1969 teardrop side marker light fixes in detail

[fairlane292]

Paid good money recently for a pair of '69 teardrop side marker lights. Nice chrome and lenses but on getting them and having a closer look they had a few issues. No fault of the seller, they weren't sold as like new or tested. Anyway, neither had all good socket, socket spring or pigtail. Each was missing one mounting pin (I already knew one was); and both had the attachment for the ground wire broken. Anyway...

Socket replacement: An older post out here spoke of a replacement socket and a jam nut being used to hold it in place. Overall that is a good solution. Technically it's not a "jam nut" but a "push nut" in 5/8" (see Amazon link below). There are a few different ones on Amazon but I can say the one in link below is super strong and super tight.
- knocking out the old light socket/pigtail from the inside out: Spray the inside around the socket with PB-Blaster and let it sit for at least an hour or so. You do it the way you like but I used an appropriate size smaller socket (tightly anchored in the vise) so the trim side of the light is suspended to prevent it from impact. Then a larger size on the top (back side of the body) to tap down thus pushing the old light socket up and outward. You may have to raise the socket in the vise, once or twice. You're firmly tapping, not pounding away. Once out clean the hole with a piece of 320+ grit.
https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Find-Fasten ... 624&sr=8-2


- installing new light socket: Use the Dorman 85806 single contact 3/4" light socket ($4). You will lightly grind off a bit of opposing side of the outer ring to allow it to fit into the body. You'll want to sneak up on the sizing with small amounts of grinding. I used a bench grinder, a Dremel will work too. You don't want it tight or even snug as it can affect the spring movement; you want it to just clear enough to bottom out in the body. Getting the push nut on: take a bit of grease and put a thin film around the light socket where the push nut will go on. Back to the socket in the vise method; Place an appropriate size socket on the push nut and while aligning things vertically with one hand, firmly tap the socket that will drive and seat the push nut on. If you don't use the grease you'll be hitting it much harder and probably more frequently and the risk of cracking the light body will be much greater.

- fixing the missing pin: Drill (2.5mm see link below) and tap (M3-0.5) the hole location where the pin used to be. Install M3-.05 16mm pan head Phillips. I didn't do this yet but I prob solder it as well. I'll use M3 lock and flat washers and M3 nut when installing on the fender.
https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Titanium- ... =8-13&th=1


- fixing the ground mount: Drill through and tap (M3-0.5) the hole location where the pin used to be. You may need to open the ground lead hole a tiny bit. I just used the M3-0.5 tap with my hand to allow the M3-.05 8mm screw to work. Note: the push nut may block a bit of the hole you drilled. I used the Dremel to take away a little bit of the curve of the push nut. (see pic)

The boot on the new socket does not fit as tightly as I like so I will put a film of black RTV around the mating surface of the socket and let it fully dry. Then the boot will stay snugly in place.

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[Curtis]

Didn't bother with trying to find all the stuff. Bought new bases from Japan via Yahoo action and converted them. Then bought new lenses from Dean. I have a broken set and I looked at them and just said oh gawd. Was looking for other stuff on Yahoo and there were the new bases for 4000 yen.

http://www.311s.org/pmwiki-311/pmwiki.p ... Conversion