Headlamp reflector cleaning

[joeceretti]

After trying a few things to clean my reflectors I thought I was going to have to have them resilvered.... I was wrong. Never Dull Magic Wadding Polish came to the rescue. They went from very yellow with faint light to much brighter with much whiter light.

Before



After

[Philippe M. Ruel]

Silver polish products are very efficient for this job.

Silver is a very soft metal. DON'T apply chrome polish or any kind of abrasive chemical, and use only wadding for application.

I successfully cleaned my fog light reflectors a few years ago (see picture), using our local version called "Ouator" (useful for people from France if there are others around here) : http://www.ouator.com/index.php?id_lang=1.

People from Switzerland or Germany will use "Metarex" with similar results.

[Doug Houston]

OK, Joe. NOW solder a ground wire (#16WG would do) to the bulb sockets of each reflector, and run the wire into the engine compartment, connecting it to one of the terminal board screws where the other headlight wires terminate.

In your parts quest, also try to locate some bulbs No. 2530 (50-32CP), or better yet, find some 2550 bulbs (50-50- CP.

All this, of course, if you have wisely not converted your electrical system to 12 Volt.

[joeceretti]

Thank you for the advice Doug. One of the first things I did was solder grounds onto the reflectors. I connected them to the nut and bolt that holds the radiator frame to the side panels. I thought they were more hidden in that location. I also connected grounds to the tail light housings and screwed the other end of the ground wire directly onto a cleaned off spot on the frame. I am still to find the brighter P15D30 Prefocus 2550 50-50 bulbs. Dons Bulbs doesn't have any.

I also pulled apart the sockets and rewired them using some aluminum rivets soldered onto the wires as terminal connections. These steps alone made the lights much brighter. The polishing made them perform very close to new.

This car will never be anything but 6v positive ground as long as I am alive.

[Stinson]

What do you think about using halogen bulbs? I have them in now but wonder about the drain on the battery. Still have very little beam because of the reflectors although I cleaned them with silver polish.
Ty Stinson

[Steve Passmore]

I tried running these bulbs years ago Ty, the problem is just as you visualize the generator has to be running quite fast to cope. At traffic lights they your beams are just a glimmer.

[Doug Houston]

The use of halogen (quartz-Iodine) bulbs  won't work, especially in a '38 Cadillac. The generator is the small frame style, which has a much lower output capacity. It was upgraded in 1940, when Sealed Beams came along.

Quite a long time ago, I installed a later model generator on my 38-60S. I don't know its exact origin, but it was new, and had higher output capacity. Then, it was necessary to change the regulator to a '41 ho09kup (I'm an Electrical Engineer). Tye generator-regulator work like gangbusters, and fortunately, I do have the 2550 headlight bulbs.

I've had the car so long (1960), that I've lost track of a lot of stuff I'd done to it.

I bought it in New York State, and drove it home  to Detroit through the NY Thruway, and Canada
I was successful, but I'd never di THAT again. The car has never been apart.

[joeceretti]

I recently switched the housing of my generator out for one from a 1938 farmall tractor. I installed the cadillac front and back plates on it. Then i installed a standard motor products vr1 solid state regulator. This configuration outputs 36a and includes current control. I would have liked to keep the original generator but could not find a replacement field coil and armature.

Halogens should work fine... But i am not sure if i will try or not. Probably not. My lights seem plenty bright now.