I have restored a set of headlight buckets (and the bracket behind them) for my Rallye, but obviously I need to remove the plastic surround part of the grille assembly to get the metal buckets out. It seems pretty tight - and I don't want to start pulling stuff before I know what to do. Does the bumper have to drop to get the headlight surround plastic off? Do I need to remove the center grille(s) as well?

 

Hey Bob, hope your having a good and safe Independence Day. I just finished reinstalling my entire front clip. To remove the headlight surrounds I believe you will need to loosen all four bumper bracket to frame bolts and pull the bumper forward. If this doesn’t give enough space remove the front two bolts and let the bumper hang down. It will probably be easier to remove the grills as they are on top of the headlight surrounds. When re installing don’t tighten the bolts that hold the headlight bucket bracket to the radiator support until you reinstall the headlight surrounds and grilles for easier alignment. Joel.

 

Thanks, Joel It seems I’m always getting myself into more of a mess hahaha. I was afraid that would be the case. I’m getting the hood painted next week, so I’ll wait u til I get the car back from that to tackle this. I can see me getting it off and not being able to reassemble in a short time frame....

 

Took them out and back in on a 70 last week without moving the bumper.

1. remove the battery
2. unplug headlight plugs
3. remove the headlight surround trim
4. take the 4 bolts (screws) out of the plastic frames and the bolts (screws) holding the frame to the center grill pieces.
5. take the 4 bolts out of the steel headlight bucket frames
6. holding the plastic frame and the metal bucket frame as a unit, tilt the top out and work the plastic frame lower lip around the bumper lip until it clears. It seems like there's not enough side clearance at first but patience will find it.
7. If you can't find the clearance, loosen the bolts holding the main grill and it should provide it.

Good luck!

 

SOOOO close.... just couldn't quite get it out no matter how much twisting and turning I tried. I couldn't get to the bolt that held the bottom outside edge of the center grille to give me less than 1/4" that I needed. I do see that the trick of bringing the buckets and the plastic trim out together is the way to go. Made tons of sense when I saw it. But I just couldn't get the left-right movement I needed to clear. Maybe next weekend

 

Shouldn't take more than 30 min tops...loosen the two bolts that hold the bumper brace to the frame and gently lower the bumper. Tighten one of the bolts to hold it in place. Do your work with the headlights, then loosen aforementioned bolt. Push the bumper back up and tighten your bolts up. Just make sure you clear the stone shield with the bumper...(you may have to loosen the bolts that hold the bumper to the bracket and slide the bumper forward to get the clearance.)

Good luck!

 

"Shouldn't" I have found that on this car anything that seems easy, isn't hahaha. I crawled under and I see what I should do. I'm serious when I say I'll probably loosen those bolts, the bumper will drop down, and it will lock into a un-driveable condition the night before I'm supposed to get my original hood painted... I should have the car back by the end of the week and I'll get under there and get these lights replaced. I've never been able to aim the headlights nor can I get one of the bulbs out of the current buckets since the screws are rusted so badly. I'm excited to get the restored pieces into place!!!

 

Doesn't everyone own one of these? Seriously, you can get the screws out along with your frustration.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-A...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

The screws on my headlight trim rings are so stripped I'll drill them out when I can get to them. It's strange how some things can rust so badly when the rest of the car is perfect...

 

Just wanted to thank everyone - of course the bumper fought me, and the driver's side needed a third nut and bolt loosened, but basically it was loosening the two main support bracket bolts and pulling the bumper slightly away from the car to get the headlights replaced. Eric was completely right - the metal and the plastic surround need to come out together for sure. Great tip. Bottom line, the headlights are in, the old rusty buckets are gone, and I can adjust my headlights for the first time since I've had the car. And I DO need to give a shout to the one thread that identified the letters on the headlight buckets that I totally didn't know about, and that were out of order on my car to start with. No wonder my trim rings were all bent up and the lights didn't fit right. Learn a new thing every day!