Mysterious headlight movement

[CJS]

I have managed to create a three quarter inch gap in the bodywork (when flush) between the bonnet and the top of the headlights on my 92 NSX. I was cleaning the rubber strip at the front of the bonnet and noticed that the headlight strips could do with a clean too, so popped them up to do the job (with the bonnet also open). With the bonnet and the headlights back in place, the aforementioned gap had been created. I've had a look through the manual to no avail. Any ideas gratefully received.

[Nick Graves]

Have you displaced a rubber stop, or have you depressed the tin lid?

You will notice a lot of old MX-5s have depressed tin lids, because owners press too hard polishing.

There is a bit of 'adjustment' allowed for accident damage, etc; you simply bend them up again!

I expect the NSX may be similar.

[CJS]

Thanks Nick - sounds plausible, I'll investigate this weekend>

[Lankstarr]

have you depressed the tin lid?

I don't know if you were talking metaphorically but the headlight cover on an NSX is plastic... I don't think that you could bend it out of shape.

[markc]

The plastic headlamp covers are held in place by 4 screws (each cover), 2 on each side of each cover. The mounting holes are slightly elongated to allow for adjustment. You must pop-up the headlamps to locate these screws.
It is possible that you managed to push up on the lower leading edge of the headlamp cover/s when cleaning the rubber strip forcing the trailing edge to move (rotate on the mounting points) lower, or vice versa.

These screws are often (famously) tight or rusted in place so it should have been difficult to do this in he first place and might be difficult to loosen them for readjustment.

Cheers

Mark

[CJS]

Thanks very much for replies. I don't think I've explained as well as I might have. I believe it's the whole headlight (both of them!) that has moved creating a gap in the bodywork of the bonnet when the headlights are retracted. I'll aim to take a photo this Saturday to make up for my poor communication skills! Thanks gain. Chris

[Nick Graves]

You're right - I'd forgotten how much of the car body is actually plastic!

Well, since the motors can only stop in the up & down positions, if they're bouncing beyond those points (used to happen on the X-1/9 if the diodes failed) then you HAVE done something weird.

[CJS]

Photo of retracted passenger headlight showing gap. The other headlight position is the similar.

[TheQuietOne]

Very odd - out of interest what is the colour / specification of your car? Seems you could have one of the rarer colours!

[Nick Graves]

It looks just like an MX-5 (IYKWIM).

The wing edge isn't too bad, but the inner edge looks depressed.

Open the bonnet & give the inner edge of the lid a gentle upward tug.

It's because you're looking 'under' the bonnet, it looks far worse then it really is.

[CJS]

Very odd - out of interest what is the colour / specification of your car? Seems you could have one of the rarer colours!
The sunlight reflecting the trees makes it look more exotic than it really is, which is black! The car is a UK 92 J reg 3.0L auto. It's only claim to fame is that it was previously owned by an engineer on the BAR Honda team.