1932 Ford headlight inside coating?

deuce-deacon

deuce-deacon

Member
Thanks in advance for any help.

I want to restore a couple of original Duolamp headlights. The few scratches on the outside of the buckets should come out with a good polishing. And I've been able to find replacement hardware.

My problem - there is some surface rust on the inside of the buckets. After that is removed, I'd like to find a suitable coating for the insides of the buckets. The original coating looks like it might be silver paint but I'm not certain.

What did Henry use back in the day?

And what other options have you folks used that has been effective?

thank you -
 
If your talking about a 32 then the inside was the natural stainless ,the reflector is a different story,Ted
 
If you are referring to the non-stainless-steel ring that the rim attaches to, that was originally unpainted, but I paint that portion silver once the rust is removed. Getting that portion free of rust inside and out is a bit of challenge. I use a plastic angel food dish from the dollar store with metal prep in the dish. The headlight housing fits just right and after an appropriate soak and drying time those rings are rust free and ready to paint. It works equally well on '33-'34 stainless headlight housings which also have plain steel outer rings.
 
DavidG said:
If you are referring to the non-stainless-steel ring that the rim attaches to, that was originally unpainted, but I paint that portion silver once the rust is removed. Getting that portion free of rust inside and out is a bit of challenge. I use a plastic angel food dish from the dollar store with metal prep in the dish. The headlight housing fits just right and after an appropriate soak and drying time those rings are rust free and ready to paint. It works equally well on '33-'34 stainless headlight housings which also have plain steel outer rings.
Click to expand...
At least you didn't use the wife's pan
 
I have no expertise or even any real knowledge about how headlight buckets were or are made but was wondering if the interior could be silvered like a mirror.

Just a thought.
 
D. Jones said:
I have no expertise or even any real knowledge about how headlight buckets were or are made but was wondering if the interior could be silvered like a mirror.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...
I am not sure what you are proposing but if you mean to leave out the reflector and figure a way to mount the light the problem would be that the bucket is the wrong shape to properly focus the light. You would end up with a beam of light that flooded the scene but didn't focus on the road.

Charlie Stephens
 
The engineering drawing below May help you identify what you are missing, such as the silver-plated reflector.
 

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Thanks everyone!

FlatheadTed and DavidG nailed my two issues. Looks like the interior of the bucket is stainless; that's what I needed to know.

I am also trying to remove the steel ring as DavidG described. Some sections are now loose after soaking in rust remover, but it is still stuck and appears to have tiny spot welds. Am I seeing that correctly or completely imagining it?

Thanks again!
 
All --

I should have asked the obvious follow up question.

If I grind off the spot welds and replace with new inner rings (which I've now done), what do restorers do to attach the new replacement rings? Spot weld or solder them? Use rivets? Use small screws/nuts? Use nothing?

I'd sure appreciate an answer as to what would be the best approach based on members' experience with replacement rings.

Richard
 
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