I took apart the taillights on my 140 to have the bases chromed. Now I am not sure how they go back together. There are two sections which hold the bulb, both of which are attached to the base by copper rivets (red arrow shows one in photo below). The section which holds the base of the bulb also has what looks like some type of coated paper between it and the base (green arrow).
It looks to me like the bulb holder is supposed to be grounded to the base and attached to a black ground wire. That makes sense; however, the copper rivets attaching the second piece to the lamp base would seem to create a ground notwithstanding the paper insulator underneath. Does this system really work? Am I missing something that would further insulate the base of the bulb holder so there isn’t a short?
My second question: Can I rivet these pieces back in with aluminum or steel rivets without hunting down copper rivets if they are not intended to pass current? Could I use small screws and nuts? Thanks for your help.
Certainly the two tabs that touch the contacts at the tail end of the bulb can not be touching ground. I assume that the bullet connection socket I see is one piece with the contact tab? Then all of that has to be insulated with the paper shim or some equivalent non-conductor. Maybe you can work out a way to use small screws and nuts. I did on the tail lights of my '38 SS.
Moss doesn’t seem to have this setup for 140, but they have a similar one for MGA and TR2 which could be scavenged to provide useful parts.
Yes, upon further head scratching I noticed that the section which holds the bottom of the bulb has larger mounting holes, but the same size rivets, as the separate section which holds the body of the bulb. I assume there must have been something like a sleeve insulating washer in there. I’m tempted to just put in a new Bay15d base and call it good, but I may try to salvage the old system still. Thanks.
The plastic strips are 3/8” wide, 2” long and .011 thick.
I haven’t taken the rivets out, so I don’t know if there is meant to be some additional means of insulating the rivets from the metal pieces.
I had written some letters in pencil on the plastic pieces to help me remember which colour wire goes where.
You could easily replicate the plastic strips by cutting up a white plastic milk container, or any other similar thin flexible plastic sheet.
Thanks. I just ordered 100 sleeve washers from McMaster-Carr for $12.00. It was the copper rivets that threw me off. I didn’t see a reason to use copper other than conductivity. I still have the plastic insulator sheets that go under half of it. I also ordered a simpler and more modern BAY15D socket in case I become frustrated.
