Headlight ring help

[Russellrh72]

Hello FAQ! Looking for an answer to what I'm afraid might be a dumb question. I sourced some chrome headlight "fillers" or rings that close the gap between the headlamp and the grill. I don't know if there are rights and lefts for these or what, but the left side or driver side is getting the opposite of the desired effect. The pictures below illustrate what I'm talking about. The gap closest to the center grill is still big because the wide part of the ring is on the opposite side. I'm pretty sure I have the rings in the lamp frame correctly as there are little tabs to sort of designate how they are to be oriented. So are there right and left versions and I got two rights? Or perhaps one of my headlight buckets (the parts primed in grey in my pictures) is wrong. Both of the buckets on my car have the adjusters on the same side of the bucket, which is odd to me. Seems the adjusters would need to be on the outside closest to the turn signals on both sides of the car, but on my car they are on the outside near the turn signals in the passenger side, but on the inside closest to the center grill on the driver side. Hope this all makes sense to the reader! I would appreciate any help orienting these suckers. 

[Mike Self]

Presume you have a roundie with metal grilles, and not a squarelight.  If that's the case, read on...

 

68 to mid (or so) 72 cars use side grilles with "deep" headlight surrounds (the part of the grille that the headlight peeks through.  Those grilles have asymmetric headlight retainer rings--there's a left and a right.  That's what you have per your pictures.

 

The  grilles used from mid 1972 through the end of roundie production (Aug 73) have a much shallower headlight surround, and use thinner (front to back) headlight retainer rings that are symmetrical--lefts and rights are the same.  Thus you need to determine which grilles you have to see if the retainers are the correct ones.  And don't go by the year of your car.  Those "shallow" grilles have been NLA for many years, so if you have a 72 or 73 a previous owner may have replaced 'em with deep grilles.  

 

Distinguishing left and right headlight buckets (the part that holds the headlight itself) is not easy, and yes, both have the adjusters on the same side--not intuitive.  And it's more than possible to install a left on the right side and vice versa, or have two buckets that are both for the same side.  I learned this the hard way!

 

I did a column on determining left and right buckets; PM me if you want a copy.  As for those retainers:  if you do have deep grilles, to determine which way the retainers go, simply hold the grille in place, and note the space between the outer edge of the headlight surround and the headlight itself.  It'll be further on one side than the other.  Then fit the retainer ring so the deeper side of the ring is on the same side as the deeper opening.  

 

Hope that helps...

 

mike

[John76]

1 hour ago, Russellrh72 said:

Both of the buckets on my car have the adjusters on the same side of the bucket,

Yes, the adjusters are on the same side (closest to the radiator on the driver's side, closest to the turn signal on the passenger side).

However, the buckets are different (left and right). Try switching them.

[Russellrh72]

Okay thanks guys! This is a good start and a lot of help. I do have deep grills. I have read up on that some and determined that I have the deep version.  @Mike Self.... I will PM you for that tutorial on the buckets. In regards to the rings, I didn't think that I could move them around to get the best fit, as there seems to be a designated spot for the ring to be placed into the retainer. My last picture that I attached shows a small notch on the ring and retainer to match up. My chrome rings are asymmetrical, being they go from narrow to wider around the ring. So you're saying that there are right and left? Maybe I have two rights? If that's not it then I can switch the buckets to see if i have them on the wrong side or if I have two rights. @John76.... It is very possible I switched them because I was unaware of that rule when I removed them and didn't keep track of which was which. Thanks all!

[jgerock]

The filler rings are marked left and right. The split portion goes toward the ground. These rings will work with both sealed beam and H4 lamps (when paired with the deep bucket type grills).

 

Some headlight retainer rings (the ones that screw to the buckets) do not have a bump or recess to index the filler rings.

[Conserv]

I haven’t had a “deep grille” car for a long time, but I certainly recall a lot of fussin’ — and a little cussin’ — to get the asymmetric rings in place correctly, or nearly thereto.

 

I did not recall that the asymmetric rings were themselves handed — much less marked as such — and I also didn’t recall the notch on the retainer ring and a corresponding “bump-out” (?) on the asymmetric ring. So these details were probably lost on a younger me! Have I described this correctly? In my second photo below, the two rings appear to have tiny rounded notches, circled in blue. Is that what you’re referring to?

 

Anyway, the retainer ring is held to the bucket by three tabs secured by slotted screws of an impossible-to-find size — hence the conversion to Torx screws on your car. Thus, even given an indexing notch and a “bump” locking together the retainer ring and asymmetric ring, you should be able to rotate the retaining ring, 120 degrees at a time, which might solve some alignment issues.

 

But, as Mike cautioned in his post, start the process by making certain you have right and left headlight buckets, and they’re on the correct sides! I’ve made that mistake personally, along with lots of others… ??

 

Regards,

 

Steve