whoever

the hell was on the design team for the front engine block of the hyundai elantra is an idiot. last night i changed the headlight on the driver's side. easy job right? your feeble minded cousin can change theirs right? first of all i had to remove a plastic cover that goes around the battery and doesn't guard or cover anything. this is held by 3 screws on one end and pivot bolts that do not pivot on the other end or unscrew. i broke the plastic off from one of them when i moved it out of my way. then about 2 inches away from the battery is a round plastic cover that screws off kind of like a bank main safe door would open. then you remove the electrical wiring. then you unclasp some metal spring wire that comes across the entire back of the bulb. then you have finally made it to the core where the bulb lives. now there are no keying features or alignment slots for the bulb. so you have to hold it and then look at it on the outside to see if it appears straight and aligned. while holding what you think is good alignment with one finger you have to use the others to bring the metal spring across and lock it in the groove. which seems simple enough, but remember that i am working in 2 inches of space by the battery that i refused to go to the hassle of moving. oh yay, and i can't see. no matter where i put the flashlight, the groove that i was looking for was behind something else and i couldn't determine where to put the spring. after a few minutes of trying to clasp it and repositioning the bulb, i was starting to sweat so off came the gloves and coat. around the time that i pinched my finger on something unknown, the gloves came back into play. after a good ten minutes, the spring did not come back with my finger. i then slammed the wiring back on, closed the vault and certainly when i was putting the plastic covering back on i broke the other pivot and dropped one of the screws into some cubby hole of my engine and no i did not align the bulb correctly and my light is a little high. whether is high enough to get pulled over.....we'll see. i am going to do some networking and track down the bitches who thought all of that was necessary for a headlight bulb.