Glass headlights leveling motors install

[Mooneggs]

There are 2 options to installing the leveling motors if your glass headlamps do not have them - scroll down for option 2 in the 3rd post in this thread

OPTION 1:

Last year I was able to acquire 2 sets of RHD glass headlamps from the UK. One set has a chrome finish and the other set has the smooth/gray finish inside. About 2 months ago my friend Steve located a set of headlight leveling motors for a LHD mx-3... I bought them and they arrived in perfect condition.

So the problem is that RHD headlamps do not have the manual electronic leveling option. After analyzing the lights and I noticed that the only difference was a small little white block that holds the adjustment screw in place to control the actual movement. This block is not glued in place... so after much debate of whether to heat up the lamps and remove the glass lenses I opted for the backdoor option... (the glass lense removal process is below in post 3)

since I was only trying to swap the little block why not just make a small surgical incision instead of possibly damaging the lenses/housing by heating them up... made sense to me! So onward with the project...

Here are the motors and the how big they are compared to the regular adjusters:




This is the back of the housing with the bottom adjustment screw taken out



here is the adjustment screw with the little white block screwed on...


Here is the motor's adjustment screw - it will not fit into the opening and I don't want to modify it:





Here is the little white block i need to remove...


the problem is that the inner housing is still connected by the ball in socket type metal attachment so I can't just reach in and take out the little white block:


So I make a small incision to wear I can just grab the little white block with some pliers (thank goodness for my dremel!)




Here is the white block differences: the UK headlamps have a screw in type of block (in the pic on the left) while the motors use a ball in socket approach and it is deeper(in the pic on the right):



Now this next part gets tricky... I have to insert the longer adjustment screw but it won't fit through the hole and I can't put it through the hole I just made since the angle is wrong... so I just drop it in through the headlight socket and let it roll around inside guiding it with a chopped up coat hanger... I guide it into the hole...


then I insert the bigger white block and push the new adjustment screw into the new block



Once that is in I just screw on the motor and re attach the outer adjustment screw - it's important to lubricate with white lithium grease on the screw at this point



It's basically the same process for the drivers headlight(left side):












I will be using this sealant to fill the hole and keep moisture from getting in

[Mooneggs]

There is also a switch needed for the operation of the motors...

The switch on the left is from a miata... the switch on the right is OEM mx-3

[Mooneggs]

OPTION 2: Removal of glass lense

I used this thread to remove the glass lense: http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=40062" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There is always a risk of breaking the lense so when prying it off the case ensure you do not apply too much pressure as I found out the hard way


Once you have removed the glass lenses you may procede. In my case I was moving the motors from one set to another set so I had to remove 4 lenses.


You will need to remove the adjustment screws from the back of the housing. you may or may not run into the problem of removing the adjustment screws that are held in by small thin washers... I used a dremel to remove them. If they are stuck, unscrew them as much as possible and pull the reflector off the housing - it is held in place by both adjusters and a ball in socket part






Remove the motors off of the donor housings... 4 screws on the back, then remove the adjuster cover (2 screws) and unscrew the long bolt with a ball on the end. Make note of how far the bolt is sticking out of the motor...




Put the motor on the back of the housing and screw it in with the 4 screws. The long bolt with the ball will not fit through the housing with the ball so put it through the hole and screw it into the motor. Don't screw it in too far since you need to put the adjuster cover back on





Next take the reflector piece from the donor set and swap the little white adjuster holders. make sure the ball in socket type is in the bottom since it will connect with the long bolt with a ball



Now you are ready to install the reflector. I usually connect the upper adjuster knob first by screwing it in... then I carefully ease the 2 ball in socket joints (lower adjuster and the fixed socket on the housing).





At this point you may want to adjust the reflectors close to how you think they should be. Obviously you will need to adjust the reflectors again once in the car to ensure your beam pattern is not blinding other drivers as well as providing enough light for driving.

After that you are ready to heat the housing/lenses back up following the method at the top of this post to reattach them!

Unfortunately I do not know the correct way to wire the motors to work... once I do find out I will update this but at least for now you can get the hard part done

[Dark_Rider2k3]

Awesome work!! Looks great!

[Mooneggs]

Thanks to Bogaut for figuring out how to correctly wire up the motorized leveling switch! Click on the videos below to view!

Below is a video showing how it works as well as my telescopic H4 Hi/Lo HID setup:


also for reference below is another video Steve_SK made a long time ago that shows how it works from the front...


I will try and get some wiring diagrams for the switch soon...