Classic/Antique Car Repair: headlight adjustment, chrome rims, chrome headlight

Question
I have a 77 MGB and need the headlights adjusted. Is there a formula for a do-it-yourselfer to adjust the headlights on this small car. I've tried , but can't seem to get it right.

Answer
Hi Charlie,

Yes, it can be done without any of the special aiming tools. Just prise the chrome headlight rims off and find the two adjusting screws on each head light. One for "up/down" and the other for "right/left" on each headlight. Position the car on level ground (like in your garage) and measure aproximately from the ground up to the center of the headlight bulb. Then about 20 foot away place an "X" on a wall or even a piece of cardboard aproximately 2 to 3 inches below the measured amount from the ground you just measured. Turn on your head lights on "High" beam and adjust each beam to be centered on the "X" mark. As for "right/left" I like my left beam to be straight ahead and the right beam to be a little to the right to show the edge of a road better but some like both beams to be straight ahead. Take it out at night where there is no oncoming trafic to see if it is OK then you can make minor adjustments. Then snap the chrome rims back on. Some states have specific laws as to where on the road a high beam should be. If you used "3 inch" drop in 20 ft you can see that with a little math you can estimate how far out that beam will hit the road. We had high tech and expensive aiming equipment at several of the dealerships I worked in but we found that we could set one kind of car (MGs) with the equipment and then we marked the wall of our shop where we pulled in at with an "X" so any MG we pulled in could be quickly checked as we pulled in the shop. Any car with a higher light would just be that much higher on the wall so we ended up with a different color "X" for cars like Jag sedans. I hope this helped
HMF