Headllight Hole Diameter?

[jpswift1]

I can only imagine what you and the crew chief will be bringing back from that auction.......I'd be willing to bet it'll be something fun or truly out of the ordinary, like that 3 wheel John Deere sand trap groomer. 70's in April in WNY is quite unheard of so we'll definitely have to take full advantage of that situation as if it were some intoxicated girl that I went to college with. OK, I'm not going to open that can of worms now.......we'll save the stories for this weekend :X Just wait until you see your reflection in the hood of the Thunderchief.......I'm amazed every time I see the transformation of a yellowish-white chalky oxidized ABS Attex bodies into "just out of the showroom" condition.

[hydromike]

I had to do the same thing with my EFI Chief; I was just wondering if your ultimate plans included the blackouts and rubber grommets. Gonna be beautiful fabbing weather this weekend. 70's! There's an auction that morning in Medina, so who knows what might be dragged home for you to inspect/drool over when you pop in. These folks tend to accumulate a lot of junk over the winter months.
~m

[jpswift1]

I know you're jonesin to get them measured, but we can go out and see if I have an old body when you're up this saturday.... I think the old Chief top is still out there....

What are you actually cutting out, anyway? If you want to use blacked out lights with the rubber grommets, won't you need to have the standard grommetted-style diameter cut out of the T-Chief top? You're a weird dude, so I really have no clue what's going on....



If you let the rubber grommets sit in hot water for a few moments before trying to put them in, they slip in like brand new....

~m

Hey Mike, Here's the story with what's going on. The racer is a 1973 440 Thunderchief. The 1973 Chief and Thuderchiefs came with chrome headlight bezels and the headlight holes were a smaller diameter than the 1974+ Chiefs and Thunderchiefs that used a rubber grommet to mount the headlights. Here's what a 1973 looks like with the headlights out:



I'm just cutting the holes out a hair bigger so they will accept the black rubber grommets. Attex cut smaller holes on the 1973 Chief and Thunderchief machines because they used the chrome bezels to hold the headlights on and they protruded out of the body a bit more than the 1974+ machines. This way, the machine will look like a 1974+ and I can use the blackouts with the rubber grommets. And plus the chrome headlight bezels won't really work with blackouts either.



I can be a stickler when it comes to details sometimes. Hopefully this cleared up the confusion. Thanks again everyone for all the help and I look forward to some custom fab work up at the shop this weekend Mike.......I'm certain that it'll be a good time as always.

[6X6]

Don mentioned heat, and a Heat gun on the headlight rubbers on the racer and they popped out like nothing. Hot water or heat gun would do the same, I'm sure, for install.

[hydromike]

I know you're jonesin to get them measured, but we can go out and see if I have an old body when you're up this saturday.... I think the old Chief top is still out there....

What are you actually cutting out, anyway? If you want to use blacked out lights with the rubber grommets, won't you need to have the standard grommetted-style diameter cut out of the T-Chief top? You're a weird dude, so I really have no clue what's going on....

That explains why some are such a pain to get in. The holes are all different sizes!

Turvuren, dont ever take yours out, thats a real tight fit, lol.

If you let the rubber grommets sit in hot water for a few moments before trying to put them in, they slip in like brand new....

~m

[LarryW]

That explains why some are such a pain to get in. The holes are all different sizes!

Turvuren, dont ever take yours out, thats a real tight fit, lol.

[turvuren]

I measured an Attex 252 crazy colt at 5&3/8

[jpswift1]

Thanks Lewis! I really appreciate it, this helps a whole lot. So you have two Attex projects you're working on......the '73 Chief body and another one? Glad to see your collection is continuing to grow.

[lewis]

Light hole size

5 and 5/8 to 5 and 11/16 give or take a few thousands. One of the light holes in mine is a smig bigger than the other. Hope this helps JP

[jpswift1]

That's a good point, Larry, but I already have stock Attex grommets and blackouts that George made for me....thanks though I'd like to keep the body of the machine as close to stock as possible because I love the looks of the Chiefs and Tunderchiefs.

Still looking for the diameter of the Attex headlight holes, anybody know? Thanks.

[LarryW]

If you are just doing black outs, I wonder if amphicat rubber grommets would work? Just an idea I though of because they use smaller headlights.

[jpswift1]

Just wanted to see if anyone has the measurements for the headlight hole diameter still. Any help is appreciated. Thanks guys.

[jpswift1]

Thanks guys! I think the first generation Attex and the poly body Attex machines all used the same diameter headlights. Lewis, thanks but you don't have to measure the small holes. Nate has the small holes too and I believe he mentioned they were 4 1/2".....I do appreciate it though. The reason I need the measurement of the bigger holes is because I need to make the smaller holes bigger on mine. My machine that I'm building for my racer is a 1973 440 Thunderchief. In 1973 the 400 Chief and 440 Thunderchief had the chrome headlight bezels. I can't use the chrome headlight bezels with my headlight blackout inserts that I'm going to be running for this racer, so I will just be mounting them in the rubber grommets, like the 1974-75 style Chief and Thunderchiefs. The rubber grommets won't fit in the smaller holes so I have to cut them out a little bit larger. And guys, don't go popping headlights out just for me. They're a bear to get back in, and that's the reason I didn't take them out of my other machines to measure them, and on top of it the cold weather up makes the rubber and plastic super hard so I'd have to wait until it gets warm out to get them back in. Again, thank you everyone, I really appreciate all the effort.

[lewis]

JP i have the small holes in one of the tops. I'll get the measurement for you tomorrow if you don't get it before.

[LarryW]

Is it same as a first gen machine?