Headlight Reflectors - Replacement

[yosini]

Hi,

My Cerb's reflectors scraped through the MOT, but wise to change them I though especially with the nights closing in. I've got some new ones from Magini, which look nice and shiny. So, easy job? probably not but if anyone could offer some helpful do's and don'ts that would be great.

Thanks

Joe

[cerdad]

Wheel off, there is a round flap at the top of the arch held on with three self tappers which are probably naff so moles will remove ,i got new screws
The coweling is held on by 4 wing nuts with penny washers ,the bottom ones are a pig ,you need someone with thin arms to get to the bottom two .Remove this then remove the lens and rubber, they are only masticed in but note its postion within the hole as if you get it wrong the cowelling will not sit down when you re install .
Backthrough the hole in the arch you will see three wing nuts, 3,6 and 9 o'clock,hold the wing nut and use a screwdriver on the reflector side to undo , agood release agent on the thread on the wingnut side will help,note if they shear as mine did i got replacements from a nut and bolt shop, a lot cheaper than the advertised kits.
Un plug lights ,remove reflector and reverse the process

Dont loose the gromits and tabs the reflector screws go through .

Let the lens set after putting it back ,if you try toput the cowelings back to early it will move and you have to clean it off and start again as i did !!!!.

[yosini]

Thanks for that - had a go today, couldn't see any way of getting the cowling off as no visible attachments at all - all looked moulded in. However I could get to the wingnuts for the reflector so after removing one easily, and having to hacksaw the other two off (not easy) I now have the reflector out. Hopefully replacement will be a simple reversal, and maybe I won't have to cut the lens out? 90 minutes to remove one side so far though, and that was the less rusty side. Where did you get the replacement long reflector adjustment bolts and wingnuts from?

Cheers

Joe

[cerdad]

I went to a local fixing supplier,nuts and bolts etc, i am in colchester ,you must have one near you, try yellow pages.

[TVdinneR]

yosini said:

Thanks for that - had a go today, couldn't see any way of getting the cowling off as no visible attachments at all - all looked moulded in. However I could get to the wingnuts for the reflector so after removing one easily, and having to hacksaw the other two off (not easy) I now have the reflector out. Hopefully replacement will be a simple reversal, and maybe I won't have to cut the lens out? 90 minutes to remove one side so far though, and that was the less rusty side. Where did you get the replacement long reflector adjustment bolts and wingnuts from?

Cheers

Joe

Hi,

I`m in the same boat as you - reflectors scraped through the mot and now in the process of replacing them.
I too couldn`t see the fixings for the cowling.
Appears they had been off before and bonded back on.
After a good wee while teasing them bit by bit using fingers only I got the first one off with no damage at all - 4 big donut rings of sealer around each hole where the mountings should have been.
The lens and seal were well masticked in but got them out reasonably easily.
2 of the 3 wing nuts/adjusters on the reflectors came undone no problem.
The 3rd was well rusted, but once removed the reflector came out the front.
Are you saying you managed to get the reflector out the back - ie leaving the lens in place ?

Simon

[yosini]

Yes, managed to get them out without removing the cowl or front lens - came out through the rectangular hatch below the circular one. Should make it a lot easier from no onwards, I wasn't looking forward to having to re-mastic the lens back in. However, there was evidence of some previous cutting to the top of the internal bits of cowl, just above the upper wingnut which is maybe why I was able to negotiate it out from the back. I've only done one side so far so hopefully the other side has been modified in the same way.

Cheers

Joe

[TVdinneR]

I`ve only got one side out also - the drivers/offside one.
I too thought about the possibility of taking the reflector out the back but im sure in my case neither of the 2 apertures appear big enough - could be deceiving though..
The rectangular cover never really gave me much more access, other than to allow me to shine a torch in to confirm how the cowling was fixed.
I have my windscreen washer reservoir in behind that rectangular one so there doesn`t appear to be a lot of room to manoeuvre out the reflector, although I suppose I could have tried removing the reservoir.
Will see what happens once I get over to the nearside one.
Hope you get the new ones in without any real problems.

Cheers,
Simon

[Tomej]

Don't forget to realign the beams

Replacing the lense is the easy bit, it's getting the alignment right when using axle stands that's the pain

[yosini]

ah yes, thought that would be easy but I guess you can't get to the adjusters without taking the wheels off. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it though. Second reflector out today, really badly unreflective but came out easier due to me being more brutal with the wing nuts, and again it was possible through the rectangular hatch - although passenger side was more tricky due to hoses being in there too. I Have an HID kit that I've been meaning to fit for some time, so might do that whilst it's all out but crap with electrics so I'll have a search on here. And may be back....

Cheers

Joe

[Tanguero]

The beam adjustment is made from the front not the back (at least it is on mine - usual TVR caveat) Ideally it needs to be done with the cowl off though if you are careful you can wiggle a long fine screwdriver in between the lens and the cowl to reach the adjusters.

[TVdinneR]

Tanguero said:

The beam adjustment is made from the front not the back (at least it is on mine - usual TVR caveat) Ideally it needs to be done with the cowl off though if you are careful you can wiggle a long fine screwdriver in between the lens and the cowl to reach the adjusters.

Hi,
That does appear to be different to my set up.
The only way mine could be adjusted was by the wing nuts on the back of the reflector.
As they have definately been out before then I cannot comment that they have been put back together as they should have but it was impossible to get to the adjuster screws from the front - cowling on or off.
My lenses have a removeable rubber seal round them which fits into the channel on the bodywork, to which they were sealed in.
There is no way the adjusters were even visible never mind accessible.
Heres a few photos taken during the process.

[Tanguero]

Yours has a lot of sealant where mine does not! On mine without the sealant you can get a screwdriver between the seal and the body from the front to access the head of the adjuster that you can see in the bottom picture and the corresponding left right adjuster that is to the right side of the light. Admittedly it is done as much by feel as anything but you can see the end of the screwdriver and adjuster through the lens once you know what you are aiming for.

[TVdinneR]

Yep, I thought that too but having nothing to compare it to I was none the wiser.
The reflector was even sealed in along the top edge (due to the copious amount of sealer used) which I imagine would have hampered its adjustability somewhat.
I will certainly be replacing them a little neater and tidier along with new seals.
I can see that with a lot less sealer you would stand a chance of reaching the adjuster screws through the gaps at each adjuster point, although in my case the cowel was a pretty neat fit around the lens.
Still got the nearside one to remove - see what I find there !

Simon

[LLantrisant]

i´m actually into stage in replacing the glass lenses & the refletors.

the cowl´s nuts have been removed but how you remove the cowls with all this sikaflex bonding still holding them on the body? (and it looks like TVR used a lot of sikaflex in that area on my car)

my car has the original factory paintwork and under no circumstances i want to damage the paint (neither on body , nor on cowls).

anybody ever tried "cutting" the sikaflex by using a fishing-line?

i have done this job already on my former chimaera, but there the cowls came of quite easy, also the car wasnt in councours condition, hence a few more blemishes in the paint wouldnt had been too serious.

Edited by LLantrisant on Sunday 6th December 15:55