Nothing is more frustrating than taking your'69 GTO to a club meeting or car show only to find out that a vacuum-operated headlight door won't stay up. It was very embarrassing when everyone asked us, "What's wrong with your headlight?"

Our first thought was a vacuum hose must have popped off or perhaps there was a split in the line. If you are a firm believer in Murphy's law, you know that wasn't the case. The real problem was that the vacuum actuator diaphragm had started to leak. The leak in the actuator was very small so when the car was running the door remained closed. The minute the engine was turned off, the vacuum source stopped and the door slowly opened up.

When our'69 GTO was restored, new vacuum actuators weren't available, so the originals had to be rebuilt. They lasted about five years which isn't bad, but what was really needed were new units. Ames Performance Engineering, the GTO specialists, recognized the need for this part and recently started offering reproduction actuators.

The big question was, "should we only change the actuator that needed to be replaced or should we change both units at the same time and play it safe?" We figured that if one unit started leaking, the other unit is probably on the way out also, so we ordered two actuators, two new springs, and a package of bushings for installation, thinking that it would be better to replace both units at the same time. The installation was actually quite easy and only took about an hour.