My 32 tail lights have #1141 bulbs in them. I want brighter bulbs but don't think I want led lights. 1156 will fit and are 400 lumen instead of 260 lumen. Has anybody done this? I'm worried about the heat inside the housing.
I don't believe heat is going to an issue, I have 1156 bulbs for running lights and a halogen for the stop light inside my 36 Chevy housings without an issue for the last 41 years. Also ran the same setup in my 36 Ford tails which would be very close to your 32s. is there just one bulb ? ,,if that's the case you will need an 1157 that has dual filaments. It really helps if you paint the inside of the light housing GLOSS white, it really works to reflect the light .I hope this is of help,,, Mitch
I too recommend gloss white on inside of taillight bucket. It's surprising how much it helps. 1157 bulb heat will not damage anything.
I used a halogen install kit from Julianos in my 32 sedan. That made a MUCH brighter brake light. But it doesn't have a new Honda style LED look to it. And, painting the inside of the bucket white helped a lot too.
Ron Francis used to sell standard bulb sizes but with much brighter light. They didn't get hotter, either. https://www.ronfrancis.com/products.asp?dept=94
A second for the gloss white on the inside of the tail light bucket. That made a massive difference on my home fabricated tail lights on my 48 and on the stock 71 GMC lights on that truck. I was thinking that there was a brighter version of a 1156 just as there is a brighter non LED replacement for the 1157. I can't find what I was hunting in a quick search though.
I think this is the brighter replacement for the 1156: https://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=B-1015
There is a brighter replacement for 1157 that is/was used on semi-trailers. I used them on my HotrodA roadster, but it’s gone down the road. I’ll check my stash and see if I can find the #. They were very bright in the 39 housings painted white inside.
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