Electrical on 57

[Big D]

Hey guys, well I got the car running, no overheatin any more, 2 shows, two trophies, but now I am working on the little things, like electrical.

My brake lights , directionals and tail lights work well, but my license plate lamps are not lighting at all, I changed the bulbs, and the sockets, because of heavy corrosion, but seems like no juice is getting there. I also have no idea where the fuses are locared on this thing. As a side note, pardon the pun, I cant find the horns or mounting brackets anywhere under the hood, where is everything? Any help would be greatly appreciated because very few things are operational other than the lights.

[Duntov-097]

The horns are up behind the grille.

Check the grounds to the rear bumper brace for the inop. license plate lights.

Fuse panel is way up in the dr side corner under the dash.

Good luck.

Bob

[JohnZ]

There are no fuses for anything on a '57 except the radio, heater blower, and the parking brake warning light; those fuses are on a playing-card-sized accessory fuse panel to the left of the clutch pedal on the inside of the firewall. Most problems are a result of not having a good ground.

[Big D]

While testing the circiuts, I decided to jump the terminal in the trunk with a battery, the lights went on but real dim, them as a fluke, I decided to jump the lead and I gounded the positive lead by mistake and the lights lit up dim with no positive power source, I think that I have a short somewhere that is running juice though the ground somewhere, how hard would it be to just rewire the whole car?

[JohnZ]

When I restored my '57 I re-wired the whole car from one end to the other, with Lectric Limited harnesses - about $600.00. Don't pull the old rear body harness out before you get the new harness - you need the old one in place to use to pull the new harness through the rocker panel.