1965 Riviera Clam Shell Adjustment?

[Guest Mikael]

Greetings from the faraway Finland,

I have a 1965 Riviera as a small project. It's a relatively early 1965 model since it was made in Flint during the third week of November 1964. It has less than 70.000 miles on the odometer. I bought it from the second owner in Colorado about a year ago. It's Arctic White with deluxe interior with Black Beaumond Cloth, crank windows and less air conditioning modification. It has also the ribbed rocker panel moldings.

Ok, now to the question. Earlier the clam shells worked just fine, but now I have a problem. First the clam shells did not open although the headlights were on. My friend was hasty and tried to open it by hand. Fortunately he did not open it all the way. I turned he lights off and checked the wiring. There was a bad connection to the relay. I cleaned up the connections and after that the clam shells opened. When I shut the headlights off the right clam shell closed and the left was still open. Ok, so far I haven't checked the other connections yet, but I wonder how to proceed from here? Maybe I should buy first a new relay and check the lubrication of the clam shells?

Is there any step by step easy instructions to follow? Should I check the left clam shell linkage since my friend was too hasty and tried to open it by hand. Could that already cause a bend to the left linkage? And how to determine the end point of linkage movement so, that both clam shells are tightly shut? I couldn't find any earlier thread on this subject but if there is one, just show it as an answer, thanks.

Mikael

[Guest rsmalling]

There is just one motor that drives the the headlamp covers, so if you now have the motor working I think your problem must be in the linkage. Start your investigation where your friend did his work to get them open. That will probably be where the problem is. Then lube up all the pivot points.

[Guest Mikael]

Good point, rsmalling,

I had a closer look at the linkage and the problem is solved now.

Thanks,

Mikael