# Tip for adjusting saggy hideaway headlight doors



## Heatwave (Nov 30, 2014)

I just figured out a little tip that might help others with saggy hideaway headlight doors that otherwise work well. The tip assumes your vacumn lines and actuators are working well but the doors are slow to close and when the engine is off they sag abit.

I have a 1969 GTO with factory hideaway headlights and the solution below work extremely well and costs next to nothing

Generally sagging hideaway symptoms are a sign that the bushings in the linkages are worn out. Of course you can replace the bushings but there's a fair amount of work to replace them all. An interim solution (or possibly permanent) that works quite well is as follows:

- Remove the center section of both sides of the eggcrate grill. Its abit finicky to get them out but they will come out once you remove the top 2 screws on each side and get the right angles to slip out.
- get a section of 1/2inch clear tubing (Lowes, Home Depot or any hardware store)
- Cut a 2-3 inch section, it doesn't need to be exact
- Take the small section of clear hose and slice it down one side so it can be opened lengthwise
- The bar that attaches the actuator to the headlight door, passes through a support frame with a slot.
- If your bushings are tired, that bar is probably resting on the bottom of the support frame slot
- With the doors open, the tension on the spring is lowered and you can lift the bar slightly without much resistance
- Now take the 2-3inch hose with the slit and slide it under the bar so it wraps around the bar and between the frame slot 
- That's all there is to it.

Now try your doors. They should be better if not perfect. If your bushings are really worn out, you might need to double up the clear hose wrapped around the bar.

You can also try some lubricant spray on the bar with the hose wraps around it. The lubricant will let the doors close more easily and will even make them open and close with alittle snap.

Its an easy fix that can also be easily reversed if you don't like it or down the road you replace the hideaway bushings. Worked perfect for my 1969 GTO Convertible with Hideaway headlights.


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