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Rear turn signal lights


RonJ

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It is a requirement to have turn signal lights as well as brake lights on both sides, in my province and for safety sake they are a good idea anyway.

I have a 1947 Dodge Special Deluxe.  I have converted the existing taillights to a dual filament bulb so that the brake lights activate on both sides and the center.  I could install a column mount signal switch that would utilize the brake light as a signal but they are very small therefore I would prefer a separate lamp for signal.  A surface mount would be ideal but I am not adverse to creating a mounting hole.  Amber is desirable but red would work as well.  In my location there aren’t any dealers with stock that I can try to test fit for matching curvature and appearance.  Everything needs to be ordered with a no return commitment.

I am looking for ideas on what others have done to add separate turn signals to the rear of their vehicles.

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I got all of my signal lights and bumper bracket mounts in NOS on ebay. Good brands to look for are Guide and Federal Mogul because they are of very nice quality. The selection available is excellent. My front lights will mont on the bumper brackets and the rear ones are mountable on the rear bumper gravel shield. wiring up the signals is a  pretty easy task. Lots of wire should be on hand. Make sure your final set up is properly fused. With all the dummies on their cell phones and texting while driving, good signals are a must in order to keep some form of safety margin. All the Best M

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If still 6v make sure your wire gauge is up to the task of lighting the bulbs en I ugh to make the flasher work properly.  Commonly available 16 gauge doesn't cut it for signals.  Mine run OK on 12g. But there might be some variance depending on the way they are wired.  My switch feeds one lead for both front and rear lamps on each side.

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One thing that really helps is to clean up the lenses and the housing.  In my case the 51 was built when chrome was a strategic material (Korean war) and the housings are not chromed.  They are zinc plated so they don't reflect light as well.  I ended up painted the insides white to help.  Another thing, dual filament bulbs usually have two different outputs, bright and dim.  Dim is for running lights.  Bright is fro the brake and tun lights.  Make sure you use the correct filaments. 

 

You can see what I did with my housings in this write up.

 

http://www.yourolddad.com/rewire-it

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I have a 39 Desoto inwhich I have dual filament bulbs in the taillighs and they have running lights, brake lights and r/l turn signals. i installed an after market turn signal stat unit on my steering column. First no one will take off any points for a turn signal because it is a safety devise. 

 

since most modern drivers are now seeing the third brake light on our modern cars I purchased a 6v suction cup mounted unit that is in my rear window. Very easy to hook up.

 

It has the following functions: Brake light, left and right turn signal indicator and also fourway blinking lights.  This is very cheap insurance when driving our older cars. The modern drivers are not custom to looking down low on the rear fenders for the brake lights and turn signal.

 

Spend the money for one of these units to protect your car and you and the riders.  Cheap insurance.

 

Rich Hartung

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Clearance or marker lights mounted by brackets onto the bumpers work nicely if you don't want to drill any more holes in the car.  Several herein have done that.  I did as some above have done, converted the marker light sockets to use two filament bulbs.  Left the original brake light as is, so it now acts as the "third" brake light, rather than the only brake light.  I did the same as Sniper, cleaned and painted the reflectors white.  I think the white works better than silvering on these older marker lights, since they are not truly reflectors - not really designed to focus reflected light outwards.

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Thanks for the feedback.  It is all valuable.

I am considering the wire harness kit from Painless or Speedway or other vendors.  This should resolve the concerns of the condition of existing wiring and ampacity.  The vehicle is already converted to 12 V Neg GND.  I have the 4 wire column mount for separate signal lights and hazard flasher.  I am in favour of LED because of the brightness.  I like the idea of bumper mount but I am still looking for a useable rear bumper.  The rear window mount idea is worth a look for sure for the reason mentioned.  
Sniper, thanks for the link to proper harness tape.

I’m trying to emulate what a modern vehicle has for the reasons mentioned.  I’d like to put the odds in my favour considering inattentive drivers, cell phones, not looking for multifunction lights etc.  My experience in my other old vehicle (MGA) has been that people are more tuned into looking at the vehicle itself than what it is doing - like stopping or turning.

The front will use the existing park light fixtures - since they are separate - as the signal lights.  I am considering replacing the incandescent headlights with something brighter but also has either a halo (Angel eye) or what I’m learning is a “city light” bulb built in, to satisfy the requirement for daytime running lights.  I have been unable to find a aftermarket module that dims the low beam for that purpose like some modern vehicles do.  In modern cars this is usually part of of one of the many computers.

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A simple DRL setup could be done with a ballast resistor, a relay and an oil pressure switch.  Use the switch to trigger the relay when the engine is running.  The relay will feed voltage to the ballast which would in turn be wired to the headlight low beam in parallel with the headlight switch.  So when ever you use the head light switch it will put full power to the low beams, but when you are not using the headlight switch the low beam will be partially powered up by the ballast setup.

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Thanks for the tip.  That will work.
Once again I have broken the rule of keeping it simple by going down the high tech road.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I thought I would close this topic out since I purchased a wiring harness kit that came with a light switch that solved the problem of daytime running lights and hi/lo beam operation.  The light switch in the car was worn.

This wiring harness prompted another question concerning the Hazard and Signal flashers that I started as a new topic.

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