Headlight Mods

[Wilbur]

I'm seeking advice on getting more light in front of my 29. At this point, the quartz halogen kit with the modern bulbs and new (import) reflectors has my interest. I don't have an alternator yet, but am on the edge, about to jump on a NuRex 60 amp 6V. My car is a driver, and I do drive a lot at night. With my front and rear marker lights, turn signals and brake lights, the generator just doesn't keep up.

I drive my Model T about 4000 miles a year and it's stock lights are great in comparison. I have run all new wire to the A buckets and have in independent ground run to each one. The reflectors are just too dull to do their job.

[Special Coupe Frank]

Get your original reflectors replated or Uvira - plated, and use original style bulbs ("pointy-filament" 1110, 21-21 CP), and make sure your connections are good and that the lights are focused and aimed properly.

Next mod (if you really need it) would be the 35-amp alternator OR one of Tom Wesenberg's electronic voltage regulators with the stock genny.

Don't waste your money on new reflectors with incorrect geometry.

My humble opinion. I drive my coupe at night too ( at least 50% of my driving).

[Tom Wesenberg]

Just resilver the original reflectors. My original lights work good and light the road very well.

[Wilbur]

l had tried Never Dull, very carefully, on the silver, without good results. What would do a better job of polishing? What about the stuff that they dip silverware in to clean it? Who does the the replating and what can l expect to pay?

[TinCup]

A local shop here charged 45 per reflector. They looked great and what a change in brightness..

[Kevin in NJ]

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Properly focused original parts with the Classic and Vintage halogen bulbs and good working generator is your most reliable set up.

The other halogen kits throw out more light, but last time I checked I do not need to see the tops of the trees or blind the on coming traffic. So you have to spend $$ for the fancy modern lights and $$ for a less reliable alternator to get lots of light that may not really help.

Lesser light properly focused lets you run 55 MPH at night in the back woods of NJ with no problem. My brother has been doing this for years. Maybe you need to talk my brother into letting drive his car just to see.

[Wilbur]

Kevin, do you know of any local shop that could re-silver mine? I'd hate to send them out and not have the car on the road for a month, waiting for them to come back.

[Special Coupe Frank]

If you don't want the car laid-up, suggest you pick-up a spare set of original reflectors, use the best of the four to drive on, and send the other two out for plating.

You must be living in a temperate part of the world to be able to drive your A at this time of year...

[Wilbur]

Hey, put the Carhartts on the wife and go, jack! Have any of you guys tried the YouTube method of boiling water, baking soda and aluminum foil as a soaking bath for shining up these reflectors?

[Charlie Stephens]

Bratton's, (301) 829-9880, is working on some correct reflectors but they are not out yet. You might want to call them and/or follow their project here on ford barn. I look forward to reading what they come up with.

Charlie Stephens

[jrelliott]

If you will send me your email address will send you a chart for all bulbs in Model A both standard candle power and greater candle power for both 6V and 12V. I like the 32/50 #1188 Bulb and have a lot of light. Purchased form Arizona Model A. Amazing how bright they are with good reflectors after adjusting correctly. Bert's in Denver will resilver your original reflectors. My email address is [email protected]

[700rpm]

Originally Posted by Wilbur

Hey, put the Carhartts on the wife and go, jack! Have any of you guys tried the YouTube method of boiling water, baking soda and aluminum foil as a soaking bath for shining up these reflectors?

I didn't have any success with that. If your silver is good but just tarnished, try Simichrome or Tarn-X. Simichrome worked for me.

[Special Coupe Frank]

Originally Posted by Wilbur

Hey, put the Carhartts on the wife and go, jack! Have any of you guys tried the YouTube method of boiling water, baking soda and aluminum foil as a soaking bath for shining up these reflectors?

Don't know about your part of the world, but all the Carhartt gear in the world doesn't protect the vintage Ford from the ravages of corrosive road-treatments...

Cold doesn't bother me or the Ford... Car-B-Gone does.


If your reflectors won't clean-up with gentle polishing with regular silver cleaner (Gorham's, Wright, Silvo), then the plating is shot and needs to be re-done. The original layer of silver is very thin; most original reflectors have had their silver polished-through decades ago.

The advantage to the Uvira process is that the reflectors are first plated in nickle, then in aluminum (same as modern sealed beams and other high-quality optical reflectors), then sealed under a coating. It is more or less a lifetime deal.

[Barry B./ Ma.]

Back before I knew the shape of the reflector was wrong I ordered a set of halogens and new reflectors from Brattons for the 31 town sedan I had. I ran separate grounds and had a 30 amp. alternator. They were excellent especially on high beam and lit up reflector signs a quarter mile away. The only thing I found is that they ran hot and took a fair amount of juice to run. I have Uvira coated reflectors on my coupe and standard bulbs and they are ok but not super bright like the 31 was.

[Dave in Boise]

I wish I had kept my old reflectors.. I thought I'd be smart and get new reflectors and modern halogens. They are bright, but about equal to the idea of having porchlights on your car.. bright, but completely unfocused.. A few candlepower , properly focused will get you down the road, but a lot of candlepower without focus is a bad solution..

[Kurt in NJ]

If you read the "gus stories" you will learn a lot about our old cars and how they were fixed then, http://www.gus-stories.org/august_1934.htm ---this one talks of polishing reflectors with soft cotton, alcohol and lamp black, another one talks of not using rubber gaskets because of outgassing of sulfur compounds that tarnish silver, and the importance of focus.

The old "Mazda" bulbs with ribs in the glass are filled with halogen gas so they could burn b righter, last longer without getting the glass black, I don't think modern production bulbs are the same.

My 40 year old reflectors arn't perfect, one rainey Hershey some 12+ years ago I came across these bulbs, 35 watt , before I was using 50 cp bulbs and cranking up the generator to the 18 + amp range to make them bright enough to see, with the quartz halogen bulbs I could cut back the generator to 15 amps and have a +1amp charge rate with the quartz bulbs, the most surprising result was that there was almost no change in the light output at idle when the generator wasn't charging.

While my lights aren't as good as a new car with 65watt lights they are better than seal beams, and most 5+ year old cars that the plastic lenses are starting to fog, my lights light up reflector signs for .3-,4 mile. about 8 electric poles down the road, the whole system has been very reliable and trouble free, 40 years on the generator, wiring, 14 years on the battery(only 10 min on the charger in 14 years)12+ years on the bulbs ---all stock connectors, grounds.

My reflectors were resilvered at a place that did teapots and other silver plate utensils --I went looking for the place a couple of years ago ,even the building is gone now

[columbiA]

My coupe has very good lights with 32-32 bulbs,chrome reflectors & new lenses.I feel quite safe doing 55 at night.Good grounds are very important.I use the stock gen with regulator in the cutout hsg.I see no need to use an ugly alt or switch to 12V.

[1crosscut]

Originally Posted by Wilbur

Kevin, do you know of any local shop that could re-silver mine? I'd hate to send them out and not have the car on the road for a month, waiting for them to come back.

I had Craig Riker re-silver mine last year. He did a real nice job and he got them back to me in about 7 days.
[email protected] Craig Riker 419-290-4442 (Ohio)
Dave

[John LaVoy]

There is a lot of things going on in the headlight. We reviewed the various modifications several years ago. Silver is the highest reflective material and if you can afford to have that done it is the best option. The modern halogen bulbs that attach firmly to the reflector are not in the correct position for the shape of the reflector. This position does not focus the light on the lens and give you optimum light distribution. The halogen bulbs that fit the original style sockets work well but you need to push them forward to get them into the focal point of the reflector. If you look at where the filiment on the original bulb is located then try and adjust the halogen bulb close to that point. It is about an inch more into the headlight. I hope this make sense but once it is in position the beam spread will come out just like the owner's manual shows.

[Wilbur]

Thanks for all your input. At this point, l'm going to not do the alternator, turn up my generator and pull the 50-31 bulbs out of my T to try in the A. l do have a kerosene lantern which l can burn rich to produce some "lantern black" which l will use to try to polish up my reflectors. Also, to reduce the load on the generator, l got a set of LED tail lights and ran all new wiring back there to make sure there were no shorts.

Kevin, let's catch up some time since we're local (Mays Landing) and let me take a look at the bulbs you are running.