Headlight Ground

[BashawT]

Question - does the base of the headlamp and the cup of the headlight bar need to be bare metal for grounding? Both of mine are painted and I want to know if I need to remove the paint before installing.

Thanks!!

 

[Kurt in NJ]

Use new lockwashers

 

[Ed in Maine]

I have installed a separate ground wire from inside the head light to the area where the mounting bolt is installed. At least you can count on having an excellent ground path to this point. If you wanted to do a great job, conceal a ground wire under the head light bar to the two fender bolts.

I have also installed external ground wire from the distributer all the way back to the ground connection to the frame. This wire is easily hid behind manifold and over the back of the engine to the ground terminal of the battery. This will insure that you have a full 6 volts at the distributer points. Ed

 

[nkaminar]

Use your multimeter in the ohm setting to measure the ground. Measure between the bucket and a good place on the engine or frame. Sometimes the headlight bar can not be grounded.

 

[GPierce]

I threaded a wire from radiator shroud up thru the headlight conduit into the headlight bucket. In the headlight bucket I drilled a #40 blind hole in the center of one of the rivets that attaches the bracket to the bucket. Then I attached the ground wire with a ring connector to the rivet with a #4 PK screw. That ended my grounding problems and flickering LED headlights.

 

[Clem Clement]

Put your Dremel to work in the mountings and fittings.

 

[JayJay]

The heavy triangular plates on the inside of my headlight buckets that attach the headlight mounting stud have nuts and washers. I ran separate ground wires from one of these studs down the wire conduits and attached to the frame with the screws that mount the hood latch. This same ground point could also be used to wire in a horn relay if you so choose.

 

[Badpuppy]

I ran a ground wire between the conduit inside the radiator shell to the forward hood latch mount on each side. Screw clamp to the conduit, ring lug at the hood latch. Much better connection than paint.

 

[Bob Bidonde]

I learned by pain that grounding stuff in a restored Model A needs help. I have added jumper wires grounding the body, the engine, the drive train, the frame, the steering & the headlight bar. Also, I scraped paint of of the faying surfaces of many of the Model A's components, especially ignition parts to achieve good grounds.

 

[BashawT]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I ran a ground wire from the socket to the frame.

- Travis

 

[rotorwrench]

The hardware will carry the ground path as long as nuts and bolts have some bare metal for contact on each related assembly. I coat those areas with silicon grease to prevent corrosion with the hardware.