hudson rain under dash

duncan

We took out our 54 Hornet Hollywood a while back to drive our great neiee and her husband to the hall and later started to rain. Driving home we had a very hard time seeing with 6 volt headlights and wipers were not wiping off rain from windshield.I fixed the wiper problem with putting back on the original wiper arms which had a lot more spring than the repro ones my friend had installed. On the way home my wife felt rain drops on her feet and next morning I looked and felt the carpet was damp. I am sure I have the drain hoses in the car. Where else could the rain be coming from. I also have a new KGap windshield in the car.What can I do to stop the rain drops. Ray From Canada

Lance

Ray, you might check where the Ranco valve is. May be a bad seal on the valve.

super-six

Or bad gaskets at the base of the wipers.

railknight

Yes, seal on the Ranco valve could indeed be something to look at (probably an easier fix than the window gasket).

Jon B

As to the lights, you might conduct a test. Put a test wire from the battery neg. terminal to one or both of the lights at the junction block, then find a place to ground the light (maybe on the lamp housing?) and run that back to the positive on the battery. In other words, you are going to bypass all the wires, and switches and just send electricity to one or both of the lamps. When you do this, have someone watch the headlight while you momentarily touch the wire to the neg. post of the battery. If the light gets brighter, then you know that -- somewhere amongst the miles of wiring or in the dash switch or dimmer switch -- there is corrosion or a bad circuit. Or a bad ground. If, however, there is no change in the light output when you momentarily run direct battery power to it, you will at least know that your wiring and switches are okay. My guess is that you will discover that there is a problem somewhere in the wiring or switches. And the quickest way to fix that will be to install a relay, which is really not a big deal to do.

If you are not particularly skilled in the electrical arts, you might want to have a friend (who is skilled) come over and help you test the lights. You don't want to cause a fire!

When they were new, these 6 volt lights gave plenty of light, though of course today's lights are even more powerful. Assuming your wiring and switches ARE okay, you might want to consider moving up to a quartz halogen light. They do make those for 6 volt systems, though they won't be on the shelves of your local auto parts place, you'll have to order them.

duncan

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I bought a set of halagen headlights and put them on but also need to have them readjusted. I turned the new lights on and they looked a lot brighter. Will get them readjusted and take the car for a spin at night and will post the results. Thanks again Hudsonly Ray