1st March 2016, Slow Headlight Motor & DRL's

The drivers side headlight has always been a bit slower to rise than the other one, and sometimes needed a tweak of the manual knob to get it started, so I thought it was time I fixed it.  I knew all the wiring and connections were good from when I fitted the auxiliary relays back in May 2014 so the problem was obviously with the headlight motor or the lift mechanism.  I had also noticed a little bit of "flutter" from that headlight on bumpy road surfaces so that needed investigation as well.

First thing was to take the whole assembly out of the car, but before doing that I tried shaking the headlight and could feel some definite movement even though it was locked in the up position.  With the assembly out of the car you could actually see some movement in the mechanism where the turnbuckle link joins the crank.When I took it apart there is a bronze bush which had developed a small amount of wear allowing the light pod to vibrate slightly when raised.

Worn bronze bush here.

Luckily I have a small collection of headlight assemblies that I have acquired during several years of TR7 ownership - just in case - as they say,  so I was able to find a much better bush in my stock. I was also able to find a better motor as well. Some of them felt a bit stiff or rough to turn but again I found a better one so that went on as well.

The whole lot was then put back into the car and I now have a pair of headlights that rise and fall in unison!

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Next little job was to fit some Daytime Running Lights.  This has been on my list of jobs for a while and I consider it a good idea in modern traffic. The TR7 has a low profile front end and as mine is dark blue I think it might be hard to see coming in shady places - hence the DRL's.

I bought a set of Ring Ursa LED lights which come complete with all the wiring and a neat little relay switch to turn them off when your main lights are switched on which is a legal requirement in the UK apparently. They are normally about £40 but I found a new set someone had bought and not used on Ebay for £19.95.  There are lots of very cheap LED lights for sale but I wanted something that didn't look like temporary fix and one of the guys on the Triumph TR7 Owners Page recommended them. 

They mounted neatly in the "hockey stick" trim just below the headlights and the little relay switch fitted on the hidden side of the radiator side filler panel so nothing is visible in the engine bay.

Spot the DRL's

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