1973 Headlight Motor Q

[Topher]

I am in the midst of rebuilding a headlight motor for Matt for his 1973 Charger. I have failed a few times to get the windings to fit back inside the case, but have recently discovered a new way of rewinding this type of motor, and am going to put it into practice today.

My question is: What is the outside of the motor supposed to look like? Should it be black or gold cad plated?

The reason for this question is I have been asked to restore a wiper motor back to original, including the Gold Cad Plated housing. The particulars to being able to replate are being worked out. This 73 motor has been ongoing for quite sometime, and I am wanting to make it look as original as possible, and not look like it was bombed with a rattle can.

Here's what his motor looks like right now:

[Nacho-RT74]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mopar-Dodge-Charger--hideaway-headlight-motor-70-71-72_W0QQitemZ200299824498QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090117?IMSfp=TL0901171110008r4443

now you disassembled... one question... does that motor stops with an inner parking tab or with a heating element ( bimetallic ) that cuts the power when doors are stopped externally ?

[Charger1973]

Hey that sounds like progress 

To be honest im not picky at all what color it is, although I can understand you wanting to do it "right".  As long as it works though i'll be more than happy.     The next thing for me will be wiring it all up, I havent even thought that far ahead yet. 

[Topher]

This motor has two arms that when the gear reaches them they break contact and stop the motor from working. There is a point style breaker inside there that i will replace with a state of the art PTC breaker.

[chgr500]

Here's a NOS headlamp motor I have...with the assembly paint blobs...

[b5blue]

My 70 has a "breaker" that feeds the relay if I read your question right.(under the dash)

[Nacho-RT74]

I know about the breaker... is a safety breaker but not the regular power cut. So we have a mechanical system with internal points pushed by internal tabs/arms and not some heating element! thanks

[Topher]

Thanks for the great pictures! The rotation is limited as you say, but there's also an internal breaker that cuts the ground when it draws too much current.

[Topher]

I know it's slow going on this thing, but I beleive we're in the home stretch! I got the fields wound and fitted back inside the housing. I've got to solder everything together and then we'll see how well it runs.

[Charger1973]

  Best news I heard all week.   

[Topher]

After a long battle with this thing I got everything soldered up this morning, grounded it, put power to the leads and it hummed. This isn't a disappointment in the least. If I turn the juice up on the battery charger it will indeed turn, but it's slow. I just happened to have received a box of motors from a fella yesterday that has a couple of these motors in it. I checked one of those and after a quick ground fix, it ran like a raped ape. I mean this thing is fast! I noticed that the one out of the box is ALOT easier to turn by hand also. Does anyone know how to get the thumb knob off the end of the shaft? I think we have a bushing that's either way dry or gummed up. It's getting closer and closer to coming home Matt! 

[b5blue]

The FSM warns not to run it uninstalled or "damage may result"...

[Topher]

Damage to what? There's a cut off in both directions, besides I have the gears out of it to test it just in case.

[Charger1973]

Good news!  You should be pretty good at this by the time its done.   

[Nacho-RT74]

The FSM warns not to run it uninstalled or "damage may result"...

I think without load, you could broke the cut off points I think. Motor does have lot of torque to be able to raise up the doors.

Those are my thoughts

[bohoch]

Why your motor turns hard, may be that the armature shaft has rusted inside the bushing and your spinning the bushing inside the bottom plate instead of the armature shaft spinning inside the bushing. I've rebuilt dozens of these motors, and 90 percent of time thats what I find. Chrysler must have relized this was a problem, because in later motors they replaced the brass lined metal bushing with a plastic/nylon bushing. Them problem with the plastic bushing is that the I.D. gets eggy and after some time the armature will contact the windings inside the case and stop working. I always replace the plastic bushings with brass bushings.

If you have a working motor in your car, once a year crawl under the front end with your favorite spray lubricant(WD-40, Kroil) and give the motor a small shot thru either of the 2 holes in the bottom plate of the motor. This will lubricate the armature shaft and the thrust bearing that rides on top of the bushing.

You can remove the manual knob with one of those cheap battery cable pullers. If you apply some heat to the knob with a butane/propane torch that will help.

The reason Chrysler states not to run the motor unless its installed, is that there are 2 stop contacts, that are opened or closed by a cam mounted to the gear inside the cover plate. If you run the motor outside the car, it will spin so fast that the cam may run past the contacts and damage them. With the motor installed there is enough drag on the motor from the weight of the headlight doors that the motor will stop as soon as the cam opens either contact.

[Nacho-RT74]

The reason Chrysler states not to run the motor unless its installed, is that there are 2 stop contacts, that are opened or closed by a cam mounted to the gear inside the cover plate. If you run the motor outside the car, it will spin so fast that the cam may run past the contacts and damage them. With the motor installed there is enough drag on the motor from the weight of the headlight doors that the motor will stop as soon as the cam opens either contact.

thats what I say

[GreenMachine]

Anybody know if there are replacement parts available for these? Such as the plastic gear.

[bohoch]

There will be gears for sale on Ebay, but rarely. Your best bet is a used motor off Ebay or try a salvage yard. Chrysler used this same motor in several cars from 1970 to the early 80's. They were in New Yorker's, Monaco's, and Magnums.

[BROCK]

Interesting side note:  That NOS motor shown by charger500 was made on GroundHog Day of 1970

While there were suposedly cad plated headlight motor housings:  I've never seen one.  I have several for
future restoration but am actually holding out for one with a datecode (bottom row of numbers) in between
2309 & 3209.  I'll pay & or trade for the right one in restorable condition.

[Moparbob]

I didnt like the set up so I fabbed up vacuum headlights that work off a simple 1 wire air solenoid and no more problems. I replaced that little 1/4 rod with a fabbed up piece of straight tubing to stiffen the whole system up. Didn't the earlier chargers use vacuum?

[Topher]

66 and 67s had 2 electric motors. I started rebuilding those 4 years ago and thought I'd branch out with this one. It's been a long road to get it done because I rewound the fields in this one and couldn't get it all to fit back where it's supposed to go. I got that nailed last week and ran into trouble with the end bushing that I'm working on now. Check out www.headlightmotorman.web.officelive.com There's pictures of the 1st Gen motors.

[Nacho-RT74]

vacuum system were just on 68 and 69

[Ghoste]

Yep, it took them two years to realize they were right the first time (66 and 67), they just needed to tweak the system a little bit in order to perfect it.

[Topher]

I have been working steadily (honestly) on this project, and am gettting closer to shipping it back Matt! I have some pix to prove it, I just have to figure out how to get them from the phone to the computer. I'm holding it up to the screen, but it won't communicate  . I have the case painted, the windings back in, and am looking a good silver to paint the other parts so I can get it all back together. I'll get the pics up in a few days.

[Topher]

Here's one of Matt's motor primered sitting beside another one that I had bead blasted at the same time.

[Topher]

It's almost done! I need to clean the cover that goes on the other side and solder the wires to it and then she's ready to go home!





Looks better than it did when I started, AND it works!



Here's a side by side pic

[thrillbilly]

Is there a rebuild service for these?  All I need is the plastic gear for mine.

[Topher]

I rebuild them. I'm trying to find a source for the gear as I type this.

[b5blue]

Really nice work Topher! 

[Topher]

Thanks!