The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 1936 GMC T-14 Headlight bucket upgrade

What are guy's doing to up-grade their original headlight buckets from reflector to sealed beam? I only have one reflector for the '36 but have two from a '37 GMC 1.5 ton truck. I don't want to buy the aftermarket chrome unit's as there is no other chrome except the front bumper on the truck.

I'm a little confused. If you're switching to sealed beams, why does it matter about the reflectors?

If you're keeping the old style headlight bulbs, paint the reflectors white. White reflects more light than chrome.

The headlight reflectors focus the light in a concentrated beam. Painting the reflector with anything will diffuse the light, defeating the ability to produce a beam. It is true that chrome absorbs some of the light, whereas silver absorbs very little.

When restoring my '37 the previous owner had converted to sealed beam. I found some reflectors on Ebay and had a local silversmith polish and plate the reflectors. It was not cheap and most of the labor is in the polishing step. The silver plate is microns thin, and does not cover up imperfections. They work amazing well, along with a complete rebuild of the electric system they are as bright as 12 v sealed beam. Straight ahead they light up the road well, but when turning at night you realize the beam is narrow and you can't see much beyond the point of aim. Once completed do not touch the reflector surface with your dirty fingers. To clean the reflectors ask your wife for her silver polish (or better yet get your own).

I also found bulbs on Ebay, 2530 seem to work well. I learned 2531 are for Mopar vehicles with the bulbs oriented 90 degrees off, so don't buy odd numbers for your GM truck!

I forgot to mention that the lens is the other important component of the headlight system. For my 1937 truck it needs to be a "Tiltray" lens. You can't just use any lens of the same dimension, it needs to be matched to the reflector. Do your research. I have enjoyed restoring these headlights and learning but if you want a daily driver I would go with sealed beam.
Kent

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain myself very well. what I want to do is convert to the sealed beams, I just didn't know if I reuse the original reflectors or discard them and some how a-fix a sealed beam unit into the bucket. If so what year assemblies would I need to make this happen. Are they welded in? or some other way of attaching them to the headlight buckets. Thanks for any help with this.

What size are your existing headlights??? If they are the same as 1937-38 Chevy 7" units, the business below I found in an eBay ad might be have something to help you out. Maybe worth a phone call???

Check with the Filling Station. They have halogen conversion kits but they reuse the original reflectors and lenses. They may also have adapters for the 7 inch sealed beams. Or you could try mounting 1947-1955.1 headlight buckets and rings. I don't know if they would fit in your housings, but might be worth a try.

I'll move your thread over to the Electrical Bay, where it'll be a bit more on-topic.

Do you have some pictures of the current setup?

Scroll thru this stuff.

In ‘37 Chevy trucks the bucket is larger than the cars 7”. I think it is 7 9/16. My glass was broken and reflectors polished to brass. I bought halogen reflector set from Carter and I think it’s filling station with tiltray lenses for $40 each, my rings were fine but they are available reasonably priced in chrome or a little more in stainless. The cork gasket to keep from rattling is imperative. IMO by the time you get those 7” sealed beams hokey installed in the oversized buckets they look really bad to anyone that knows better. Those original bulging lenses are iconic for those years so the flat LED’s are even worse than a sealed beam.

I am going to see if I can find some buckets that I can retro fit and use 6014 ? bulbs.

Here is what I was referring to from Jim Carter. Replaces the original reflectors and fits the original 7 9/16” buckets.