Main beam stalk & bulb holder for panel lights

[TTM]

Good evening,

Is there for an Ace Bristol a Lucas wiring diagram more recent than W31520A?

My LHD car was delivered new in July 1961 and although the wiring seems original for the most of it I am observing some slight but interesting discrepancies with what is mentioned on W31520A dated February 1957.

In particular my car is fitted with some push stalk on the dashboard, to the LHS of the steering wheel, which enables dipped headlights only when the sidelights are on. Shouldn't this stalk activate main beam instead?

Edited to add : I should have given a first look at the members' area on the website which hosts wiring diagram W29340A published in March 1957. Still no mention of some "main beam stalk" though.

[AC Ace Bristol]

 

Lucas Electrical Equipment .....  Published a Updated version   reference  No  W29340A.  dated March 1957  (H/357/L)

Hopefully some one with a later Ace  Maybe  a Rudd Speed Ace  has a wiring diagram that maybe more informative.   ;) ;) ;)

Keith

Just noticed you have edited your initial post....

Good Luck with your quest,  should you locate a more  up to date wiring diagram, Can you please furnish me with a copy and get it downloaded in the members Technical section .. :)    ..  ..  Thanking you in anticipation.

Keith

[TTM]

Thank you Keith.

Whilst the latest wiring diagram did not help much more than the obsolete diagram I was still able to make sense of the wiring thanks to a trusty multimeter and also got the supposedly aftermarket stalk to control the main beam as soon as ignition is turned on.
The most remarkable success perhaps is not feeling much back pain (...yet...) after crawling upside down below the dashboard for the last two days.

Also one of the two bulb holders for panel lighting is broken. The assembly is loose while the other one is tight, not sure how to explain but they seem to be pressed in from new and I do not see how to fix it. Any clue?
Here is a picture of the offending item.

Thanks,
Thomas

[AC Ace Bristol]

TTM

I'm not a auto electrician, But  from experience, some of the bulbs illuminating the Instruments and behind the dash on BEX333 are either a tight pushfit  into
rear of each  gauge or  are on small metal strips secured  by the knurled nut to the bracket to the rear  other gauges to illuminate the circumference..
Some Smiths Gauges take  larger bulbs.  Some bulb holders take bayonet bulbs where as some take screw threaded bulbs .... when the change 1950s /1960s ??
Have you tried pinching / reducing slightly the diameter of the reciving femail socket /  bulb holder then pushing the bulb back in ?
regards the switch on your dashboard , could this be  just to fash your headlights, My 57 LHD Ace has dip switch on the floor to the left of clutch pedal,  not sure if this is the same on RHD.

Not sure if this helps, Hopefully someone with more knowledge can throw some light on the subject ... Excuse the Pun, not intended.

Keith

[TTM]

Keith,

Thanks for shedding a light on this topic. I always enjoy your enlightening posts by the way.

My Ace seems to have exactly the same two types of panel lightings as yours and the one pictured here is of the second type, with the metal strip secured to the rear of the gauges. Here is another picture from another angle which I hope will be clearer.

Thanks.

[Norman]

My LHD 1961 Ace 2.6 has a mix of bayonet and screw fittings for its instrument bulbs, so I suspect that both types were used right through production. The screw versions tend to be those that fit inside instruments, so they were probably supplied by Smiths with the instruments as a package, or bought from Lucas complete with holders designed to fit Smiths instruments. The bayonet bulbs located on external brackets were probably arranged by AC themselves. Why the difference? Probably something prosaic: maybe the Hurlocks got hold of a job lot of bayonet sockets at a good price, or maybe they couldn't get hold of screw fitting that could easily be attached to a bracket. Regarding dipswitches, floor mounting is standard on the Ace and I have never heard of the arrangement on your car, it's probably an aftermarket addition. But my car does have a headlamp flasher stalk on the dash. It was there in 1971 when I acquired the car so it may well have been a factory fitment added at the buyer's request.

[TTM]

Thanks for your input Norman.
My car also has the floor mounting for the dipswitch.

I made a short video showing how it all works now : https://vimeo.com/338517193

[TTM]

Dear all,

Any possible clue on how to fix the broken bulb holder?
Sorry to say my skills as an electrician do not go as far as I would like...

[AC Ace Bristol]

.
Thomas

Whilst recently helping Tim Isles fit the freshly restored dashboard to BEX335, I noticed that he had some remote bulb holders that are designed to fit around  Smiths 2 inch instruments and are secured by one of the knurled nuts.
Tim inferred that they could well be  the modern equivalent  bulb holder and do the job more efficiently than the old style strip bulb holders we have on the Ace .

Will get Tim to Photograph   a sample Bulb holder and hopefully confirm supplier as soon as possible.
In the meantime if anyone reading this thread has a sample and knows of supplier can they please post details including picture.   ;)

Keith
.