Different way to wire headlights

Ayers1

Ayers1

Well-known member
I was wiring up my lights today and came to the headlights. Opened them up and someone had cut all of the wires leading to the sockets. I thought for a bit and wondered if a 4 prong flat plug would work. The holes were a little small so I used needle nose pliers to open them up a little the plugs on the new harness fit nice and snug and the wires were the same colors as the stripes on the harness. Once the conduit is connected you can't see anything is different. Seems like a much better connection than the sockets in the bottom of the headlight bucket. Thought I'd pass it along and see what your opinions were.
 

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I was having trouble with my headlights flickering and burning out bulbs. I decided to hard wire from the wiring harness wires directly to the bulb socket wires, bypassing the socket at the entrance to the housing - essentially what you did, but I used standard Model A connectors on each wire, not a gang connector like you did. I also ran a dedicated ground from the headlight housing back to the frame. No more issues.
 
That's another good fix. I was anxious to make progress and had a couple of these trailer harnesses laying around and thought I'd give it a try. More than 1 way to skin a cat!
 
I wired my headlights exactly like JayJay did. That way if I ever need to I can still pull the wires thru the conduit.
 
I just rewired original sockets with heavier wire because I had it and kept the original connector,used a new lock washer to ensure the ground—- proper restoration seems to eliminate the need for modification — that was over 40 years ago— still no issues and bright lights,same bulbs and I drive a lot at night.
 
Y-Blockhead said:
I wired my headlights exactly like JayJay did. That way if I ever need to I can still pull the wires thru the conduit.
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Yeah, the way I used the plug, it is attached to the light sockets and I can pull the harness out if needed.
 
I did something similar to replace the 3 wire plug. Rewired original sockets from a good light harness. Used bullet type butt connectors so wiring can be removed thru lighting conduit. The repo version is shown at the bottom as a comparison.
 

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AYooperA said:
I did something similar to replace the 3 wire plug. Rewired original sockets from a good light harness. Used bullet type butt connectors so wiring can be removed thru lighting conduit. The repo version is shown at the bottom as a comparison.
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Yes, that is the way I do it on all cars I rewire.
 
The original bayonet connection to the buckets was a good set up. The problem is that the poorly made replacements are not so good. There are ways to make it work well but it takes modification or proper fabrication of some of the parts unless a person finds the rare original pieces in good condition.
 
rotorwrench said:
The original bayonet connection to the buckets was a good set up. The problem is that the poorly made replacements are not so good. There are ways to make it work well but it takes modification or proper fabrication of some of the parts unless a person finds the rare original pieces in good condition.
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Agreed. It’s been that way since the late 1960s, I remember having trouble with repro sockets back when I started in the hobby. And the repro conduits aren’t much better, the cheap thin metal used on the housings that screw onto the sockets don’t fit correctly. It’s a well designed system ruined by crappy execution.
 
I have 1 A that a headlight likes to flicker to it's own beat so I was happy to have thought about doing this. Glad to hear that I'm on the right track!
 
I would solder the wires and use shrink tubing rather then just crimping the wires. Or bare crimp connectors , solder, then shrink tubing.
 
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