The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Headlight wiring junction terminals

Does anyone reproduce the headlight junction blocks that mount to the inner fenders? The insulator strips on my '48 that the terminals mount to basically disintegrated while trying to remove the wires.

The junction blocks are available from just about all of the after market vendors. They are available in a 3 terminal block & a 4 terminal block.

Unless you are a purist, that idea they had is not a great way to do electrical. To have a more reliable connection with less exposure to the elements, do what was done later. Use a good sealed connector set or direct wire it. There really is no reason to have any connector. Sealed beam bulbs have a "connector" on the back for replacing the headlight. The least amount of connections in any electrical system, the better.
Packard 56 to be sort of era correct or all the way to weatherpack and beyond!
Otherwise this or this if you must.

I see you bought a factory wiring harness. Which one? Vendor? Part number?

Those original "junction blocks" / "terminal blocks" work very well/reliably. If you get a lot of moisture (salt water spray, perhaps) inside that area of the engine compartment, maybe the contact surfaces will corrode.

I have some that are over 50 years old.

If you are worried about corrosion on/near those contact, use a non-silicone, anti-oxidant conductive grease on shiney/clean contacts (every auto parts store has a tube of copper-impregnated, anti-oxidant-containing grease).

Thanks however the issue is the plastic strips that the terminals connect to that Insulate them from contacting the metal inner fenders disintegrated when I tried to remove the screws. This is a project that hasn't run in like 35 years. Rewiring the entire truck.

It does not matter what part of the terminal strip is broken. The parts I linked are a complete replacement. All you need is the wire. The new strips may come with rivets. Good luck with that. I would screw the strip on to the fender if I were to use the strip. Which I would not. They are absolutely unnecessary and a place for problems. A lot of mess and trouble to keep safe from water splash and all manner of corrosion. They were used as subassembly connection. You don't have a subassembly issue. I would direct wire all the way to the bulbs. Down left fender to left lights, splice across radiator support/structure to right lights.
If you enjoy keeping completely original, use the strips. Wiring is one place I deviate. I add fuse panels, new wire, fuses, new connectors, contacts, grounds....rewire and upgrade more efficiently.
Again, I ask.....what harness? What part number and what vendor? Thanks

I'm with Tim, having had zero trouble out of the original design I see no reason to change.
Having a junction there makes it easy to remove front clip or pieces of.
It's also original so looks like it should when you open the hood.

A single piece of wire, no terminal strip, is a better conductor but not necessarily a better solution.

You might want to post photos of your problem area.

bartamos kindly linked to original-style replacements (3 lead and 4 lead headlamp terminal blocks).
Those blocks isolate your connections from contacting the inner fenders.

What he's calling plastic I'd call a paper based phenolic insulator.
Like seen here https://www.atlasfibre.com/sheets/

The cotton based phenolic last near forever. On my truck I'd like to add some terminals to those strips for turn signals too, which will require machining new strips and reusing the old hardware. You could do the same to duplicate the original if you didn't want to buy the reproductions (most that I've seen aren't great quality).

I bought a set of those stock terminal blocks for mine were looking pretty nasty. That was 12+ years ago. Still sitting in their original wrappers. LOL