MTFCA Forum

Alrighty y'all, heres a good one. i'm working on my friends 23 huckster and we've been fully rewiring it to get it back to factory specs
and i found an odd little quirk in the headlights. externally the buckets look identical, except for one small little detail: the hole
for the focusing screw on one of the buckets is above the socket, one is on the side. i want to make the lights work correctly since
he is driving this car on the regular for his peanut business and i would like to get another bucket so he has two identical pairs.
what orientation socket would be correct for a 1923 car?

Correct would be the side adjusting screw.



And the side version has the correct post, which is tapered on each side.

that's what i thought. now i was tempted on sealing the other buckets hole up and redrilling
but i don't like modifying original parts so i'm going to hunt down an original bucket.

Yes, originally to the side, but the way new bulbs are made you will get a left right shift instead of up down when changing from dim to on. My friend Bill Robinson and I made a template to move the adjusting screw to the 12 o'clock position so the lights work correctly with the new bulbs. To fill the original hole we just used a machine screw so it could be changed back in the future.

John.Zibell wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:53 pm

Yes, originally to the side, but the way new bulbs are made you will get a left right shift instead of up down when changing from dim to on. My friend Bill Robinson and made a template to move the adjusting screw to the 12 o'clock position so the lights work correctly with the new bulbs. To fill the original hole we just used a machine screw so it could be changed back in the future.

good point, easy enough to do and once it's done the lights will move in the same direction as an A and we can use one type of bulb for both A and T. seems like a win-win to me. the buckets aren't in the best condition and I'll be over looking at it tomorrow so i'll see what he thinks of the idea.

See the following posts from the past
https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/7 ... 1503501188

https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/2 ... 1353773028

Cody Winters wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:50 pm

that's what i thought. now i was tempted on sealing the other buckets hole up and redrilling
but i don't like modifying original parts so i'm going to hunt down an original bucket.

The bucket with the adjusting screw above the bulb socket is for a 1915. I 'll be glad to trade you one with the screw at 9'oclock position (PM or eMail). I sent you an eMail.
A true 1915 has the bulb base has contacts at different position, vertical in stead of horizontal & the end that fits into the fender bracket is different as well. The drawing for the 1922-25 headlight has the wire socket orientated incorrectly, contacts should be horizontal

I followed John and Bills recommendation to modify the hole position for bulb orientation. That’s was with the LED bulbs that were orientated flat. The new LED bulbs with the round lens, similar to a movie projector bulb, do not require any bulb orientation. They have the reflector internal to the bulb and work extremely well. I’m using them on both T’s and our A.

John.Zibell wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:53 pm

Yes, originally to the side, but the way new bulbs are made you will get a left right shift instead of up down when changing from dim to on. My friend Bill Robinson and I made a template to move the adjusting screw to the 12 o'clock position so the lights work correctly with the new bulbs. To fill the original hole we just used a machine screw so it could be changed back in the future.

Attaching a picture to show what John is talking about. The #1 socket is for headlights with the adjusting screw in the 9 o'clock position. The #2 is for ones with it in the 12 o'clock position. You can see if you rotate the #1 90 degrees to 12 o'clock the pin openings & contacts would cause the bulb filament to be vertical