The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay WOOHOO!!!! (Or: Das Blinkenlights)

Well, I spent the evening rewiring the right side parking light tonight. Sometime between 1964 and the early 1970's Grandpa wanged it on something and busted the parking light lens and messed up the socket. Actually, messed up is too gentle of a description... The socket was irrevocably destroyed, or as us young computer geeks might say, Pwn3d. [sic]

Instead of finding something similar to stock -- which I could have done -- I decided to do the old "Single To Double Pole Socket Conversion".

It works GREAT (aside from a grounding issue which will be resolved after making a trip to the flaps for some white wire). I used a 1157 (indexed, double poled) socket with an 1154 (6v, indexed, dual filament) bulb. The dimmer of the two filaments matches the brightness on my currently unaltered driver's side bulb, and the brighter... Well, let's say that there was some swearing when that baby came on the first time!

So, now I need to take apart the other bucket and wire that baby up, and we'll be ready to remove those FUGLY trailer lights.

This is amazing. I have recently completed new wiring, rebuild and install on the driver's side head & parking light assembly and have the passenger's side all cleaned up ready to install. There was enough left of mine to straighten, de-rust & rewire after the mouse nests were removed. Used a single element 6V bulb as no turn signals are ready just yet. Ran independent grounds from the head light and park light to what looks like the original ground screw on the inner fender.

Wow... Talk about a coincidence...

Is that grounding screw the one that the headlight uses? That's the one that I was planning on going with for my ground wire.

What I'm thinking I'll do is pick up some 12 gauge wire and ground the entire bucket, seeing as that's the way the socket grounds. I'm not too sure how I'm gonna pull that off yet, but I'll think of something.

Brendan

Yes, that screw is the same as the headlight ground goes to. It is just forward of the hot wire terminal strip. In addition to the headlight ground I ran a separate ground wire from the parking light. This wire was attached using the threaded ( 8-32 ??) hole that is in the casting just behind the parking light socket hold down bolt. (Your '46 may be slightly different but there must be a bolt that holds the parking light socked to the rest of the world somewhere you could use that ) When I took mine apart there was nothing mounted to this hole so I cleaned it up and used it for a ground. I had purchased the rubber gaskets that go between the headlight pod and the fender and also the gasket that goes between the parking light pod and the headlight pod so I figured that a ground wire from each would be a good idea.

I think that the parking lights are just different enough that that solution isn't going to work.

I can't remember why, but the parking light housing wasn't ready when they went into production for the '41 model year, so they put the same housing on that they were using on the '40 model year Pontiacs on instead. (Here's a different picture ) Then, by the time they started building the '42s they had the housings ready and they switched. The new housings screw down from the top and there's no guides or anyhing to sandwich the terminal (or wire) between the parking light housing and the headlight bucket, so it'd just flop around on the screw providing intermittent ground. (a guide of some kind would have been nice. It's hard to find those bloody holes)

What I was thinking I'd do is bring the wire up through one of the clip holes in the top of the bucket and then sink a short sheetmetal screw in. Theoretically, that should do the trick.

ETA: It works like a champ.