Technical Headlight adjustment on hot rods with big n littles

Yikes!

 

How far are you from the Texas border? Every shop that did the annual safety inspections in Texas had a head light aiming rig that was placed in front of the car to shine you light into and properly aim it. I think that is how the mechanic made any money off the inspection but you didn't get blinded by cockeyed headlights when I lived in Texas in the 70's.

 

Ha!

 

The last few Hoppy kits I bought at swapmeets where $20-$25 each and had everything in the kit. The older kits come with both round adapters (5 3/4" and 7") the newer ones included both the rectangular sizes. You can even find a light meter.

To anyone who wants to make sure they're headlights are adjusted properly......my retinas thank you. With all the lifted trucks, high beam drivers and mega Lumens vehicles out here it's increasingly difficult not to go blind. I understand wanting to see at night and not to over drive your headlights, but at the same time there's no need to illuminate a whole 4 lane highway (in a well populated area).

 

For years I have taken the head light lens and ring off and used a 2x4 to get them square to each other and then used a small protractor to get them level to the ground, then angle them down about 1 or 2 degrees works great

 

Looks to be an older 7" only??, but can't beat it for the price.

 

Yeah.....I marked my wall with the light from the wife's car and made my lights match them (sorta)
What's the big deal though???
Jack your adjustment up until you can see down the road.
With all these stupid trucks with the "blue lazer" bright headlights totally blinding anyone in the oncoming lane, who cares if your lights are a little high?
NOT the Poe-lease.
A lot of the trucks now days with "the Aynor squatt" (or whatever you call it)the lights are mostly up in the trees.
I think I saw an airplane wave his wings because he was blinded by one of these clown trucks.
Nobody keerz enough to aim their lights so do your own thang.
Thank you for your patience!( I feel better)
6sally6

 

Up here in Washington we call the squat button trucks a "Carolina lift"

 

M, When I'm up your way can I stop by and get my lights aimed? Thanks.

 

Now you can put this sign outside of the shop.

 

Worked at a dealer for Marchal headlamps in the 70's. Center of the headlight measurement on a wall. Then back the vehicle 20ft. away and center the cutoff of the beam 1 to 2 inches below the center mark. Some directing of the light to the right on the right side. That was it. High beam was set, worked well for all my clients.

 

I have a hoppy setup I got for $20 and only used it one time. I prefer to set up in a parking lot and aim the lights on the building.

 

That thing looks great, I didn’t see the adapters underneath. How are the rubber cups, one kit I have won’t stay on the light for more then about 10 minutes. I was thinking of trying brake fluid on them to soften them up.

 

I think the alcohol will dry them out more I used olive oil on mine.

 

Good point........and they'll smell good too .

I have a kit at work that's made by Hoppy, but says "Mopar" on the outside. Here's a kit I got with a light meter.

 

So most using the 20 feet from the wall process seem to mention 20 inches from the ground.
What if the highboy light center is less than 20"?

 

So, I did the super technical route. I backed the truck up about 20 feet away from the garage door and just guessed. Seems to be close. No one is bright lighting me. The headlights were all out of whack. Much better now.

 

At that point just adjust then for your taste, the light will be more parallel to the ground then shining down at it (the closer the headlight gets to the ground) which would make me think that a flood beam would be better at some point. There was a minimum measurement here for headlight height, but I forgot it already .

 

Find a parking lot with a brick wall and line them up on the grout between the bricks. Old fashioned and simple is good, lets keep it that way, we don't need no charts and rulers.

 

When I was young and lived in an apartment, I used to pull my cars into one of the handball courts at the local high school to adjust my headlights.

 

Find the center of the light bulb and mark
Measure headlight(s) center to center
Measure high beam(s) center to center
Measure headlight height ground to center
Measure high beam height ground to center

Pull the car up to the wall (use painters tape)
Mark where the headlights/heigh beam are on the wall
Mark center of the car on the wall
Pull the car back
Mark height you got from floor to center of bulb

Make sure center to center you measured on the lights is equal to center to center on the wall and ensure you are equally distant from what you marked as middle.

Headlights shine just below the height line where the headlight line is. High beams shine just above the line where high beam line is. Ensure top of the headlight and bottom of the high beam are “touching” the center line

wall should look like this:

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