Hot Rods La france headlights

Just picked up this set.this by far the nicest set I have found so far.the were taken of a local fire truck in the fifties. They were taken off because one rim developed a stress crack.i had it welded by the only guy who can weld white metal.crack can now be filled with maybe jb weld?any suggestions?you can tell how good they are by looking at the gaskets that are still there for the little top lights. They were completely dissembled for painting (yeiiow).the complete wiring is there,even the little bulbs.all the little tabs on the cases are still there.chris

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You can go a lifetime & not run across a set of these in the wild & you've found more than one set? Note to self: Next time I vacation in Nova Scotia, don't look for stray moose. Look for old firetrucks in the weeds. Yeah, J.B. Weld sounds good to fill the cracks.

 

There are several places that advertise "pot metal" repair. If the headlight rims were mine, the repaired crack that is displaced would bother me. I would grind out that weld and send them off to be welded perfectly. If it's welded properly then you don't need to think about JB weld.

 

By white metal, you're referring to pot metal, or aluminum ? I ***umed pot metal. You can do wonders on that stuff, if done correctly.

Your guy should have drilled & ground out that crack, to release the stress. Then clamped the rim down before he soldered it. The casting lines clearly don't match up. Maybe he couldn't overcome the bend in the crack ?

Over here there's a variety of solder sticks available. Sanded down, if done right, you can even rechrome them.

Prior to playing here, on this site ... I had to repair 70's era Barracuda and Torino GT grilles. The "Muggyweld" website is your friend. Check it out. Fun, and fairly easy to do.

That era pot metal is likely better stuff than I played with. Maybe more copper, lead and antimony. Mine was the zinc, aluminum, copper, tin, lead ... mystery meat fun.

Those are bad*** lights. Fix 'em right. No offense to you. Your "welder" owes you one. You can do better. Looks like ****, "repaired" like that.