I know one of you guys wrote the book, I'd love to purchase it!  I think for my spring project I want to eliminate the intermitant winkies and redo the lines.

Depending on what's wrong the difficulty rating can be 10 or 1.  You should only need to get under the car to adjust the headlamp assembly lift mechanism raising limits and locking, springs, cams, adjustment screws, etc.  All the hose work can be done from the top.  The big thing is to understand how it all works and also to understand that a small vacuum leak in one area can produce problems that appear to be a huge problem. 

I agree with Chips58. All the vac lines can be approached from above - I would also replace the filter and check valve at the same time - cheap insurance. I would look underneath at the mechanisms to make sure they aren't part of the probelm - I totally restored mine as the pins and springs were badly oxidized and deteriorated.

kebo had problems with my 75 headlights. if you want a very thorough and easy guide to follow and guides you through the whole prcoess of troubleshooting and finding the problem go to www.corvette-101.com. best of all the info is FREE. i had purchased a copy of a manual that no corvette owner should be without and it didn't really tell you nothing. this info here is very easy to follow and understand. eddie208752007-02-23 17:08:15

Last summer, I replaced everything from the firewall forward related to actuating the headlights on my '81.  The electrical portion worked fine. Using the guide at www.corvette-101.com helped me prove everything was bad except for 1 actuator and 1 vacuum line.  I decided to replace them also just to start with a clean slate.  Golf tees help plug things up during the troubleshooting.  Took me 3 weekends to do the rebuild (rookie! ). 
I should have taken the time to disassemble and clean up the linkages at that time.  The cold weather is making it hard for the drivers side light to open (now takes a minute or so).

Jeff S.

when i did mine, i decided to replace vacuum lines as i figured they were original. did the troubleshooting on my own and couldnt figure it out. each headlight would work separately but not together. all i read said most of the time actuators were bad. replaced both of them and nothing. after reading and following the corvette-101 it traced back to one of the relays. replaced them both anyway. also replace the pins (as luke said they were get pitted and corroded ) and the springs. bearings were ok so i left them alone. lights work perfectly.

Paul, I'll take you up on your offer.  Pizza and beer (cigars if applicable) are on me.  I just want to wait until the spring to get this going.  The system works, the lights go up and down rapidly but sometimes the left side stays up if the car is cold.  The hoses all look orig.  I think I'll do the other items as prescribed. 

From what you just said KeBo, it sounds like a simple adjustment on linkages.  Maybe some bushes.  But that's about it.

[QUOTE=Chips58]From what you just said KeBo, it sounds like a simple adjustment on linkages.  Maybe some bushes.  But that's about it.[/QUOTE]

sounds like chips has been thu this. the people who owned mine previously were no mechanics not even backyard ones. replacing the hoses was planned on even before i got into the problem. as i said the pins were so corroded that even the plastic bushhings were stuck in place. had to take linkage out and knock the pins out with a hammer. putting back in was easy. if you take off the headlight bezel on the inside doors you can see the workings. on my 75 i took off the front grille with the blinker and was able to work thru that opening. if you can put front end up on jack stands and do it this way on your 81, it will be a lot easier to work on than on your back.
eddie208752007-02-25 16:36:00

It's a date Kevin!! PM me when you're ready and we'll set everything up and straighten er out!