanks All. Finally was able to get to this over the weekend. Actually turned out to be quite simple. Time consuming, as is everything with these cars, but simple.
It was a matter of easing the three screws that attach to fixed nuts on the flange of the scoop, which gave it some play.
After removing the side marker lamp assembly, I was able to raise the scoop from below to the desired position and insert a spacer (about a 1/4 inch) on/behind the bottom (six o’clock) nut. Once the spacer was in place, I tightened all three screws and the scoop seem to seat perfectly in the headlamp cut out.
I’'ve been staring at that gap for 9 years dreading this day. Who’d a know. it was so simple.