| Electric Headlight Conversion |
Subject: Electric Headlight Conversion by Trae1976 on 2010/3/12 15:11:04 Last year at the Corvette Expo, we spotted a vendor hawking an electric headlight conversion for C3s. I had considered converting to electric before, but had never found a system I liked, until I saw this one. It was a very clean and simple system, operated by linear actuators. The guy demonstrated it a few times and gave me a brochure, then I found the $1000 price tag. Volzfan and I gave it another good look and walked away. A few months later, that same kit showed up in one of the major Vette suppliers catalog. Come Fall, I decided to add the conversion to my list of winter projects. Since there was no way I was gonna drop that kind of cash for a kit, I started taking measurements and dreaming up concepts. I determined I needed 4 travel actuators, and found a couple from an eBay vendor. $165 later, they arrive at my door. They were clearly larger than those in the aftermarket kit, so a little more than reverse engineering was going to be required. A few weeks later, I had a full concept  Got all the materials and components ordered and started building. Volzfan did the machining and I assembled it all. The actuator pivot bracket was machined from 1 square stock. I then added an 8mm heim joint with shortened threads. I chose heim joints due to the compound angles at the bottom attachment.  The bottom support brackets were machined from ¼ stock, utilizing a 3.5 hole saw. Two ¼ bolts, two 1 spacers, and a heavy duty tube clamp complete each assembly.  The actuator attachment bracket involved the most machining. These were made from 1 x 3 stock.  The actuated linkages were machined from 1 square stock. These were the most critical, since each hole location directly impacts the travel of the headlight bucket, and determining the location of the center hole was the most difficult part of the design. These attached to the car exactly like the existing linkages, so I was able to reuse the pins and bushings.  Each actuator assembly was attached to the bottom support bracket with a shoulder bolt and a 1 spacer, with machined spacers on each side of the heim joint.  We had to machine a couple of pivot pins and bushings to complete assembly of the upper sections.  The bottom brackets were clamped around the vacuum canister and the linkage was attached to the car. Obviously, I had the headlights out (replacing bushings and hardware), but Im sure I could have done this with them in.  Here it is from the bottom.  I reused the other small linkage (the rusty-looking ¼ thick one), which attaches to the headlight bucket. We machined new pivot pins and bushings for these as well.  Here it is in the up position. You can see I added a dust shield to the ram its a clear plastic shipping tube cut to length.  In order to get them to fit flush when retracted, I loosened the clamps enough to rotate the bottom brackets around the canister. When I got them right, I tightened the life out of them. Those suckers are pretty strong.  Here they are in the up position.  From the front, you can see they tuck up in there nicely.   No more vacuum relays, hoses, and actuators.  Im no electrical engineer, so the most challenging part for me was figuring out how to make them operate the way I wanted. After a lot of researching, I determined my best option was a double-pole double-throw relay ran in parallel with the low beams. I found this one made by Tyco, 12VDC operation rated for 10A.  I housed it in a sealed plastic box, fabbed a bracket, and mounted it up under the nose. The headlight circuit energizes the relay coil (very little current draw), and the switch reverses polarity to the actuators. Power to the actuators is supplied by the original alarm circuit, to which I added a 4A fuse. It draws less than 2A while running, but it blew the 3A fuse I had in initially (Im guessing the initial spikes burnt it up). Also, since this circuit is always hot, the car doesnt have to be running (or even on) in order for them to function. Here is my attempt at a schematic.  The wiring isnt much to see, so I dont have any good pics of that, but I can take some if anyone wants. Thats about it. It took quite a bit of time and effort, but I think the results were well worth it. Heres my estimated bill of materials: Linear Actuators (2) - $165 Heim Joints (2) - $14 Tube Clamps (2) - $15 Aluminum Spacers (6) - $11 Fasteners - ~$20 Material Stock - ~$50 DPDT Relay, Harness, & box - ~$15 Wiring, Inline Fuse, & Connectors - ~$25 Various tools, shipping costs, etc - ~$35 TOTAL ~$350 |
