Rebuilding 67 Headlight Cannisters
The Headlight Actuators on the '67 Toronado are activated with Intake manifold vacuum. By routing vacuum through a series of diaphrams, operating mechanical pull rods,to lift the headlight assembly until they lock in to place.. Now if you are not familiar with the setup..lets go over the components.
Trace the vacuum line from behind the Quadrajet, around to the Left Fenderwell. The actuator is mounted on the fenderwell, a simple push-pull diaphram with 5 vacuum lines to it, hooking to the valve body and the actuator diaphram. The Engine vacuum is routed thru the headlight switch, and the small line from the "on" side of the switch, puts vacuum to the diaphram on the 'body' side of the actuator, pulling the diaphram toward it, moving the valve inside the body, channeling vacuum to the main canisters. Inside, behind the headlight assy's is a large vacuum tank on the left fenderwell, This is a reserve tank to aid in storing enough Vacuum to work the Assy's properly..
When the Lights are up all the way and locked, they just ride on the latch mechanisms, which are two small diapham activated catches. When you turn off the lights, vacuum is routed through the other small line on the actuator diaphram, pulling the valve body back to its starting position, channeling vacuum to the catch mechanisms, letting the assy's unlock and bleeds off vacuum to let them down easily..
The reason I went into a little depth explaining what we have here is because the '67 is completely different than the '66 was. The Canisters, the acuator, all different.. This FAQ refers to the 1967 model only..
1. Make sure you have good engine vacuum....take the line off the actuator thats in the center of the 3 outlets on the valve body, and see if you have strong vacuum there at idle......how much?...Well if you have a gauge i would think these monsters could develop at least 40-45in.wc probably more...but if you stick your tongue on it and it sucks it outta your head...thats plenty....now...Turn the lights on, and pull the small vacuum line off its port on the actuator diaphram,the line closest to the valve body....lights on?...vacuum there?
If you have no vacuum on that line, make sure you are connected at the headlight switch,and any connections first, if the lines are hard and dry rotted, run new ones.
2. Still no vacuum?...then go to the FAQ on the Head Light Switch
Vacuum there now?..Good! If returning the vacuum line to its port solved the problem good! If not..keep reading
3. Shut the car off,mark the lines for re-assembly and carefully remove them, then remove the Actuator from the fenderwell, (2 Bolts)
4. Now becarefull with this thing.....they are gettin hard to find! On the back there is a metal service door, lift the stop tab up at the top, and slide it out. The diaphram plunger shaft joins the combination plastic/rubber switch block (4 pieces, plastic casing, rubber valve body, 2 flat steel springs, one flat, the other bent to add some tension against the valve body) it fits on the shafts grooved end.
5.Get two small pieces of vacuum line and hook them up to the diaphram, suck on the one closest to the valve body first....hear any thing?...is it working?...did the rod push out? If it did try sucking on the other small line.....come back? Yes?...Good!....Take the switch block off the shaft, (upside down works better) and clean the inside of the valve body and the rubber switchblock, clean the rust off the flat springs, maybe re-arch the bent one alittle...(thirty years is a long time) use a light lubricant..something that wont attack rubber... like some of the better spray silicones...just alittle.. let it dry and re-assemble.. Test it back on the car leaving the back off of the unit...try again..watch the plunger as someone turns on the lights for you....If its moving both ways, and you have vacuum coming out of the actuator feeding the Lift canisters.
But if they aren't going up, make sure your lines are good, check your vacuum resevoir tank for tightness and connection and the see the FAQ on Headlight Canisters.
5a. If the above test found that yours won't open, but if its manually moved to its outward position, and sucking on the small line on the back of the unit returns it to its inward postion, thats good, we can fix that...
5b. If you were so unlucky as it doesn't work either way...we can fix that too...
Well this is where i was stuck at...and i suspect alot of others failed at the same spot, or will fail there.. the diaphram works on the off, if pushed open manually first, but the rod wont push out on its own. What has happened is the rubber bushing seal between the body and the shaft had dried out, shrunk, slipped inside, there is nothing wrong with the diaphram, (yet) this side needs a seal around the shaft to pull the diaphram out.
Now im gonna save you alot of time and money here....and you can fix your car any way you choose,but this worked on my Toro and if you take your time and work carefully you can fix yours too. Now if this would affect your Toro in a Show Car Event, maybe you should check into it before modifying yours..
6. Basically, what we need here is someway to move this plunger...and we don't want to destroy what we have so far...even though it doesn't work!..
Go out to your local Big A or any auto supply house, and pick up a choke-pull off assy.. # 70-38,now that is Big A's number, but it was on just about any rochester or carter from the late sixties thru the 70's...it has a small arm, has a fitted slotted groove around the opening to the actuator rod. Its throw should be as close to 3/8" as you can find.
Check the fit between the back of the body and groove on the diaphram body. CAREFULLY, useing a good exacto knife cut the back of the valve body out, leaving at least 1/16" on both sides, and cut off flush with the bottom.
Now using your exacto, cut the sides of the flange on the choke diaphram, alittle at a time..evenly on both sides,till it just slides into the back of the valve body.. cut the bottom of the flange off level and about 1/16" above the opening to the rod, this will allow a straight stroke to the switching block. Take your time and fit it carefully, a good tight fit with out spreading the sides of the valve body. Now, note how the shaft is offset alittle? Our attachment to the rubber switch block will counteract that. Take a small Amp connector, a ring terminal connector, the blue will be the best fit and for strength, and remove the blue plastic cover, leaving just the metal ring..
On the back of the switching block there is a rubber tab to hold the back of it in the plastic casing. remove the plastic and spring spacers from the rubber and CAREFULLY step drill the back center on that tab,on the rubber block starting with wire drills and work your way up to one size smaller than the ring terminal....the rubber can not expand when you insert the ring terminal or it will drag on the body walls..drill slowly and only deep enough to fit the terminal in.
DO NOT drill into the valve holes on the rubber block..step drilling will remove more of the rubber from the hole, and insure your in the center..
Now..align the terminal with the rod shaft....yes it will be too long. Just get the offset worked out. check for fit, and cut off the shaft (put it in the vice and cut it with a hacksaw) smooth edges with a file, and check fit again, mark for hole in center of ring terminal, step drill hole to size of screw...i used a flathead self-taping screw for computers, screwed it fast..touched the excess thread of the screw on the grinder, check fit and operation one more time...then one drop of super glue on the threads, one on the terminal at the rubber.. reassemble the springs and plastic carrier, and slide the whole thing down into the body..in the groove and notch on both ends.....
No i didn't forget about the back cover....you have to cut in half, slide one end in, then the other the opposite way, make sure it lays down flat, those small runners on the top of the plastic run against the cover there..if you have to trim on of the sides again to get it down flat...ok...didn't use tape on mine wanted a clean look, but if you wanted to tape it with electrical tape you could...though it cant go anywhere....replace all lines and try it!.The new diaphram is the up circuit.... the original works the "down"...
If neither of your original diaphrams are working? the choke pull off that i used in this repair, has some spring tension on it...it should let your lights down by itself when you shut them off. The catches and hold them in place and vacuum remains at the diaphram all the time the lights are on.
I cant stess enough that the rubber has to be step drilled until you get a tight fit, yet it doesn't change the shape of it....if it flares in any direction,when you insert the ring terminal, it won't work correctly,when done... if you have to..use an emery board on the rubber for fine adjustments, that works too..
As i said earlier, this modification works better than OEM for me, and if done carefully, and painted black to match the original, it looks good and it works!
Ok now all back together and they work?..Great! You know what they say...Necessity is the mother of all invention.....or you could hope to find one at a swap meet, if your lucky..