1937 Terraplane headlight wireing

Hudsonrules
Hudsonrules Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
:confused:Okay. I have the grill assembly back on the Terraplane. Most everything is hooked up. Problem, there are five wires for the headlight assemblies.for both headlights.. One , I am sure is for parking lights, and one each for the low beam and one for the high beams. Could one possibly be a ground? This car has been worked on before andf things have been changed. Any Ideas? or sujestions. Thanks in advance. Arnie in Nevada:)

Comments

  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Yes, the previous owner might have run a ground wire to each light (that would account for only four wires to each light, though). I recommend the ground. I soldered one ground wire to the socket assembly of each headlight and grounded both wires on the frame.



    Originally, the wiring harness might have had six wires -- hi beam, lo beam, parking light, fender-mounted (optional) light, and exterior horn (optional). However, I've never seen an original wiring harness so don't know if Hudson included the last two in its "standard" models. If the harness was newly made (by Rhode Island or Y n Z, for example) it might have had the two extra wires included just "in case".
  • Uncle Josh
    Uncle Josh Senior Contributor
    Make a 'juice finder' out of an old 6v bulb. Solder one wire to the outside and one to the center. Test on the battery. Ground the one soldered to the outside, and check which wire is hot when you turns things on. Label them with masking tape.



    I recommend a relay for the headlights so you don't run the high amps thru your light switch.
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    "Amen" to Josh's suggestion. I should have added that to my reply. The old headlight switches were not the greatest and there is a terrific amount of amperage running through them. I found a dual headlight relay (though you could use two singles) and hid it behind the removable dash panel in front of the steering wheel, mounting it to the steering column brace. The hot wire will go to the B terminal on the voltage regulator and the relay will be controlled by the floor dimmer switch. The relay will be "enabled" by the headlight switch, but the switch only controls the relay's points, not the surge of power passing through them to the headlight.



    That way the power runs more or less directly from the voltage regulator to the headlights, bypassing the headlight switch, dimmer switch and miles of wiring. Together with the socket ground wires, re-silvered reflectors, and (we would hope) some decent 50cp headlight bubs (or the new 6v halogen lamps), you should actually be able to see more than 10 feet ahead of your front bumper on a dark night!
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