1957 buick headlight switch????

Any idea where to get a new one??

Not listed in Bobs automobilia,Cars, or ClassicBuicks.

Thanks,

Raul

I have a couple of used ones, free for cost of postage, but I don't think the dash light rheostats work. I dont' think new ones are available, unless you just happen across one in a flea market somewhere.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Sherman, TX.

Most are easily repairable. Bead blast the rheostat with reduced pressure to restore looks and function...............Bob

Bob:

May be simple but when you take out the last screw and the thing explodes in your hand it makes it a bit difficult to know where all of those itty bitty springs and pins go!! Any body rebuilding them?

Bob:

May be simple but when you take out the last screw and the thing explodes in your hand it makes it a bit difficult to know where all of those itty bitty springs and pins go!! Any body rebuilding them?

Well yeah, care in disassembly is always a good idea. I've been in the center of a cloud of little springs myself. My sympathies. You might want to check with Alan Kriss. He rebuilds other switches and does fine work at a reasonable cost. 570-376-3952..........Bob

Raul, I have a couple of NOS and used ones that seem to work fine. Let me know if you are interested. Jim

I had all my switches rebuilt by J. Pinto. Did a good job and fairly quickly.

J Pinto (ELECTRICS REBUILDER): ELECTRICS REBUILDING-WE CAN WHEN OTHERS CAN'T

I thought I'd add to this thread since I had too had problems with my 57 special switch. I haven't had dash lights for a year or two now along with no park lights. I wasn't sure how to get the switch out fast so here is the way I did it today. I first removed the panel with the emergency brake light just below the light switch. That also required removing the vent wire to open the vent at the foot of the driver. Once this was out of the way the headlight switch was just visible enough to push the button holding the pull rod that went through the switch out. Then the nut could be screwed out with a large flat blade screw driver. The switch could then be pulled out.

It took me a while to figure out what was, or in this case, wasn't happening. Other than power to the headlights there wasn't any power to anything. So I knew the power wasn't getting through the switch properly. Also I could see a lot of green corrosion on the visible contacts. So I bead blasted it as someone had mentioned. I didn't like the idea of sand in the switch, but I didn't see any other way of cleaning it like it needed. It turned out not to bad. I blowed the sand out with compressed air as best as possible. I proceeded to check the continuity with a multi-meter from the power lead through the rest of the contacts. Still nothing from the power lead through the breaker which was the flat piece of steel with a points like contact. So I filed it with a points file. Now I got contact through that, but again still nothing to the park lights or the reastat. So again I found both contacts behind the reastat not making contact with my multi-meter. I tried to clean them, and they were clean but just weren't touching in the right manner to get a good contact. Touch and go from time to time. So I soldered them together. Had great contact then, but the next guy wasn't going to be able to take the thing apart. LOL

Everything worked great after that, or I should say the switch worked as it should. Then I spread just a light coat of dialectic grease over all the exposed contacts to keep it from further oxidation. It worked much smoother also. Check the wiring and check to see that the lights work now before assembly. I then reassembled the switch back into the dash and everything works great now. I drove it for the first time at night tonight in a long time. I see now that several bulbs are out. Maybe tomorrow.

I hope this helps someone out in the future!

Darren