Front bulbs won't fit! (and other disasters)

[bobs409]

I'm having one of those days I guess as everything I touch is going wrong. Where do I start?

Ok, original front park/turn signal light sockets. I can't get any bulbs to go in them! It calls for a 1034 bulb and I have three here but nope, won't go in! It's like the hole is too small. I even tried an 1157 but the same thing. Both left and right are the same and I did clean them up nice so no corrosion. There are no broken pieces of an old bulb in there either. This has me really befuddled.

So I move on to play with some of the shiny things that arrived from Hubbard's. I unpack the new tail light housings and right off I'm surprised that they are a mirror finish! Is that correct? I always thought they were a dull finish like the cove panels (regular Impala). I mean they look like they were plated and polished! You could shave in them. That is until I continued on and found 2 of them look crappy and don't match the other 4. The two bad ones look grainy like they were not polished enough. I have to contact Hubbard's about this.

So... figured I'd put my new lenses into the 4 good ones using new gaskets and that part went fine but for $30 dollars each, it would have been nice if they would have included the speed nuts that attach the housing to the car! I then remembered I have my originals so I dug those out and figured I'd thread them on so I wouldn't lose them and guess what? The go about 1/2 way and the stud starts to spin! So now I have to come up with a fix for those. That's about where I walked away, there was no love for me in the garage tonight.


Please send condolences or cures....

 

[Don Jacks]

I thought that Friday the 13th. was last week,Bob???

 

[bobs409]

I must be running a week behind Don.

 

[blkblk63ss]

So what bulbs were in there,do you have old one"s???? On the stud"s spinning take a needle nose vise grip"s and put on very rear of stud and apply grease to stud and screw your nut on back and forth a little at a time Holding the grip"s with one hand to keep stud from twisting.. Maybe the plating is a little oversize for the nut"s???? Do this to all to get tread"s cut in before putting in car,if that fail"s it might be time for a stiff drink!!!

 

[1958 delivery]

It's so darn cold that your sockets shrunk

 

[Jeff Olson]

So what bulbs were in there,do you have old one"s???? On the stud"s spinning take a needle nose vise grip"s and put on very rear of stud and apply grease to stud and screw your nut on back and forth a little at a time Holding the grip"s with one hand to keep stud from twisting.. Maybe the plating is a little oversize for the nut"s???? Do this to all to get tread"s cut in before putting in car,if that fail"s it might be time for a stiff drink!!!

Good advice but Bob has been on the wagon for quite some time now. Medical marijuana maybe???

 

[Jeff Olson]

won't go in! It's like the hole is too small.

I have that problem all the time Bob!

 

[tripower]

Don't know what to say about the bulbs but your much better off restoring your original housings or find some good originals. Any of the aftermarket stuff is going to be crap both in finish and fit.

 

[bobs409]

So what bulbs were in there,do you have old one"s???? On the stud"s spinning take a needle nose vise grip"s and put on very rear of stud and apply grease to stud and screw your nut on back and forth a little at a time Holding the grip"s with one hand to keep stud from twisting.. Maybe the plating is a little oversize for the nut"s???? Do this to all to get tread"s cut in before putting in car,if that fail"s it might be time for a stiff drink!!!

I'll see what I can do today. I had to walk away before things got too far out of control! It's been about a decade since I've seen the bulbs that were in there so I'd have to assume they were 1034's. It's the oddest thing.

A late summer completion date might not happen if every single piece is going to fight me like this. Tell me again why we restore old cars?

 

[bobs409]

Don't know what to say about the bulbs but your much better off restoring your original housings or find some good originals. Any of the aftermarket stuff is going to be crap both in finish and fit.

Having all the parts of a car restored is great in a perfect world but I don't want to put 40K into this resto. (I'm not a politician or drug dealer so I can't afford it)

 

[blkblk63ss]

You did not paint inside the bulb housing did you?????? Just wondering?????You do have the correct headlight backing plate for a 63 , not something else?????

 

[bobs409]

Nope on both. I'll see if my camera will pick up in the socket area to show it. Be back...

 

[bobs409]

Got some pics. First 2 show how clean the brass insert is in the socket. 3rd shows the bulb as far as it will go which is about 1/16 of an inch! I even put some dielectric grease on it too but still no go.

The brass insert thing seems to be pinned in with 2 small dimples, not sure I could remove it without ruining them.

Last pic show the new tail light housing. Notice the housing is just as shiny as the tail light ornament which is chrome. Were these shiny like that originally?? It looks like chrome plated aluminum.

 

[blkblk63ss]

I'm not positive on mine if i remember right , but i thought it used a amber bulb,.if not are you lining up the pin's to slot's properly. Are those Chinese bulb's????

 

[63 dream'n]

Back side of socket (opposite lens cover) looks in picture to be out of round,or is it just marked up??

 

[blkblk63ss]

The back side there is a plastic insert with the wire's that turn's into socket.The tail ring's are shiny ,but i did not think the curved bezel's were ,but if they supply shiny i would get them.

 

[1958 delivery]

Weren't those tail lights just anodized alum not chrome?

 

[Don Jacks]

Take some fine sandpaper.or a small grinding stone and reduce the thickness of the brass bushing.You shouldn't have to remove much to get the bulbs to fit smugly in the sockets.

 

[Geary Trussell]

Sometimes the bulbs can be difficult to insert. I know I had a similar problem. Make sure you have the tabs on the bulb indexed correctly. One is slightly lower than the other and therefore the same in the housing. Try a little dielectric grease that may help. I think once you get it just right it will go in. I also have those days were nothing works correctly and other days I can do no wrong.

 

[bobs409]

I'm not positive on mine if i remember right , but i thought it used a amber bulb,.if not are you lining up the pin's to slot's properly. Are those Chinese bulb's????

63 had amber lenses so no need for amber bulb. Bulb won't even go in enough to worry about he pins. Bulbs I'm trying are oldies I got from a junkyard car. It's crazy!