MatraSport Forum

I figured why my project murena headlights were in the position.....they had been fixed there by a small weld on the stop. So....i am not unsure if all the bits to lift /fall the lights are fitted to the car.
Can someone post diagrams/images of the headlight set up please?
Thanks
Ian

You could look at the catalog from Simons here:
http://www.simon-auto.de/pdf/kapitel_17m.pdf (http://www.simon-auto.de/pdf/kapitel_17m.pdf)
It shows the active parts. The part nr. 17.007 connects the lift bar to the bottom of the light housing. The end hole in the "Verbindungsstange" is connected to the manual lift cable from under the dashboard. The centre hole is for the spring (feder) part nr. 17.008. The other end of the spring is hooked to a bracket on the chassis.
You can also see where the vacuum motor connects to the lift bar.

If someone welded the light housing in place you are probably missing a few parts. :(
The lights can be manually lifted via the cable under the dash board. Once lifted the knee mechanism is supposed to lock in place so the lights stay up if no vacuum is available.
But welding them in place suggests that at least the vacuum motor is not working and/or the vacuum solenoid is defective.
Getting to the vacuum motor is difficult, even from beneath the car. To work on this take the front bumper off, if you haven't done so already. ;D

The Murena has not originally a vacuum motor, the vacuum will be retrieved from the negative pressure in the intake and "stored" in a reservoir tank in the engine compartment. From there it goes vacuum tubes under the car to light lifting solenoid and braking power vacuum.

On my car I had several leaks until the solenoid and I mounted a separate vacuum system with a separate vacuum motor. I also had to replace light lift actuator, as this was leaking.Then I plugged the outlets in the intake.
 My car was completely transformed when I got rid of leakage in the intake!

http://www.matrasport.dk/forum/index.php/topic,2641.0.html

Thanks for the replies.
My car is missing some parts. The vacuum diaphragm is gone from the ns and perhaps more I am unaware of.
I saw a picture of a conversion to the 924 set up for lifting the lights, does anyone have a link to the this information or can offer insight? I have run many 924s and have the parts needed, so think I will be trying that option.
Cheers
Ian

What I meant by vacuum motor is the gadget that actually moves the lights. Don't know what it is called. ;)

As variation points out, there are many places where the vacuum can leak. If the whole system is not air tight then the power brakes won't work properly, the lights won't raise/lower properly and the engine will not run well. My car had several leaks and I replaced all the vacuum hoses- Two years later several had cracked causing leaks and poor brakes, etc.
The rubber dries out in the hot engine compartment, so check the hoses regularly.

On my first Bagheera there was rust on the ends of the chassis member that acted as a vacuum vessel. Not an issue on a murena obviously. However, as a temporary measure, I used a spare air horn compressor to supply air to the actuator (with direction of flow swapped round obviously).  They don't produce much pressure but plenty of volume (if a bit noisy) so fine for a temporary fix.

good advice -but I have no actuator - the solenoid valve that would feed pressure to the actuator goes nowhere. So I am going to try to make the 924 fix work.

Hi

Different car but similar issues:

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-chassis-f36/woohoo-working-light-pods-t30862.html

The thread is worth reading as there are alternative options there for you.

Regards
John

Thanks for the link. The mx5 option looks good too. Will let folk know how i get on.

If the solenoid valve goes nowhere then make sure that the vacuum hose that leads to it is plugged so you don't loose vacuum that way.

As Jon says, this is very important, otherwise the engine will soak in "false" air and run very irregular, ....... and with very high combustion temperature.