Electric Headlight Door Conversion - DIY

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
1

Being into the true essence of DIY car stuff, I’m working on my own flavor of headlight door electric conversion. I know that this has been done before but I have never seen a clear summary of everything in one place and anything even partially complete since 2010 or 2012 that would allow someone to roll-their-own solution. So….

I tried a while back to finalize a design based upon copying the GM torque/current limit sensing but I never was able to finalize this concept. Regardless it is not too DIY friendly as it requires circuit design and fabrication etc. I got close but decided to look at something simpler. If there are any combo sparky and car geeks out there, I can share what my circuit designs.

After reviewing the existing products and some history on this site and others, I am trying the following route. I will share everything here in this thread so that anyone an copy for free.

Initial parts list:

  • Miata/Ford style motors
    • Everybody appears to be using the same motor just slightly different paint or powder-coat and other small details and obviously different brackets. These motors include an internal rotary switch which controls the open/close positions.
    • I bought a kit designed for the Corvette simply because it was the least expensive, had good reviews and appears to have sold a lot.
    • < $100 with shipping. Shop around, the price can vary by 2X or more. Link below.
    • For C3 Corvette 68-82 Electric Headlight Motor Conversion Kit True Plug and Play | eBay
  • PWM controller complete with speed control
    • Lots of folks say that existing solutions are too fast to open/close. PWM = pulse-width-modulation basically turn it on/off at a specific rate to control how fast the spins.
    • 15 A capable
    • ~$15 with shipping. This is for 2X controller in case a fry one.
    • Could be underdash mounted
    • Amazon.com
  • PWM controller, bare circuit w/o speed control
    • Ultimately, I want to connect this up to my slowly ongoing digital interface project.
    • Designed to take speed control from the Raspberry PI computer.
    • ~ $13 for 10X. Bulk price and good again in case of frying them.
    • Amazon.com

So right now under $130

Wish me luck. I keep you posted.

M

image
image1000×1000 156 KB

image
image1500×1477 223 KB

image
image679×542 61.9 KB

1 Like
2

Imho the real key to this system is to build all the brackets, get them mounted and manually open the door and measure the total stroke required to cycle the door at the linkage mounting point. Now take the motor arm and redrill it to slightly less than half of the total stroke….may have to weld up existing hole.
Remove the springs and adjust the lids for correct position when closed by adjusting your heim linkage

When the doors are open , they should not touch the stop in either direction . Your old system was lazy vacuum that you drove into the stops….this is full mechanical that will destroy something if you allow it to hit the stops. Miatia motors mounted with the shaftsaimed to the rear and the override knobs kinda aimed at the radiator cap.

And yes they were fast , but you could reach over and flash someone before they got by you

3

I agree. Overall this is a pretty simple mechanical 4-bar linkage system just IMHO not clearly documented for the DIY person. The details will end up here in CAD for posterity.