Another good find, Hoppy Headlight Aiming tool

[idrivemopar]

Found this Hoppy B4A headlight aiming tool at a local pawn shop, according to the owner, its been in their hands since 2013 when someone pawned it, never paid the bill, so they put it up for sale in 2014, but nobody bought it, so I got it at $30!!!! Its complete, even has instruction booklet. Will come in handy at least once, since I haven't aligned my headlights since finishing my restoration!!! Its for pre 1996 cars.
It wasn't in a nice vinyl case, but it seems to be in good condition all the mirrors are there and not broken and springs not corroded !

 

[oldbee]

Great find, haven’t seen or used one since the 70’s,lol. Brings back memories though; a normal person never worries about alignment until(?) .

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

Very nice deal on yours. I've got one also, but paid a bit more for it than $30. I've used it to align headlights on 3 of my classics so far and I'm VERY pleased with the results. It has already paid for itself as far as I'm concerned. You'll love it!


Or,......maybe you'll just be "Hoppy" with it?

 

[idrivemopar]

LOL, maybe if I get good at it I can let fellow mopar owners here know if they need it done, where they can come by and I can do it for a small fee! hahahahaha I don't know if there is even anyone in this area that knows how to do alignments on classic cars.

 

[oldbee]

LOL, maybe if I get good at it I can let fellow mopar owners here know if they need it done, where they can come by and I can do it for a small fee! hahahahaha I don't know if there is even anyone in this area that knows how to do alignments on classic cars.

Look for an alignment guy with hair going gray, you’ll have a friend for life- IF you let him do a post-alignment test drive!

 

[mopar 3 B]

Have not used a headlight adjusting tool since 1974.

 

[eldubb440]

early 80s for me......... blast from the past lol

 

[chtampa]

Found this Hoppy B4A headlight aiming tool at a local pawn shop, according to the owner, its been in their hands since 2013 when someone pawned it, never paid the bill, so they put it up for sale in 2014, but nobody bought it, so I got it at $30!!!! Its complete, even has instruction booklet. Will come in handy at least once, since I haven't aligned my headlights since finishing my restoration!!! Its for pre 1996 cars.
It wasn't in a nice vinyl case, but it seems to be in good condition all the mirrors are there and not broken and springs not corroded !
View attachment 571586

I used one of those a few years back and when I was done and drove it at night I ended up with a screwdriver and a garage door.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

I used one of those a few years back and when I was done and drove it at night I ended up with a screwdriver and a garage door.

you must have done something wrong or the Hoppy was defective, cause 3 cars so far and its damn near perfect alignment on each one. Much better than I EVER could do using your method.

 

[chtampa]

That is possible, but I studied the instructions for a few days before and spent over 2 hours getting it all hooked up and working. It must have hated me so back in the box it went. I think I did use the settings when I measured the wall for the centers of the bulbs.

 

[dart4forte]

HS auto shop in 1971

 

[not so famous bob]

I used one of those a few years back and when I was done and drove it at night I ended up with a screwdriver and a garage door.

The buzz used to be a certain distance and heigth to set on the garage door, back in the day. Now a lot of new fords aren`t even adjusted right from the factory, and most people that put the new ultra white or blue bulbs in , aren`t smart enough to give a f--- about weather their right or not.

 

[idrivemopar]

So I calibrated the alignment tool today per instructions, measured my floor angle, and proceeded to mark the position of the lights on the wall with tape boxes around the bright core of the headlights and the "L" shaped tape is the high beam out of the low bulb, so I could compare after using the alignment tool. The tape layout isn't perfect or level, so don't read too much into that.

So, from the results on the wall it looks pretty good.
Drivers side Low beam was Low and In
Drivers side High Beam was High and In

Passenger side Low Beam was just slightly Low and In
Passenger side High Beam was Low and In


It will be interesting when I can get out after dark sometime and see really how well it improved. Before the lights were pretty low and didn't extend out very far from the front of the car, and the high beams were useless.

 

[oldbee]

If’n I remember, rt side was a couple degrees outside of centerline to light up road edge better? And more centered to vertical rather than “down” like the left side.

 

[idrivemopar]

Yes, you are correct, so I wont know until I drive at night, but given that the passenger side was in and low, I hope it will be improved. Actually both were down and in so should be better all around.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

You're gonna love the difference. It'll seem like driving a different car.

 

[not so famous bob]

You're gonna love the difference. It'll seem like driving a different car.

so, what distance from the wall ??

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

When aligning with the Hoppy, you don't even turn the headlights on at all. Align per procedure and go out and drive. Done.

What he has done is a before and after check on the wall because he can't take the car out for an actual drive yet (I assume due to weather) and just wanted to see what change it made.

 

[oldbee]

so, what distance from the wall ??

20-25’ I think for the “beams on the wall” method.

 

[idrivemopar]

When aligning with the Hoppy, you don't even turn the headlights on at all. Align per procedure and go out and drive. Done.

What he has done is a before and after check on the wall because he can't take the car out for an actual drive yet (I assume due to weather) and just wanted to see what change it made.

What he said. Yep, just testing it out to see how it works.

20-25’ I think for the “beams on the wall” method.

According to the service manual its 25 feet on a flat surface.

Another interesting thing is the service manual also has the instructions for using the Hoppy or other similar headlight aiming tools.