electric headlight conversion with actuator(s)

[gentry74]

any of you do an electric conversion with linear actuators? There are some thread heres (and other places online) about converting the failsafe headlights with the single vacuum pod. My car is an s3 with pre-failsafe (1 pod per headlight) and I am struggling to get the actuator to raise and lower perfectly. Actuator has 4" throw. I have moved the attachment point further along the headlight. It raises all the way and lowers all the way... but there is enough slop that its not tight in both directions.

I can add pics/etc.... but first I thought I would ask if anyone else has done this successfully with one actuator per headlight and how they went about deciding where to mount to car and where to mount to headlight/etc.

This car on BAT did what I want to do https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-lotus-elan-s3-9/ (pics 76 and 77) but the seller doesnt have an account here and only answered my questions by pointing to those two pics. Trouble is... I mimicked the pics and am unhappy with the results. Headlights rattle and aren't firm in up or down position. I do not know if the seller of this elan had same rattle or not...

I contemplated sourcing failsafe bar so i could put one actuator in the middle... but... seems like a lot of extra work.

thanks in advance for any advice ya'll might offer...

[Sadbrewer]

Get the actuators sorted and keep it original would be my advice. When the system is in good nick it works quite adequately.

[gentry74]

Get the actuators sorted and keep it original would be my advice. When the system is in good nick it works quite adequately.

I think you might have misunderstood my question. The actuators I am referring to are electric. Both of my original vacuum pods are in really rough shape. I am switching over to electric and I prefer the slow motion of a linear actuator over the hard snap of the miata electric lifters/etc. I am just having trouble getting them tuned to a point where I am happy with the performance.

[Billelan]

I have also been thinking about linear actuators but never taken it any further. I suggest you make sure there’s no slack at each end of the actuator stroke (headlamps up and down). So at each end of the actuator stroke you need to pushing against the stops to eliminate any rattle. I believe the original stops had rubber pads to prevent damaging the fibreglass headlamp shells.
The original vacuum and spring system will have provided a constant force when the lights were up or down thus eliminating rattle or bounce.

[gentry74]

I had been trying to get the actuators to perform nicely in the orientation like the bringatrailer link I posted. I have instead mocked up a temp bracket to put the actuator in the same plane as the original vacuum pods and it works great. Adjusting it has been finicky... and I am still going to refine the way its mounted.... but it works. It just barely pushes against the stop in the up and down positions but not enough to flex fiberglass

Now that I am satisfied with performance... I intend to find a more elegant way to mount it

[JonB]

Sorry to cut in here but I would like to record the BAT seller’s notes on the actuator so I can find them in the future (when I do my lights).

I used two Mini Linear Actuators 4″ stroke, 35 lbs lift, part PA-14-4-35, two brackets, part BRK-14 and relay part AC-28-30-12 all from Progressive Automations in Richmond Canada.

Thanks
JonB