BE Electrical questions

[emann]

I'm finally back restoring my BE after 20 years of storage in garages, sheds, and storage units.

Working on the electrical, I have a few questions:

1) Lights for Gauges - I get 12 volts to the light socket, but there is no good ground on any of the holes on the gauges/mounts where the lights go. Do I need to REALLY clean up all the metalwork on the gauges/dash to get a good ground connection? Will that work? Or should I just daisy-chain a ground wire from light holder to light holder to the firewall? The Turn Indicator is the same way - works when I ground the case, not when it's in the dash.

2) My stop/tail lights work, but are intermittent. It seems to be the bullet connector making contact with the receptacle that they plug into on the lamps. Should I solder the bullet connector into the receptacle?

3) 20 years ago when I last was working on the car, I bought a new harness from either Spridgebits or the Sprite & Midget Centre in England. Under the dash, there are only 2 light sockets for gauge illumination. Do I need to add 2 more myself so I can light up all 4 gauges? Is there a reason there are only 2?

4) I just ordered a Dimmer Switch Harness from Moss. Of course now I realize, is it for RHD or LHD? It's an awful long way from the passenger footwell where the main harness ends for the dimmer to the driver side where I need to put the Dimmer.

5) What grease/oil do I use in the Rear of the Dynamo?

Thanks for all the help, I've gotten a lot of my questions answered already just by reading other posts.

 

[RickB]

Well I can't answer your questions, except to say with the electrical do the best connections you can but keep in mind you may want to unplug & separate things at some point.

BTW - Welcome on your first post here!

Oh, and let me be the first to say:

Where's the pictures? Come on with the pics! We want to see your car!

 

[jlaird]

yes yes and yes.

Get the grounds good, add a couple of lights for the gauges.

Grease? A bit of oil is all it takes. Is an olite bearing.

Clean all the wireing connections with a 22 gauge rifel brass bursh cleaner. Yep sodder all.

Welcome

 

[emann]

thanks for the quick replies. I'll be trying to get the intermittencies out of the electrical system tonight. Guess I'll be brushing up on my soldering skills.

Jack, oil for the Dynamo bearing - engine oil, 3-in-1 ???

Pictures - I've been meaning to take some to mark my progress. I'll take some tonight and hopefully get them posted.

Thanks again, I'm sure I'll be back as I move thru restoring different parts of the car.

 

[drooartz]

Welcome! I'll second the clean-the-connections comments. I just repainted/recovered my dash, and had to do some filing sanding on the dash in order to get a good contact for the lights. I also ran a few ground wires from some of the gauges to a good ground rather than trusting to grounding through the gauge casing.

Good luck with your project, always nice to see another Bugeye rising from sleep. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[jlaird]

Engine oil, three and one, what ever is handy. Drip a drop from the dip stick.

 

[Billm]

Daisy-chaning a ground wire is a good way to ensure that everything is grounded and much easier than sanding down the back of the dash (and more permanantly connected too!).
Welcome to the forum and back to LBC's.
Bill

 

[Sarastro]

The stock way of grounding those panel lights always struck me as pretty haphazard. I think daisy-chaining a ground, and making it to the firewall, makes a lot of sense.

If you decide to dispense with the bullet connectors (not a bad idea), I would cut them off completely, solder the wires, and put a piece of heat-shrink tubing over them. Much better than tape, which can unwind over time.

I know that some Sprite service literature refers to grease in the generator bearing, but those sintered brass bearings really take oil. You need something that will percolate through the bearing easily, keeping it impregnated with lubricant.