1980 SLC Euro Headlights, Vacuum System??

[Leewolf]

My 1980 450 SLC 5.0 (Euro) has a headlight system that appears to have some kind of vacuum system associated with it. The hose goes nowhere and there does not seem to be any kind of a control or adjustment on the dashboard.
My lights are set way to high, they gaze at the stars, and I need to adjust them down to street level. It looks as though I will need to remove the entire light assembly and hand adjust the little vacuum motor that I believe moves a reflector in front of the bulb.
Does anyone have any experience with a system like this and might give me some hints as to what and how to make such an adjustment. The lights work fine in running, normal and bright mode, they just dont point down the road correctly.
Thanks, Lee

[el Miguel]

You will probably have to adjust the headlights manually. My Euro has the adjustment knob but it is for when you are towing or the rear end is lowered by weight. Line up your car on a flat surface and aim the lights to a referenced point about 25 feet away. Adjust accordingly.

[kip Foss]

I have a 1977 450 slc that does not have any sort of vacuum hoses going to the headlights but yours may have a different system.

All this is done at night. I adjusted my lights by centering the car 90 deg. to a wall about 30 ft. back. Measure the height of the center of your head lights. Mark that height on the wall. Measure the distance that each light is out from the center line of the car. Mark that distance on the wall. Where these two lines cross is where the center of your high beam light ought to be.

Turn on your lights to high beam. Block out the two low/high beam lights. I think they are the two towards the center line of the car. See where the center of the beam hits the wall in relation to where the cross mark is. Adjust the 2 Phillips head screws (one on the side and one on the top of the light bulb) until the beam aligns with the marks on the wall.

Next, block out the two high beam lights and adjust the low/high bulbs the same way. Be sure that the beam center you are working with is the high bean center and not the low beam one.

Dim the lights and see if the low beams appear below the high beam marks on the wall. Test drive the car and see if the low beams appear in the right place, both left and right and up and down. Get a friend to drive towards you and see if your high and low beams seem to be correct.

[RickM]

My guess is that it is some type of drainage/vent tube and not a vacuum connection.

[Leewolf]

Miguel, Did you notice any way to adjust these manually without removing the entire headlight assembly from the car? ie was there an access plate or something similar that allowed entry to the inside of the light. Thanks Lee

[Leewolf]

Thanks for your reply. There is a small ratcheted vacume driven "motor" in the headlight assembly. Similar is structure to the vacume driven motors to vent openings is some MBs. These in the headlights on this car are not attached to any sytem and the headlights are way out of adjustment. My dilema was now how do i best approach this adjustment. Thanks Lee

[afmcorp]

[QUOTE=el Miguel]You will probably have to adjust the headlights manually. My Euro has the adjustment knob but it is for when you are towing or the rear end is lowered by weight. Line up your car on a flat surface and aim the lights to a referenced point about 25 feet away. Adjust accordingly.[/QUOTE


el miguel has it right. you have the euro adjustable wheel. have your headlights adjusted as you would have the car sitting level. the adj wheel is used if you have loaded the rear end and now the lights are misaligned as aiming high. you then lower the lights by using the wheel.

i have a mark on my door to my shop then i roll back about 30 feet and adjust to that mark.