#1  
Old 08-16-2019, 04:33 PM
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Default 1968 GTO Hide A Way headlamps Vacuum to electric. Your experience?

Hey Y'all Yea I know its been a while but my cars been on the lift for 2 years UN touched ( Being neglected like a old wife.)
Excuses aside Friend of mine bought a 68 GTO & of course the hide away headlamps don't work.

He wants to do a Vacuum to electric conversion. So I put this here for the most exposure .

I am so green on this subject I thought I would ask a little help from my Pontiac Friends.

+ What is your experience & opinion on any name brands?
Better/ worse.

Hyper links are welcomed

Thanks

SR66

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Old 08-16-2019, 07:06 PM
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The electric conversion always seemed like more work and cost than it was worth to me. Easy enough to get the factory vacuum setup fixed up.

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Old 08-17-2019, 05:27 AM
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Doesn't answer your question ... but yeah, put me in the camp of just making the vacuum system work. It worked for years and years originally, and many people have them still working, it's not rocket science and it's probably way cheaper than converting to electric.
Apologize that this is not what you are asking and just an opinion.

Some people will chime in, lots of people have done the conversion successfully.

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Old 08-17-2019, 07:44 AM
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NO worries after seeing the price tag of some of the units ,He has changed his mind.

BUT I would still like to know.

Thank You for your replies

SR66

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Old 08-17-2019, 07:54 PM
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Owned both. Presently have fixed headlamps.

Ideally woul like to convert to Hide-Aways, but suppose im looking for a conversion Kit more than a repair kit.

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Old 08-17-2019, 08:42 PM
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This may sound crazy, but You will lose the unique motion that comes with vacuum operation when they open and close

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Old 08-19-2019, 04:51 AM
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Yep ... I love the asynchronous action of the vacuum systems ... kind of like a wild animal instead of a machine. Like a dragon waking up

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Old 08-20-2019, 02:27 AM
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Have him look at this- http://ultimategto.com/art24.htm
One tip is that ALL the pieces need to be in place. A missing bushing or spring, etc. will cause drooping covers and so forth...

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Old 08-21-2019, 04:07 PM
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Have never considered going electric with the original factory vacuum operated hidden headlights.
It is absolutely worth it to simply replace all the missing and/or defective parts with new parts. The system works rather well and I would not spend the money for an electric set up.

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Old 08-21-2019, 04:54 PM
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I've owned my car for 49 years and all I've had to do is replace the vacuum actuators one time.....all other parts are original.........with reliability like that why change to something else?

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Old 08-21-2019, 07:10 PM
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My GTO was eight years old when I bought it, with 92,000 miles, the vacuum system still worked fine and had never been touched.

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Old 08-24-2019, 02:26 AM
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My car has the hideaways but all of the vacuum parts are missing. Years ago i read on here someone made a bracket and used c4 headlight motors and control switch.
This was my plan for fixing mine, never got round to it though. Since then kits have be ome available but they are pricey

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Old 08-24-2019, 06:22 AM
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https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=498889

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Old 08-24-2019, 09:34 AM
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Dad is converting his to hideaways, and keeping the factory vacuum setup. The electric stuff is pretty darn expensive.

Our RS 69 Z has all of it's born with vacuum headlight parts, including actuators, vacuum lines etc... and this system works very much the same as the GTO. The headlights still work fine on this one and it's 50 years old and used on a daily basis. The dust boots on the actuators are dried out and falling off, but it still works, lol. So I have pretty good faith in the factory vacuum systems and they are pretty easy to diagnose if there is ever an issue, very simple setup.

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Old 08-25-2019, 10:12 AM
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COOL BEANS!!

Thank You all for your input.

SR66

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Old 10-11-2019, 04:49 PM
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Hey Y'all
So I am getting into these Hideaway Headlamps there are all kinds of screwed up things going on But most importantly (because its what I don't know) is about the spring & the Actuators
the headlamp doors don't go up & they stay down.

I borrowed a smoke pot from a friend . Until I can buy my own.

Hooked up the smoke pot to the main coming off the carb ,worked the headlamp switch ,checked the canister & the actuators , & nothing. then with the grills removed I put the smoker on the top of the actuators & both leak out the shafts.

I also rigged up myself a super sucker from my A/C vacuum pump thru a old R~12 Manifold so I can test/ suck things like bleeding brakes & what not.

I was test / sucking the actuator on Pass side & it sucked up old dirty rusty crunchy water out of it.

So I am thinking they are done

Will someone please direct me to the thread or article on how to deal with these my searching has not been fruitful.

Any & all help is greatly appreciated.

SR66
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Old 10-11-2019, 07:02 PM
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SO upon further removal & inspection does this work with the boot on the shaft making a seal? if I plug off both vac ports I can not move the shaft up or down.
It would seam to me that the diagram is intact.

what seals it to the shaft?

SR66
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Old 10-12-2019, 06:41 AM
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You can take your vacuum cans apart??

If so they are not OEM, and if they are not OEM they probably leak at the boot that seals on the shaft. People have various solutions. I'll be installing old OEM shaft/boot seals on my re-pop cans when I get them.

On the OEM units the diaphragm almost never fails, it's the shaft boot that gets rust under it where it seals to the can that makes them leak.

Oh... nevermind ... I see that is a pan with rusty water ... I thought it was half of the vacuum can

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Old 10-12-2019, 09:09 AM
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Thanks for the reply . So I kinda figured some stuff out with exploratory surgery . I see the boots seem to be the weak link I am going to have to replace them . I see in the AMES book that there are TWO different boots B146A & B146AK does the "AK fit over the "A" I am thinking of cleaning up the shafts & applying some clear RVT sillycone @ the top to seal out any water. Plus I will remove them & wash them out & leave them in the sun to bake dry.

So any other suggestions ?

I have to "TEST the Driver side one .

SR66

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Old 10-12-2019, 10:12 AM
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I see it now the 2 different boots work together.

SR66

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