Light em up

[Russell Winje]

because I am not at all accustom to  this year of Chrysler, I wonder about the brake lights.  Right now, the lights mounted on the trunk lid, either side of the license plate come on, and the lights on the fenders do not.  Are the trunk lid lights the only brake lights and the fender lights just tail/turn signal lights? Going to get to looking at the disconnected wiring soon

[Plymouthy Adams]

very disappointed in the thread title, looking to see some real smoke pouring off the back of a set of tires during acceleration...

Edited October 6, 2018 by Plymouthy Adams

[Russell Winje]

Yea, I know.  The tires are way too good to do that to em though.  I did find the other day, when we were leaving a country road intersection, that the straight 8 is firing on all Spitfire cylinders.  I put the throttle down and it jumped into action with a scream,  surprised us.  Or Old 61 Newport, with a Charger 383, used to do that, but way more G force.  Still, It was nice to find that strength after bringing the car from the previous barn, to ours.

 

Edited October 6, 2018 by Russell Winje

[knuckleharley]

2 hours ago, Russell Winje said:

because I am not at all accustom to  this year of Chrysler, I wonder about the brake lights.  Right now, the lights mounted on the trunk lid, either side of the license plate come on, and the lights on the fenders do not.  Are the trunk lid lights the only brake lights and the fender lights just tail/turn signal lights? Going to get to looking at the disconnected wiring soon

Easiest way to find this out is to pull  the bulbs and then look at the number of contacts on them,and the number of contacts inside where they go. If there is only one contact,it is a single purpose bulb and socket. Two contacts,and it is multiple purpose. You can easily tell if you have power to each contact by using a test light on each contact after turning the headlights on,and then turning the turn signals on and looking to see if your test light flashes when the point is held against either contact.

 

You are going to have to get someone to step on the brake pedal to test the brake lights all the way to the rear,though.

 

BTW,looks like you need to start looking for at least one new taillight lens. It's pretty cloudy.

Edited October 6, 2018 by knuckleharley

[BobT-47P15]

If the lights by the license plate are the only brake lights......which I suspect they are.....then a person can probably

run a wire off each side to each tail light after changing to double contact sockets and bulbs.  That's generally

how it works with a 46-48 Plymouth which originally only used the triangular lense in the middle of the trunk for a brake light. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

in those days the center light(s) were generally the brake light.  The outer is parking/running lights.  Best thing to do here in my opinion is continue the center lights for what is today the high mount center stop light only and wire the outside lights to utilize dual element bulbs to also work as brake/turn.  The third eye will come off a second dedicated wire on the S/L switch to the center rear while the other will feed through the T/S switch .  The pigtail upgrades are very easy to come by, very easy to install, be aware that indexing the Mopar compared to other will require rotating the wires to other two holes for contact alignment. 

[Tom Skinner]

I have a 1948 Chrysler Royal. The only Brake Light was the center Light. I spliced the Center wire/Brake Light Wire out to the Tail Light housings where I installed new sockets. Now I have all three light locations. I don't know if 1949 is different. Be careful cutting new socket holes near your directional holes in your fender so everything fits in the tail Light housings.

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

you do not need to cut in new sockets, simply upgrade the wiring inside the original socket for dual element bulbs with a simple universal pigtail insert...

[Russell Winje]

1 hour ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

you do not need to cut in new sockets, simply upgrade the wiring inside the original socket for dual element bulbs with a simple universal pigtail insert...

I will look at  that. Good plan. First I will get originality functional and proceed from there with road safety in mind.

[DrDoctor]

   The trunk-mounted was the only brake light on Chrysler Corporation vehicles of that era. It didn’t work as well as the corporation would’ve liked, however. Drivers were accustomed to seeing the tail lights illuminate when the car in front of them was braking, as was the arrangement on GM, Ford, and the independent’s. By the time the driver realized such wasn’t the case on Chrysler Corporation vehicles, it was usually too late, and a rear-end collision was the result. Best way to reduce that potential on those cars these days is to wire the tail lights to function as brake lights, as well. It may not be original, but better to be safe than strictly original.

[Russell Winje]

9 hours ago, DrDoctor said:

It may not be original, but better to be safe than strictly original.

Very good point

[Tom Skinner]

Right up through 1948 Chrysler's were not wired to just just upgrade the wiring sockets to produce brake lights at the tail lights.

The directionals and tail lights were wired as a separate system. The brake light separate. study your wiring schematics you will see what I mean. One must splice/pigtial into the brake light wire and supply two more 6 volt sockets to the tail light housings.

1949 may have changed that, to that I cannot say, however, anything prior to that must be accomplished as I have described.

I kind of remember this subject coming up in the past, and 1949 might be the year the wiring changed.

[Plymouthy Adams]

no one is disagreeing to the fact they were single contact sockets, what is the main subject here is that you do not need to swap the socket, you do not need to add a second socket or light assembly...you need only upgrade the pigtail that is found at 99% of all swap meet for a 2.00 cost per pigtail....these universal sockets will allow use in every socket I have seen and with the 4 holes, you can easily index it for different makes and model.  I have yet to see these units fail to do the quick and easy job of modernizing operation of the electrical while retaining all stock appearance.  

 

 

[Tom Skinner]

I'll stand down on this subject, because I am not a competent electrician by any means, however, two fellows in my Carolina Chrysler Club did theirs the way I described because of the reason I have given. I also did mine the way I have described. Don Coatney could probably clarify what if anything could be done to add the brake light feature at the tail lights of Plymouth's etc. Like I said, I questioned the two senior gentlemen at my Club as to how they did theirs at a Car Show going over both methods with them verbally for some time.

I believe 1948 is different than 1949 wiring from the factory. I wanted to use the method of the two pole sockets, but was told the way to do it was the way they/I did it. By the way shortly afterward I blew a brake light switch. It was however an original @69 years old, so I replaced it and have had 3 brake lights with no problems since. I guess either way, I know I feel safer going down the road with 3 brake lights lighting when I hit the brakes.

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

1942 models across the board started the use of separate parking lens/light assemblies in the front.  The tradition of the long slender fender mounted assemblies being separate for the front turn signals is now in the past.   With the inception of these lights, turns signals are easily incorporated into the assembly using the pigtail shown by me above.  For instance the 41 Dodge had a running light that was incorporated into the headlight bezel on the outside 3 and 9 position...distinguishing these separate of the headlight is nil so could not adequately/safely be utilized as turn signals at least in my opinion there is not enough separation for distinction.  Same with the Plymouth mounted above the bezel...only at 12 position..thus the use of fender mounted assemblies on these cars.  The 42 and up being distanced from the headlight in mounting position made incorporating a dual pigtail not only feasible but my factory car was wired as such.   Unfortunately many cars were upgraded to turn signals and a variety of assemblies mounted in a variety of places some very gaudy in appearance might I add as was my 48 bz cp when I got it from the PO.  There is never a need to add additional lighting assemblies on these cars UNLESS you happen upon a factory back up light you wish to mount.   Now of course, this is based solely on my own experience.

[Cannuck]

I have already added the double contact sockets for signal lights .Could I not run a wire from the centre B/L and splice into the T/S wire ?

It seems too simple.

[greg g]

Depends on how the signal switch is powered. Early ones were signal only weren't powered through the brake light switch, probably how yours is wired.  You could give some thought to wiring the the inboard to signals and the fender lights to run stop function.  Folks are used to close mounted signals on motor cycles and some large trucks.  Look up near the drivers side package tray in the trunk, the wires come down from out behind the headliner. You will likely find some old bakalite connectors you can switch around to alter the feed.  A simple circuit tester probe with a light in it will assist you in finding which feed is which. The 12 volt bulb will work plenty welll in the dim light in the trunk.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/project-pro-automotive-circuit-tester-tw1486-1486/25989105-p?c3ch=PLA&c3nid=25989105-P&adtype=pla&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIveP4o5vs3gIVCb7ACh32bwtUEAQYBSABEgKpVPD_BwE

[Cannuck]

My signal lights are a recent add on for safety reasons. A couple of close calls did it for me . 

I followed the instructions passed on from a member of this forum and got my power from the ignition switch and ran all the necessary wires .Replaced the single elements to double .The signal lights work great now I would like to add the brake lights . 

I get that i need signal light interruption i just don't understand how to achieve this.