1933 Buick 67 Light Switch Question - Sealed beams vs originals

[1933gray]

Hello all!

Just spent the weekend working on rewiring the Buick. Luckily my uncle is an electrician and made more sense of the wiring diagram (and all of the loose/detached wires beneath the dash) than I could. He was a huge help with splicing on the original special connectors and hooking everything up. We just finished the dash wiring harness and after mistakenly swapping connections for the gas tank feed and the headlight, we sorted it all out and got all gauges and the headlights to work as they had before.

Now that only leaves two harnesses left (arguably we did the hardest one in my opinion but I guess we will see).

I took a quick look at the headlights/horn wiring towards the radiator and I decided to take off the cover off the light switch.

And here is where I begin to scratch my head....

At some point, someone changed the old light switch out for a newer one with fuses

The original light switch as marked on the wiring diagram had 8 separate connections. This newer one only has six. You can see that a few wires have been doubled up on two terminals. I am unsure what to make of this. My headlights had an early sealed beam conversion done to them (1940s) and I am wondering if they would have had to change the light switch as well? This situation may explain why I don't have a passing beam or low beam option when I use the control knob on the steering wheel, I only have one headlight option: on (I assume high beam)

 

Now I wonder if I somehow track down an original 8 terminal light switch, will the passing beam and low beam options be available again or do the sealed beams restrict me to the single on or off situation...

 

This light switch also complicates the rewiring process some more as ill have to trace back each wire to see what the connections are for. Who knows if this is even wired correctly!

 

Any wisdom on this would be greatly appreciated.
sealed beams pictured
Thank you!

[1933gray]

Okay. Upon closer look at the shop manual, I saw that the lighting switch is at the base of the steering column. I found it (fantastic) caked in grease gas and sludge. 
 

Now, do you all just think this is a fuse box added just for safety? Or perhaps for the sealed beams? Is it wise to remove that box  entirely and wire as originally intended or should I use it? That fuse box is located on the frame behind the radiator but in front of the carb air filter.

 

Thank you all!

 

[Jim Nelson]

First on the lighting issue :  you need to decide if you are going to drive your great Buick in the evening or into night ?  (By accident).    If your car is  for 'show /. originality.     The conversion to seal beams is for greater light to drive when you drive in the evening.    With that decision made - you then have several patches to take.    BTW,  I have a 1935-58 Buick.   Its a 2 door , 5 pax car with spare on the rear.   I will be driving my '35/58' into the evenings so having GOOD lighting is very important.   There is now LED bulbs available to replace the 'normal' bulbs.   I am using my original reflector / bulb units.   I have converted to LED bulbs because they use about 1/3 the amperage of original bulbs.   Again,  I made decisions that have me take paths that keep the car as original as possible  but safety driving in my bit of insanity with all the damn tourists wandering around in a big city has me doing safety first.    ? Seat belts ?  Mandatory.   Other things that don't show but keep me driving my car with traffic.    Second,  I have items that if you go in my direction,  I can help.   E-mail me and we can more details.    'Oldbuickjim@gmail.com'      Down to only one Buick now.   1938-46s coupe,  1937-46s coupe and now my 1935-58 2 door sedan.    I think this version is quite rare.   Last of the wooden bodied, mechanical brake (powered brake) Buicks.     1936 was big changes as you know....

[Robert Winters]

Congrats on all your hard work. I replaced my whole wire harness in 2022 with help from my buddy Richard Delgado. My 34 Buick 68C has 3 separate wire harness, I have all 8 of my "light switch" similar to yours working.  My series has a floor foot switch that allows high/low beam ( city/country) driving per the manual.  Does your have this option,  think it came out in 1934.

 

You can also contact Gene Zdunowski @ YNC wire harness in Redlands, Ca 909-798-1498. he gave me a detailed wire diagram. They make wire harness or will sell you the wire, loom, connectors, etc..  ( I bought overstock spools of 10/12/14 gauge and built it myself )

You can DM me if you want extra details on your connections.

 

here is another thread that may be useful.

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/386670-looking-to-make-my-own-1933-buick-67-wiring/#comment-2445973

 

Cheers

Robert

Edited January 31, 2023 by Robert Winters (see edit history)

[1933gray]

13 hours ago, Jim Nelson said:

First on the lighting issue :  you need to decide if you are going to drive your great Buick in the evening or into night ?  (By accident).    If your car is  for 'show /. originality.     The conversion to seal beams is for greater light to drive when you drive in the evening.    With that decision made - you then have several patches to take.    BTW,  I have a 1935-58 Buick.   Its a 2 door , 5 pax car with spare on the rear.   I will be driving my '35/58' into the evenings so having GOOD lighting is very important.   There is now LED bulbs available to replace the 'normal' bulbs.   I am using my original reflector / bulb units.   I have converted to LED bulbs because they use about 1/3 the amperage of original bulbs.   Again,  I made decisions that have me take paths that keep the car as original as possible  but safety driving in my bit of insanity with all the damn tourists wandering around in a big city has me doing safety first.    ? Seat belts ?  Mandatory.   Other things that don't show but keep me driving my car with traffic.    Second,  I have items that if you go in my direction,  I can help.   E-mail me and we can more details.    'Oldbuickjim@gmail.com'      Down to only one Buick now.   1938-46s coupe,  1937-46s coupe and now my 1935-58 2 door sedan.    I think this version is quite rare.   Last of the wooden bodied, mechanical brake (powered brake) Buicks.     1936 was big changes as you know....

For sure, I would rather be safe then sorry. I dont think it'll ever be a show car but I do want to make an effort to stay as original as I can for my own satisfaction! I would be happy to convert to LEDs considering one of the filaments is already busted and the headlights are pretty dim as it is. It's just a no brainer and again, I do prioritize safety over all. I will email you about the LEDs. Thanks Jim and beautiful ride!

[1933gray]

51 minutes ago, Robert Winters said:

Congrats on all your hard work. I replaced my whole wire harness in 2022 with help from my buddy Richard Delgado. My 34 Buick 68C has 3 separate wire harness, I have all 8 of my "light switch" similar to yours working.  My series has a floor foot switch that allows high/low beam ( city/country) driving per the manual.  Does your have this option,  think it came out in 1934.

 

You can also contact Gene Zdunowski @ YNC wire harness in Redlands, Ca 909-798-1498. he gave me a detailed wire diagram. They make wire harness or will sell you the wire, loom, connectors, etc..  ( I bought overstock spools of 10/12/14 gauge and built it myself )

You can DM me if you want extra details on your connections.

 

here is another thread that may be useful.

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/386670-looking-to-make-my-own-1933-buick-67-wiring/#comment-2445973

 

Cheers

Robert

Hey Robert, I have secured all three harnesses for my Buick so I am good on that front. We just installed the dash harness and hopefully we will get started on the other harnesses soon as soon as I figure out that fuse box.

The 33 does not have a floor switch but rather a switch on the steering wheel to control the headlights and tail lights.

The original point of this post was me mistaking the added fuse box for the original lighting switch. I sorted that out but now I am just wondering about the utility of the fuse box. I don't know if I really need it (especially if I will be converting to LEDs). I also question if the way its installed right now affects how the headlights and horn perform.

[Robert Winters]

I put my own fuse box in for safety. A  re-wire harness would needed to be routed under the dash anyways to connect to new fuse box