During a recent detailing of my 95 Sc2, I noticed to my dismay that the left pop up headlight seems to have excessive lateral play.

Upon inspection, there is a horizontally mounted brace that mounts to the inside edge of the headlight assembly frame (on the metal piece which runs across the entire front of the vehicle). It looks alike a rivet or something similar has rusted away, leaving the assembly frame and therefore the headlight door and therefore the headlight itself to shift around.

The right side is intact but corroded as well, so i can't really tell what's holding it in there.

If it is a pop-rivet - anyone know what size?

I don't currently own a pop rivet tool but will acquire one to address this problem. I just need to know what to replace it with to repair it properly.
Zip ties only go so far.....

 

Would expect to see a failed spot weld rather than a pop rivet in such an application. Need to look further/harder and compare the broke with the not-broke ....

 

thank you , OA -- will further investigate this weekend and report back

 

No problem there, Dref -- keep us informed of your progress.....

 

Well, my original description was a bit off. Apparently the flip up headlamps are each mounted to a mounting frame. The frame is attached to the car via flat metal positioning pieces that are bolted to the front cross piece under the hood. It is not a spot weld but in fact a rivet that attaches one of the positioning pieces to the headlamp mounting frame.

After 14 years of wisconsin and nj winters, the slat has eaten away at those mounting frames. The side that has the issue actually is not only missing the rivet--it's missing the bottom half of what was the opening the rivet was located in.

With the mounting frame damaged as such, I can't reattach with a new rivet in the hole since it isn't a hole anymore.

Maybe I will try to locate some headlight mounting frames from out west where the salt hasn't gotten to them......I'm sure it would be a pain to disassembe but would be worth it in the long run.

Otherwise I will have to come up with a custom solution to reattach. It's not like the headlight is waving all over the place---but it does help explain the odd trajectory of the headlight when it flips up and the whack settings of the alignment screws required to align the headlight.......