thebeebe5 Posted June 27, 2015 Report Posted June 27, 2015 So, I'm learning a bit about the lights on my '37. Discovered there are "parking" lights that actually make the lights bright enough that I thought the regular bulbs were working. These are the lights I drove home with the night I picked up my car. :-/ No wonder all I could see in front of me was my shadow cast by my buddy's '55 Chevy lights.... LOL Turns out the right bulb has one burned out filament, and the left was fine, BUT it will only work if I depress the Hi/Low switch. Got out a multimeter and found one contact in each light does work with that switch in one position, but if the switch is actuated then neither contact has power, and this must have been the position the switch was in for my drive home. I think there could be two scenarios: I'm guessing the switch is bad and my low beams work, OR the switch activates my highs, and the lows never work (think this the most likely). Still have some figuring to do. I also took the time to polish the reflectors in each. They looked pretty good as they were, but since I'm in there.... And I may have found a replacement for the gasket between the glass and reflector. If it actually works I'll post my solution!! Also, I have a nice set of Guide 2004A fog lamps mounted to my bumper brackets and neither are hooked up. I obtained a vintage style switch to wire these up and have a couple of questions. First, what gauge wire should I select to get this job done? Second, where would you all recommend tapping into power to fire these things up? Quote
desoto1939 Posted June 27, 2015 Report Posted June 27, 2015 sometime the foot activated dimmer switch get corroaded and the contacts get film on them. Depress the foot switch severaltimes to see if this first gets the junks off the contacts.. Then also check the wires to make sure they are connected to the headlight junction block. This might be located up near the radiator on the driver side or on a fender. There will be three wires, 1 for the parking lights, 1 for low beam and 1 for low beam. There are three connections and then the wires from the headlight connect to the appropriate stud on the block. I think your car will user the PreFocus headlight bulbs 2331. There is another bulb which looks the same but is as 2330 you need the 2331 also check you owner manual and also parts book for your car. The difference is how the high and low beams contacts are setup in the sockets. So check before you buy some and then find out you bought the incorrect bulbs. The reflectors as sliver plated and do not use chrome polish. Use a silver polish and a cotton ball to polish these. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com Use a 14 or 12 gage wire for the fog lights and you can then tap into your ignition switch and then run the wire over to another manual switch to turn the light off an on. I like having the power come off the ignition switch so that when power is on then they work and you then do not have the possibility of having the lights left on by accident and then drain your battery. Quote
thebeebe5 Posted June 27, 2015 Author Report Posted June 27, 2015 sometime the foot activated dimmer switch get corroaded and the contacts get film on them. Depress the foot switch severaltimes to see if this first gets the junks off the contacts.. Then also check the wires to make sure they are connected to the headlight junction block. This might be located up near the radiator on the driver side or on a fender. There will be three wires, 1 for the parking lights, 1 for low beam and 1 for low beam. There are three connections and then the wires from the headlight connect to the appropriate stud on the block. I think your car will user the PreFocus headlight bulbs 2331. There is another bulb which looks the same but is as 2330 you need the 2331 also check you owner manual and also parts book for your car. The difference is how the high and low beams contacts are setup in the sockets. So check before you buy some and then find out you bought the incorrect bulbs. The reflectors as sliver plated and do not use chrome polish. Use a silver polish and a cotton ball to polish these. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com Use a 14 or 12 gage wire for the fog lights and you can then tap into your ignition switch and then run the wire over to another manual switch to turn the light off an on. I like having the power come off the ignition switch so that when power is on then they work and you then do not have the possibility of having the lights left on by accident and then drain your battery. Good points all, Rich. I have punched the button a number of times. Thankfully I have the repair manual and saw the wire schematic for my car and will be tracing the wires to and from their J-boxes. Will check continuity as well. I do have the 2331's installed. Ordered a couple NOS off ebay, and once everything is working properly I'l probably swap to 35w halogens as suggested to me by Tod. Silver polish was definitely what I used. Found some nice looking cloth wrapped wire on ebay I may try for fog light hookup. I'll check the manual for a switched terminal on the ignition switch. Like the idea of them being key-on dependent. Quote
RobertKB Posted June 27, 2015 Report Posted June 27, 2015 Yes, parking lights are in the headlight pod on the late 30's Mopars. Sounds like your high beam switch is not good. There are replacements around and ones from later model cars work as well. My low/high switch is from a '48 Dodge and fit right in. Reflectors can be sent to Uvira and they coat them with anodized aluminum like all modern cars have. I sent my reflectors there and they still look like new even after 15 years and will never oxidize. I used a set of fog lights as my signal lights after I decided the motorcycle signal lights I used originally were not big enough. Pictures show car before and after adding the fog lights. 3 Quote
thebeebe5 Posted June 27, 2015 Author Report Posted June 27, 2015 Yes, parking lights are in the headlight pod on the late 30's Mopars. Sounds like your high beam switch is not good. There are replacements around and ones from later model cars work as well. My low/high switch is from a '48 Dodge and fit right in. Reflectors can be sent to Uvira and they coat them with anodized aluminum like all modern cars have. I sent my reflectors there and they still look like new even after 15 years and will never oxidize. I used a set of fog lights as my signal lights after I decided the motorcycle signal lights I used originally were not big enough. Pictures show car before and after adding the fog lights. Sharp looking car Robert! Yeah, foglights just LOOK right on these cars IMO. I think my switch is bad too. Just got done tracing wires. Can't find any breaks in them. I cant check continuity with the short wires on my voltmeters and I'm running out of time today to work more... I just am not sure why BOTH high and low witing go through that switch.... Lot's I don't understand... And I wish there was a bit more room to work up in there.... The back of that switch is quite shrouded between the body and frame. Thankfully r/r looks pretty straight forward with the switch coming up into the car rather than out from underneath. There even looks like almost enough slack to grip the wires and remove and reattach to a new replacement. Colors have all changed on the old wires, but they look intact: So, on the new switches they also accomodate the male bullet looking connector? And the headlights both polished up like this: Quote
RobertKB Posted June 27, 2015 Report Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) Yes, the switch takes the same bullet ends. Looking at your picture of the polished reflectors, I think you need to polish them again. Or change the picture. I most certainly concur that foglights looks sharp on these 30's cars. I have seen some factory Mopar foglights on a '48 Dodge D25 club coupe mounted on the front gravel guard and they looked sharp as well. Not my car but same year and model as mine. I would like to find a set for my car. Edited June 28, 2015 by RobertKB Quote
thebeebe5 Posted June 28, 2015 Author Report Posted June 28, 2015 Yes, the switch takes the same bullet ends. Looking at your picture of the polished reflectors, I think you need to polish them again. Or change the picture. I most certainly concur that foglights looks sharp on these 30's cars. I have seen some factory Mopar foglights on a '48 Dodge D25 club coupe mounted on the front gravel guard and they looked sharp as well. Not my car but same year and model as mine. I would like to find a set for my car. Oops! Trying to do all this with an iphone doesnt always work well!! LolI hit 'em again, this time with Cape Cod wipes which I normally wouldn't use on plated silver, but they looked awful in that last picture... This time they're better. Quote
Young Ed Posted June 28, 2015 Report Posted June 28, 2015 Robert Do you have a picture of your fog light mount? I am trying to mount a pair to my 46 pickup for signals. I've got one mount that I think came off a p15. Trying to decide if I should hunt for a match or buy something else? Quote
RobertKB Posted June 28, 2015 Report Posted June 28, 2015 Send me an email Ed at robertkb@shaw.ca I find it much easier to send pictures that way than load onto PhotoBucket. I will get some pictures ready to send. Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 28, 2015 Report Posted June 28, 2015 I have the basic photobucket account and high speed DSL (when it is working) and I can never seem to be able to upload pictures worth a tinkers drat..I long ago burnt down my account to almost nothing... Quote
Lloyd Posted June 28, 2015 Report Posted June 28, 2015 Just a short note on the Uvira aluminum coating. They responded to me that it would be $75/pair and I would have to get them plated with a polished nickel by a regular plater before I sent the reflectors to them. So if you are thinking about that, theres that to.. Quote
RobertKB Posted June 28, 2015 Report Posted June 28, 2015 Just a short note on the Uvira aluminum coating. They responded to me that it would be $75/pair and I would have to get them plated with a polished nickel by a regular plater before I sent the reflectors to them. So if you are thinking about that, theres that to.. I just sent them my reflectors and they sent them back done. Maybe things have changed as I had that done about 15 years ago. Whatever they did worked well as they still look great today as can be seen in the above pictures of my '38 Chrysler. Quote
casper50 Posted June 28, 2015 Report Posted June 28, 2015 For photos I use www.hunt101.com. I find it much easier. Quote
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