I have an R53 with the self-leveling xenon headlights. The back of the headlight is attached to the adjusting screws with a metal ball and plastic cup. At the last autocross I ran, the cup popped off the ball leaving a headlight pointed at the ground. I am not sure if it was a bad cone hit or opening and closing the hood 15 times in an hour.

I popped the cup back onto the ball and ran another event yesterday. Going home, I noticed the headlight pointed at the ground again. It looks to me like the plastic cup has lost it's mojo.

I looked on realoem and couldn't find any part numbers. The headlights look like a non-serviceable unit. Is there a way to remove the plastic cup, get a new one and reinstall it? I think it is attached to the headlight assembly using a torx screw.

 

Is this the part you're talking about?




The headlights are sealed units and the only way to get enough access is to remove the lens. You can find info on removing the lens by searching for "Joey mod". The xenon socket popping loose is from closing the hood too hard, usually by dropping, or by hitting large bumps/potholes.

When I shut my hood I lower it until the first/safety latch catches, then press above each headlight to latch each side. I just make sure I don't press too hard to dent the hood with the palm of my hand.

 

That is the part. I opened up the back of the headlight, removed the battery, and had enough room to slip a zip tie around the plastic piece. It popped back into place by pulling on the zip tie.

At autocrosses, we are opening hood the and spraying down the intercooler after every one. We open the hood maybe 15 times over the course of the day. I assume it popped out on one of those times. I am probably going to switch to the halogen headlights so I don't need to deal with this in the future.

 

Opening and closing the bonnet at track/autocross will kill them fast especially if you slam the bonnet shut to ensure it latches on both side. Now I often just let the engine idle a few minutes after the cooldown lap, and not opening the bonnet.

 

My wife and I both drive in autocross so we always have a two-driver car. There is less than 3 minutes between runs most of the time. We noticed we were slowing down through the day instead of speeding up especially on power courses. I asked around and the engine pulls timing once the intake temperatures get too high. When we opened the hood up for the first time, I burned my hand on the inlet pipes. 100+ degree weather in Florida probably isn't helping either.

If I bump up a class, I can run a bigger intercooler but I want to stay on street tires for now.

 

I have that problem with my 06/R53. There are clips that seem to loose their mojo after time, what I've done is to just use gorilla tape to hold it in place, no more moving around.