Ace 100 headlight rim

[Bert44]

I'm restoring a 1968 100 Ace and have found a problem with the headlight rim. The original rim was quite rusty so I bought a NOS rim which looks the same, same profile, fits the shell correctly and has the same lug for screw on the bottom. However, when I put the headlight in position, the rim will not close up to mate with the shell. On closer inspection I found that the portion of the rim that touches the headlight glass extends further towards the glass and pushes the glass further back in the rim. The original protrudes 5/16 and the new one 9/16". This means that the rear of the glass and wire clips hit the edge of the shell before if mates fully. The headlight is an Aiki brand sealed beam.
Hope I've described this well enough.
Does anyone know if I have the right glass or whether there were two rim types?
It looks like I might have to get the old rim re chromed but it will be mighty thin when it's finished.

[rlkarren]

I purchased one of those about 3 - 4 years ago also and noticed that the headlight opening was too small. The original headlight didn't fully seat. I think what you are describing was the same issue I had. To solve it, I used a grinder to widen the opening by about 1/8" total. (that was about 1/16" of material around the inside circumference.) My grinding job wasn't perfect but it was passable. I ended up re-chroming the original though.

If you have a better method of grinding the opening wider and uniformly, I think that would be perfectly acceptable. The headlight should FULLY seat inside the trim ring.

If you end up getting the old one re-chromed, be aware that the screw lug will fall off in the acid process. It's held on with aluminum rivets that will dissolve in the Acid bath. Just reattach with rivets after re-chrome.

$0.02

Roger