The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk High beam indicater plastic

Anybody know of a good material/source for the 1" or so circle of plastic that is in the speedo for the high beam indicator? Mine was red till the bulb burned a hole in it. Hey- It wasn't me that left it on to long !!!! Could probably just use some kinda plastic if it were thick enough not to burn. Glass would really solve that problem!!

Most good craft stores will have "some" type of colored plastics but you better hurry. Not many of those type stores around.

Use clear plastic and paint the bulb!! You will notice a LOT of stuff you buy comes in the clear plastic that is hard to get apart to get at your items. Its thick enough and tough enough to cut it out and use on your indicator. Hey, maybe just spray the clear with red paint?....Just a thought.

I was in a dollar store years ago and bought a childs poka dot play purse. It was clear heavy plastic with colored poka dots. I just used one of the red dots.

hobby lobby has that colored plastic in 8.5x 11 sheets

Any good hobby shop will have sheet plastic in assorted thicknesses, in both colored and clear, as well as appropriate transparent "candy" paints should you need them.

try a lower wattage bulb....

The plastic lenses were burned on my '54 speedo also. Starting in '54, there were two indicator lights ... red at the top for high beam, and green at the bottom for turn signals.

I ended up leaving the lenses off. I painted the indicator bulbs with rattle can paint. Only need a light coat. Let it dry overnight. Try to avoid scraping the bulb on the opening when you insert it into the speedo housing.

The indicator lights are housed in cardboard tubes 1/2" ID by 3/8" long. The colored plastic lenses were fitted onto (over?) the ends of the tubes very near the back of the speedo face. The bulbs are close to the lenses. I can see why they eventually burned.

Even though the tube is in place, but no lens, you can see a ghost of the red bulb at night when the head lights are on low beam.

Bulbs for indicator lights:
6v = #51: 1 candle power, 1.7w @ 7.5v
12v = #53: 0.7 candle power, 1.7w @ 14.4v (if converted to 12v)

Thank you, Lonnie. Nice ideas.

By the way, do you know why there are small areas of darker green interior-housing paint? I have never studied or pondered-over this, but I hope you or Denny or ?? might know or have a good guess.

Thanks,

Tim -

I'll leave the dark green strip question to Bolters with more experience that I have.

Maybe the darker stripes were applied to the gauge cluster and speedo housing to reduce the white intensity of the gauge lights that spilled out to the front of the gauges(?) The color of the stripes is about the same as the green on the bottom of the back of the speedometer face. The stripes are in the gauge cluster housing and the speedometer housing.

The inside of the inner bezels had flat black stripes, probably to trap stray light.

Pics of 1954 gauge clusters and speedometer housings. The cluster housing and one of the speedo housings are original. The inside of the other speedo housing was painted silver by a previous owner. The inner bezels of both sets are original.

I left the inside of my speedo housing original and painted the gauge cluster housing and inner bezels as near to original as I could, including the green and black stripes.

I had the same problem when restoring my '52 speedo. I ended up using blue (wanted modern color in lieu of factory red for high beams) glass meant for stain glass windows (purchased a large box crafts store). I purchased the sheet glass (1/8" thick) and cut it into a circle to fit the indicator bulb socket. Took my time and nibbled the glass into round shape and then used my grinder to finish it up. Turned out perfect and will be infinately durable.

Thanks for all of the replies. Glass would definitely be the most durable. Harder to find and cut. I will check out the craft stores. Thanks again. My LMC parts list is up to $2000, at least this will be inexpensive!!!!!

If you contribute to the site you can get a discount code for a few of the vendors. Could be a very big savings for you, and benefit this great site.

Classic parts sent out a discount code if your on the e mail list. 10%

On my 50 I just went without the color lens for the high beam.
Good Luck

Went to Michaels craft store last night and found a red plastic box. Kinda like one would use to hold 3x5 cards. The plastic is real thick so it shouldn't burn. Now just to shape it right w/out cracking/ruining it. At least it's pretty big, I will get many chances to get it right!!! I'm thinking a grinder or some attachment on dremmel tool should do it. As far as parts catalogs go- I have to get a new one from American Classic Truck Parts. The one I have just lists the parts. No description, pics, or anything to help u make sure u are ordering the right part. That's why I don't order from them. The prices would have to be WAY lower than the other guys to be worth the hassile of reading a very poor catalog. Sorry. Business is business.

Some of the minimag flashlights come with colored lenses about 1 inch dia.
...link...

The discount I referenced earlier is for classic parts (ends Dec 26th)
Not American Classic Truck Parts.

Almost all the suppliers offer big discounts in November.

Let us know how the lens cover works out with the material you purchased.
I may have to follow your lead.

Good Luck

Material worked out great for the high beam indicator. I shaped it- rough cut with cutting wheel and then used grinding wheel to finish. Came out fine first time!! The plastic was a little thick for the little tabs that hold the original material in place so I just touched them ( little tits I call em) with cutting tool on a dremmel tool. Snaped right into place. Not even going to glue them em or anything else. Definitely recommend that plastic box from Michaels. They also had other colors. I think orange, green and maybe blue.

What little tabs? Is the cardboard tube for the high beam indicator still in place?

Can you post a pic, or have you already installed the speedometer into your dash?

There is no cardboard tube in mine (1952) it is all metal. The metal tube is about 1 inch long and is spot welded to the inside of backing plate. The light socket just snaps into the back. Right near the top of that tube, approx. 1/8 " down from the inside edge, there is a ridge that the lens sits on. Between that ridge and the inside edge there are 4 little "tits". The lens originally fit in between the ridge and the tabs. Not real great on posting pics- I am still a nonconforming rebel!!! Mostly cuzz I just don't do it enough to remember How!!!!! hope u get the idea.

Thanks. That's completely different than my '54.

When I needed one I went to the art class in high school and got a scrap of red stained glass, I was able to quickly shape it with some plain old nippers and a coarse diamond sharpening stone I already had.
Works perfect and will never burn or fall out.

Grigg