I do have another electrical question- The body wiring harness gets it juice from a connection on the starter solenoid. You would think that would be an excellant place for a circuit breaker. So I would like to put one in-line. What amp size breaker would I need?[/quote]



I installed a 30 amp breaker 10 years ago after reading Jay Raine's EarlyBird article (sorry, lost the issue date).

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

I would match the circuit breaker rating to the output amperage of the alternator, just in case it ever put full amperage into the battery.  That wouldn't protect the small wires in the circuit though.  Some cars used a fusible link in that location, but it is a one shot deal.  If it blows, you have to replace it.  I think replacements are available at your local parts store.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Everything is working 100%. Thanks again to all! My next project is to install a alternator. Not a one wire as I have heard they don't like to generate at low rpm's.

I do have another electrical question- The body wiring harness gets it juice from a connection on the starter solenoid. You would think that would be an excellant place for a circuit breaker. So I would like to put one in-line. What amp size breaker would I need?

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

You mentioned that you had the wheels powder coated.Make sure you check the lug nuts after a few miles. I've had wheels that were ready to fall off after 5 miles because of paint on brake drums and wheels.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

Thank you all- I now have tail lights, parking lights and both head lights with "no" backfeed. Now on to brake lights and turn signals.

THANK YOU AGAIN

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Looking at the back of the bulb, with the center terminal facing "up", the left terminal is ground, the center is lo and the right is hi.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

If anyone can answer the bulb question I think I will have this part of the project completed. I really believe that at sometime in the past the wires were crossed up at the headlight bulb. I have never had this car together or on the road in the 6 years I've owned it and I bought it as a basket case. I have checked and re-checked the wiring and it is correct all the way to the bulbs. I just need to know that the bulb is wired correctly with the new plugs.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

This is the LAST question to complete this puzzle-

Looking at the back of the bulb you see 3 prongs. 1 on top and the others at each side. Which one is ground, which one high beam and which one low beam?

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

This problem usually surfaces when you have an earth problem. If all the lights come on with reduced brilliance this is definitely the problem.

If they all come on and are full brilliance, it can only be one of three things.

The supply to the lights is wrong, the plug connections on the firewall are mixed up remembering that some plugs on the firewall are siamesed, the connection to the pigtails (to the lights) is wrong or you have a faulty headlight dip switch.

There is of course one other possibility and that is that if you have relays fitted to the headlights, these are faulty.

You say you have a meter or test light, confirm that only wire to each light has power when you turn the lights on. If that is the case it will be the earth problem or the plug to the light is wired incorrectly.

One other thing that I have experienced in the past is that if the light holder is not tight, it is sometimes possible to put the globe in the socket incorrectly and if this happens you end up shorting across both terminals in the holder with the soldered end of the globe. It then makes its own shorted connection in the lampholder. This is also possible, though I would think unlikely if everything worked before you started. This can happen with stop/light sockets -though not sure with the headlight plugs you are using.

Sometimes these problems seem to be a nightmare, but the solution is almost always very simple.

Hope this helps.

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

The way I see it is if you have a hot wire going to the bulb ground terminal and the ground wire going to one of the bulb hot terminals then when one of the lights is on, it may be hi beam, it may be low beam, the common ground will complete the circuit and cause both filaments to light up. I'm not sure if that is actually how it might work. Anyone else see what I'm getting at?



Have you made sure that the wires are going to the proper terminals? Since it happens with different bulbs, I think you have wires crossed somewhere.


Lawrenceville, GA