ND1 Headlight Leveller Rod Solution

  1. My model of MX-5 is: 2016 Sport Recaro

Evening all,

I was left unsupervised over lunch today and accidentally bought the Eibach Pro-kit lowering spring set for the '5. The question was now what to do about the headlight leveller rod. The stock part is 70mm long and features two M6 threaded studs with locknuts.

A couple are offered by Rev9 Autosport that come with an appropriate amount of JDM tax on them, and while the BBR offering at £30 looks good at face value, the only shipping option rocketed the price to an eyewatering £66 once shipping and tax has been bolted on. What to do then, as this seemed steep for what is essentially a shorted bar? Solution:

2x Heavy Duty Ball Joint M6 RH Thread | Car Builder - Kit & Classic Car Parts Specialist
1x M6 Stainless Steel Studding 330mm | Car Builder - Kit & Classic Car Parts Specialist
1x M6 Stainless Plain Nuts Pack Of 10 | Car Builder - Kit & Classic Car Parts Specialist
1x M6 Stainless Nyloc Nuts Pack Of 10 | Car Builder - Kit & Classic Car Parts Specialist
1x M6 Plain Washers Pack Of 10 | Car Builder - Kit & Classic Car Parts Specialist

Mildly annoying that I had to buy multipacks for the nuts/washers, however all told a smidge over £20 for a some-assembly-required solution delivered. Pics to follow once the springs arrive and I get around to fitting them.

Placeholder comment for future update.

Reset them via ODB2 port, that’s what I did.

BBR ones worked for me :+1:

My domain is primarily mechanical, so I wanted to stay in my wheelhouse in that respect :grin:

No doubt, and they look find on the website. I just couldn’t justify the cost to myself for what amounts to some quite simple parts.

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I can understand that, i work in IT so the mechanical stuff doesn’t come naturally to me but I’ve been working on it having taken on servicing, fitting the exhaust, changing out all of the suspension etc myself.

I started at the point of “if the smoke comes out call a tech”. I think I have progressed a bit from that, but not by much…

How did you get on with this project?

I find myself having to find a solution to this problem and an afternoon with some paperclips has not got me anywhere!

Evening chap.

Was a while back, but easy enough. Bought some threaded bar, some nuts and the ball headed nuts.

Did the spring change, sat the car down and then measured the correct length to have the sensor arm at the same angle as it was before we lowered it. Worked fine, no comments on MOT last year about headlight alignment.

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For those who read this there is a manual height adjustment for the headlights on both ND1 and ND2. If anyone want’s more info just ask.
:heart:

I have seen the link to the online manual for how to adjust the headlights but am a bit confused as it just shows adjusting the passenger side headlight and not the drivers side. Looking at the car, I can see the adjuster bolt for the PS but there is lots of stuff in the way of the DS.
Does the PS adjuster move both headlights together or do you have to dismantle stuff to get to the DS?

The big problem for me trying to do the paper clip reset is the difficulty seeing and accessing the plug to get the right connections, particularly as the manual shows the socket the other way up to how you look at it.

I thought about getting one of these and soldering on 2 wires to the appropriate pins so I could just use the 2 wires to connect easily.

I then remembered that I actually have one of these at home

I will try using this to make shorting out the pins much easier than the last way I tried.

Hopefully that will work or I may try the manual adjustment depending on how easy that is to do!

There are adjusters on both sides, the near side is not as easy as the off side but they are exactly the same. You need a small spanner, it really is not that difficult.
:heart:

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I ended up having the lights adjusted at an MOT station, I drove it last night in the dark for the first time and it was fantastic, I could actually see where I was going on unlit NSL roads on dipped beams!

I thought they looked a bit high but no one has flashed me yet (probably because everyone else is in a tall SUV) so all good.

As they were very low before, it goes to show that there is plenty of adjustment range on the headlights to compensate for this mod.