I just bought a 78 Special. The front turn signals are angled back on both sides, and I doubt they are supposed to be that way.. I'm trying to determine what the issue is, wrong headlight bucket, wrong brackets, or what? I any help would be appreciated.
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Headlight
- Thread starter NP2650
- Start date
Bent or otherwise deformed brackets.
Yes, the ears are bent... actually they've been "straightened".... when they're 'sposed to be bent.
Thread Drift:
Back in the mid-70's, I was cross trained via OJT (On the Job Training) as a Model 28 teletype repairman. The above picture is the "page printer" assembly. It is an entirely mechanical device to convert an electronic square wave into printed characters. "Complex" doesn't begin to describe it. The guy(s) that invented it must have been either geniuses or nuttier than squirrel shit. Probably both.
Anyhoo, there were about 11,000 adjustments that could be made to get it to work correctly, and I was taught a couple that weren't in the manual that involved tweaking various arms, tangs, springs and such. After successfully repairing one I made a log entry stating that I'd "bent the code clutch trip lever" or some such. The next time I had a day shift, The Chief explained to me that that was incorrect. "We do NOT bend things in my shop!" Obviously, it was bent to begin with, hence the problem, and I'd "straightened" it.
Never forgot that.
This is a top-secret modification from the old days, leave it alone, it is more aerodynamic this way.
I used all thread and a 1X4 to "straighten" em.
Your pic with arrows to typical places that will need work.
best to remove the ears from the forks, work slowly, tweak, check, compare all the bent areas a bit at a time, till everything looks more or less like from the factory. Those ears have an inner brace that also needs straightening and it makes it harder to get all the bits back in alignment.
hint; use wood chunks with slightly rounded ends, not hammers or metal rods, that will reduce damage to the chrome prevent sharp edge dings.
best to remove the ears from the forks, work slowly, tweak, check, compare all the bent areas a bit at a time, till everything looks more or less like from the factory. Those ears have an inner brace that also needs straightening and it makes it harder to get all the bits back in alignment.
hint; use wood chunks with slightly rounded ends, not hammers or metal rods, that will reduce damage to the chrome prevent sharp edge dings.
If they a too wrinkled, I have a set that needs only gentle work. With some very small pitting. Yours for the postage.
Mine was bent almost that bad. The way I approached it was keep the ears straight on each side of that bend, and make the amount of bend such that the two ends were parallel when they were a headlight bucket width apart. It looks nice and crisp that way
Like you I didn't know what they were supposed to look like, but that way made sense. "They reassembled me but they'd never seen a human before."
Like you I didn't know what they were supposed to look like, but that way made sense. "They reassembled me but they'd never seen a human before."
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You 're-aligned' it, is what you should have said.
