Hi guys, Wanting to convert my 1968 cat from vacuum controlled headlight doors to electric controlled. Can you buy a conversion kit or do you need to make it up yourself??
I think this would be a very popular kit if someone made it. I know there was a guy on mcn who posted drawings (including dimensions) of brackets he built to get it to work with Ford Probe power window motors. I wonder if I could convince by buddy with the gigantic CNC machine to crank out a batch. I know I would like to make the switch, personally.
I remember reading about a setup called wink, it was MC.net. I also have the article by Bruce Hable (hope that name is spelled right) on TCCN. His article shows you how to do the conversion. I can scan it and make it available here if that is okay with Bill.
Steven
Here is a link to the wink thread at the other site:
http://www.mercurycougar.net/forums/showthread.php?51435-Electric-Headlight-Conversion-Kits-ready-for-production-need-67-68-to-test-fit!&highlight=Wink
It doesn’t show me the diagram just says “connection error”
The WINK thread seems good up until it just ends a year ago without any indication of a completed product being available. What happened there?
I have not yet taken mine apart to start this modification - I’m moving slowly in the cold weather but I still wonder why or if it is or isn’t possible to build the electric motor mounts (especially CNC built) to install exactly like the vacuum motors do on the '67/'68’s. Basically allowing install and removal minus the electrical to be accomplished using the single pin mounting. Anyone know?
I’m wondering about making my own setup. Not using vacuum actuators or electric motors, but instead using electromagnetism. Get the eyelids so they can pivot super easily, then use a pretty weak spring to pull them closed, and an electromagnet to pull and hold them open. Seems like it should be pretty easy. Famous last words, right?
LOL, almost as famous as “here, hold my beer”, or, “hey fellers, watch THIS!”…
If the eyelid pivot is super easy and the spring is supper light, the eyelids would rattle around a lot. A basic solenoid (electromagnet that pulls a rod) would require a constant current supply while the lids were open. The benefit of using an electric motor is electricity is only required to more the head light covers, but not keep them open or closed. Now if you were to use a solenoid with a catch to keep the lids open… 
i’m just wondering about the failsafe point of: when a failure occurs, the lids are supposed to open.
I like this Idea. I found this and put it in my favorites for when I get to this part of the car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM3Owvk1Hjc
TRossen robotics is the place where he got the actuators. I will send a message to him to see if he knows the part numbers.
I will be posting the article that was on TCCN as soon as I can verify that the copyright belongs to the author and not TCCN. If for some reason we can’t post it here, then maybe I can get Steve E to put it back up on TCCN. Stay tuned!
As far as failsafe… My '68 has no failsafe position that I can tell. With the vacuum system connected, they stay wherever I leave them. With the vacuum system disconnected, they stay wherever I leave them. I realize this might indicate my system is busted (even though it does open and close the headlights pretty much like it should) but the very definition of failsafe means that it could never happen like this, with the system failing in a way where it opens and closes as it should, but the eyelids can stay closed with the vacuum system completely disconnected. I dunno, maybe a previous owner did something to break it in just the right way? 
AHunt I totally like your idea! I’m gonna see if I can’t work that out, a momentary switch that engages an electromagnet, and just pulls the door to the open position, but then it has a latching mechanism that is, more or less, the same as the push button in a ballpoint pen. So one momentary pull in one direction ends up toggling between two positions.
As far as the loose spring resulting in a chattery eyelid, if the eyelid is rotating on good ball bearings, it could only chatter in the plane that the rotation happens in-- and if there are rubber stops at both positions, there wouldn’t be any noise or anything. Just the headlight bumping against rubber stops, like it does now, except it would have a little more opportunity to bounce against the stops because of the weaker force holding it against them.
The only place that would even be detectible, I think, is if you had a car with a camera shooting a close-up of the eyelids as the Cougar was driving behind it. I can’t imagine my car being in that situation anytime soon.
Do not think the magnet thing will work. If this was feasible one would probably find an applicable electromagnetic solenoid actuator. I did not find any with the force and travel needed when I searched this out a year or so ago when looking for alternatives. Linear actuators are the way to go if you do not want to use electric motors from a mazda etc.
Don’t need much travel if you use a lever/fulcrum with the pivot point off-center toward the magnet side. Or two gears of different sizes. I actually have a pretty cool idea involving a couple magnets. I dunno, I’ll mess around with it. Probably won’t work. Or… will it?? If nothing else, it will be fun. I love the headlight doors but really don’t like my headlight bells-and-whistles tied into the engine vacuum/performance. Getting away from using vacuum there has been a goal of mine for a while now.
Tmh,
Your comment on the Probe window motors is wrong, It was the headlight door motors that was used in that case. The fail safe with them is, there is a knob at the top of the motor that can be turned to manually open or close the headlights.
Electromagnet motors can be noisy when being engaged and use a lot of power, not sure if you would find one to work on DC current.
Personally I like the Linear Actuators, really no modifications to speak of, no springs, no concerns of headlight shutter with vibrations and bumps. I don’t think it looks good going down the road and hitting a bump and the headlight doors are bouncing.
Oh my bad about mistaking what kind of Probe motors they were. Honestly the only thing I know about Probes is that I’ve never seen one that wasn’t missing at least one hubcap. 
Just curious why don’t you like the headlight / vacuum system tied to the engine? It is a good system when working correctly. The poor bucket casting with the weak zinc type pot metal is the biggest downside I see. This causes the buckets under constant pressure to bend over time. Have you had power loss to the engine?
Steven
Has anyone ever thought of just making a stronger bucket? If this is the main reason for the headlight problem, This would make sense to me. I would think the doors would be fine.
Steven,
With my headlight vac system connected the engine runs noticeably rougher than with it disconnected. Both doors open and close well enough, though the passenger side one has needed a little help closing two times. I’m certain that there is a leak somewhere in the headlight vac system. I already replaced the check valve which was shot. I just picked up a mityvac back in Nov but didn’t get a chance to fully test the system to isolate the problem, had to get my Cougar put down for the winter. I’ll check all the components soon enough, maybe next month. I’m sure there will be at least one leaky component.
My issue is, it makes no sense to me to connect components to manifold vacuum that don’t need to be connected to it. I have a feeling that auto manufacturers had this same realization which is why you don’t see manifold vacuum used to open headlight doors anymore. I think electric motors are pretty clearly a better way to go.
Ive just kept my headlight vac system disconnected and manually opened and closed them for a while now, ever since I found that disconnecting it makes my engine run smoother. I’m sure that if I replaced all the hoses and the actuators it would run fine. I just think if I’m gonna spend that kind of money, quite a bit really, I might as well switch to what I believe to be a superior system for the same cost or less. I have zero interest in concours restoration. I just want performance, that’s all.