No Vac pipes connected at the moment so just the resistance of the bladder which can be pulled in and out by hand with some force. Just trying to judge what should be the norm.
You should understand the system fully before you start adjusting anything as there is more to the system than you might think.
First, as has been stated the emergency pull cable is only for if there is a complete vacuum failure. The system uses a double acting servo, so it pulls the light pods up BUT it also pulls them down. So when let's say the electrics fail to activate the pods, there will probably still be vacuum pulling them down (if the engine is NOT running and the vacuum system is empty there should be no vacuum but other wise there probably will be). If there is any vacuum pulling them down then you will not be able to pull them up with the emergency cable and anyway the moment you release the cable they will close again. If there is no vacuum at all, you should be able to pull them up to full height but only if they are adjusted properly. And this means that the pivot goes 'over centre point' so they then lock in the up position so not even air pressure on them when driving or vibration, will cause them to drop. Nor can you simply push them down by hand. Once they are locked in the 'over-centre' position if you wish to lower them, you need to reach under the front and push the lifting bar backwards first to move the over-centre position back out of locked position. Then you could lower them by hand from above. If you don't have that 'over centre' position when fully up, they are incorrectly adjusted. This should be corrected before any head light adjustment is made to get them correct for an M.o.T.
Another thing often missed is that there is a second cable linked between the head lamp raising mechanism and the bonnet release catch. This was done because when the pods are up, the inner edges of the pods are narrower than the bonnet section between them, so if you went to lift the bonnet with the head lights up, you will hit the pods and damage the bodywork. So the bonnet release interlock was designed to stop you releasing the bonnet from the inside handle if the head light pods are up. This interlock is sometimes broken and could be restricting the head light lifting mechanism. Have you checked it at all?
If you pull the servo rod fully out, measure the length from the centre of the socket to the seal so we can see if the servo is coming out fully. In fact if you measured all the link pivot points from centre to centre including the adjustable links that connect the pods to the lifting cross bar, I could compare them with a correctly set up car. Certainly in one of your photos the link does not look correctly set.
Finally in the photo from the front the RH head light glass is not correctly fitted or not locket in the keyhole slots as it is tipped anti-clockwise compared to what it should be.
Roy
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