Thread: Problems with sockets on Ron Francis repop taillights

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When I was building the roadster pickup, I used a set of Ron Francis repop 51 Pontiac tail lights. The lenses and chrome housings are quality stuff, but the bulb sockets that come with them really suck, big time. The contacts that are in the housings have springs behind them to force them into contact with the base of the bulb, but the damn things stick up about 3/8" from the bottom of the housings with no side support. Today I blew my 20th fuse (in one year of running), because every time you hit a bump with the headlights on, the contacters move sideways and short against the inside of the brass coated bulb socket and blow the headlight fuse. On good quality bulb sockets, there is a fibre disc immediately below the contactor heads that keep them from moving sideways. I am going to try lining the housing with some really thin plastic shimstock to prevent this from happening, because sooner or later this will happen at night and kill me. This is a real piss off, because the beauty of the lens and chrome housing is quickly offset by the cheap junk sockets that come with them.