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FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

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4th gen headlight fix


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Just wondering if anyone has converted to the brass headlight gears that can be purchased at this site......http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/index.htm.

Got them to fix the gear grinding that is so common with these cars. Never installed them. Wanted to try the quick fix described on the webpage first. Well, finally got around to the quick fix. It was relatively simple to do but now the grinding occurs when closing vs opening. I suspect this simple fix was already done to this car before I purchased it. Now both sides of gear are ground down. This requires me to replace the plastic gears with the brass. My question is.... Has anyone done this conversion and how difficult was. Any help or suggestions will be appreciated. I will post how it went after conversion is done. Hopefully, sometime this spring.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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Hi, early years Fiero's 84-86 1st version lights do the Same Exact thing. I've rebuilt Mine with new plastic ones I bought from online and they did work... I do have memory issues due to brain damage from head injury but if I remember correctly after a while one of My motors acted up and seemed to run on a bit when I'd open or close the lights. But I do remember reading posts on various Fiero forums I belong to that Brass gears are a Great fix and I almost went that route but came across 2nd gen headlights 87-88 for a good price and bought them instead...only issues with 2nd gen Fiero lights is needing to replace a relay if it fails so I got those to avoid any future internal motor gear issues. I Myself would get the Brass gears if upgrading isn't possible like it is with a Fiero and take at least one link out of the failure chain that results from age of parts. Hope My reply helped

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Oh yeah... check Fiero Store online as well as Rodney Dickman online ....gears may be cheaper at one of them than site You list...cheaper in price not quality. One of the pics on site You list shows a Fiero I believe so They may make em for various cars with hidden headlights...that's why I suggested Rodney Dickman because I believe He offers brass gears for various cars

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...

Well, finally got around to changing to the brass gear in my formula headlight motor assembly. After looking closer it was apparent it had been worked on before. In fact it was coming apart. The glue failed on the seem and let the gears slip.  After apart I could see someone had already flipped the gear over. Now both sides were worn. It was simple enough to change the gear and re-assemble. To insure enclosure wouldn't come apart again I filed down the area where the 3 screws went through the plastic enclosure so when using larger washers they would hold the enclosure together. Never coming apart now. Lights works great.

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