Headlight pod adjustment

[p6rob]

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right place but here goes:

Since getting the Excel back on the road I've been driving it mostly in the dark. What I'm finding is the headlamp pods wobble a bit.
I've got them adjusted so that, when shut, they are flush with the nose cone and follow the line of the bonnet. However this means when raised, the headlight pod buffer is a good 1/2 inch or more away from the body. If I adjust the spring tension to make them touch, the headligths no longer wobble but also don't shut nicely, or line up with the panels. What's the trick to setting them right?

Thanks in advance

Rob

[amarshall]

What year is your car ? There are different ways depending on which motor & pod combination you have.

[p6rob]

Hi,
It's an 84. The motor has a three pin rectangular plug and there's a rose jointed rod with a spring if that helps identify it.

Rob

[tonypoll]

You may also want to check the bobbins, where the hinge/screw goes into the body.
I found mine were a bit loose, causing the the lights to wobble.
There's a thread elsewhere describing how to fix these. The key thing is to only replace one countersunk rivet at a time, else the backing plate will fall off and you can't easily get it back on.

[Jason.goad]

Hello. The stopper at the front of the pod is adjustable so that rests against the body which keeps it steady when up.
The best way to adjust the pods is via the threaded link rod, not the nut on top of the spring as they can be a pain to set correctly and usually choose where they fancy resting.