When I was building the roadster pickup, I used a set of Ron Francis repop 51 Pontiac tail lights. The lenses and chrome housings are quality stuff, but the bulb sockets that come with them really ****, big time. The contacts that are in the housings have springs behind them to force them into contact with the base of the bulb, but the damn things stick up about 3/8" from the bottom of the housings with no side support. Today I blew my 20th fuse (in one year of running), because every time you hit a bump with the headlights on, the contacters move sideways and short against the inside of the br*** coated bulb socket and blow the headlight fuse. On good quality bulb sockets, there is a fibre disc immediately below the contactor heads that keep them from moving sideways. I am going to try lining the housing with some really thin plastic shimstock to prevent this from happening, because sooner or later this will happen at night and kill me. This is a real piss off, because the beauty of the lens and chrome housing is quickly offset by the cheap junk sockets that come with them.
There is a plastic washer under the springs that the springs set against---it can not be moved. Keep in mind, these sockets are wired into a finished vehicle. To try and add a fiber washer now, the wiring ( 2 wires to each socket) would have to be disconnected, a new fibre washer fabricated, and the wires routed thru them, then rewired.---and I paid over $100 for them lights!!!
I know you've already invested in the set, but what you need to really make it stand out and work correctly is: http://www.shiny-hiney.com/rodcustom4050.html Bottom of the page. 51Fourdoor
i know the point is that you paid good money for them, they should work properly, but you could check your local auto parts store, they carry replacement sockets and just the pigtail part, you might luck into some with the washers there, but fat chance, all they ever seem to have is the same cheap ****. i've had some fairly good luck finding proper fitting replacements as far as fitting the light bucket.
I have notified Ron Francis about this post on the HAMB, and I am hoping to hear a response from him---I have seen Ron on the HAMB before---He strikes me as being a pretty reasonable guy. This is the first time I have ever had a problem with any of his products.---Brian
Thanks. I was really considering ordering just the housings for the 47 but I will just look elsewhere. Gumpa
You can cut off the end of the wire where it contacts the bulb, then rob a bakelite washer with two holes from another lite, then make a small ball of solder on the end of each wire. Works great! I just made the two hole washer out of a RubberMaid trashcan since I didnt find my bin of old lite sockets.
Seems to me that the obvious thing to do would have been to call Ron directly along about the second blown fuse.
This seems like a minor problem to me, just go to the parts store, buy the wires w/the fiber disc attached, cut the old wires, gut the socket, run the new ones in, wire em back up, and your done. Might cost ya $6.....
MISTAKE!! MISTAKE!!---I WAS WRONG--IT WASN'T RON FRANCIS I just spoke to Hortons rod shop where I purchased these lights 2 years ago, and they were not Ron Francis units. They came from either Bob Drake or Vintique. My apologies to Ron Francis------Old age and failing memory are damn poor excuses for dissing a man on the internet---Now, severely chastened, I will try and get new sockets at the NAPA store---Brian
i, this is Ron Francis, I accept the appolgy from Brian that the lights are not ours. I just wish everyone posting on strings might put a little more thought into contacting the "supplier" of the parts before making a public comment. We offer 100% guarrantee, we just did some no charge warrantee work on the three year old harness even though someone had cut it up. . IF you have a problem please contact us. If you are still not happy you can email or call me direct. Thank for listening, I am available thru our web site at ask Ron. thanks Ron Francis
I had exactly the same problems with mine, probably a manufacturing flaw. I got a new set of sockets from NAPA and it was fixed. I am going to guess that there is only one or two manufactures of these things, most folks just pack them in thier box.
From what I can see from the picture, the backing washer (fiber) that keeps the socket contacts in position is/are missing. There SHOULD be a disk IMMEADIATLY under the contacts. Check with NAPA and see if they might have a couple of them "kicking" around. (or "raid" a couple from some old sockets) Will mean dis***embly to install, but it's the only way to fit the proper disk(s) in place.
Well, just call me Chicken Little. The sky didn't fall after all, and I gave poor Ron a bad rap. I went to 2 different auto-parts stores this afternoon, and the friggin bulb sockets all seem to be made the same as mine. (last time I looked close at a tail-light socket was about 1972, and Honest, they really did have that little fibre washer under the contactors.)---Anyhoo---I cut two thin peices of clear acetate (clear plastic), and put them down into the offending socket between the contactors and the sides of the housing where they were shorting out, then screwed the 1157 bulb in to hold everything in place. Hopefully, that will be the end of it.---Brian
I have to add that Ron was very helpful,and accessible, as I was wanting to put his Brite Light bulbs into a plastic lensed Pontiac sequential tail-light ***embly. I had questions about heat generation and plastic, but they work really well.
I took a real close look at one of these sockets at the auto parts store today---They are designed so that the wire, contactor and spring all set in a thinwall br*** tube, which in theory is supposed to slide in and out of holes in the plastic part at the rear of the socket. The length of the holes in the plastic part are supposed to give "linear guidance" to the br*** tube, the spring and the wire which has the contactor on the end of it, thus keeping them from ****ing sideways and shorting out against the socket. They are not intended to have the "fibre disc".----Nice plan, but by the time they loosen up all the tolerances to m*** produce these things, the tubes and wires still **** sideways and short out. This is supposedly TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT.
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