Headlight harness path and U-grommet

[DanVT]

I’m looking for a couple pictures of the harness path at the headlight bucket on a ‘73tii. I didn’t take a picture of that specific area before I took the entire harness out for a re-wrap. The harness comes through the round grommet on the inner nose piece, then is secured by a black plastic strap on the panel, then to the headlight bucket. My harness has a u-shaped rubber grommet that fits in a u-shaped hole just below the bottom of the headlight bucket. What is the correct path to get the harness back into the bucket to plug into the headlight? It’ll get pinched if goes between the panel and the bucket. Here are some pics of the harness and the bucket area.

Dan

[PaulTWinterton]

Your #3 pic looks correct.  When I was starting my rehab of the nose in 2015 I took a picture after removing the headlight buckets.  Sure enough the u-grommet is jammed between the back of the bucket and the housing.  Not very pretty but the way the factory assembled things it seems.

 

[Mike A]

That befuddled me for a long time 

[02Les]

I guess that's the compromise to use US headlights. The Euro headlight bucket 'aperture' is a larger i/d and the bucket lip fits just under the u-shaped grommet.

[Mike Self]

The reason for this setup: 

 

Euro cars with non-sealed beam headlights use an entirely different headlight housing that's sealed, both front and back to protect the non-sealed beam Euro headlights from rust and reflector corrosion. The back sides have grey plastic "dog dishes" held in place  by rubber bands (really!). Those two little ears in Dan's first picture at 9 and 3 o'clock are what the rubber bands hook onto.  The oddly shaped wire loom grommet at the bottom of headlight housing frame allows the wires to pass under those Euro dog dishes and keep the headlight area sealed.  They don't make any sense on US-bound cars as they have sealed headlight housings with neither sealed housings nor dog dishes.

 

mike

[Conserv]

13 hours ago, Mike Self said:

The reason for this setup: 

 

Euro cars with non-sealed beam headlights use an entirely different headlight housing that's sealed, both front and back to protect the non-sealed beam Euro headlights from rust and reflector corrosion. The back sides have grey plastic "dog dishes" held in place  by rubber bands (really!). Those two little ears in Dan's first picture at 9 and 3 o'clock are what the rubber bands hook onto.  The oddly shaped wire loom grommet at the bottom of headlight housing frame allows the wires to pass under those Euro dog dishes and keep the headlight area sealed.  They don't make any sense on US-bound cars as they have sealed headlight housings with neither sealed housings nor dog dishes.

 

mike

Thanks, Mike,

 

My ‘76 has neither the U-grommets nor the excessively long headlight leads. At some point I’m guessing that BMW gave up — for U.S.-bound cars — on this Euro-based design.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[DanVT]

Ah haaa... so that's why my '73 02 parts car harness has the U-grommet on the harness but isn't attached to the nose panel. The headlight bucket is therefore fastened tightly to the nose.

Thanks Mike & Steve,

 

Dan