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MrTube

MrTube

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So,


Would it be considered tacky if I solder a wire to the outside of the headlights and soldered the other end to the side of the radiator shell in plain view :D


I went to aim the headlights tonight and my grounds apparently stink. I seem to have a poor connection where the housing pivots. Guess i'll dig into it tomorrow. :(:mad:
 
Yes :eek:

I do not think I have seen a ground wire soldered to the H.L. Shell but I have seen where someone used a length of house wire and sheet metal screws, in both the Head Light and Radiator Shell. A Real Class Repair.

Chris
 
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What about soidering ground wire to (flexable cable that goes from radiator shell to head lights). Put other end of ground wire to a good ground.
 
I ran grounds from both headlights through the conduit and grounded under the mounting screws of the front hood clamp. Both wires are out of sight.
 
plan A, i would clean up the mounting points where you are losing the ground and repair it that way. plan B, i would run it inside the conduit if plan A failed. and yes if i saw one with wires attached to the outside of the bucket it would be quite humorous to me.
 
It doesn't take a lot of effort to clean the headlight and fender attachment points to get the ground you are looking for. Works for me on my four cars. I preserve the connections with a conductive anti-seize compound. Gar Williams
 
I'm going to try and clean up the mounting points to get good grounds.

I'm curious how people are running ground wires inside of the conduit. Once you hit the plastic insulator you only have 3 spots for wires to pass? Where do you pass the ground?
 
Another idea to consider, if you remove the original insulator that separates the three wires, you can use modern bullet connectors to connect the headlight wiring to the wires from the bulbs. They are out of sight inside the headlight shells, and allow you to avoid problems with either worn out original or bad reproduction connectors that seem to give you trouble. Maybe not correct for the purist, but totally hidden and effective. This would allow you to easily have room for an extra ground wire inside the conduit if necessary.
 
If you remove the headlight wire plug, don't you lose the alignment of the wires with the contact points in the socket as well as the pressure to compress the springs inside the socket? I think you'd have to replace the socket/plug arrangement with bullet connectors and figure out some way to maintain the conduit connection to the headlight bucket.
 
MCHinson said:
Another idea to consider, if you remove the original insulator that separates the three wires, you can use modern bullet connectors to connect the headlight wiring to the wires from the bulbs. They are out of sight inside the headlight shells, and allow you to avoid problems with either worn out original or bad reproduction connectors that seem to give you trouble. Maybe not correct for the purist, but totally hidden and effective. This would allow you to easily have room for an extra ground wire inside the conduit if necessary.
Click to expand...

I wonder why they didn't use the same connectors used to connect the tail light to the harness in the headlight rather then the spring loaded connectors? Seems like it would have been cheaper.

Maybe it would've taken longer to assemble on the line?
 
On a redone car it can be pretty hard to get a ground path the original way.we all paint things way more than they were originally.Starting at the bucket,thick paint on the headlight bar,then at the bar mounting bolts,the fender brace,and the frame.If you use a urethane you will find that lock washer ends won't always penetrate the paint.That is tough stuff.I have a truck that I redid,then I had to chip,scrape and sand four locations to get a ground.I had to establish a ground between the frame and fender brace,fender brace and headlight bar,headlight bar and headlight bolt.I had used a nice old pair of unrestored commercial headlights and found no ground path between the holdown bolt and the riveted on piece,then no path between the riveted on piece and the bucket.They were nice looking lights that had sat in a barn since the truck was cut into a tractor during the war.As good as they looked they had corroded under each joint enough to prevent a ground.
 
Solder the wire to the socket if you are adding a wire, that should be made of brass --solder is easier to bond to brass than stainless, or steel.

Replacing the lockwashers with new ones may be all that is needed to make a good original ground path --headlight mounting, headlight bar mounting, fender brace
 
Pilotdave said:
If you remove the headlight wire plug, don't you lose the alignment of the wires with the contact points in the socket as well as the pressure to compress the springs inside the socket? I think you'd have to replace the socket/plug arrangement with bullet connectors and figure out some way to maintain the conduit connection to the headlight bucket.
Click to expand...

If you simply remove the insulating piece that holds the three original wire connectors, the conduit will still attach to the headlight bucket correctly. The three wires can easily be connected using modern bullet connectors, bypassing the springs. If you ever disassemble it, you would probably need to have the wires labeled to easily get them back together correctly, but most of us will never have to take that back apart during the time we own the car. When using the original spring loaded connectors, I had some trouble with the headlights from time to time. After re-wiring with modern bullet connectors, I have never had to work on them again.
 
MC, that sounds like a very reasonable plan! Since the conduit attaches to the socket and the socket attaches to the bucket, the spring tension doesn't factor into attaching the conduit to the bucket.
 
MrTube said:
So,


Would it be considered tacky if I solder a wire to the outside of the headlights and soldered the other end to the side of the radiator shell in plain view :D


I went to aim the headlights tonight and my grounds apparently stink. I seem to have a poor connection where the housing pivots. Guess i'll dig into it tomorrow. :(:mad:
Click to expand...

Why make it complicated, just use a sharp center punch to make 3 small burrs in the mounting cup before installing the lights. Also take a cue from Gar Williams and use dielectric grease on ALL conections.
Rainmaker Ron
 
Not directly on point, but while you are at it, check the ground connection from the frame to teh batt. Paint, rust, crud, grease etc gets in there. Also connect another ground cable from teh batt to the transmission mount for engine ground. Anything that improves any ground will improve everything electrical. My brother, who knows these things, says that 90% of all electrical troubles, car, house, radio, etc are ground related.
 
I drilled out one of the rivets on the shell mount and put a stainless screw in from the bottom and put the ground wire there from the inside.

Of course you have to have a real good ground between the shell mount and the headlight bar.

I cleaned them out with a wire brush and then after install used a clear caulk to seal the water out.

Dennis L Oberer
Green Bay WI
 
MCHinson said:
If you simply remove the insulating piece that holds the three original wire connectors, the conduit will still attach to the headlight bucket correctly. The three wires can easily be connected using modern bullet connectors, bypassing the springs. If you ever disassemble it, you would probably need to have the wires labeled to easily get them back together correctly, but most of us will never have to take that back apart during the time we own the car. When using the original spring loaded connectors, I had some trouble with the headlights from time to time. After re-wiring with modern bullet connectors, I have never had to work on them again.
Click to expand...
After many problems with my 31 PU, including shorts, opens, etc. this is what I did. Haven't had a problem since then. While I was at it, I ran a ground wire from inside the bucket, thru the conduit and secured it to one of the radiator mounting bolts. All hidden and out of the way.
 
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