VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 39 headlite update

I'd like to place sealed beam headlites in the 39 sedan delivery I'm working on. I have no experience updating headlamps . any help appreciated. mike

Mike, This won't be much help but is just FYI. I want to put sealed beams in my '38 also. Years ago you could get a sealed beam conversion kit that was pretty straight forward. Unfortunately, those kits are now as rare as hens teeth. A kit has been for sale in these forums under "Parts for Sale" but it will not fit either of our vehicles. In my research maybe a year or so ago, I found that one of the more popular brands was KD Lamp Co. Their kit model #908 fit a '37 and '38 while their model #904 fit a '36 and '39. Someone on this forum gave me the name of an individual who I believe lives in Canada who had a kit but it turned out to be for a '39. Perhaps if you put a notice in "Parts Wanted" you may get a response. Beamer

Chevs of the 40s has a kit for the 39, part number 923344S39. The 39 housing is larger than the 38 and a kit with actual adjustments can be used. It doesn't fit in the 38.

I recently converted my 51 1 Ton truck to 12 volts. Instead of going to another sealed beam light, I used a modern reflector type light that uses an H4 bulb. It looks identical to the sealed beam but has a bright beam like a much more modern system. You can get them in 6 volts with 60 watts if you want. I purchased mine from Octane Lighting.

thanks guys. I ordered a kit from chevs of the 40's. will let you know fitment issues when they arrive. mike

For what it's worth you can get a lot more light out of your stock 6v headlights by using #2530 bulbs. The low beam output is the same as the #2330 but the high beam is almost double. It's more than satisfactory for my '38.

installing the sealed beam kit from Chevys of the 40's was accomplished today. a good bit of grinding was needed but I got the buckets inside the headlamp can. took about 5 hours to do both. once the headlamp bezel is installed, the "butchering of the can" isn't visible. cost of kit to do both cans about 200 bucks. kit comes with new halogen bulbs. mike

Could you give us some details about the modifications? Did you have to grind the glass tabs at all?

no grinding of bulb's glass tabs required. the majority of grinding involved the 39 chevy headlite bucket. there were 4 locations on the bucket that had to be removed to fit the bulb's metal housing inside the original bucket. I should have taken pictures of the grind areas but didn't think at the time. the instruction sheet that came with the kit wasn't too helpful. mike

Did you end up with good functioning adjusters?