[dataway]

Just scanned the hideaway page from the 69 assembly manual, enhanced it some, blew up a few sections and laminated them .... I know I'm going to be handling them a lot Also made it a bit larger and easier to read without getting out my SUPER reading glasses.

Was just blasting some small parts and noticed even a lot of the very small brackets have the the numbers and the L or R stamped in them. Strange that those numbers are not referenced in any manual. Somewhere at some point they had to be cross referenced to part numbers since the assembly manual has part numbers and the actual parts don't.

I'm guessing the hideaway bumpers were assembled in a separate line and these were assembly numbers so the workers could keep all the identical looking stuff organized.

Since the "U" shaped rods go through the big frame mounts, that means the whole thing had to be assembled and mounted on the car in one piece ... I think. That makes me wonder when they ground the hood clearance notches in the top of the bumpers.

The line workers had to hate these hideaway cars

[Greg Reid]

Stuff it, then hang it looks to me....
So, you think they ground that notch where the hood fits? I always assumed it was molded that way from the git-go...

[dataway]

Look at that ... hung the whole thing already painted. So probably painted on a different line etc. since they use a special paint.

I've seen the factory hood notches both almost non-existent, and almost 1/4" And often the back side of the notch with bare Endura material showing ... could have been worn off by contact with the hood ... but the finish on a lot of the original notches looks to be ground ... and with a not too fine grit either. Also possible that a notch was molded in the right location and then "adjusted" later if needed.

With the Lemans/Tempest you have at least of 1/2" of wiggle room with the rubber seal there ... would imagine it would be pretty hard to get that Endura line up nice without some hand work.

[dataway]

Sifting through my hideway parts to find what I need I noticed that it appears 68/69 used different head light adjuster nuts. (See pics). Also ... appears to be a slight difference in the bucket mounting plates/stools to accommodate these two styles of adjuster nuts.

Anyone know what year matches what nut? Luckily I have a whole set of the black type. Several of the white type, which have metal threaded sections are rusted out. (I had one nice bumper, one very rusty).

Also I pic of some of the "correct" hardware being sold. Speed nuts and screws are from AMK, the same people everyone in the business gets their hardware from. Speed nuts are acceptable, screws are missing the wide flange that looks pretty freakin necessary to me.

[68ragtop]

I never saw those adjuster nuts before Just the blackish-green-blue ones, but I never had a 69. Maybe North can confirm since he might have a 1969 or two....

There are a lot of those wider washered screws used on the front end & some of them are 1/4-20 machine thread. I had mine re-plated as I could not find anything remotely the same as the originals. I also found some of the headlight hardware in yellow cad (I think the bump stop bolts) anyway, the repop fastener thing is frustrating. some of them like the frame bolts are the same, others are claimed to be the same & they are not even similar.

Not sure why I got so crazy over originality on hardware on my car when I did a lot of things not original with the paint on drive train parts, lack over overspray, etc. I guess I wanted to be as close to original as possible, with exception to fit & finish. I could see GM installing it like gregs picture, Grills are not easy to install on the car either, so They likely had guys setting up everything ahead of time except the 4 frame bolts. The guy underneath tightening those bolts as the two above lined things up. Pretty amazing, but I suppose after getting a system down it probably got easier to do, & they sure weren't worried about scuffing the frame & brackets.

[dataway]

I'm usually better at accepting a not exact finish on the hardware than I am at a difference in fastener design. I know the bean counters at GM would not have used a wide flange screw unless they thought it was necessary. Lots of parts in these hideaway systems that are grabbing thin'ish stamped sheet metal parts that need all the support they can get.

I bet these adjuster nuts are kind of an industry standard hole size ... so possible numerous different types and suppliers.

Jeez, looks like these guys have it covered https://cliphouse.com/HeadlampAdjust...ts.aspx?page=1

Now that I look, I see tons of them everywhere ... gotta love the internet.

[69gtocv]

The pictures of those on the cliphouse website remind me of the Auveco catalog. My paint guy said that Auveco was one of the original suppliers to the automakers for fasteners. I was able to download their catalog back when I did my 69 so I'm sure it's still available.

[dataway]

Is there anyone selling the headlight pivot bolts for a reasonable price? I have some, function fine, but I'll need to zinc plate them if I plan on using them.

[dataway]

My headlight buckets are confusing me ... I have some stamped A, some stamped B, and some stamped J .. the A match each other, the B match each other, the J do not match each other. Some may be 68, some may be 69.

What goes where? I've heard some say (Chevelles) that they are A, B, C, D and just go across the front starting at the drivers side.


Did a little research ... evidently all four buckets are different, 69 assembly manual has a different part number for each one, but no indication of the letter codes.

[kk68]

I’m not sure I paid attention to the letters when I disassembled and then reassembled after restoring the headlight units but my lettered buckets on 68 hideaways are arranged K, J, A, B (left-right looking at front bumper). The letters are visible on top tabs when you zoom in on pics below.

[dataway]

Excellent, very helpful ... so I'm missing a K bucket. Now I have a place to start. Thank you very much.

[dataway]

Bead blasted some more buckets and found a K. However, after I set everything up, with high beams on the inside, low/hi beams outside I ended up with K,J,B,A

I see why there are four part numbers now. With the low and hi/lo buckets being different, and all the hold springs towards the center of the bumper there has to be four different buckets. K,J and B,A are basically the same pairs except with the spring notches in different places.

Not sure why mine turned out different, all the bulbs are clocked correctly, with the lettering all right side up.

I guess it's possible one or more of the bulbs might be a "universal" type that will fit either high or low beam buckets ... which would allow the A/B buckets to be swapped since I'm using the bulbs to determine which bucket goes where on each side.

[kk68]

I may have the A & B incorrectly swapped. I’ll check out this weekend. Kind of remember one of the T3’s being a little crooked...for some reason. You may have solved the problem.

[dataway]

The A,B buckets will .. almost, just barely accept the wrong headlight ... the notch is just 1/2" off, the headlight will still almost seat and the trim ring would probably still go on with one screw just a littler higher than the others. It's like two of the notches fit, one doesn't but only raises the bulb about 3/8" ... enough that adjustment can still make it aim right.

[kk68]

Swapped A & B on drivers side. Definitely the correct arrangement is KJBA. Thanks dataway. My T3’s fit much better on that side.

[dataway]

Makes a bit more sense in that it's at least alphabetical

I see you have the galvanized buckets ... I've seen stock pieces are either plain galvanized like yours, and galvanized but painted an almost flat black.

Pontiac seemed all over the place with the 68 and 69 hideaway ... while looking at the 69 assembly manual I noticed it has a lengthy list of "revisions". They have the appearance of a hastily engineered system

BTW ... are those buckets original to the car? Some of the best looking galvanized pieces I've seen. All the repop stuff is painted. (at least all the repops I've seen)

[kk68]

They are originals. A bit discolored but weren’t rusted so decided to just clean them up and leave original galvanized finish. Once the headlights are mounted, you really don’t see much of them.

[dataway]

Nice pieces .... I now and then see NOS buckets on ebay ... usually galvanized ... tempting to buy them ... just because